Mobsters on Blu-Ray

Just in case you don't feel like you're seeing Richard Grieco's youthful glory in crisp enough detail on DVD, or you don't have a machine on which to play that well-worn old VHS tape, you'll be able to buy Mobsters on Blu-Ray this spring.

"He has two girlfriends?"
Love this scene.

You can pre-order here, but don't expect the movie to arrive until early March.

If you want to get in the spirit while you wait, take 97 seconds to check out this clip of Richard, Christian Slater, Patrick Demsey and Costas Mandylor presenting at the 1991 Oscars in their full Mobsters regalia. (For those of you who haven't seen the movie, that means hand-made tuxes. Feel free to watch as often as you like.)

1991 Academy Awards

Just a little blast from the past to brighten up your day.

In 1991, during the filming of Mobsters, Richard Grieco and his cast mates, Patrick Dempsey, Christian Slater and Costas Mandylor presented an award--all spiffed up in their handmade tuxedos.  It's short, but they look good.

 

Richard Grieco's Roses

If you haven't seen Richard's 1991 appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show, you're going to love this video. (Hey, let's be honest...if you saw it 22 years ago, you're still going to want to watch it again.)

The opening bit where Arsenio basically calls Richard a liar when he claims to grow roses is funny, and you'll pick up some charming confirmation that Grieco is not a celebrity at heart.

 

A Walk on the Beach with Richard Grieco

Here's another flashback--from the 1991 Summer Movie Preview. Mobsters is the last film previewed (beginning at 5:26) and the host takes a walk on the beach with Richard to talk about Bugsy Seigel, his penchant for violence and his way with women.

Mobsters on VHS

Back near the beginning of this journey, I watched Mobsters via Amazon streaming video. Not long afterward, though, I heard that the VHS version included footage that hadn't made it to the DVD cut for some reason. I was curious about the missing scenes for two reasons.

The first was that I'd heard Richard say in an interview, I believe on Steve Benz's The Blend, that Mobsters had been conceived as a much longer movie and that they'd filmed quite a bit more than actually made it to the big screen.

The second was that I'd read specifically that the scene in which Richard Grieco removes a woman's dress with an ice pick was considerably extended in the VHS version, and I thought that might be kind of hot was curious about how that would compare with the straight razor scene in Sexual Predator.

Bottom line: I didn't see anything new that made a big impression on me. If you've already seen the DVD version, I don't think there's anything in the VHS to warrant going out looking for it (and that includes the infamous ice pick scene.

I did like this movie, but as far as I could see the two cuts were pretty interchangeable. It's possible that if you're Serious About Film you'd catch differences that I didn't (and care about them), but for the average viewer it just didn't make a difference.

Can Richard Grieco Act? Part I

I know I said yesterday that my next post would assess this burning question, but I'm not ready to make my own analysis yet.  I decided that I simply haven't seen enough of Grieco's work.  I ordered a few more movies yesterday (Amazon Trade! I'm not spending money!) and and am going to hold off on my own assessment until I've seen them.  Of course, since I wanted to maximize the number of films I'd seen, I went for the cheap ones, so that may skew things a bit.

Before jumping into what I think, I decided to check out what others have to say. Thus far, it's a very mixed bag.

I read reviews on both IMDB and Amazon across a range of time and genres. 

Raiders of the Damned (2007):

"Richard Grieco gives the worst acting performance of his life, and thats saying something as I've seen him in a film about giant spiders."

"Richard Grieco was terrible."

"If Richard Grieco isn't on drugs, then he needs to be. His performance was terrible. I hope he ran to the bank to cash his paycheck before the producers demanded it back."





Dead Easy (2004):

"A minus is Richard Grieco, who walks through his role like he's sedated."

"The two main leads (Richard Grieco and Joanna Pacula) were okay but for me the best acting was done by Thandi Puren (Kate Johnson)."

"I'm not sure Richard Grieco ever has or ever could play anything other than Richard Grieco and that's all he is in this film."

"In any case, if you're a Grieco fan, give this one a shot. He's purty and he does a good job."



Fish Don't Blink (2002:

"Richard Grieco is good in this, as a nice, sensative, and all-around good guy. His chemistry with the "girlfriend" and Lea Thompson, makes this movie worth seeing."

"The performances are a mixed bag, Grieco and Duncan are solid..."

“I thought Grieco and Thompson brought a lot to roles that weren't written to be as deep or shaded as they could have been."

“I'm ashamed to say that I did not recognize Richard Grieco, who plays Pete in the movie. I know him now, and already have his films on my must see list."

Mobsters (1991):

"I must say I was very impressed with the performances of Richard Grieco and Lara Flynn Boyle. Richard clearly shows he can do a lot more than just being the pretty boy. He was probably the best choice for the part. Violent and sensual. He even manages to do a quite funny scene, when his character gets angry, because someone tells him he does not kill with style. I did not know what to expect from him, as I had only seen him in "21 Jump Street", but give him a chance, because he will not disappoint you."

"Richard Grieco as Bugsy Siegel is very good, you can see the genesis of Warren Beatty's character when he played Siegel in his film, Bugsy."






The way the reviews break out suggests some things to me, but I'm going to hold off on commenting until I've seen a few more films for myself.

I know if you're reading this blog, you've seen more of Grieco's work than I have, so please..share your thoughts!