I love this movie so much. It has everything a comedy of errors should have, and John Landis did a great job directing this. The script was very good indeed. A little predictable at times, as a lot of the jokes are repeated, but it is all very solid, and I loved the play-like structure of the story. The bag routine had me in stitches; the only other time that has happened to me, was in Clue, which is also a must-see. This movie is laden with cameos, from famous faces such as Don Ameche, Eddie Bracken and Kurtwood Smith. Who can forget that priceless cameo from Kirk Douglas. Sylvester Stallone is surprisingly good here, much better than he was in Stop, Or My Mum Will Shoot, which I won't describe other than to say it is easily forgettable. In fact this is by far and away his BEST comedy. The "Don't call me boss"line is just as funny as the bags routine. Ornella Muti and Marissa Tomei play fiery young women amusingly, and Peter Riegert plays Aldo to perfection. Vincent Spano plays a suitably ambiguous character, but the acting honours without doubt belong to Chazz Palminteri and Tim Curry. Chazz Palminteri is just so adorable as Connie, and the way Provolone treated him was quite horrible.("It's like disarming Germany.") Tim Curry doesn't appear until halfway through, and whilst he is not as funny as he was in Clue, his turn of Dr. Poole is genius, especially when his grammatical errors get misunderstood. Also superb were the lush and beautifully rendered costumes and sets, asides from the acting and the costumes, Elmer Bernstein's score was a treat. From the charming puppet sequence featuring Largo Al Factotum from Rossini's masterpiece Barber of Seville, to the love theme, to the wedding scene, I loved it. Also it was so musical with what the actors were doing on screen. A must-see, and for those of you who haven't seen it, are seriously missing out, and those of you who hated it need your heads examined, for I know a good comedy when I see one, and this is it! NOTE: in the United Kingdom, it is very hard to find, and it has never been shown on TV. But I did manage to get it on DVD, before it became literally non-existent. 10/10 Bethany Cox.
Oscar
1991
Action / Comedy / Crime
Oscar
1991
Action / Comedy / Crime
Keywords: business manhonesty
Plot summary
Angelo "Snaps" Provolone (Sylvester Stallone) made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite having no experience in making money in a legal fashion, Snaps sets about to keep his promise. He is faced with numerous problems: henchmen who know nothing but crime, the Police who are convinced he is hatching a master plan, and Oscar (Jim Mulholland),who just got his daughter pregnant.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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Top cast
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An underrated gem!
A Day In The Life Of The Provolone Family
I would never have dreamed that Sylvester Stallone would appear in a film that has its basis in a French farce. But Oscar is exactly that.
Taken from a play by Claude Magnier with the same title, the action is transferred to 1931 Chicago where gangster Angelo 'Snaps' Provolone is looking to go legitimate because of a promise he made to his dying father. The father is played by Kirk Douglas and Douglas's death scene opens the film and it's hilarious.
Sly Stallone looked like he was having one great old time spoofing his own image. The rest of the film is a day in his life dealing with bankers he's coming in with, an embezzling employee, a rival mob, a daughter looking to break loose from the family, and the police.
It's all done at a pace that rivals Billy Wilder's classic, One Two Three. In fact Oscar would have been a classic if they'd somehow persuaded Billy Wilder to direct it. It just needed that extra something from a comedy master.
Still Stallone gets good support from several generations of Hollywood players who range from Don Ameche as a priest to Marisa Tomei in her film debut as Stallone's daughter.
Catch this one if it's broadcast, especially you Stallone fans.
Simply not very funny
OSCAR is one of Sylvester Stallone's regretful forays into comedy. The action star himself isn't really as fault, as he tries very hard with the deadpanning, and John Landis's direction remains brisk and efficient. It's the the fact that the screenplay simply isn't very funny and all of the gangster characters are too similar to stand out. They end up blending into one which doesn't make for a very eventful movie. What this film does have is a fantastic cast, which is a speciality of Landis's. Tim Curry has a fine extended cameo as a speech therapist while a youthful Marisa Tomei is gorgeous and funny as Stallone's daughter. There are also plenty of smaller roles for the likes of Kurtwood Smith, Martin Ferrero and Yvonne De Carlo to help make the experience a little more bearable.