Not to take anything anyway from this film, but someone needs to totally do a movie about the Westies based off of T.J English's book...probably one of the most ruthless irish gangs ever, so ruthless even the mafia feared them. How can you not want to do a movie about a real life gang that decapated thier victims heads, arms, legs and so forth
shareScorsese/DeNiro are trying to get a movie about Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran off the ground(from "I heard you Paint Houses" - Great book). As they're running ideas about movies you'll see a movie about the Westies sooner or later. They're too infamous to not have a movie done about them. The problem is alot of them or their associates are still alive so its hard sometimes for legal reasons to portray them in movies.
shareThere's a great, under-the-radar gangster film from 1990 (it was eclipsed by the other mob juggernauts of that year, Goodfellas, The Godfather: Part III, Miller's Crossing) called State of Grace.
It's led by a powerhouse all-star cast and is partially based on the exploits of the Westies. Ed Harris' character is a thinly-veiled portrait of Jimmy Coonan, and Gary Oldman channels the explosive Mickey Featherstone brilliantly.
A full-fledged exploration of the fearsome West Side gang has potential, but State of Grace is definetely worth checking out.
"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino
State Of Grace is a really good movie and I consider it to be pretty much inspired by and actually the Hollywood version of The Westies with some liberties in the story and of course not as brutal as it would be if it was authentic. I'd also love to see a movie based on "Murder Machine" and Roy DeMeo probably the sickest most twisted violent Mobster ever him and his crew and The Gemini lounge were just monsters.
shareJust finishing up the Westies and i cant agree more. Coonan was ruthless and to go along with that he often worked with Gambino Roy Demeo. Those were the most 2 feared people in NYC imo. Id love to see a movie on the Westies and also on another subject id like to see a movie based on the Iceman Richard Kuklinski. I think James Gandolfini could play him good even though he already portrayed some kind of mobster type in the sopranos..
shareWho's rougher do you think, the Winter Hill gang, or the Westies. When the Winter Hill Gang fought the Charlestown gang in Boston in the 60's, 110 people were murdered. Some blow torched to death.
shareThe Westies were certainly "rougher", but the Winter Hill Gang was "smarter"...hence their longevity.
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