The Irishman
1 FRANK AND RUSSELL
Nick de Semlyen: “What’s the problem, kid?” With this question, East Coast crime boss Russell Bufalino (a man who, legend has it, was an unofficial advisor on The Godfather) hoves into the life of truck driver Frank Sheeran. It’s a fascinating relationship, not only in the way its tendrils snake into Frank’s personal life — Russell is both mentor and de facto family member — and in how the de-ageing tech allows Joe Pesci to play a character much older than that of Robert De Niro, once his big brother in Raging Bull. The peculiar friendship reaches its awful culmination on a 1975 road trip, as Russell, who speaks only in obliquities, issues a death sentence for Hoffa: “We did all we could for the man.” The look on Frank’s face is heartbreaking, and the moment made all the more chilling by dint of the fact Russell is casually mixing up a salad (special ingredients: Catania olives, red wine vinegar from Angelo’s guy) as he breaks the news.
2 FRANK IN THE WAR
Frank’s adventures in Italy during World War II are about far more
