Palookaville (DVD)

Palookaville was the first feature film from director Alan Taylor. Of course, he went on to direct The Sopranos, which gives you some idea of the quality of his work. It’s based on a short story by Italian writer Italo Calvino – again, a good indication of quality, as far as I’m concerned. The 3 buddies central to this movie are played by William Forsyth (Sid), Vincent Gallo (Russ), and Adam Trese (Jerry) – all are excellent. There again so is the entire cast. Francis McDormand also appears, all too briefly in my view, as a friendly hooker. I loved her performances in Fargo, Almost Famous, and Blood Simple, and any movie with her in ...  Read the complete review

Winner of the 1995 Best Picture prize at the Venice Film Festival, Palookaville is a likeable tale about a 3 average men who try to get ahead in life by pulling off various scams. Sid, Russ and Jerry are slightly dense, small time criminals who one day decide that they are going to hit the big time by robbing a security van driven by an old man using toy guns however, as with all of their schemes, everything again seems to be conspiring against them... The problem is that these three really are not cut out for crime. their previous dabblings have involved breaking into a jewelers through the back entrance...only to find that their is a bakery behind the jewelers ...  Read the complete review