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Prizzi's Honor

Play trailer Poster for Prizzi's Honor R Released Jun 14, 1985 2h 9m Romance Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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85% Tomatometer 40 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
For Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson), life in the Prizzi family is good as long as he honors the wishes of the Godfather (William Hickey). Partanna is respected for ruthlessly carrying out murder contracts, but his wise-talking Brooklyn existence is turned on its head when he falls for a beautiful hit woman (Kathleen Turner) from the West Coast. He follows her back to California, balancing work commitments and his love interest until a new contract makes things difficult.
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Prizzi's Honor

Prizzi's Honor

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Critics Consensus

Disturbing and sardonic, Prizzi's Honor excels at black comedy because director John Huston and his game ensemble take the farce deadly seriously.

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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael New Yorker If John Huston’s name were not on Prizzi’s Honor, I'd have thought a fresh new talent had burst on the scene, and he’d certainly be the hottest new director in Hollywood. Sep 13, 2023 Full Review Variety Staff Variety John Huston's Prizzi's Honor packs love, sex, and murder -- and dark comedy -- into a labyrinthine tale. Feb 5, 2008 Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader As usual, Turner works hard and manages to lend some conviction to a shoddily written part, but she can't connect with Nicholson, whose obscure hamminess leaves him isolated on some other planet. Feb 5, 2008 Full Review Chase Burns The Stranger (Seattle, WA) Huston also directed this movie, and the Academy just loves this family legacy stuff. Beyond that, I find the movie to be pretty dull. Dec 8, 2021 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Since first catching the film during its original run, repeated viewings have always yielded the same reaction: sheer joy at the intricate plotting and delightful performances, yet pronounced disappointment in a problematic climax that leaves a bad taste. Rated: 3/4 Oct 11, 2021 Full Review Eleanor O'Sullivan Asbury Park Press (NJ) Prizzi's Honor, a tongue-in-cheek flipside of crime melodramas, delivers a powerfully funny punch. Aug 16, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (317) audience reviews
randall f Just watched after many years. Definitely one of the better movies of the mid 80s. Great acting and story-you dont see much of either anymore Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/20/24 Full Review Leaburn O Well scripted plot helps carry this film in spite of it starring my bete noir, Jack Nicholson. He’s actually a bit less irritating in this one. Dragged in places but had enough in it to maintain interest and you know multiple twists and turns abound. Saw it on DVD. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/23/24 Full Review Munkhchimeg T Actually, it was not my type of movie, but after watching the movie it tirned quite interesting, recommended Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/22/24 Full Review isla s This is a slightly slow moving crime drama. As far as comedy goes, its quite dark or black comedy. The American-Italian (or, to be more precise, sicilian, so characters claim) accents sound like stereotypes but I suppose I dont know anyone of that ethnicity to say whether their genuine or not, it just seemed a little over the top in some regards. In any case, the main plot is fairly slow to build pace - Nicholson gives an alright performance and there are some engrossing scenes but there are scenes featuring many characters talking around tables, which I took little obvious substance from. Its not an awful film, its definitely ok, it just didn't maintain my interest enough for the most part. There are definitely some amusing moments but not enough for me to feel like this is primarily a comedy film - I'd say its primarily a crime drama film. If it weren't for Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner, this would be a much more cringe-worthy, bad film I imagine but the main performances are entertaining enough for it to be worth a watch, so I suppose I'd cautiously recommend this film, as long as you have relatively low expectations - you may be pleasantly surprised but I doubt it'll be many peoples favourite film or anything like that. Its ok - amusing and diverting, if a little bland/long winded perhaps. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie is so good! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Terrific black comedy. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Prizzi's Honor

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Cast & Crew

Married to the Mob 88% 49% Married to the Mob Watchlist Creator 38% 75% Creator Watchlist No Small Affair 57% 35% No Small Affair Watchlist She's Gotta Have It 94% 72% She's Gotta Have It Watchlist Coming to America 73% 85% Coming to America Watchlist TRAILER for Coming to America Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis For Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson), life in the Prizzi family is good as long as he honors the wishes of the Godfather (William Hickey). Partanna is respected for ruthlessly carrying out murder contracts, but his wise-talking Brooklyn existence is turned on its head when he falls for a beautiful hit woman (Kathleen Turner) from the West Coast. He follows her back to California, balancing work commitments and his love interest until a new contract makes things difficult.
Director
John Huston
Producer
John Foreman
Screenwriter
Richard Condon, Janet Roach
Distributor
20th Century Fox, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
Rating
R
Genre
Romance, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 14, 1985, Wide
Release Date (DVD)
Sep 16, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA)
$26.6M
Runtime
2h 9m
Sound Mix
Surround
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