Jack Nicholson sounded retarded

Charley wasn't smart. Here you've got a guy who knows all the angles, born and raised in the rackets and one look at a pretty face and it goes out the window.

I hate Irene. She had the nerve to ask for money back that she stole from the Mafia?! Stupid.


I think he redeems himself at the end when he comes to his senses and takes care of her.

Criminals sound retarded because they are.

Retarded is not the right word. He was simple. He based his education on what he read in magazines. But how that would equip him to run the family I also questioned.

If you read the trivia section, there's an item that says that John Houston, reportedly kept telling Jack Nicholson: "remember, he's stupid"

It was either the lip prosthetic and semi-dullard voice or sound like Jack Nicholson standing out as an American in an Italian mob family - no winning.

"If Mad Max Fury Road is an 8 (I gave it a 1). Then I'll use 8 for OK, 9 is better, 10 is best."

I do not agree with your use of that word, as it's an archaic one that once described developmentally or intellectually delayed individuals, a population with whom I've worked a lot, but I believe you mean to say his character seemed slow.

Here's the thing: his accent as horrible. Jack Nicholson isn't very good in this movie. It's by far his 12th best performance of his Oscar-nominated roles, and profoundly worse than his 10th best (as only this and Ironweed aren't worthy of the nomination). He's not good at accents. Look at the Departed. His Boston accent is atrocious (though not as atrocious as his NY accent in this). At one point he actually said "poipose" (purpose). It was pathetic.

Roberto DeNiro should have played the part or Nicholson should have been allowed to just talk like he normally does. You look at Reds, done 4 years earlier (or released 4 years earlier) and he's at his absolute best. It's not a coincidence that he's at his Five Easy Pieces/Cuckoo's Nest best in Reds: he doesn't do an accent. Accents are his Achilles Heal.

There are a few scenes in Prizzi's in which he's solid, because his awful accent doesn't detract, for most of its running length, he's terrible.

I thought the character was supposed to be a bit dim but, within his society, very privileged. Please note this is not a modern or current perception. This is my old fashioned class conscious British understanding of why a not very bright person gets on so well. He was simply part of the criminal aristocracy.