April 26, 1991
Oscar is a 1991 American comedy film directed by John Landis. Based on the Claude Magnier stage play, it is a remake of the 1967 French film of the same name, but set in Depression-era New York City. Oscar stars Sylvester Stallone, in a rare attempt at a comedic role, as Angelo "Snaps" Provolone, a mob boss who promises his dying father that he will leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Alongside Stallone, the film's cast includes Marisa Tomei, Ornella Muti, Tim Curry and Chazz Palminteri. Its score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
According to Landis, Oscar was stylistically influenced by older Hollywood comedies, particularly those belonging to the "screwball" genre, that were popular during the period in which the film takes place. Oscar was released in the United States on April 26, 1991, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Storyline[]
In 1931, gangster Angelo "Snaps" Provolone promises his dying father that he will give up a life of crime, and instead "go straight", complete with turning his trusted lieutenants in Connie and Aldo into his house assistants.
A month later, Snaps awakes at his mansion and begins his important morning. He has a meeting with several prominent bankers, as he hopes to donate a large sum of cash and join the bank's board of trustees, thereby having an honest job and keeping his word to his father. Anthony Rossano, Snaps's young, good-natured accountant, arrives at the mansion, asks for a 250% raise, and tells his boss that he is in love with "Snaps' daughter" and plans to gift her money he had taken from cooking the books that came out to roughly $50,000 that he turned into emeralds. Snaps is furious and does not want his daughter marrying Anthony; Snaps goes to talk to his daughter, Lisa.
The only child of Snaps and Sofia, Lisa is a spoiled daughter whose dreams of seeing the world's great sights run into a roadblock because of her overly protective father. Wishing to move out of the house, she lies to her parents at the suggestion of the maid, Nora, and claims to be pregnant. Snaps, believing the father to be Anthony (as he wants to marry "Snaps' daughter"), is shocked when Lisa says the father is Oscar, the former chauffeur who is now serving overseas in the military.
Things get even more complicated when Anthony learns that Theresa, the woman he fell in love with, is not actually Snaps' daughter as she had claimed to be. Family matriarch Sofia demands Snaps find a man to serve as the father to the baby. Before Anthony can catch on, Snaps tricks him into agreeing to marry his actual daughter, Lisa, complete with giving the jewels as a wedding gift to Lisa. Both Lisa and Anthony are unhappy at the hasty arrangement, but the pair luck out when Anthony finds Dr. Thornton Poole, Snaps's dialectician (whose frequent world travels appeal to her adventurous nature) is a suitable match for Lisa. Anthony tries to get the jewels back by paying Snaps $50,000 that he also happened to have through further prior creative accounting. Things get complicated when a bag containing the jewels is accidentally swapped with one involving the underwear of a maid that left the mansion after being fired by Snaps to go along with Anthony's bag of $50,000 meant to be swapped for the bag of jewels; Snaps even mistakenly asks Poole to marry his daughter while presenting the bag of underwear twice.
Meanwhile, local police lieutenant Toomey is keeping an eye on the mansion, believing that Snaps is meeting with Chicago mobsters soon. Also watching Snaps is mob rival Vendetti, who also believes that Snaps is meeting Chicago mobsters. Vendetti plans a hit on Snaps in the early afternoon while Toomey plans a raid at the same time to catch Snaps red-handed.
While Anthony returns back to the mansion to give back the bag of jewels in favor of seeking out Theresa, Snaps meets his mansion's new maid, Roxie. As it turns out, Roxie is an old flame of Snaps, and the pair talk memories and the life that never was, complete with going to the convent when she found she was pregnant with the child of Snaps, who she named Theresa. The impromptu celebration of both his daughters' engagements is cut short by the arrival of the bankers. During the meeting, Snaps senses the bankers are giving him a raw deal — they do not intend to give him any actual influence in the bank's operations, despite the money he is willing to invest. The meeting is interrupted by police officers and Toomey, who is embarrassed to find no money or gangsters present on site. He leaves the mansion just in time for Vendetti's car full of armed men to crash right outside. Toomey smiles at reporters and arrests the men.
Despite his father's wishes, Snaps realizes that he would rather deal with gangsters and gunmen than "respectable" bankers, and decides to abandon his short-lived honest ways and return to a life of crime. The final scene of the movie shows a double wedding for both his daughters. Oscar himself finally appears and objects to Lisa's marriage, but he is brutally beaten, carried off and stuffed into the trunk of a car by Snaps' men and the weddings end happily.
Also See[]
- Oscar (1967)