Jerry and Tom

Plot synopsis:
Hit men Tom and Jerry wait in a Chicago bar for the go-ahead to kill Stanley. Anxious to get the hit done, Jerry suggests they perform the hit immediately; Tom refuses, and Stanley entertains them with jokes. As the phone rings, the film shifts to a flashback set ten years earlier, in 1984. Jerry, a youth employed at Billy's used car dealership, joins Tom as he walks with Karl. Karl describes how a local gangster bit off the nose of Karl's nephew. Disturbed by the audaciousness and brutality of the attack, Tom promises to look into the issue. However, Karl becomes spooked when they enter Tom's car, and Karl begins bargaining with Tom, to Jerry's confusion. Tom agrees that the two are friends with a long history but strangles Karl after an apology. Jerry throws up but insists that he is otherwise fine.
Tom's next hit involves a trip out of state. Jerry tags along, and when he becomes surly, Tom allows him to accompany him to the site of the hit itself, a cinema. There, they meet an unnamed man who becomes annoyed with their loud conversation in which Jerry describes a domestic dispute with his girlfriend, Deb. The man in the cinema tells them the story about how he and his fiancée, Vicki, the star of the low budget action film he is watching, angered the mob. After hit men assassinate Vicki via a weapons mishap on the set, he goes into hiding and loses his will to live. Moved by the story, Jerry decides to marry his girlfriend, and the two hit men rise to leave. Jerry is surprised when Tom slits the throat of the man, and Tom admonishes him to not get so emotionally involved in the stories of their victims.
On Jerry's first kill, the two track their victim to a Chinese restaurant. Nervous, Jerry becomes paranoid and makes a spectacle of himself in front of the victim. To calm him, Tom describes Ronald Reagan's final acting performance, a cold-blooded hit man in The Killers. Enthused by the thought of following in Reagan's footsteps, Jerry is able to relax and make his first kill. Later, as the two wait for their next hit, Tom tells Jerry about their co-worker, Vic, who is rumored to have had an affair with Marilyn Monroe and assassinated John F. Kennedy. When the target arrives, Jerry asks to make the hit himself, and Tom impatiently watches as Jerry awkwardly attempts to make a clean kill. After Jerry simply pulls out the pistol and shoots the man head-on, they leave.
Tom and Jerry join Vic for a meal, which Vic has prepared himself. During the conversation, Vic reveals that he intends to publish his memoirs. After Vic describes a feature film adaptation and talk show appearances that he has planned, the trio argue over the appropriateness of such actions and who should play each of them in a film. Tom suggests Don Knotts for Jerry, who becomes offended that the others do not take him seriously. Jerry pulls out a syringe and explains that he is diabetic, only to suddenly stab Vic with it. Surprised and angered, Tom castigates Jerry for killing Vic in such an undignified manner, as they had previously planned to take Vic out back and shoot him after he finished with his dinner, a death that Tom considered more proper for an assassin of Vic's stature.
In their final hit, Jerry panics and accidentally murders an innocent bystander. He then tells a disturbed Tom of how he occasionally fantasizes about killing his family, eventually admitting that he has pointed a loaded weapon at his infant son's head. In the present, the phone rings, and Tom reluctantly answers it; he is given the go-ahead and kills Jerry. After Tom unties Stanley, Stanley reveals that he has been tasked with killing Tom. The film ends as Stanley asks Tom if he knows any good jokes.

Tags: comedy, humor, flashback

Review:
1st watched 4/1/2001 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Saul Rubinek): Witty, black comedy with terrific performances by Mantegna and Sam Rockwell.
The movie starts out in the present as it appears Jerry and Tom are waiting to "do" another person, and then takes you back ten years to show you how Jerry got involved in the business that Tom already has been doing for many years.
A Sardonic Tale of Two Hit Men. This is the movie that brings you into the world of the ordinary hit man, well not the machine gun tottling Mafioso gunmen we're so used to watching in the big gangster movies.
The hit men work as used car salesmen, wipe windows in the lot when free and pay for their own movie tickets.
Young Jerry (Sam Rockwell) learns the ropes from Tom (Joe Mantegna) and witnesses his first murder in the front seat of a car.
Jerry's induction is every bit as abhorrent as one would normally react to seeing a man killed.
In fact Jerry gets to be as ruthless as Tom, to the point that he even takes sadistic pleasure when whacking off his victims.
Apart from a very entertaining script, what makes the movie an excellent watch is the top-notch performances from the cast, especially Joe Mantegna, Sam Rockwell, Maury Chaykin and Charles Durning.
The brutality of the killings is shocking but any darkness in the movie is balanced by the humorous edge throughout.
The movie starts and ends on a sardonic note, the very tone that first-time director Saul Rubinek wanted to create.
Look for a very entertaining two hours of superb characters, situations, and some of the most crafty filming techniques I've seen in years.
This one was worth rewinding and watching the characters more closely to fully appreciate them and many of the scene transitions.
One has to have a morbid sense of humor to enjoy this wry black comedy about two used car salesmen who moonlight as contract killers.
Other than some innovative scene transitions, the direction by veteran TV director Saul Rubinek was nothing special, except I suppose he made good use of a very limited budget.
The story was taken from a play by Rick Cleveland, (`The West Wing' TV series) and Rubinek maintained the theatrical feel using simple sets and concentrating mainly on the actors.Joe Mantegna is an excellent tough-guy character actor and conjures another terrific mobster.
Sam Rockwell is also good as his dim-witted cohort, who begins to like his work a bit too much.
Charles Durning gives a droll performance as an over-the-hill hit man who wants to write a book about his targets.
There are also cameos by William Macy, Ted Danson and Peter Riegert.This is a better than average B movie with some acting performances that are worth seeing.
I saw Jerry and Tom at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.
There are moments of drama and irony in this film, but mostly it's a very well-written and well-acted comedy that is at times hilarious for the ease with which it captures icons and styles from other films while at the same time twisting and mocking them.
This is part of my Scarecrow Video Guide inspired movie-trek, following "Steven Soderbergh's Schizopolis"."Jerry & Tom" is a fun little black comedy, but it reminded me a little too much of another fun little black comedy..."Coldblooded", starring Jason Priestly & Peter Riegert.
I'm not sure which one is lesser known, but they both have something to offer."Jerry & Tom" is the "better" film, if only by virtue of the performances.
Joe Mantegna is always good, and Sam Rockwell can't lose, IMHO.
(It's been at least 7 years since I saw it.) I could tell 10 minutes in that "Jerry & Tom" was based on a play.
It would be a great play, but as a film it's a little lacking.
Aside from Mantegna and Rockwell, Charles Durning is predictably excellent, and William H.
Macy shines in a brief role.Perhaps these two films would make a good double feature.
Watch "Jerry & Tom" first and savor it, then have a few drinks and enjoy "Coldblooded".Next on the trek- "Forbidden Zone"!.
Great cast, even good performances, could not save this film.
Danson and Macy were at their best, and Durning's performance was great, but all were wasted.
The Rockwell character lost credibility after a few years of his boss still saying he was a good kid.
Jerry and Tom are two hit men who engage in clever banter before brutally killing people.
This movie has been described as a black comedy.
The audience is subjected to short, repetitive vignettes featuring the violent ways used to kill the victims.
Joe Mantegna plays his usual Mafia-type hood and Sam Rockwell plays a slovenly, moronic thug who becomes increasingly mean through the movie.
This could have been a much better movie if the killings and the various   inhumane methods used were kept off screen.
We know they were hit men and we know, from their frequent inclusion in Hollywood films, what they do, so why dwell on the act instead of on the story.
This movie's celebration of killing and matter-of-fact brutality combined with its light tone desensitizes its audience.
A tedious, dialogue-intensive story about the vicissitudes of a mentor/protege hitman team, "Jerry & Tom" is a study in understatement with a pointless plot and an ending which may make you want to "whack" yourself for having watched the whole thing..
There are many funny moments, but the overall effect is somewhat slight.What makes it work is the Joe Mantegna/Sam Rockwell duo.
Still, watching these two in "Jerry and Tom" is great fun and there's good support from Charles Durning, Ted Danson and Maury Chaykin.There is a nice sense of whackiness about it all, not only in the dialog and characterization but also in the strange and unique manner in which some of the scenes smoothly segue into each other with unexpected camera moves..
This movie Jerry and Tom was a breath of fresh air, something different.
It was well done and well cast and it was fresh with a different way of changing scenes, more like a carousel effect with sets blending into the next...
I couldn't have a cast a better crew of characters, each one brought just what the needed to their role.The movie develops as a new hit man starts his training under the watchful eye of his teacher.
We watch him grow through the years, from a young long haired hippie to a well groomed hit man.The humor throughout the movie by itself makes this movie worth watching, very subtle at times, and outrageously funny at other times..
Not sure why this hasn't reached a wider audience or gathered higher praise.Awesome Sam Rockwell vehicle and twisted buddy movie starring Sam and the always sly and fly Joe Mantegna.
Macy add great character parts as well.Really good scene-to-scene transitions (plus a cameo) that reminds one of...Bottom line is this is a great idea well executed by great players (with a soundtrack that ranges from Quiet Riot to Dean Martin)..
jerry and tom is a film for those who enjoy films, not movies.
it's creative in it's execution, has a great consistent cast and it's a directorial debut for saul rubinek to boot.the film takes the viewer on a ten year trip through various events of a seasoned hit man and his apprentice.
instead it leaves the audience to participate in the film and do a little time-based investigative work (it's refreshing to see the director give a little bit of credit to the audience to use the brain they've been given).there are lots of long takes and inventive transition shots (one single take, for example, will go from a sunny and hot florida dog race to a snow covered chicago used car dealership without flinching...you have to see it to fully understand it) that may be missed on the average viewer.
but if you have an eye for something fresh, Jerry and Tom should not be over looked.Some viewers apparently have issues with the "blue language" contained within but the fact is that some people swear and some people swear alot!
this isn't the first film to use the infamous "f word" and this is by far not the worst case of such words in a film.As well, violence and bloodshed has become normal in society, it's unfortunate and true, don't blame this film for prompting "teen-agers to open fire on their classmates." (unless you can name a specific instance during a school shooting where the killer cried out "this is for jerry and tom!!")  if anything Jerry and Tom is an apt commentary on how absurd society has come in its response to violence.watch jerry and tom and decide for yourself, don't just go by what some imdb user has said...that goes for my comments as well.
Some very rewarding performances make this movie about paid hitmen / car salesman a special find in your local video store.
Its twice as good as Tarantino's "Jacky Brown" and features the same overly chatty style but Sam Rockwell, Joe Mategna and the other actors in this film look as if they were actually having a good time during filming.
Good to see a mob movie that didn't end with people pointing guns at each other ala City on Fire.
I saw this movie at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 1998.
A black comedy a bit like Pulp Fiction but not as gory.
Joe Mantegna as Tom teaching Sam Rockwell as Jerry how to kill people for money.All the acting is great, but especially Rockwell's.
The movie spans 10 years, during which the character of Jerry goes from goofball teenager to a man who kills for a living and wants to be remembered by other hitmen as a legendary assasin.
One played all the murder victims while the other two played Jerry and Tom. In the film the victims are played by fine actors William H.
Macy, Ted Danson and Charles Durning.Mantegna is perfect as Tom. You see him slowly realize the evil of his profession as his "student" becomes an accomplished murderer..
No one seems to know how to cast this actor, so we may never see him in a major role in a movie with an actual budget, but he and the others (i particularly liked Ted Danson's contribution; funny stuff) do a great job with a low-key directing style by first time feature director Saul Rubinek.
If you're here, you know what the movie's about, so i'll just say that, though not a Hall of Fame candidate, this is an enjoyable dark comedy with some excellent visual touches in transitions from scene to scene..
Joe Mantegna & Sam Rockwell were amazing in this unknown gem.
Do you enjoy films about Hit men?
This movie shows the rise & fall between these two cold blooded characters.
There is a great mix of violence & humor in "Jerry and Tom".
You need to check out this unknown gem....Now on to the cast/characters....First we got Jerry played by Sam Rockwell (Choke, Matchstick Men, Welcome to Collinwood, Heist, The Green Mile, Safe Men, Lawn Dogs, Box of Moon Light, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, & Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) he's a newcomer to the contract killer business who ends up loving his job a little too much plus he's not that smart.
Then we got Tom played by Joe Mantegna (House of Games, The Godfather: Part III, Homicide, Bugsy, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Airheads, Albino Alligator, Thinner, The Last Don 1/2, Joan of Arcadia, Criminal Minds, & The Simpsons -Fat Tony-) he's the veteran of the duo who teaches Jerry everything he knows about contract killing.
Then there's the supporting cast of Maury Chaykin (Death Hunt, The Hunt for the BTK Killer, Nero Wolfe Mystery, Sugartime, Devil in a Blue Dress, & Twins) as Billy, he's the boss who sets everything up plus he owns the car dealership they work at when their not killing people.
Then there's his long time partner Vic played by Charles Durning (The Sting, Breakheart Pass, Sisters, Dog Day Afternoon, The Fury, When a Stranger Calls, The Hudsucker Proxy, Evening Shade, State and Main, & Rescue Me) who's a former contract killer himself who actually taught Tom everything he knows.
Plus we get some great cameos from their victims such as Ted Danson, William H.
I enjoyed "Jerry and Tom" quite a bit.
Joe Mantegna, Sam Rockwell, William H.
The car lot fronting for a murder for hire business is intriguing but the attempts at black comedy mostly misfire, probably due to the very grim motivation of the contract killers.
If on the other hand they had been partners saving their blood money to constantly keep expanding the automobile business, that would have lifted this black comedy to greatness, simply by making the plot more outrageous.
Like he finally woke up and decided to do one great thing before it was all over.Maury Chaykin did his usual disappearing act.
I could give away a lot to those in the know by saying that this should have been his movie.
Maybe being in the company of Charles Durning and Joe Mantegna had something to do with it.
It's STILL "a Sam Rockwell flick".There wasn't enough of Sarah Polley or Peter Riegert.
You see what I'm saying -- great casting.I'd be curious to know if this was filmed in "digital".
(I'm not up on technical.)  Some scenes on my screen seemed over-perfect.That leaves director Saul Rubinek.
(Actually that's an oxymoron because this breed of losers-at-work comedy CAN'T breed.)Jimmy Breslin started it all, I think, with THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT (1971).
And, as another reviewer correctly points out, a failing of this film is that it isn't clear enough about it's own identity.
I'm side-stepping that because there is so much to enjoy either way.I've always been a fan of Rubinek's character work.
Lo and Behold.There are at least two other films I've seen recently portraying mentor and novice hit man.
I think this one will stick with me the longest because Mantegna and Rockwell make such an odd combination.
Tom (Mantega) and Jerry (Chaykin) are experienced hit men waiting in a bar for a phone call to do their next job who currently is tied up before them.
We then jump back 10 years to find a much younger Jerry and Tom, and we trace their development throughout the years.And that's the plot.
The story follows Jerry from a car salesman who gets accidentally involved in his first hit, through the years as he develops more and more of a taste for the killing, while Tom is heading the other way as the more mature hit man who is losing his taste for the whole thing.
However the thin plot is greatly enriched by making the characters the story.Of the two leads Jerry is the most interesting to watch as he changes the most notably over the film, but Mantegna's Tom is as good as a more stable foil for Jerry.
The various victims all have their amusing quirks and are well played by good actors (William H Macy, Ted Danson, Peter Riegert), while other supporting roles such as Vic and Billy (Durning and Chaykin) are great.The whole story is bristling with comedy and style.
The stories the characters tell and the things they say are brilliant, including flashback stories of Elvis, JFK and others are really funny, while other conversations (such as who play them in a movie - "Don Knotts!") are inspired in their hilarity but also their normality.The director Saul Rubinek is very clever in his direction.
In fact he brings clever touches to all the film.
The killing is often hinted at rather than shown and this allows us to focus on the stories and the comedy rather than the moral difficulty behind what you're seeing.The film is funny throughout but it does have it's thoughtful moments and the conclusion is actually quite moving.
Also some may find the lack of plot to be frustrating or boring and find themselves unable to enjoy the stories within.Overall though, this is a light little gem that draws it's comedy from the stories and the characters within the film.
This is filled with clever and funny touches from the opening bar scene right down to the old-fashioned credit scene and Danson's accreditation as "man who loved Vicki"..
Jerry and Tom is similar to Pulp Fiction, with many of the same silly dialogues about trivial things, followed by intense action as a mob movie.
But some people might get tired of the nattering in these scenes, it didn't have the same power as Pulp, and nowhere near the power of The Money Kings, another recent mob movie with Peter Faulk.
(I fell asleep again.) Jerry and Tom seemed like a pleasant enough story but with a final catch which didn't really unfetter my disinterest.
I must get out more.Ron*  Jerry and Tom went STRAIGHT to video in the UK.
Still, Rubinek does an excellent job with his main gimmick for the film...smooth, seamless scene transitions between different time periods and geographic locations.
They are worth waiting for.The movie is a black comedy, but I didn't really find much humor in the wry situations.
I'm not sure if they were not-enough or a little-too-much.Mantegna goes a bit overboard in playing the laid-back "button man" as part-philosopher and part-salesman, but he does an adequate job.
Sam Rockwell fares better as the kid who grows into the profession, enjoying it a bit more than he probably should.
The bit parts they play are overwhelmed by our expectations.I enjoyed the movie, but, if you really want an interesting take on the "old hit-man bringing along a younger guy", try ,"Cohen & Tate" (1989), which I find has much more interesting dynamics between the protagonists.