Oscar (1991)

Oscar is a 1991 American comedy film directed by John Landis. Based on the Claude Magnier stage play, it is a remake of the 1967 French film of the same name, but set in Depression-era New York City. Oscar stars Sylvester Stallone, in a rare comedic role, as Angelo "Snaps" Provolone, a Wikipedia:mob boss who promises his dying father that he will leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Alongside Stallone, the film's cast includes Marisa Tomei, Ornella Muti, Tim Curry and Chazz Palminteri. Its score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
According to Landis, Oscar was stylistically influenced by older Hollywood comedies, particularly those belonging to the "screwball" genre, which were popular during the period in which the film takes place. Oscar was released in the United States on April 26, 1991, and received mixed reviews from critics.
==Plot==
In the prologue, gangster Angelo "Snaps" Provolone promises his dying father that he will give up a life of crime, and instead "go straight".
A month later, Snaps awakes at his mansion and begins his important morning. He has a meeting with several prominent bankers, as he hopes to donate a large sum of cash and join the bank's board of trustees, thereby having an honest job and keeping his word to his father. Anthony Rossano, Snaps's young, good-natured accountant, arrives at the mansion, asks for a 250% raise, and tells his boss that he is in love with "Snaps' daughter". Snaps is furious, does not want his daughter marrying Anthony, and goes to talk to his daughter, Lisa.
The only child of Snaps and Sofia, Lisa is a spoiled daughter whose dreams of seeing the world's great sights run into a roadblock because of her overly protective father. Wishing to move out of the house, she lies to her parents at the suggestion of the maid, Nora, and claims to be pregnant. Snaps, believing the father to be Anthony (as he wants to marry "Snaps' daughter"), is shocked when Lisa says the father is Oscar, the former chauffeur who is now serving overseas in the military.
Things get even more complicated when Anthony learns that Theresa, the woman he fell in love with, is not actually Snaps' daughter as she had claimed to be. Before Anthony can catch on, Snaps tricks him into agreeing to marry his actual daughter, Lisa, who is supposedly pregnant but without a husband. Both Lisa and Anthony are unhappy at the hasty arrangement, and the pair luck out when Lisa falls in love with someone else: Dr. Thornton Poole, Snaps's dialectician, whose frequent world travels appeal to her adventurous nature.
Meanwhile, local police lieutenant Toomey is keeping an eye on the mansion, believing that Snaps is meeting with Chicago mobsters soon. Also watching Snaps is mob rival Vendetti, who also believes that Snaps is meeting Chicago mobsters. Vendetti plans a hit on Snaps in the early afternoon while Toomey plans a raid at the same time to catch Snaps red-handed.
While Anthony seeks out Theresa, Snaps meets his mansion's new maid, Roxie. As it turns out, Roxie is an old flame of Snaps, and the pair talk memories and the life that never was. Theresa comes to the mansion and is revealed to be Roxie's daughter — who was actually fathered by Snaps long ago — making Snaps her dad after all. The impromptu celebration of both his daughters' engagements is cut short by the arrival of the bankers. During the meeting, Snaps senses the bankers are giving him a raw deal — they do not intend to give him any actual influence in the bank's operations, despite the money he is willing to invest. The meeting is interrupted by police officers and Toomey, who is embarrassed to find no money or gangsters present on site. He leaves the mansion just in time for Vendetti's car full of armed men to crash right outside. Toomey smiles at reporters and arrests the men.
Despite his father's wishes, Snaps realizes that he would rather deal with gangsters and gunmen than "respectable" bankers, and decides to abandon his short-lived honest ways and return to a life of crime. The final scene of the movie shows a double wedding for both his daughters. Oscar himself finally appears and objects to Lisa's marriage, but he is brutally beaten, carried off and stuffed into the trunk of a car by Snaps' men and the weddings end happily.
==Cast==
* Sylvester Stallone as Angelo "Snaps" Provolone
* Ornella Muti as Sofia Provolone
* Don Ameche as Father Clemente
* Peter Riegert as Aldo
* Tim Curry as Dr. Thornton Poole
* Vincent Spano as Anthony Rossano
* Marisa Tomei as Lisa Provolone
* Eddie Bracken as Five-Spot Charlie
* Linda Gray as Roxanne
* Chazz Palminteri as Connie
* Kurtwood Smith as Lt. Toomey
* Art LaFleur as Officer Quinn 
* Robert Lesser as Officer Keough
* Yvonne De Carlo as Aunt Rosa
* Martin Ferrero as Luigi Finucci
* Harry Shearer as Guido Finucci
* Richard Romanus as Vendetti
* Arleen Sorkin as Vendetti's Manicurist 
* Jim Mulholland as Oscar
* Joey Travolta as Ace
* Kirk Douglas as Eduardo 
* Joycelyn O'Brien as Nora
==References==
==External links==
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Category:1991 films
Category:Touchstone Pictures films
Category:1990s crime comedy films
Category:1990s screwball comedy films
Category:Films set in the 1930s
Category:Mafia comedy films
Category:American screwball comedy films
Category:Films scored by Elmer Bernstein
Category:Films directed by John Landis
Category:Films set in New York City
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:American remakes of French films
Category:American films based on plays
Category:1991 comedy films
Category:1990s American films