This morning on NPR, Jimmy Breslin was talking about his new book, The Good Rat. It was, of course, an interview replete with his raspy assertions that he knew what the real mob was all about, and that stuff in the movies is a lot of hooey.
Yeah, I know Breslin knows more about the mob than I do, but as an enthusiast of mob flicks, I find his attitude kind of irritating. Sure I know "The Godfather" wasn’t for real — it was less about the Mafia and more a sort of grand American morality play centering around the questions of which is right and good: a society built on laws or one on personal relationships between men. Sure, I know that The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight was probably closer to the truth, but it’s a parody, and I suspect "Mean Streets" is even closer. And "Goodfellas" closer than that.
What about "The Sopranos?" the interviewer asked. He copped a plea: "I was working doing columns on… Sunday nights. I never saw it."
Never saw it? Come ahhhn! Who, in the 21st century, is dependent on watching something when the network (is HBO technically a network? maybe not) shows it? It’s better on DVD. I, who didn’t have HBO anyway, am currently in the middle of the fourth season. Somehow, you get the idea that Mr. Breslin is so Old School, he doesn’t own a DVD player, and still lives life in real time.
But I think he’d like it if he watched it. Don’t you?
Anyway, he did admit that DeNiro is really good at playing a wise guy, so that’s something.
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I’m not sure what your point is, but I did graduate from a “silk-stocking” high school in Oak Park, Illinois run by the Dominicans. I found “The Sopranos” to be depressing.
In my graduating class were folks of Italian descent whose families were in the import business. My classmates included a son of Jackie The Lackey Cerone, the nephew of “Mad Sam” DeStefano, and the sons of several less exalted employees of Italian-owned and -operated enterprises in and around the city of Chicago.
I did spend a little time in the homes of some of them after school and witnessed family interactions similar to that portrayed in “The Sopranos.” But my stays were brief. I was sort of an outgoing nerd who was willing and able to help everyone with schoolwork. My ex-wife did spend a lot of time at the nuthouse of Sam Giancana where all were neurotic if not psychotic.
Their tastes in home furnishing were ostentatious, excessive, with marble statues inside and out. Lots of brocade, too, whatever that is. The males’ clothing was impeccable and expensive. In my senior year I drove to school in an eight-year-old Corvair with a dented fender; they piloted new Cadillacs, Firebirds, and Camaros. That’s my claim to a disadvantaged upbringing.
So anything having to do with the Mob annoys me. And so does Breslin.
“still lives life in real time…” I don’t know if that’s “old school” or not…sounds kind of Buddhist to me. Live in the now.