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Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage

THE DUKES MOVIE REVIEW

Directed by: Robert Davi (debut)
Running time: 1 hr. 36 mins.
Release date: November 14, 2008
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical and Crime/Gangster
Distributor: CAVU Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13

Nostalgia can be a bad thing when it affects people not getting on in their life. This is a story of a New York City transplanted 1960s Doo Wop singing group named "The Dukes" who want the lime-light rekindled in sunny California.

Robert Davi stars Danny DePasquale a divorced father of a son in this rollicking tale of a heist along Chazz Palminteri as George Zucco a vain and full size womanizer. They are members of the singing group. They are accompanied by Armond Kaputo (the late Frank D'Amico) who once opened for their group as a standup comedian. As middle age men they reminisce of the yester-years and want their present day life better. Murph Sinitsky (Elya Baskin, a once top airline mechanic lost his career due to excessive pot smoking and now must sell newspapers is another member. The groups' manager Lou Fiola (Peter Bogdanovich) has guided this group into menial gigs and things are not getting better. This is a motley crew of wash-outs who need a break. Danny and George work in their Aunt Vee's (Miriam Margolyse) Italian restaurant and share an apartment.

The fun in this film begins when they decide to pull off a caper and steal gold. This is their solution to all their problems. The mid-life crisis and the struggling to connect to life takes these men on a whirlpool of song, crime and bonding. When I think of the term of a crime story, films like Die Hard, License to Kill, Bronx Tale, and Bullets Over Broadway come to mind that Davi and Palminteri starred in. This film is heavily influenced by Italian films using the Fellini and Rosellini storytelling format, says debut director Davi. Robert Davi's formal study of classical opera served him well. He does his own singing and has a gifted second tenor voice.

This movie is not a block buster flick, however it is full of entertainment. The supporting cast members of Dominic Scott Kay, Eloise Dejoria, Alphonse Mouzon and Joseph Campanella as Giovanni Zorro complete a well crafted film.

FILM RATING (B)