State of Grace (1990) Orion/Drama-Action RT: 134 minutes Rated R (pervasive language, strong bloody violence, brief nudity, sexual content, drug references, adult situations) Director: Phil Joanou Screenplay: Dennis McIntyre Music: Ennio Morricone Cinematography: Jordan Cronenweth Release date: October 5, 1990 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, John Turturro, Burgess Meredith, R.D. Call, Joe Viterelli, John C. Reilly, Deirdre O’Connell, Marco St. John, Thomas G. Waites, Brian Burke, Michael Cumpsty, James Russo. Box Office: $1.9M (US)
Rating: *** ½
It doesn’t take a wise guy to figure out why the gangster drama State of Grace failed at the box office. Its release was poorly timed. It opened against Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Any gangster-themed title would struggle against one of the titans of mobster movies. It certainly didn’t help that Miller’s Crossing and King of New York opened around the same time too. It got lost in the shuffle which is a shame because it’s a good movie.
Directed by Phil Joanou (U2: Rattle and Hum), State of Grace sets itself apart from other gangster films by not glamorizing the lifestyle. It’s a gritty, realistic piece that shows us how it really is for those who live on the wrong side of the law. Its characters aren’t surrounded by piles of money and cocaine. They don’t live in huge mansions, drive expensive cars or run around with sexy supermodels. These low-level hoods operate out of Hell’s Kitchen, a predominantly Irish-American neighborhood in NYC, a hellhole marked by crumbling buildings, dark alleys and violence. They live in crummy apartments, drive junkers and get drunk in shabby bars every night. They’re losers who think their boss has it made because he lives in a middle-class house in suburban New Jersey.
Former neighborhood boy Terry Noonan (Penn, Mystic River) returns home after a long absence where he reconnects with childhood friend Jackie Flannery (Oldman, Sid and Nancy) whose older brother Frank (Harris, Apollo 13) now runs the local mob. He also rekindles his relationship with Jackie’s sister Kathleen (Wright, The Princess Bride) who now lives uptown, far away from the old neighborhood and her family of criminals and killers. It isn’t long before Terry is part of the gang which is what he wants for reasons I won’t reveal. I’ll only say that he spends a great deal of time agonizing over his divided loyalties.
Change is in the air with the first signs of gentrification in Hell’s Kitchen. Yuppies are starting to move in and soon there’ll be no room for guys like Jackie and Terry. This is why Frankie is looking to make a deal with the Mafia to sell them his territory and leave the life behind. This means a great deal of ass-kissing on his part when dealing with the Don (Viterelli, Analyze This). Things get complicated when Jackie executes the Mafia guy he thinks killed his friend over an unpaid debt. Something like this could potentially spark a gang war; that is, unless Frankie is willing to make it right.
Joanou assembles a first-rate cast for State of Grace. All of them deliver fine performances, but Oldman is the true stand-out as unhinged Jackie, a guy who keeps the severed hands of dead hoods in his freezer for their fingerprints. What better way to mess with the cops. In addition to being mentally unstable, he’s not all that smart. He thinks he’s doing the right thing for his people, but it usually turns out to be the wrong thing. He’s an all-around screw-up. If not for his big brother constantly covering for him, he’d be dead by now. Harris is quietly menacing as the mob boss who tries to keep a distance between him and the crimes he orders his employees to commit. He’s faced with the difficult decision of what to do about Jackie. He’s family, but he’s also a liability. Can he bring himself to kill his own brother? Maybe he should ask Michael Corleone.
As Terry, Penn embodies a basically decent man tormented by conflicting loyalties which contribute to his rocky relationship with Kathleen who wants nothing to do with him after learning of his past deeds and his real reason for coming home. He’s further distressed by the possibility that he might have to betray his own people. I won’t say how; I won’t say why. I’ll just say it adds an extra level of drama. I can’t say too much else about Penn’s performance without spoiling the big revelation at the midpoint mark.
In an early performance, Wright delivers a strong performance as a woman described as cold by those who know her best. Her emotional shut-down is in response to her family’s criminal activities. She knows her brothers’ life expectancy is short due to their chosen profession; she chooses not to feel anything for them so she’ll be ready when the inevitable happens. She briefly warms up to Terry until she finds out he’s in the life too. It’s her only defense against the cruel, violent reality of a life she wants no part of. Veteran actor Burgess Meredith (Rocky I-III) shows up briefly as an elderly man who owes money to Frankie. When Terry shows up to collect, the old man drops a bombshell as he eats stewed tomatoes from a can.
It would erroneous to define State of Grace as an action movie even though it features a couple of well-orchestrated action scenes including the bloody finale. It’s more of a neo-noir crime drama dealing with low-level criminals and the lives they lead. Joanou gives us an inside look at a community outsiders will never fully understand. I can’t say with any degree of certainty whether State of Grace is an accurate portrayal of such a lifestyle, but it definitely strikes a chord. The cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth enhances the movie’s gritty attitude while Ennio Morricone contributes a wonderful score.
The choice of songs on the soundtrack is pretty cool. It’s no surprise that one of Irish rock band U2’s songs (“Trip Through Your Wires”) is used. It’s only appropriate since (1) the movie is about Irish mobsters and (2) Joanou directed the brilliant documentary U2: Rattle and Hum. Unlike Scorsese, he doesn’t use the soundtrack to propel the action of the movie. It’s merely a backdrop for the drama of the story.
I’m one of the few people who saw State of Grace at the cinema. It looked pretty cool on the big screen. I remember thinking it was strikingly similar to the gangster movies of the 30s in the sense it doesn’t glorify the lifestyle. At the same time, it’s modern with its complex and tormented protagonist. Although it runs a little long, I think State of Grace is one of the most interesting and overlooked gangster films of the 90s.
