"I Heard You Paint Houses"

Looks like a new mobster movie is coming out from Martin Scorsese. Marty is bringing out the big guns (De Niro, Pesci) this time for a film adaptation of the true crime book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt. It'll be called The Irishman after the subject of the book, Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran. It's a first hand account of the Union thuggery of Sheeran under the management of Jimmy Hoffa. "I heard you paint houses" is how Hoffa introduced himself to Sheeran. It alludes to the splatter of blood on the wall after a hitman kills his target. Sheeran was a killer, Hoffa needed a killer, it was a match made in somewhere other than Heaven. It goes on to describe the downfall of Hoffa and how Sheeran had a part in the murder and disappearance of him. It reads like one of those "of course, well that makes sense" types of solutions of history's mysteries. Of course, as good as it reads, as believable as it sounds, one never knows. I liked the book a lot but you won't catch me trotting it out as Gospel when someone suggests a theory of the final whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa.
Will it be as good as Goodfellas and Casino? They were both based on true stories too. Truth be told, I liked Goodfellas better, in part because although they changed the name of the story from Wiseguy to Goodfellas, they kept the real names of the characters. On that topic, they maintained the title of Casino but changed the names of the characters and locations in that movie. Wonder why? I think it has the potential of completing a "trilogy" of sorts if this maintains the endless soundtrack style of Goodfellas and Casino. Did anyone see the 1992 movie Hoffa with Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito? DeVito was supposed to be a combination of several characters, including Frank Sheeran. Not a bad movie but not as good as I expected either. Still, I look forward to this movie and I will be happy to pass my brilliant musings about it on to you once it gets to my trusty dollar cinema. Oh, this one is supposed to have Al Pacino in it too. A+ in advance if he uses his Godfather voice and not his carnival barker voice he used in The Devil's Advocate.

link to article about The Irishman

trailer for Goodfellas

trailer for Casino

trailer for Hoffa

trailer for The Godfather

trailer for The Devil's Advocate