OT- Yonkers Joe movie/DVD

ShortBusDriver7 · May 19, 2009

Hey gents,

I was wondering if anyone has seen Yonkers Joe? It comes out on DVD tomorrow, May 19th. I am friends with the production team and wanted to vouch for the movie's quality as an indie action drama. The production crew has been involved with the sports gambling world in Vegas for many years, and I'm sure you are all aware of Phil Ivey, who also produced the movie.

The movie centers on Chazz Palminteri's character, Joe, who is a con man and dice hustler looking to make a big score. Most folks know Chazz from his film, A Bronx Tale, which is now making it's way around the country as a one-man theater play. The lead actress is Academy Award-winner Christine Lahti, who plays Chazz's squeeze.

The plot is made up of a mix of dramatic scenes involving the re-emergence of Joe's mentally challenged son(who has grown too old to live away from home) and a plethora of gambling scenarios- from betting harnesses at Yonkers, taking the Dodgers in the nightcap, hustling 4 aces in a poker game, and finding the perfect way to make fixed dice for the Vegas finale.

Unlike some of the recent gambling movies, such as 21, all of the gambling scenes and tricks are actually done and the DVD includes extras that shows how the moves were performed. I haven't previously seen this shown on other flicks.

I saw that Yonker Joe's final scene at the craps table in Vegas was represented in the recent RX's discussion on the best Gambling Scenes of All-Time. I was pretty surprised to see that, being such a low-budget flick, but I fully agree with the poster on the quality.

wilheim · May 19, 2009

Yonkers Joe..

Chazz Palminteri has the title role in "Yonkers Joe." Alongside are his love interest Janice (Christine Lahti) and his mentally challanged son Joe Jr. (Tom Guiry)..

Yonkers Joe (Chazz Palminteri) is an old-school gambler who scams Atlantic City casinos, dances on the brink of commitment with his lovely accomplice, Janice (Christine Lahti), and fends off responsibility for his severely autistic teenage son, Joe Jr. (Tom Guiry).

In terms of inspiration, Yonkers Joe (directed by Robert Celestino) breaks about even with its eponym. In the film's most animated sequences, Joe and his crew are like a troupe of crooked magicians, out-dazzling each other with new tricks and devices, always looking not just for the biggest payout, but the most elaborate dupe. When Joe Jr. ages out of his treatment facility, Joe contemplates a risky pull, one that will yield enough money to send the boy to a home where the walls are perhaps padded with cashmere.

The trio ends up in Vegas, where Janice's diligent affection toward Joe Jr. backfires in the worst way imaginable, and the latter redeems himself by entering into his father's hustling fray. Lahti burns through a thinly written role with a surprising level of warmth and humanity, and Guiry is at times repellently convincing as a kid genetically incapable of either nuance or fakery.

Review from The Village Voice..