29th Street

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

A hybrid cross-pollination of a Martin Scorsese and Frank Capra film, this feel-good comic fantasy is loosely based on the real-life story of a New York lottery winner. Anthony LaPaglia stars as Frank Pesce Jr., a New Yorker with a good-luck streak that is unmatched in his Little Italy neighborhood. When Frank throws a pair of dice in a game of chance, he doesn't just toss a winning hand, the dice land on top of each other. When he's stabbed in the chest by a girlfriend's brother, his doctors find a pre-cancerous tumor. Although he tries again and again to get rid of a vehicle he no longer wants, it is retrieved every single time by the authorities. So when New York announces its first statewide lottery in 1976, Frank buys one ticket and immediately becomes everybody's best friend. Unfortunately, Frank's good luck is matched by the equally bad luck of his hard-working father, Frank Sr. (Danny Aiello), who has run up a gambling debt to a local mobster. The wise guy is willing to forgive the note if Frank Jr. will just hand over his sure-to-be lucky ticket, leaving the city's luckiest Italian-American in a bit of a moral quandary. The real Frank Pesce Jr. executive produces and co-stars in 29th Street as his own police officer brother, Vito. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • • Widescreen presentation (1.85: 1) enhanced for 16x9 tvs
    • Audio commentary with wrtier/director George Gallo and cinematographer Steven Fierberg
    • Making of featurette
    • Theatrical trailer
    • TV spot

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  George Gallo

• Producer:

  David Permut

• Screenwriter:

  Frank Pesce

• Book Author:

  James Franciscus

• Screenwriter:

  George Gallo

• Book Author:

  Frank J. Pesce

• Cinematographer:

  Steven Fierberg

• Composer (Music Score):

  William Olvis

• Editor:

  Kaja Fehr

• Production Designer:

  Jerry A. Baerwitz, Bob Ziembicki

• Art Director:

  Dayna Lee

• Co-producer:

  Ellen Erwin

• Associate Producer:

  Frank Pesce, James Franciscus, Pierce Gardner, Katie Jacobs

• Executive Producer:

  Jerry A. Baerwitz

• Set Designer:

  Hugh Scaife

• Costume Designer:

  Peggy Farrell

• Stunts:

  Danny Aiello III

• Casting:

  Louis Di Giaimo

REVIEW:

• Bubbling with good-natured charm, the directorial debut of Midnight Run screenwriter George Gallo breezes along on a likable current of cheer, buoyed by excellent performances from leads Danny Aiello and Anthony LaPaglia. Although the ostensible plot involves the first New York State lottery winner and is based on a true story, the real fun of Gallo's film is its depiction of an Italian-American clan in a humorous, blessedly nonviolent manner. Without a doubt, the characters in this film owe a debt to the wise guys who came before in the films of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. On the one hand, they're from the same world: They argue, love, eat, and work heatedly, and they scheme after better lives by performing duties somewhat outside the legal boundaries of society's rules, adhering to their own set of eccentric standards. The difference is that the characters here are not murderers, crooks, and criminals, but working-class salt of the Earth types with dreams both large and small, people that would have been instantly recognizable to Frank Capra. Despite a formulaic and somewhat anecdotal script, perhaps to be expected since it's loosely based on someone's real-life biography, 29th Street is a triumph because it never loses focus on what's best about it: Its full-bodied, amusing cast of big-as-life characters. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi