History Characters / TheIrishman

* TheStoic: LampshadedHanging by Jimmy, who points out that it's impossible to tell what he's thinking by looking at him.

* TheStoic: [[Lampshade|Hanging]]d by Jimmy, who points out that it's impossible to tell what he's thinking by looking at him.

* TheStoic: [[Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Jimmy, who points out that it's impossible to tell what he's thinking by looking at him.

* WhosOnFirst: On the topic of the laundromat, which is more of an OhCrap moment than anything comedic:

* WhosOnFirst: On the topic of the laundromat:

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of professional criminals and killers, showing just [[AlasPoorVillain how miserable and pitiful]] a man like this would become if they reached old age.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: He is disgusted at the thought of someone being murdered in front of their family. He calls Lee Harvey Oswald scum for doing that, with the one caveat that only Jackie Kennedy was present.

->''"When I was young, I thought house painters painted houses. What did I know? I was a working guy, a business agent for Teamster Local 107 out of South Philly. One of a thousand working stiffs, until I wasn’t no more. And then I started painting houses myself."''

--> ''"You wanna get cute with me? All that bullshit about your mother and sick and all that dying."''

* HairTriggerTemper: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in the film, but it's still there. This trait is more evident in the memoir, demonstrated by him assaulting his boss at a meatpacking job and also by him attacking the referee during a [[ItMakesSenseInContext boxing match with a kangaroo]].

* NaiveNewcomer: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; He stumbles a little with the Mafia's social mores, and he gets easily fooled and scammed on a few occasions, almost getting himself killed in the process. However, he quickly learns from his mistakes and adapts to the mob life.

* PapaWolf: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]; when he assaults a shopkeeper for shoving his daughter, he winds up traumatizing her. This plays a role in her estrangement from him.

* TheSociopath: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; As a hitman, he has little problem killing people, but killing Hoffa has him racked with guilt.

* TheStoic: [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] by Jimmy, who points out that it's impossible to tell what he's thinking by looking at him.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: He develops a very strong friendship with Frank Sheeran. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by the fact that it isn't strong enough to stop Frank from killing him under orders from the mob, despite Jimmy assuming otherwise.

* {{Jerkass}}: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]]. Even though he isn't as nefarious as the mob and is fairly charismatic, Hoffa also has an unpleasantly vindictive side to him. For example, he is incredibly condescending towards Tony Pro when he asks him for help, insulting him and refusing to get Pro his pension back. Furthermore, while his anger towards some of his incompetence is justified, he takes it out on otherwise innocent employees, inadvertently insulting Frank for instance (which he quickly apologizes for). Possibly the height of his dickish behavior was when he forced a flag to remain at full staff over one of his union headquarters in the wake of JFK's assassination, out of spite to the Kennedy's. In any case, Frank implies that the stress of Bobby Kennedy's relentless investigations and the ensuing trial proceedings caused him to [[TookALevelInJerkass take a level in jerkass]].

--> '''Tony Pro''': Don't forget, "you people" got you where you are.
--> '''Hoffa''': No! Don't! Don't tell me that, you fucking...
--> '''Tony Pro''': That's your problem, Jimmy.
--> '''Hoffa''': Your problem is that you're a piece of shit!

* SurroundedByIdiots: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] while berating his employees for bringing heat on him:
--> ''"I am sitting in a room full of fucking idiots."''

--> '''Jimmy''' ''(talking about Pro):'' He's out of control! What are you gonna do with a person like this?! He's got a hand in everybody's pocket. Shaking down the trucking companies. Can you imagine that? Threatening people! [[{{Hypocrite}} I mean, you threaten people once in a while...Okay. I understand]]. But all the time?!

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Either way, he’s going."'']]

->''"When I ask somebody to take care of something for me, I expect them to take care of it themselves. I don’t need two roads coming back to me."''

* HenpeckedHusband: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]; they have a fairly equal relationship, but while on a drive, his wife demands to smoke despite the fact that he quit smoking, leaving him no choice but to pull over and wait.

--> ''"Mincia."''

* HeroWorshipper: She greatly admires Hoffa not just for being her friend, but also because she genuinely believes in what he's accomplished as a union president. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] due to the fact [[InappropriateRoleModel he's also a crook and in bed with the mob]].

* MoralityPet: For Frank. Ultimately [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], since she estranges herself from him even though he never mistreated her, simply because she can't stand to associate with a man like him any longer.

--> '''Bruno''': ''Somebody else got an interest in that. You know who?''
--> '''Frank''': ''Who?''
--> '''Bruno''': ''I do.''
--> '''Frank''': ''Who?''
--> '''Bruno''': ''No, I do. I own the other part, not "I know somebody who owns the other part."''

--->'''Senator''': ''Mr. Gallo, would you like to make a statement?''
--->'''Gallo''': ''Yeah. This carpet would be great for a crap game.''

[[/folder]]

** He's the polar opposite of Henry Hill. Henry had wanted to be in and joined the criminal lifestyle from an early age while Frank only joined by pure chance when he was already an adult and married with kids. Henry was attracted to the glamour of the lifestyle and is later blindsided by the violent aspect and that his friends have no issue in having him killed while Frank mainly just sees it as a job and is never afforded any illusions about it's positive sides or how expendable he truly is. Henry rises as high as he can through the ranks while Frank is never more than a low level hitman, and any real status he has is in the union. Henry sells out his peers to save himself but has no regrets about his actions, only about losing his privileges, and leads a decently comfortable life after. Frank stays loyal, even after the people he's protecting are long dead, and his actions have left him completely alone with nothing to do but wait for his impending death.

--> ''"When I was young, I thought house painters painted houses. What did I know? I was a working guy, a business agent for Teamster Local 107 out of South Philly. One of a thousand working stiffs, until I wasn’t no more. And then I started painting houses myself."''

!!!Portrayed By: Creator/RobertDeNiro

--> ''"Big business and the government are trying to sow the seeds of dissent among our ranks, at a time when we need unity! We need solidarity!"''

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/AlPacino
!!!Dubbed by: Creator/JoseLuccioni (European French)

--> ''"When I ask somebody to take care of something for me, I expect them to take care of it themselves. I don’t need two roads coming back to me."''

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/JoePesci

--> ''"Why haven't you called Jo?"''

!!!Portrayed by: Lucy Galina (young) and Creator/AnnaPaquin (adult)

!! The Mafia

--> ''"What do you mean 'you people'?"''

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/StephenGraham

--> ''"You don't know how good a friend you got."''

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/HarveyKeitel

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/BobbyCannavale

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/SebastianManiscalco

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/DomenickLombardozzi

!!!Portrayed by: Creator/RayRomano

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Partially subverted. In prison with Frank, he voices regret over his role in Hoffa's assassination, but ultimately confides to Frank that he “Choose us over him. Fuck ‘im.”

* PlayingAgainstType: Zig-zagged. While Joe Pesci most definitely IS known for playing mobsters in Scorsese films, Bufalino is different. He's calm, reserved, and not AxCrazy like Pesci's characters in ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'' and ''Film/{{Casino}}''. He's also TheDon, rather than a low-level goon.

* BrutalHonesty: He makes it very clear to Frank that he had no problem letting the Jewish mob kill him for blowing up their laundromat before Russell hadn't intervened.

** He's the polar opposite of Henry Hill. Henry had wanted to be in and joined the criminal lifestyle from an early age while Frank only joined by pure chance when he was already an adult and married with kids. Henry was attracted to the glamour of the lifestyle and is later blindsided by the violent aspect and that his friends have no issue in having him killed while Frank mainly just sees it as a job and is never afforded any illusions about it's positive sides or how expendable he truly is. Henry rises as high as he can through the ranks while Frank is never more than a low level hitman. Henry sells out his peers to save himself but has no regrets about his actions, only about losing his privileges, and leads a decently comfortable life after. Frank stays loyal, even after the people he's protecting are long dead, and his actions have left him completely alone with nothing to do but wait for his impending death.
** He's a noticeable contrast to Sam "Ace" Rothstein, also played by Robert [=DeNiro=]. While Ace was a high level earner who was valued for his incredible skills, Frank is never more than a low level enforcer and is seen as expendable by his bosses, a fact he's keenly aware of. Ace was a money maker who never got his hands dirty while Frank is a hitman. Ace is attracted to the glamour of the lifestyle and the boost it gives his ego while Frank just sees it as a way to pay the bills and rarely gets exposes to the nicer side. And Ace ends the film having lost the casino but still alive and making money while Frank is left alone and abandoned by his kids with nothing to do but wait for death.

* TooDumbToLive: See BullyingADragon above. It was infuriating to the mob hiearchy that he was openly defying Mafia traditions and putting people in his crew who were minorities. The straw that broke the camels' back was his disrespect towards Russell, who was much better connected and regarded than he was. The order to kill him went out immediately after their confrontation.

* StraightEdgeEvil: As mentioned before and under, he doesn't drink, and instead has a vice for alcohol. However, that doesn't stop him from engaging in illicit activities with the mob.

* CharacterTic: He stutters and stammers a lot when talking, which becomes much more pronounced with age.

* VerbalTic: Has a slight stutter.

* {{Expy}}: In many ways, Tony Pro is a [[UpToEleven more depraved]] version of [[Film/GoodFellas Tommy [=DeVito=]]]. The cast even joked about this, mentioning that Tony Pro is the kind of character one would expect to be played by Creator/JoePesci.

* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He loves his steak.

* WickedCultured: He's actually a pretty good public speaker, as demonstrated when he is introduced.

* BigBadWannabe: He vastly overestimates his importance in the grand scheme of things, deeming himself untouchable and thinking that he can strong-arm the mob into allowing him to retake the Teamsters. In the end, the mob signs him off as a lost cause and has him unceremoniously executed.

* HeelFaithTurn: Subverted. Near the end of his life, Frank maintains contact with a priest, whom he confesses to regarding the murders that he's committed. Despite this, Frank callously admits that he doesn't feel any remorse for his victims or their families, Hoffa being the exception.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Invokes this trope later in his life when he's trying to get back into his daughters' good graces, saying that everything that he did was done to "protect them." Given everything that we know about Frank and his history, it falls flat. Unsurprisingly, his daughters are unmoved and want nothing to do with him.