Outstanding Work to an Outsanding Story

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2019)

Let me start out by saying when Jimmy Hoffa "disappeared", I was almost a teen growing up in the tri-state area. The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, TV & Radio like WWOR, WCAU, WNEW, WFIL, John Facenda, Larry Kane, etc...yeah, the locals and they gave us (with others) the news. And Jimmy Hoffa's "disappearance"... was all over the news there, but you know what...? I didn't know all of what Jimmy Hoffa was at the time, except for "missing union leader", and I had to ask my parents. I wasn't born yet in the 50s, and a baby in the 60s... so my parents filled me in about him, the Unions, Kennedy..and Nixon...the alleged underworld connectors, pensions, pardons....etc., etc. As a young almost teen - much of it flew over my head but, my parents were steadfast in their opinions over those years that Hoffa was dead, and it was a mob hit. End of tale for them.
As the years went on, the stories in the area of Hoffa being dead or alive were coming out. There was the "he's in the witness protection program" one, the Government killed him one, the mob killed him one, he moved to Burlington Island and shares it with the Jersey Devil one, and then my personal favorite...he's dead and buried in the Meadowlands.
So, I now lived long enough to watch the best of mob films and TV series, etc., and looking back, I think I now could believe any of those stories could relate to the Hoffa mystery, but if there was one to be told in film and who could tell it, I had no doubt it would be Martin Scorsese, and here it is.
This is an amazing piece of work from an amazing Director who is telling a "story", with his touches needed, but making you feel like someone at the end of their life, is telling you a story of a mystery - a story you believe, or you don't. But for me, I can.
Scorsese got the best actors in the roles to make this tale believable. Al Pacino rocks as Jimmy Hoffa, as I believe he was and there has to be an Oscar nod there. Robert De Niro, our storyteller, is utterly believable in his role, another Oscar performance there too. The question left for us is -- is "Mr. Paint Houses" telling real? Did it happen this way? And Joe Pesci...Joe Pesci -- my goodness -- he was phenomenal in this role because he was not playing what you expect, what you may have type-cast him in -- and because of which, he did it soooo well, Oscar nod...and dare I say shoe in win? We'll see.
For me, "The Irishman" took me back to those pre-teen days when this was unfolding and happening and in the news and the papers because when names were mentioned...I was like "Hey..! I remember that name!" And the hit at the restaurant - I remember that too, it was in the papers. I was remembering - because...I did...forget. And that to me was such an interesting part of this tale. I remembered. However, at the beginning and end of this film it was mentioned how this generation doesn't know about Jimmy Hoffa. True, but think about that statement. It's really a double edge comment, and gets to the heart of the telling of this tale.
And Scorsese unfolds this tale of admission. He has always told a story, but this is done in such a manner, it grips you. You question. You're not gonna get the high skilled kill mob count you might expect, as this is a tale about one, told by one you'll either believe...or you continue to chase after the other "theories" (which they GOTTA be doing because 30 years went by before they could check up on Sheeran's tale, and up to 2018 with the Documentary 'Riddle' we STILL don't know) --, but the time of Hoffa was more than interesting with government, FBI, the unions, crime, Presidents, paid pardons -- and there are parallels in this tale that remind you of what is happening right now -- which makes you wonder - gee, times may not have changed at all, which is why films like this -- are important to remind all of that very same fact.