the wise guys had more honor
Did anyone notice that the only people displaying adherance to a code of honor were the Wise Guys?
Old Pig (pride, integrity, guts.
Because violating the code meant death. And, their code of honor is nothing to celebrate. There is no honor amoung thieves.
shareMy, my citizen, how judgemental you are! At least they have a code of honor, freely taken. If a man wants to become a "made" man, he is well aware of the oath that is required---omerta. There's been honor among people who you refer to as "thieves" since the dawn of recorded time. A lot of people who look down teir noses at people who adhere to a code have no pride in themselves. Most of them wouldn't walk around the corner to help a brother in need, and they rat each other out every day in every way. Greater love hath no man than he who willingly gives up his life, if need be, for his brothers. The scabby bunch that we see rallying in D.C. and other places wouldn't give their miserable lives for any cause. Their code is hurrah for me! Give me a wise guy anyday. You know where you stand with them.
Buck35,
I agree Jaykay
Cielo and his cop friends took an oath when they became cops, then they twisted it for thier benefit, example what cop making 30,000 a year, with a family can wear a 20000 Rolex!
The cops portrayed in this film were not heros, and deserved what they got.
Cielo went on to be a mediocre novelist, his sold out buddies and acomplices either killed themselves or went to jail. Good buddy
The last scene was the best, when the cop walks out on Cielo during the lecture. What good cop wants to be lectured by a bad cop about police practices.
I almost applauded
I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than driving with Ted Kennedy
What ever happened to Raf Alvarez?
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Remember that Mario Vincente told Danny that they were all going down, the only way to help them was to get them to come in. Danny wanted to save his budies.
share I don't think Italians showed particularly well. Cops, DA's, ADA's, wives,mafiaosos,didn't seem honorable at all.
I suppose an obvious question is would this corruption problem be as pronounced if we were talking about another ethnic group? I would say No.
There is no more "code of honor". The modern mob, or what's left of them in the US, anyway, is a shell of its former self. Once drugs started to enter the picture, the "code" gradually dwindled.
"You suck on a tit the movie gets rated R. you hack it off with an axe, PG" Jack Nicholson
RICO's what really did it, not drugs so much (there was always drugs, even when there was a "ban" on drug dealing in Cosa Nostra). When the government started handing out 45-year-and-up sentences just for proving you were part of an "organization", gangsters started flipping in greater numbers. Well, RICO was responsible combined with the values of the succeeding generations of mobsters born in the U.S. The further they got from the O.G.'s (Luciano, Genovese, Gambino, Three-Finger-Brown Lucchese, etc, etc), the more the ways of the Old Country were, if not forgotten completely, pretty much just paid lip service to, and as more softer, more Americanized mobsters took over, the less important Omerta became, especially when looking at a long prison term. Also, from some of the books I've read, once 'The Godfather' was released, and more and more mob movies became part of the culture, younger guys took a lot of their cues from the movies. If that's true, there's nothing like "life in prison" followed by the bang of a gavel to snap you into reality...
"How do you feel?"
"Like the Kling-Klang King of the Rim-Ram Room!"