* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: When Benny was playing the Piano in what appeared to be a destroyed bar, he had to have ''known'' there was some sort of risk. Was he caught by surprise when the Nazi soldier was behind him and knocked into the chair? Or could he have easily gotten his weapon, but chose not to ''intentionally'' for the sake of [[SuicideByCop wanting to die]]?
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Tony, the angry young man son of Benny who showed some promise as a songwriter before he got blindsided by a drug addiction. He is such an over the top whiner that it's damn near impossible to feel bad for him at all.
* TearJerker: In the scene that the Nazi takes Benny by surprise, the latter plays "[[https://genius.com/Marlene-dietrich-lili-marlene-lyrics Lili Marleen]]" for him; the neutral expression Benny has is...heartbreakingly haunting, to say the least; He knew [[spoiler:he was going to die]], but was absolutely indifferent to it. What really enforced this was the way he cut off the song at the fourth line; it's as if ''he was playing what he was thinking [[spoiler: in his last moments regarding his wife who he was trying to provide for, and saying goodbye to her in his own way]]''.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Out of all the Belinsky members, Pete (who was the primary character interest on the movie poster) got the least amount of character development and story aside from the fact that he was a drug dealer who wanted to play music. Ontop of that, he appeared to have been living with a woman who was hinted to be his girlfriend. They could have expanded on what motivated him to make a stand at the recording studio.
* TheWoobie: Zalmie. By the end of his story, it's easier to name members of his family who aren't dead: his father is killed by the Cossacks, his mother dies in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, his wife is killed by a bomb the mob intended for him and [[spoiler: his son is killed in World War II]]. And to top it off, his singing career never went anywhere due to an injury to his throat while performing for World War I Allies. [[spoiler: One can only guess what happens to him after he rats out Palumbo on live television...]]

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