Prizzi’s Honor
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Williams on September 9th, 2003
Film
This 1985 film was described as one of legendary director John Huston’s best works. Prizzi’s Honor is powered by an all star cast which includes Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner and Anjelica Houston. The movie had 8 nominations at the 1985 Academy awards including best actor for Nicholson, best director, best picture and won for best supporting actress for Anjelica Houston.
So was this an outstanding movie or was 1985 a really slow year for motion pictures? Well using a 2003 compariso… this movie was like a cross between “The Usual Suspects” and “The Sopranos.” At its heart it’s a mob story that delves into the interpersonal lives and struggles of some key members of the Prizzi family, a powerful mafia family. The movie follows the travails of the Prizzi’s number one “hitter” (hitman) Charlie Partanna as he carries out various tasks for the family. The film opens at a wedding where Charlie is mesmerized by a mysterious lady in a lavender dress (Kathleen Turner). As Charlie attempts to meet this lady we are introduced to Maerose Prizzi (Anjelica Houston), Charlie’s ex-girlfriend whom has fallen out of favor with her family. Maerose may very well be the original Janice Soprano, whose histrionic personality and desire for vengeance wreak havok on the lives of Charlie and Irene (Kathleen Turner). As the relationship between Charlie and Irene unfolds we learn that Irene as well is a contract killer who assassinated someone who stole $720,000 from a casino owned by the Prizzi’s. Of course this places Charlie in a very difficult position – does he protect the woman he loves or does he follow his lifelong obligation to the family? The ending has enough twists and turns to keep a die hard rollercoaster fan happy.
The acting of course is superb. Nicholson never fails to impress and Turner and Houston give great (and apparently for Houston) award winning performances. The soundtrack has Italian influences and other classical pieces woven into the film to great effect. Now, I’ve never really understood the concept of “black comedies” because the ones that I have seen including “Death to Smoochy” and “The Cable Guy” were just not funny. The same goes here – I didn’t laugh once. On the back cover it was described as “funny as hell” from the review in L.A. Weekly. What movie were they watching? Has comedy changed that much since 1985? Well 1985 did produce some excellent comedies that still stand the test of time like “Back to the Future” and “Rocky IV” ( I mean have you seen Rocky IV? Like how Rocky turns the entire Russian crowd to his side by pummeling their hero? Now that’s comedy…).
Audio
The audio is unfortunately horribly below average. The audio is presented in Dolby 2.0 Stereo. There is virtually no bass effects as the movie uses a lot of the cheesy 80’s sound effects for gunfire and car chases which had an emphasis on the higher frequencies. Some of the dialogue at times sounds muffled and the soundtrack really lacks any punch and does not add to the viewing experience.
Video
If you think that the audio is sub-par, the video will make you groan. The transfer was quite poor with faded colors and lack of sharpness of picture. This disc offers widescreen 1.85:1 and standard 1.33:1 on dual sides. Both are terrible – I watched both on my 54” projection screen and on my 17” laptop LCD screen and they were awful. Pixelation was apparent on both. Can it get any worse?
Special Features
Welcome to worse. The special features are listed as “English Stereo Surround” and “English, French and Spanish Language Subtitles.” Whoopie! Let the good times roll!
Final Thoughts
It’s 2003. How DVD’s like this get released really make me scratch my head. Don’t get me wrong – the film itself is quite good, excellent acting, lots of plot twists and turns and a great ending, but why release something on DVD when it looks like you are watching a VHS tape? Heck, I’ve watched VHS movies that have looked better than this!
Special Features List
- None
