Posted on 01/11/2023 1:10:32 AM PST by Cronos
It’s easy enough to forget that Joe Pesci once starred in movies – he’s more or less retired from film acting, giving a total of three on-screen performances in the past 24 years.
Following his exemplary 1990, when he appeared in one of the most acclaimed movies of the year – Goodfellas, for which he later won an academy award – and in the highest-grossing film of the year – Home Alone – Pesci booked a number of top-billed roles, often capitalizing on his facility with slapstick comedy, his Scorsese-bred gangster attitude, or both. Some worked; many didn’t. Pesci remained in demand, but by the decade’s end, he stepped back from movies, unofficially retiring with his status as a character actor who got an unlikely shot at stardom.
....Pesci’s Oscar for Goodfellas – as best supporting actor, naturally – was both a worthy recognition and a prelude to a pigeonholing, as Oscars so often are. As Tommy DeVito, Pesci plays volatile sideman to the more controlled burn of his frequent on-screen partner Robert De Niro, as well as the film’s younger narrator, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). In his most famous scene, Pesci essentially confronts the other characters over his own scene-stealing: “Funny how? What’s funny about it?” he demands to know when Henry tries to compliment him on a well-told story. After a minute, Tommy relents, and everyone laughs about it, but the scene still feels like a warning from Pesci: don’t trust that this mouthy, magnetic guy is going to settle into comic relief. Indeed, he doesn’t: another round of barroom joshing ends with Tommy murdering a lackey in cold blood.
...Pesci is such a consummate supporting player that even in his greatest starring vehicle, he shares the driver’s seat.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
He’s a funny guy
One of his finest moments:
WARNING!
Adult words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66XdulPrBM
The Drive Thru.
Funny how?
My Cousin Vinny!
My Cousin Vinney was the whip!!
20 or so years back, George Carlin ended one of his shows by saying “God bless Joe Pesci!” and he said it more than once.
Hahah. Does he amuse you?
That was funny!
Funny like a clown?
He was not acting. That was him.
He doesn’t shine shoes anymore.
I’ve met him. His screen persona is very close to his real life persona. He just cranks it up a few notches. Actually very personable so long as you talk to him as a regular person.
Lol!
Is the author SERIOUS? How could ANYONE think of Joe Pesci and NOT remember that he starred in some of the most memorial movies of all time?
Do you think he's funny? Funny how?
I see what you did there!
Yep.
I enjoyed Pesci in the Lethal Weapon Series and in Goodfellas
” Ken I haf a gun, no really, gimme a gun...”
He's like a clown to me. He amuses me. He's here to make me laugh.
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