Men of Respect

Last updated
Men of Respect
Men of Respect.jpg
Directed byWilliam C. Reilly
Written byWilliam C. Reilly
William Shakespeare
Produced byEphraim Horowitz
Starring
CinematographyBobby Bukowski
Edited byElizabeth Kling
Music by Misha Segal
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • May 1990 (1990-05)(France)
  • January 18, 1991 (1991-01-18)(U.S.)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
Languages English
Spanish
Box office$139,155 [1]

Men of Respect is a 1990 crime drama film, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth . It stars John Turturro as Mike Battaglia, a Mafia hitman who climbs his way to the top by killing his boss.

Contents

The film also stars Rod Steiger, Stanley Tucci, Dennis Farina and Peter Boyle and is directed by William C. Reilly. It is not the first attempt to transplant Macbeth to the American mob culture; it was done in the 1955 film Joe MacBeth .

Plot

Mike Battaglia, a powerful lieutenant in the D’Amico crime family, executes a large-scale hit on the family's enemies, earning a promotion to a caporegime and the undying respect of his boss, Don Charlie D'Amico. Despite the Don's generosity, however, Battaglia secretly resents D'Amico for passing him over as his successor.

At the instigation of Ruthie, his wife, Battaglia murders D'Amico and has his sons shipped off to Florida, clearing the way for him to assume control of the D'Amico family. He becomes an underworld despot, deciding to kill anyone he suspects as a threat to his power, including former ally Bankie Como and his unconnected son, Philly, who survives an assassination attempt.

At his coronation as boss, a drunken Battaglia alienates two more of the mob's powerful soldiers. Afraid that Battaglia's reign will spell the end of the D'Amico family, several of Battaglia's underlings desert him and ally themselves with D'Amico's eldest son, Mal.

Battaglia puts a hit out on his chief rival, Matt Duffy, but the assassins cannot find him, instead murdering his wife and son. Ruthie commits suicide out of guilt, which devastates Battaglia. Determined to get revenge for the death of his family, Duffy comes to kill Battaglia, who arrogantly proclaims that "no man of woman born" can harm him. Duffy responds that he was delivered via caesarian section, and therefore was not technically born of a woman. Disposing of Battaglia, he clears the way for Mal to assume control of the family.

Cast

ActorRoleMacBeth equivalency
John Turturro Mike Battaglia Macbeth
Katherine Borowitz Ruthie Battaglia Lady Macbeth
Dennis Farina Bankie Como Banquo
Peter Boyle Matt Duffy Macduff
Rod Steiger Charlie D'Amico King Duncan
Steven Wright Sterling
Stanley Tucci Mal Malcolm
Carl Capotorto Don Donalbain
Michael Badalucco SalSeyton
Robert Modica Carmello RossiRoss
David Thornton Philly Como Fleance
Dan Grimaldi CarmineCaithness
Joseph Carberry LeonettiLennox
Richard Petrocelli ArtieAngus
Edward Gallardo ManuelMenteith
Joseph RagnoPadrino RicciSiward

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Bonanno</span> American organized crime boss (1905–2002)

Joseph Charles Bonanno, sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gambino crime family</span> New York-based organized crime group

The Gambino crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group, which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957, is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963, when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, fraud, hijacking, and fencing.

The Castellammarese War was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia that took place in New York City, New York, from February 1930 until April 15, 1931, between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Salvatore Maranzano. The war was named after the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo, the birthplace of Maranzano. Maranzano's faction won and divided New York's crime families into the Five Families; Maranzano declared himself capo di tutti i capi. However, Maranzano was murdered in September 1931 on orders of Lucky Luciano, who established a power-sharing arrangement called the Commission, a group of Mafia families of equal stature, to avoid such wars in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Massino</span> Italian-American mobster

Joseph Charles Massino is an American former mobster. He was a member of the Mafia and boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to turn state's evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Outfit</span> Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Outfit is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, that originated in the city's South Side in the early 1910s. It is part of the larger Italian-American Mafia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime boss</span> Person in charge of a criminal organization

A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather,crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization.

The Genna crime family, was a crime family that operated in Prohibition-era Chicago. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the six Genna brothers, known as the Terrible Gennas. The brothers were Sicilians from the town of Marsala and operated from Chicago's Little Italy and maintained control over the Unione Siciliana. They were allies with fellow Italian gang the Chicago Outfit. After a bloody war led to their demise in the 1920s, the gang was eventually absorbed by the Chicago Outfit.

John "Jackie" D'Amico is a New York City mobster and caporegime who served as street boss of the Gambino crime family from 2005 to 2011. "Street boss" had been the family's number one position ever since official Boss Peter Gotti started serving a life sentence in prison.

In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oath of omertà, the Mafia code of silence and code of honor. After the induction ceremony, the associate becomes a "made man" and holds the rank of soldier in the Mafia hierarchy. Made men are the only ones who can rise through the ranks of the Mafia, from soldier to caporegime, consigliere, underboss, and boss.

The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jersey cities and the surrounding areas in North Jersey. It is part of the nationwide criminal network known as the American Mafia. It operates on the opposite side of the Hudson River from the Five Families of New York. It maintains strong relations with many of them, as well as with the Philadelphia crime family and the Patriarca crime family of New England. The Decavalcantes are considered by some to be the "Sixth Family".

Anthony Indelicato, also known as "Bruno" and "Whack-Whack", is an American Caporegime with the Bonanno crime family of New York City.

Gaspar Milazzo was a major organized-crime figure in Detroit, Michigan, during the Prohibition era. He had earlier been a member of the Brooklyn-based gang that would later become known as the Bonanno crime family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Sabella</span> American mobster

Michael "Mikey Cigars" Sabella (1911–1989) was a caporegime in the Bonanno crime family and a relative of Philadelphia crime family mob boss Salvatore Sabella.

The Rochester crime family or Rochester Mafia was a criminal organization based in Rochester, New York that was part of the American Cosa Nostra.

The Detroit Partnership is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Detroit, Michigan, and mainly operates in the Greater Detroit area as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. They hold interests in Windsor, Ontario, Toledo, Ohio; as well as other cities in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Nevada, and Sicily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucchese crime family</span> One of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, US

The Lucchese crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. Members refer to the organization as the Lucchese borgata; borgata is Mafia slang for criminal gang, which itself was derived from Sicilian word meaning close-knit community. The members of other crime families sometimes refer to Lucchese family members as "Lukes".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Cali</span> American mobster

Francesco Paolo Augusto "Frank" Cali, also known as "Franky Boy", was an American mobster and the eventual acting boss of the Gambino crime family. Law enforcement considered Cali to have been the Gambinos' "ambassador to Sicilian mobsters" and had linked him to the Inzerillo Mafia family from Palermo. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lipton, he was "seen as a man of influence and power by organized crime members in Italy". Cali was shot and killed outside his home in Staten Island on March 13, 2019. At the time of his death, a number of media organizations described him as the "reputed" acting boss of the Gambino crime family.

The Genovese crime family's New Jersey faction is a group of Italian-American mobsters within the Genovese crime family who control organized crime activities within the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey faction is divided into multiple crews each led by a different caporegimes who oversees illegal criminal activities in labor racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion. Since the prohibition era the Genovese family's New Jersey faction has maintained a strong presence in the Northern Jersey area. A number of members within the New Jersey faction like Guarino "Willie" Moretti, Gerardo "Jerry" Catena and Louis "Bobby" Manna held positions within the administration of the Genovese family. From the 1990s until his death in 2010, Tino "the Greek" Fiumara was one of the most powerful caporegimes in the New Jersey faction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonanno crime family</span> Italian-American organized crime group

The Bonanno crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia.

<i>Joe MacBeth</i> 1955 film by Ken Hughes

Joe MacBeth is a 1955 British–American crime drama, directed by Ken Hughes and starring Paul Douglas, Ruth Roman and Bonar Colleano. It is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in a 1930s American criminal underworld. The film's plot closely follows that of Shakespeare's original play. It has been called "the first really stand out movie" of Hughes' career.

References

  1. "Men of Respect". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2021-05-31.