Kill the Irishman (2011)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 47
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 18
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 8,606
My Rating
Movie Info
Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson) and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, KILL THE IRISHMAN chronicles Greene's heroic rise from a tough Cleveland neighborhood to become an enforcer in the local mob. Turning the tables on loan shark Shondor Birns (Christopher Walken) and allying himself with gangster John Nardi (Vincent D'Onofrio), Greene stops taking orders from the mafia
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Cast
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Ray Stevenson
Danny Greene -
Vincent D'Onofrio
John Nardi -
Val Kilmer
Joe Manditski -
Christopher Walken
Shondor Birns -
Linda Cardellini
Joan Madigan -
Tony Darrow
Mikey Mendarolo -
Robert Davi
Ray Ferritto -
Fionnula Flanagan
Grace O'Keefe -
Bob Gunton
Jerry Merke -
Jason Butler Harner
Art Sneperger -
Vinnie Jones
Keith Ritson -
Tony Lo Bianco
Jack Licavoli -
Laura Ramsey
Ellie O'Hara -
Steven R. Schirripa
Mike Frato -
Paul Sorvino
Tony Salerno -
Mike Starr
Leo "Lips" Moceri, Tony... -
Marcus Thomas
William "Billy" McCombe... -
Vinny Vella Sr.
Frank Brancato -
Brian Balzerini
Valet -
Cody Christian
Young Danny Greene -
Dante Wildern
Young Billy McComber -
Sean O'Reilly
Tony Lupero -
Vincent Angelini
Vic Centauro -
Grant R. Krause
Tommy Sinito -
Jeff Chase
Joe Buka -
Jim Porterfield
Stan Gilroy -
Nina Kircher
Merke's Secretary -
Loren Bass
Macleish -
Richard D. Jewell
Agent Mike Malloy -
John Seibert
Steve Marshak -
Greg Trzaskoma
Theatrical Grille Barte... -
John Hawkinson
Detective Podorski -
Jimmy Doom
Biker Bill -
Lise Lacasse
Mrs. Shaughnessy -
Arthur Cartwright
Leg Breaker -
Joey Albright
Garbage Man -
Walter L. Lindsey
Furniture Mover -
Douglas Minckiewicz
Kevin McKiernan -
Robert Skrok
Brendan Calhoun -
Ruth Crawford
Mrs. Birns -
Steven M. Goldsmith
Martin -
Renell White
Billy Cox -
Jeff Wolfe
Undercover Cop -
John Leo
Geoffrey Greene -
Al Corley
TV Reporter -
Michael Ogden
Julius -
Trevor Callaghan
Cleveland Kid
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All Critics (47) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (30) | Rotten (18) | DVD (6)
Hensleigh romanticizes Greene and doesn't have a very nuanced understanding of labor racketeering. That said, he does possess a fine eye for shabby urban landscapes and a nice way with explosions.
Top CriticThe cast makes up for some occasionally spotty storytelling and telegraphing of events that keep "Irishman" from being as good as it could have been.
What makes this film special and memorable is the character of Danny Green, who is not the usual neighborhood hoodlum you see in movies, the kind who gets in deep and gradually loses his soul.
Stevenson is big and swarthy and not altogether without credibility, but he's got as much charisma as a potato.
There's an irresistible, Cleveland-esque, underdog quality about this whole production.
Stevenson is a good actor, but Kill the Irishman is standard mob fare, neither exciting enough nor interesting enough to matter.
A synthesis of stuff we've seen in every gangster movie since the '70s
Hensleigh wields the techniques with a sure hand and uses them to construct a compelling, engaging narrative, but at the same time seasoned viewers will constantly feel a nagging sense of familiarity.
It's a small-scale film, but it packs a solid punch.
A certain clenched-fist tonality to the picture that helps it wade through routine, and it's nice to see the city of Cleveland used for change when detailing the horrors and intimidation of mob rule, giving NYC the day off.
It's not just that the movie appears to find Greene far more charming than he was in Porrello's book. It's that Kill the Irishman never brings either freshness or energy to its tale. In the end, even the many explosions seem tired.
It's great summer night slumming cinema, with an integral moral complexity that doesn't intrude but guides the action.
Certainly the filmmakers rounded up the right cast of tough-guy actors for this story of mob activity, but their presence doesn't lend much vigor to this unfocused and sentimental tale.
A minor mob-cinema classic.
...suffers from the twin deficits of a charm-free leading man and a screenplay that seems composed of dialogue and scenes written and then discarded by writers working on better films.
Hey, "Kill the Irishman." "The Sopranos" called. It wants its actors back. Along with everything else you borrowed.
Rushed and simplistic, with little sense of its characters as people or the flavor of their time and place.
[Stevenson is] crazily charismatic here, a blend of brash cockiness and sensitivity, and he makes a satisfying film even better.
Will hardly replace the classic gangster flicks, but it's a pretty good little account of an episode in American mob history that had surprisingly wide-ranging ramifications.
In an era when even low-budget movies have slick digital presentation, the infectiously crude "Kill the Irishman" is a tonic of knocked-out teeth.
The problem is that writer-director Jonathan Hensleigh doesn't do much beyond filling in the template; he's telling the specific, true-life tale of mob decline in 1970s Cleveland, but every character and setpiece feels like it fell off a truck.
Audience Reviews for Kill the Irishman
Super Reviewer
Now, Greene was no saint, but he was a noble guy who had a great sense of personal pride and ethics. He went from low level trouble maker to union boss, to hood, to Mafia enemy #1 in just a few short years. And his story is both really fascinating, and a lot of fun. Heck, he survived so many assassination attempts that part of the movie actually becomes rather comical.
To bring this story to life, writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh (The Punisher (2004 version)) assembled one heck of a lineup including another person involved with the Punisher (Punisher War Zone), Ray Stevenson in the lead as Greene. Filling out the roles as various mob figures, union guys, and cops are Vincent D'onofrio, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Bob Gunton, and tons of THAT GUYS! like Robert Davi and a bunch of others. Oh yeah, and Linda Cardellini as Greene's wife.
This is quite a set up and notabel cast, and, thankfully their efforts don't go to waste. The period details are great, the story is really interesting and enjoyable, and the performances are all pretty solid for the most part. Yes, the movie does somewhat come off as a Scorsese rehash, but I never felt like the film was a total ripoff, but rather just an homage. Of course, given the impact of MS, it's really pretty hard to not make a film like this without garnering such accusations.
All in all, this is a worthwhile film that fans of the cast or the subject matter should definitely check out. I had no idea that the events in the movie actually did happen, but man, it's some wild stuff that definitely has me wanting to learn more about the actual exploits of the so-called "Man the Mafia couldn't kill".
Super Reviewer
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- Danny Greene: Is that all you got? Gonna take more than a few firecrackers, to kill DANNY GREENE!
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- Joe Manditski: You really think the luck of the Irish is going to save you?
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- Joe Manditski: I will cut your fucking heart out with a rusty butter knife and eat it while it's still beating.
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- Danny Greene: How did the entire Polish firing squad die? They stood in a circle.
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- Danny Greene: What do you do if a Polack throws a grenade at you? You pull the pin out and throw it back.
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- Danny Greene: That all you got? It's gonna take more than a few firecrackers to kill Danny Green.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Kill the Irishman
March 11, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Bulletproof Gangster (DE)
