Liam Neeson is back with a bang in his latest ass-kicking action film, Run All Night.
Everyone thinks that the Italian mafia are the bad boys of ethnic organised crime in America, but you can fuggedabout the Cosa Nostra – the Irish mafia is where it’s really at.
In the build-up to that most Irishest of Irishy days, St Patrick’s Day, and to celebrate the release of Run All Night, we’ve decided to pick five of the best Irish mob movies set in the United States from the past 25 years.
Run All Night stars none other than the Beasht of Ballymena, Mr Liam Neeson, as an aging, Irish-American hitman called Jimmy Conlon and who is forced to go up against his former mob boss and childhood friend, the ruthless Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris).
The film is released today, Friday 13th March, and you’re right, that day is unlucky for some… especially the hordes of enemies who Liam Neeson takes a shortcut through as he makes his way across New York city in a bid to protect his estranged son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) from certain death.
Some fathers and sons bond by playing catch, some go for ice cream together, but not these guys; they fight for survival and Run All Night.
Have a look…
Clip via Warner Bros. UK
Gangs of New York (2002)
Martin Scorsese’s epic Irish gangster drama is also set in the streets of New York, albeit during the 19th Century, and although it’s nearly four-and-a-half days long, it’s worth sitting through every minute to marvel in the performances of iconic Irishmen Liam Neeson as ‘Priest’ Vallon and Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill ‘the Butcher’ Cutting.
The Town (2010)
Before he was buffing up for Batman and winning an Oscar for Best Picture for directing Argo, Ben Affleck turned his hand to the Irish-American criminal scene in Boston.
Affleck’s casting of Jeremy Renner as the terrifying pint-sized menace Jem was a stroke of genius. Nice move Ben.
Road to Perdition (2002)
Like Run All Night, Sam Mendes’ Chicago-based film is tale of a father and son on the run from the Irish mafia and was actually the legendary Paul Newman’s final big-screen appearance.
The mob movie also featured a very creepy performance by Jude Law as a hitman-photographer who, get this, first shoots his victims (with a gun) and then shoots his victims (with a camera).
And look! Tom Hanks has a funny-looking moustache!
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The geniuseses geniuii really talented filmmakers that are Joel and Ethan Coen, turned their expert hands to the gangster genre back during the early nineties and pretty much nailed it.
Neeson’s fellow Irishman Gabriel Byrne stars as Tom Reagan, a mob man caught between the power struggle of two rival gangs. Bonus points to this film for being one of the few Irish-American gangster films that actually features a real Irishman.
Sometimes the scariest thing about these films aren’t the terrifying characters chasing the good guys down, but the fake Irish accents that the Yanks playing them put on.
Why do they do this? Why?
The Departed (AKA The Depahted) (2006)
Where to begin.
Scorsese’s second entry in this five-film run-down isn’t just one of the best Irish-American gangster films, it’s one of the best films ever made.
An all-star cast of Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio are all on top form in this Boston-set remake of the also excellent Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs.
There are too many brilliant moments and characters to single out from this film but, if someone with a dodgy Irish-American accent put a gun to our head and forced us to pick our favourite moment, we’d have to choose this NSFW clip of the brilliant Boston back and forth between Alec Baldwin and Marky Mark Wahlberg and his potty-mouthed Funky Bunch.
Clip via habsplek14
Run All Night is released today, Friday 13th March, so what are you waiting for? Go get your geriactioner fix on…
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