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Mafia! There’s a Godfather parody too

Mar 25, 2022 05:39 PM IST

The 1998 film is part homage, part spoof and a quick recap of pop-culture references from the era. It’s also a reminder that perhaps we needn’t take even great movies too seriously.

Were it not for VHS tapes and the local video library, kids of the 1990s might never have heard of Mafia! (1998). The oddly named movie (it’s also called Jane Austen’s Mafia!) never made it to satellite TV. You won’t find it on streaming networks.

Lloyd Bridges as Vincenzo Cortino, who hides in an ass’s behind, takes on the name Armani Windbreaker on arrival in the US, survives 47 gunshot wounds, and at one point lights a cat’s tail instead of a cigar. PREMIUM
Lloyd Bridges as Vincenzo Cortino, who hides in an ass’s behind, takes on the name Armani Windbreaker on arrival in the US, survives 47 gunshot wounds, and at one point lights a cat’s tail instead of a cigar.

It’s not playing hard to get. It’s just that no one wants to play it. Mafia! rates 5.5 on IMDb. On the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it scores a measly 14%. This is not a good film.

But for fans of The Godfather trilogy — those who obsess over Nino Rota’s music score, worship every pause Marlon Brando takes before he delivers a line — Mafia! is a reminder that perhaps we needn’t take even great movies too seriously. It’s part homage, part spoof and a quick recap of pop-culture references from the era.

The young Vito Corleone of Francis Ford Coppola’s films is reimagined as Vincenzo Cortino, a postman’s son who runs afoul of the local crime family. He sells flowers, only so his young girlfriend can cheer “Run, florist, run!”, Forrest Gump-style, as he escapes thugs, more of his leg braces falling away with each stride.

The rest of the story is even more ridiculous. Cortino hides in an ass’s behind, takes on the name Armani Windbreaker on arrival in America, survives 47 gunshot wounds, and eventually heads the mafia there. Coppola’s most memorable moments are all here: an emotionally fraught wedding reception, a fatal heart attack, a funeral scene that brings all the family together. But they’re twisted. At one point, Cortino lights up a cat’s tail instead of a cigar. Chucky, the killer doll from Child’s Play, has a cameo, as does Barney the dinosaur.

Lloyd Bridges, whom you’ll remember from other parodies like Airplane! (1980) and Hot Shots! (1991), plays the adult Cortino. Christina Applegate plays Diane, a nod to Diane Keaton, who originally played the wife struggling to become part of the inner circle.

There are the usual parody staples: Visual humour, scatological humour, wordplay (“You lost a lot of blood. But we found most of it.”). But perhaps none more telling of the era than a voiceover flashback meant to be Bill Clinton: “I did *not* have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky; but I *am* wearing her underwear!”

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