The Funeral (1996 film)

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The Funeral
File:The Funeral movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Abel Ferrara
Produced by Mary Kane
Written by Nicholas St. John
Starring Christopher Walken
Chris Penn
Annabella Sciorra
Isabella Rossellini
Vincent Gallo
Benicio del Toro
Gretchen Mol
Paul Hipp
Paul Perri
Robert Miano
Music by Joe Delia
Cinematography Ken Kelsch
Edited by Mayin Lo
Jim Mol
Bill Pankow
Distributed by October Films
Release dates
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  • August 28, 1996 (1996-08-28) (Italy)
  • November 1, 1996 (1996-11-01) (U.S.)
Running time
99 min.
Country United States
Language English
Italian
Budget $12,500,000[1]
Box office $1,412,799 (worldwide)

The Funeral is a 1996 American crime-drama film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra, Isabella Rossellini, Vincent Gallo, Benicio del Toro and Gretchen Mol.

The story concerns the funeral of one of three brothers in a family of gangsters that lived in New York in 1930s. It details the past of the brothers and their families through a series of flashbacks, concluding with a shocking scene of graphic violence.

Chris Penn won the best supporting actor award at the 1996 Venice Film Festival for his performance.

Plot

The film begins with the funeral of one of the three Tempio brothers. These men are violent criminals. Mourning the passage of their beloved brother Johnny are Chez and Ray. Ray is cold and calculating. Chez is hot tempered. Flashbacks show us that Johnny was more sensitive. Exposure to Communist meetings as a spy sway Johnny's opinions.

The chief suspect in Johnny's murder is rival gangster Gaspare Spoglia.

Ray and Chez swear revenge. Ray's wife, Jeanette, opposes the campaign of retribution and the violence it will bring, while Chez' wife, Clara, struggles to deal with her husband's obsessive nature.

As it turns out, Johnny was not murdered by rival gangsters, but by a man who first claimed Johnny had raped his girlfriend, but who later admits, just before Ray kills him, that he wanted revenge because Johnny had beaten him up in front of his girlfriend and friends.

As he buries the dead murderer, Chez reflects on his brothers' lives before the tragedy. He then returns to Ray's house and shoots and kills Ray and all of his bodyguards. Chez then shoots Johnny, lying dead in the casket, before putting the gun in his own mouth and committing suicide as the family women wail over Ray's dying body.

Cast

References

External links