critics consensus

Despite the charming principal performances, The Dukes remains little more than an unambitious pet project. Read critic reviews

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The Dukes Photos

Chazz Palminteri as George in "The Dukes."

Chazz Palminteri as George and Robert Davi as Danny in "The Dukes."

View All Photos (11)

Movie Info

Once one of the most popular doo-wop duos in the 1960s, Danny (Robert Davi) and George (Chazz Palminteri) now barely make a living in the music business. While their loyal manager (Peter Bogdanovich) struggles to find them gigs, Danny and George decide to boost their bank accounts the old-fashioned way: burglary. Hearing about a shady dentist's stash of gold fillings, the men prepare to pull off a heist.

Rating:

PG-13 (Brief Sexuality|Drug References)
Genre:

drama, comedy
Original Language:

English
Director:

Robert Davi
Producer:

Christopher J. Corabi, Robert Davi, Don Dunn
Writer:

James Andronica, Robert Davi
Release Date (Theaters):

Nov 14, 2008 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

Nov 27, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA):

$26.2K
Runtime:

1h 36m

Cast & Crew

Robert Davi
Danny

Chazz Palminteri
George

Peter Bogdanovich
Lou

Miriam Margolyes
Aunt Vee

Elya Baskin
Murph

Melora Hardin
Diane

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Dukes

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (10)

Davi, who has the kind of handsomely weathered face that has spent a lot of time gazing into the sun, clearly poured his heart into this movie, and it shows.

December 11, 2008 | Rating: 3/4

Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
As light as a feather and about as memorable, The Dukes is a pet project all the way, just a lark for Davi and his buddies to star in and screen for one another like a home movie.

November 26, 2008 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle
The sweetness grows cloying by the end, but perhaps that's fitting for a film that's so clearly a labor of love.

November 21, 2008 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Rafer Guzman
Newsday
The Dukes may be hard to find on the big screen, but it's worth keeping an eye out for once it reaches DVD.

November 21, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Here's the little movie that could, a potent directing debut for actor Robert Davi.

November 19, 2008 | Rating: 3/4

Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
The old-fashioned story is aided by surprisingly smooth direction, as well as likable performances from Davi himself, Chazz Palmintieri, and a perfectly cast Peter Bogdanovich.

November 18, 2008 | Full Review…

New York Magazine/Vulture
A meager, low-key dramedy.

November 26, 2008 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly
A lot of love was clearly poured into this project; too bad the results were only so-so.

November 21, 2008 | Rating: 2/4

Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News
Between the performances and the nice visual style, the whole feels greater than the sum of its plot points.

November 20, 2008

Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat
Although it would be great to see Chazz Palminteri break out of the usual tough guy roles and Robert Davi break through into a successful career of writing and directing, this is not the film that does either. Decent viewing for the family but neither th

November 17, 2008 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…

Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics
Essentially a vanity project, a budget Ocean's 11 for Davi and his pals to sing some doo-wop tunes and ham it up.

November 14, 2008 | Rating: 3/10 | Full Review…

Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net
A heist comedy with showbiz savvy oozing from its pores.

November 13, 2008 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

John P. McCarthy
Boxoffice Magazine

View All Critic Reviews (23)

Audience Reviews for The Dukes

Oct 03, 2011

Great film. Congrads on Robert Davi on making a really good film. The film is better than half of the films that are playing right now. Davi did a great job both directing wise and acting wise. He has a great on screen chemistry with Chazz Palminteri, who is also hilarious in the film. The film kind of reminded me of the movie, The Crew, with Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds. The Crew was a better film than this. However, I still liked The Dukes and recommend it.

Sol C Super Reviewer
Jun 23, 2010

As soon as it started, I immediately didn't like it. I think I got to about 37 minutes before I turned it off.

Sarah P Super Reviewer