Kill the Irishman – So Called Mafia

Kill the Irishman chronicles the life and turbulent times of Danny Greene, a tough Irishman who gets involved with the Cleveland mafia.

As far as gangster flicks go, it's not half-bad; but that also means it's generally half-good. That's because it's a relatively unfocused look at a rather complicated and violent life. It honestly feels like there's a good 30 minutes of connective tissue missing from the movie.

Hence why Kill the Irishman is never equal to the sum of its parts. Sure, we get appearances from great actors like Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, and Paul Sorvino. They are just given nothing to do.

Greene, who's played by admirably by Ray Stevenson, had an incredibly compelling story to tell. It's a shame that director and screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh didn't quite know how to do it. This is probably why it never gained much of a following and tanked at the box office. It earned a measly $1.2 million on a budget of $12 million.

Despite all that, Kill the Irishman is not without its merits. And fans of gangster movies, like myself, will find elements to enjoy. For example, Greene punching in the face of a biker who hosts parties at decibel levels discourteous to the neighbors. Honestly, he had it coming.

Now sit back, blow the caps off a couple Conway's Irish Ales from Great Lakes Brewing Co., and check under your car before firing up the engine! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Capt. Cash, Mayor McCheese, and Chumpzilla are defying death by harnessing the power of the Celtic warriors!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Is that all you got? Gonna take more than a few firecrackers to kill Danny Greene! (00:00)
• Lingering Questions – The Double Turn Podcast blows up Vince McMahon's limo, and then we discuss what worked and what didn't work about this wannabe Goodfellas. (49:24)
• The "So Called Mafia" Trivia Challenge – Mayor McCheese challenges the field to trivia about the movie and the wonderful city of Cleveland. (1:00:51)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We start "Hops and B-List Action Star Flops" with the Brian Bosworth biker gang classic, Stone Cold! (1:11:01)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the true story of Danny Greene and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!

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