KNOCKAROUND GUYS

US, 2001, 92 minutes, Colour.
Barry Pepper, Andy Davoli, Seth Green, Vin Diesel, John Malkovich, Tom Noonan, Dennis Hopper.
Directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien.

Knockaround Guys is a Mafia story, set in Brooklyn. It shows young boys growing up in the shadow of the father generation. It also then moves to the present with the young adults trying to make their mark.

The film was written and directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien who had written Rounders and then went on to adapt John Grisham’s The Runaway Jury and write such films as Ocean’s Eleven and The Girlfriend Experience for Steven Soderbergh.

The film was completed in 1999 but sat on the shelves for some years before release. The four young men are played by Barry Pepper, very serious, Seth Green, comical, Vin Diesel as the standover type, Andy Davoli as the young man who wanted to manage his restaurant rather than be a Goodfella.

The film has farcical overtones – Matty (Barry Pepper) has not been able to kill someone while a child, under the tutelage of his uncle (John Malkovich). He grows up wanting to be a sportscaster but is continually turned down because of the reputation of his father (Dennis Hopper). When he wants to prove himself to his father, his volunteers to collect some money and bring it back. He gets his friend, the comical Seth Green, a pilot, to fly the money back – but, while refilling at a Montana airport, two young kids take the unattended baggage and complications ensue. The young men join the pilot and fall foul of the locals, while trying to intimidate them so they can find out who took the money, as well as of the corrupt local sheriff (Tom Noonan). Then the uncle comes to sort out the mess – with plot complications.

1. A Mafia movie? The generations?

2. The Brooklyn world, the streets and restaurants, the offices? The musical score? The atmosphere of the Mafia? New York and Brooklyn style?

3. The contrast with Montana, the open spaces, the small town, the police, the bars?

4. The title, the two senses of knockaround?

5. The introduction to the Mafia world, the boys, the father in jail, the uncle managing business affairs? Tough gangsters, betrayals, shootouts, restaurants? Jobs? Matt and his fear, his uncle letting him off the shooting? The uncle looking after him while he was growing up? The effect on the boy?

6. The next generation, the four friends and their characters, the glimpses of them in the past, the transformation into adults? Matty, the presence of his father out of jail, wanting to have his own life, the interviews and the fallout, the reputation of his father, wanting to measure up to his father? Marbles, comic and inefficient? Chris and his managing his restaurant? Taylor, the standover type, tough? Their strong friendship?

7. Matt’s father, tough, his empire, his period in jail, his reputation, needing money for deals, his protecting his son, his expectations of his son?

8. Uncle Teddy, the hard man, relationship with Matt’s father, with Matt, advice?

9. The situation, the need for the money, to be collected, Matty urging his father to let him get it, using Marbles to fly the plane?

10. Marbles, his character, jokes, flying the plane, his confidence, the trip, collecting the money, landing in Montana, wary of the sheriff, leaving the bag unattended, its disappearance, his desperation?

11. The kids lounging around, taking the money, thinking big, wanting to spend it? The confrontation with the sheriff, their families? Giving the money back?

12. The reactions of the young men, Matt and his desperation? Their coming to Montana? With Marbles, the strategy, trying to give an impression of toughness, frighten people to confess, the picking of the fight in the bar, the violence of the fight – and the later repercussions? The types in Montana?

13. The sheriff, on duty, his family? His assistant? Tough, working out who had the money, pursuing the kids, threatening them? Pursuing the men, the arrest?

14. Uncle Teddy coming, acting tough? The fights, the locals, the treatment of the boys by the sheriff, his assistant, the violence? The shootings?

15. The revelations about Uncle Teddy, the confrontation with Matt, his fears with the gun, shooting his uncle?

16. The resolution, going home to his father, the future in the Mafia? A picture of the Mafia types, tough, corrupt, crime?