Just For Fun / Goncharov

The Greatest Mafia Movie Ever Made.

"It is true. I am Goncharov."

Goncharov is a 1973 film written and possibly directed by Matteo JWHJ0715 (yes, that was his legal name... maybe), produced and directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Harvey Keitel and Cybill Shepherd, with John Cazale and Al Pacino. It's been called "the greatest Mafia movie ever made." It follows the story of Goncharov, a former discotheque owner who comes to Naples, and begins to work his bloody way up through the ranks of organized crime. In the process, Goncharov becomes entangled with the lives of Andrey, a familiar face from home, and the Neapolitan mafioso Mario. All the while, his ambitions clash with that of his cunning wife, Katya.

The movie is very loosely based on the obscure 1961 speculative fiction novella Jestem Goncharov by Irma M. Schuss. The novella itself is now out of print. The film was similarly difficult to obtain for many years, due to distribution following its initial limited theatrical run being tied up by conflicting translation rights, the existence of at least seven alternate cuts of the film, rumored interference from the actual mafia, and a very... unorthodox advertising campaign which involved putting the ads not on billboards or movie theater walls, but on the tags for boots. For over two decades, many even considered it to be the Missing Episode of Scorsese's canon, with Scorsese himself famously quipping that "We'll probably see The Day the Clown Cried before we see Goncharov again." The film was finally released on DVD and VHS in 1998, and has seen several re-releases since, bringing renewed appreciation for this long-forgotten masterpiece.

Or at least, that's what the internet would tell you...

For the out-of-universe version of this page, see Goncharov.

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I guess these tropes are Goncharov:

Main Tropes

• Abnormal Ammo: Goncharov loads his Thompson with unusual explosive bullets with a "tantalum jacket".
• Abusive Parents: Implied. Katya tells Sofia she was glad to Shed the Family Name, as it severs a connection to her father.
• The Alleged Car
  • The submarine "Seekuh" that Andrey uses during the (ultimately disastrous) jewelry heist has clearly seen better days, being a rusty old German U-boat that survived the war and escaped scrapping or becoming a trophy, only to be, in the words of the ship's cook, "worked and beaten like a fucking dog" doing smuggling runs in the Mediterranean, with the engineers essentially having to resort to cannibalizing and jury-rigging parts just to keep her afloat and running, and they only barely manage to accomplish this. The poor state of the Seekuh ultimately attributes to the heist's failure when its engine backfires and belches a thick cloud of exhaust smoke, completely blowing Andrey's cover and alerting the authorities.
  • Ice Pick Joe's car, a positively ancient-looking Citroen 2CV, puts the Seekuh to shame. The Seekuh at least, seemed to at least have an attempt by the crew to keep her ship-shape, while Joe's Citroen looks like it was barely even cleaned since it was built. The engine is almost constantly wheezing, the chassis is practically held together by the rust infesting it, and its brakes are practically nonexistent, with Joe at one point stopping the jalopy not by pressing on the pedal, but by sticking his foot out the door and dragging on the ground and tying it to a light pole to keep it in place. Joe reveals that the the car isn't even his, outright admitting that he stole it from an associate, who later calls him not to confront him over the theft, but to profusely thank Joe for finally ridding him of "that accursed contraption of Satan". Joe sheds no tears when the Citroen meets its end, its rope-based parking brake eventually tearing loose and sending it rolling into the harbor, instead giving the Citroen a final eulogistic quip as it sinks beneath the water—and then explodes due to a Vapor Trail from the gas tank and a poorly-tossed cigar.
  Ice Pick Joe: Damned thing finally got what it wanted. Rest in pieces, ya piece a' shit.
• Alternate History: In this movie, the Soviet Union has fallen by the 1970s, almost 20 years earlier than it did in our timeline.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: For the film's Japanese release, the original end credits song was replaced by a rather bizarre Noise Rock cover of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Les Rallizes Dénudés. The cover is now considered lost media.
• Ambiguously Gay:
  • Whilst the film never confirms Goncharov's sexuality, he claims he could never get close to Katya. Katya and Sofia also have a few scenes which very heavily imply they share an interest in women, but like Goncharov, they never explicitly confirm this. There's also a scene where Sofia very blatantly flirts with a (male) taxi driver, but she admits when she gets out of the car that she was just trying to get out of the fare.
• Arc Symbol:
  • Clocks, stopped clocks specifically.
  • Birds in flight, which seem to crop up whenever someone makes a confession. Even if the birds are not visible, such as the rainy night scene where Goncharov admits his true feelings about Katya, they can be heard ruffling their feathers in the background.
• Artistic License – Geography: At one point, Ice Pick Joe talks about his fantasy of partying with "Bolivian beauties" on their beaches. Given that Bolivia is a landlocked country, it's definitely a fantasy. Though it's possible that Joe's simply ignorant of this and that it's meant to be seen as humorous.
• Artistic License – Gun Safety:
  • Pretty much any Katya's suggestions regarding concealment of a firearm. You'd be wise not to follow and of those, particularly if using an older sidearm like she was.
  • Ice-Pick Joe claims that the grip safety on Goncharov's M1911 is a hazard, because pressing on it too hard could cause the gun to discharge in the holster. This is exactly the opposite of how the M1911's patented grip safety works, which was designed to prevent the gun from firing the holster.
• Asshole Victim: It's hard to criticize Katya for shooting Celestino In the Back, given his history of Domestic Abuse. Extends to a lesser extent to almost everyone that dies, given that this is a film about organized crime.
• Ass Shove: Implied. During the stakeout scene, Ice-Pick Joe mentions that he can't sleep without an unloaded gun under his pillow. Why unloaded? "Been strip-searched seven hundred forty six times. They never found my lucky bullet."
  • This may have been intended to be a Chekhov's Gun, but difficulties surrounding the filming of Joe's final scene required most of the action to be cut.
• Bedlam House: Icepick Joe was institutionalized as a young man, and from what we hear, it was awful, with unsanitary living conditions and an abusive staff.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The "Feast of a Thousand and Seven Fishes" dream sequence following Katya's near-death during the boat scene. From Katya's feverish POV we see various ghostly gangsters sat at an underwater table, grabbing at aquatic creatures that swim by and swallowing them whole; when Katya moves around them she can see that they are all victims of impromptu execution, their feet encased in concrete. She exchanges a look of recognition with an unnamed ghost (often mistaken as a young Joe Pesci, but both Pesci and Scorsese deny this), who winks at her, only to have his arm violently broken by a roving octopus. While Katya wakes up mumbling about it, she does not mention her dream in subsequent scenes, and it does not appear to affect the otherwise sombre plot.
• Bizarre Alien Locomotion: Discussed. Valery at one point posits that if mankind ever discovers alien life, said aliens walk by bouncing around on their bulbous ears.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: It's a movie about organized crime. Even the people we're cheering for are scheming, drug-dealing murderers.
• Bookends: The film begins and ends with a shot of a train arriving in/leaving Naples. However, at the end, no one is on it, and there is just a lonely ticking sound.
• The Cameo: yes, that man guarding the computer terminal is a young, trim, Andre the Giant, from the days before he'd signed with Vincent J. McMahon's WWWF.
• Character Catchphrase: Ernesto has "Nice one, boss!"
• Cluster F-Bomb: Goncharov, upon realizing Katya's assumed treachery. Edited out for most Russian versions of the movie, including the infamous "Russian Cut." Even the better Russian dubs have a notable toning down on the language in the dialogue, though it does preserve a few moments where a precise application of vulgarity helps punctuate the tension.
• Cool Car: Katya's LMX Sirex is definitely treated as such in-universe.
• The Consigliere: A sombre cameo by Tony Shalhoub as Nicolai "Herb" Fyodorovsky, Andrey's former childhood best friend, who now rarely sees him. It is implied his exile from Goncharov's circle was caused by his poor advice leading to a botched territory takeover.
  • There are also the three unnamed Consigliere who accompany Don Strelnikov, who give advice to him, Andrey, and Goncharov in separate scenes. Notably, they seem to trade which one is the Honest Advisor to the other two's Yes-Man between the three of them. Each time, two of them simply tell the asker what they want to hear, while the third gives more measured advice that goes ignored. Which one gives which advice changes each time.
• Disabled Means Helpless: Subverted. While Katya does worry after finding out Sofia's right leg is a prosthetic, it's only because she speculates that it's a result of the mafia's more "explosive" criminal activities. Sofia herself is quite capable of handling a gun and being just as tough as the other characters.
• Erotic Eating:
  • The anchovy scene, where Katya slowly eats a tin of anchovies. Her lipstick slowly smears across the fish.
  • Also, arguably, the "Feast of a Thousand and Seven Fishes" scene. Goncharov devours a whole fish like he's going down on a woman.
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: By the end of the film, almost all the characters are dead.
• Eyepatch of Power: Andrey Daddano wears an eyepatch over his left eye. Famously, however, there are several mistakes where a shot appears to have been reversed, and it appears on his right.
• Face Death with Dignity: Mario Ambrosini, and Andrey. The same cannot be said for the other characters in the movie.
• Femme Fatale: Katya's arc infamously deconstructs the archetype. She's a very broken woman who's lost her will to live.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In an early scene Goncharov is seen reading a book with the poems of Russian poet Aleksandr Blok and then cites one to Katya, emphasizing the line: Go on and live another quarter century — nothing will change. When Katya apparently dies, the song heard is the full poem sung in Russian.
    • The last images in the film are also referring to the poem, showing Vinnie's drugstore, then the street and finally a streetlamp.
  • Valery Michailov says that the duke that funded the building of the church died because his wife betrayed him. Guess what happens to Goncharov?
  • Ice Pick Joe mocks Stalin because he died when no one dared to enter his office during his heart attack, while he likely would have fully recovered if he had received help at once and not laid on the floor for hours. Joe ends up bleeding out slowly because nobody wants to disturb him in the cuts of his film where his fate isn't uncertain.
  • Goncharov muses in one scene that he got out of the discotheque business just in time, and that every business has a lifespan. Two scenes later, we see the cracks starting to form in his business with Andrey.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: And a Bilingual Bonus to boot. In the Matteo cut, the paper Andrey is reading at the newsstand has an article on the back on how the police are tightening the focus of an investigation into local drug smuggling rings.
• Freudian Excuse: As the orphanage flashback reveals, Icepick Joe has this in spades. Narrowly escaping a lobotomy as a child changes a person.
• Famous Last Words: Mario Ambrosini: "And so I come to the end of my life. A great man. A good man. I have no regrets. Make sure they don't serve tortellini at my ceremony."
• Growling Gut: Katya insists to Sofia that she's not hungry... only to be undermined when her stomach audibly rumbles.
• Hands-On Approach: Katya gives Sofia a very... friendly lesson in shooting.
• Hell Is That Noise: In-universe, the ticking of clocks has become this for Andrey by the end of the movie. No points for guessing what the last sound is in the movie before the end credits hit...
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: The title character is implied to be the descendant of novelist Ivan Goncharov.
• Homoerotic Subtext: Occurs between both Katya and Sofia, and Goncharov and Andrey.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Is it "Icepick Joe", "Ice-Pick Joe" or "Ice Pick Joe"? Even the official materials can't keep it consistent!
• Indirect Kiss: Goncharov and Andrey via cigarette. Andrey does it again to the (now dead) Goncharov, lighting his cigarette off the one in Goncharov's mouth, right before he kills himself.
• Instant Expert: Sofia claims to have no firearms experience, but after one lesson from Katya, she's shooting like a pro. This has led to speculation that Sofia is lying for some reason, especially given what we know of her background.
• Kosher Nostra: Goncharov is stated to be half-Jewish.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water: Goncharov and Katya are outsiders to both Italy and the criminal underworld at the start of the movie, but manage to adapt quickly during their rise to power.
• Male Frontal Nudity: Ice Pick Joe towards the middle, after washing the blood off of himself from a recent kill.
• Modesty Towel: Katya wears one after having an offscreen bath in one scene. Though it has been rumored that the scene originally had Katya naked after a Deleted Scene showing her in said bath, Shepherd has denied that such a scene was ever shot.
• Murder-Suicide: The film's ending features Andrey killing both himself and Goncharov with a knife. Given that Goncharov had come to Andrey's villa in the first place to kill him, it's ambiguous whether Andrey had planned the act out in advance, or had attacked and killed Goncharov in self-defense, and only killed himself after he realized what had happened.
• Mysterious Past: We know very little of Sofia's past, except that she was orphaned at a young age and "had to take care of herself". She seems fairly unfazed by a lot of the other characters' sketchy situations, suggesting she has a connection to the Mafia, or is at least from a rough enough background that it doesn't really bother her.
• Next Sunday A.D.: The film is set in a vague future some time after the fall of the Soviet Union, which hadn't yet happened when the film was written, but the clothing, technology, and cultural mores are clearly those of The '70s.
  • The only hints that this is, indeed, supposed to be a near future rather than an alternate 70s are Goncharov's comment that he got out of the disco business just as it was starting to crash, and the newsstand selling "15 MB" floppy discs in the Matteo cut.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Senator Milburn (Joseph Cotten) is clearly akin to Senator Joseph McCarthy had he lived. He even boasts that 'Tail-Gunner Joe was like a father to me'.
• No Full Name Given: Goncharov's first name is never revealed.
• Noodle Incident: Ice Pick Joe mentions to Goncharov that the last time he was in Berlin, he managed to get himself banned from every pub in the city (on both sides of the Berlin Wall) within 48 hours. The only context he would give is "Apparently those Krauts don't like the smell of wet badger very much."
• No Sparks: Katya and Goncharov seem to care about each other to some extent, but whether or not they love each other is a whole other matter. They share very little romantic or sexual tension, and both are far more invested in their relationships with Sofia and Andrey, respectively. However, they make a good team and don't seem to be wholly unhappy, either.
• Nothing but Hits: The soundtrack, beyond the original score, features The Rolling Stones and Bobby Winton as well as a great number of artists which were popular in Italy in the late 60s and early 70s like I Camaleonti, Domenico Modugno, Dalida and Aphrodite's Child. Averted with the "Russian Cut", which removes everything but the original score and one Dalida track.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Leonard Nimoy as the nameless ex-KGB agent with the cracked wristwatch. All he does is offer Goncharov a drink and a monologue about the nature of our relationship to time and the past, but afficionados are obsessed with the guy — probably because we know so little about him.^note The role was originally much larger but most of his scenes were cut for time (and also due to Nimoy being unable to go to Italy for reshoots) and can only be seen in the hard-to-find Matteo cut.
  • John Carradine as The Premier of the USSR in the flashbacks.
  • Lionel Stander as the New York boss, Lino 'the Big Fish' Pescegrande.
  • To a lesser extent, Herb Fyodorovsky as mentioned below.
  • Lynda Carter appeared briefly as Dancer #2.
  • John Wayne appears as an odd uncharacteristic cameo as an aging captain of the surplus German U-Boat Seekuh, seen in Andrey's flashback of the botched Naples jewelry heist.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Ice Pick Joe's full name is never revealed. It's only the credits that list his real name as Joseph Morelli.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Subverted in-universe. Goncharov's Italian accent isn't feigned, it's just not particularly pronounced, as it's come from living in Naples for some years. It tends to fall away when he's upset in favor of his native Russian accent. The same cannot be said, however, for Andrey's Russian accent.
• Protagonist Title: Goncharov is about a man named Goncharov.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Herb Fyodorovsky directs one of these at Andrey, delving into the pathetic failure of a human being he's become since their parting. However, Andrey delivers one right back to Herb's face, telling him that at least he didn't flee Naples at the first sign of trouble and leave his business partner with the can of worms they both opened.
  Andrey: You left me here, knee deep in shit, without even pausing to offer a fucking shovel, and then you have the balls to come back and complain about the smell?!
• Red Baron: Ice Pick Joe. Mind you, he will do what he can to downplay this...
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Andrey and Goncharov. While Andrey seems as put-together as Goncharov is, he's also quicker to act in more violent ways, while Goncharov favors a more measured response. Illustrated beautifully when Andrey has a failed smuggler shot when he's caught by the police, while Goncharov has a go-between tell another smuggler (who didn't actually know who he was working for) that he'll be dead if the police discover he's smuggling drugs for the Romanian mafia, knowing that the smuggler will tell the police and that'll give them a little breathing room.
• Reluctant Psycho: Icepick Joe is aware he's not sane or safe to be around, but isn't happy with that, and actually tries to stop the senseless cycle of violence he and the other characters are in. He fails. Miserably.
• Running Gag: Goncharov keeps forgetting which pocket his lighter is in throughout the film. Comes back dramatically in the end, where Andrey asks for a light specifically to distract Goncharov long enough to draw knife and stab him.
• Shed the Family Name: Katya gladly took Goncharov's surname for this reason.
  Katya: What is marriage but a way to escape the names of our fathers?
• Standard Snippet: To go along with the Naples setting, Ennio Morricone's score features a searing guitar rendition of "Santa Lucia" (by Jimmy Page) at several points.
• Stocking Filler: Sofia used to draw a line up the back of her calves to imitate stockings, as she could not afford real ones.
  Katya: Wasn't it obvious?
  Sofia: You don't realize it that much when you're thirteen.
• Stopped Clock: Stopped clocks (and clocks in general) are recurring motifs throughout the film, representing the film's overarching theme of the inability to control the passage of time.
  Goncharov: Oh, it's six already?
  Katya: The clock's broken. It's been six for hours.
• Swan Song: Promising young director Matteo JWHJ0715 died shortly before the release of the movie in a tragic Ferrari accident.^*On an even more tragic note, the same accident also led to the decline and eventual extinction of the Antarctic Woodcock. This only adds to its cult following.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Katya obviously cares for Sofia, but lies to her constantly, is manipulative towards her, and gets her to kill a man. Sofia is not happy to realize Katya hasn't been honest with her. Katya does seem to regret it, but she's too proud to apologize.
• Tranquil Fury: Goncharov's stock in trade.
  Goncharov: I watched too many bezumnyj fools charge face-first into a beating because they got too hot-blooded. You take a moment to cool down, your head stops bubbling... then you decide how you're going to hit him. It works better.
• Unabashed B-Movie Fan: Implied. Sofia mentions experiencing the Percepto: "Scream for your lives! gimmick while fondly recounting a previous, dead-end friendship. Percepto! was famously used in screenings of The Tingler. Although, since she watched The Invisible Man Returns, and Katya gives her a signed poster of The Last Man on Earth, she might just be an unabashed fan of Vincent Price (who played the main character of all three films).
• Uncertain Doom:
  • Mario Ambrosini's wife, Mariella, gives her speech comparing herself to the younger Katya, and then leaves for the Ambrosini house, presumably dying in the ensuing massacre, but we never see her body and no one mentions her again.
  • In some cuts of the movie, Ice Pick Joe, whose fate after being dragged into the church is ambiguous.
  • Similarly, Katya is shot in every version of the film. Most show her unambiguously dying, but one shows her managing to stumble outside and flag down a ride, implying she'll survive and is now on the run, and yet another shows a blonde woman with her back to the camera who might be her at the train station at the end. Katya's survival or lack thereof is one of the biggest debates in the fandom.
  • We never find out what happens to Sofia after she and the dead (or badly wounded) Katya are separated.
• Villain Protagonist: Goncharov. Mind you, there's a lot of that going around.
• Visual Pun: Katya eating Neapolitan ice cream in one scene.

Audience Reactions (YMMV)

• Adaptation Displacement: Even when it was made, not many people knew the movie was very loosely based on a 1961 novella by Polish author Irma M. Schuss. Schuss died three years before the film was released and the novella itself is now out of print, making its origins even more obscure.
  • It’s a little more complicated than that. While JWHJ0715 confirmed that it was Schuss’s work that inspired him, there are actually multiple novels and novellas, all sharing the same basic plot and cast. The original novel was written in 1906 by Russo-Italian author Alessandro Oblomov, titled Goncharov Fell. This in turn inspired a trilogy by another author (possibly famous Russian novelist Ivan Goncharov.)
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Inevitable, in a film this nuanced.
  • Is Goncharov gay or really, really emotionally repressed? Or both? Most fans seem to go with "both". Some also speculate that he is bisexual.
  • Sofia is heavily implied to become The Mistress to Katya, but Goncharov seems pretty cool with Sofia being around and even seems to like her as a person. Is he just oblivious? Does he have no affection for Katya and thus doesn't care what she does or who she does it with? Does he care for Katya but is aware he isn't the best husband and is just glad she's found someone else? If Goncharov is indeed gay, that could also add another layer to why he's understanding and fine with his wife having a lesbian affair.
  • Why did Katya agree to marry Goncharov? Did she love him, or was she a Gold Digger? Was she motivated partially by wanting to escape an abusive parent and/or ex-partner?
• Award Snub: In part due to the troubled situation around the film's release, it was completely snubbed at the 1974 Academy Awards. Many today think that in addition to the nominations for Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay, that the film should have also received nominations for cinematography and score, as well as for at least De Niro and Shepard's acting.
• Cult Classic: Its status as Martin Scorsese's "lost movie" has cemented it with a small but loyal fanbase who extol the movie's virtues and strengths.
• Director Displacement: Martin Scorsese is far more famous in the US than Matteo JWHJ0715, and many people assume the former was the director. It doesn't help that posters for North American re-releases of the film tend to massively overemphasize Scorsese's involvement. That said, persistent rumors say that Scorsese did in fact direct several key scenes. In 2022, the rumors re-ignited and intensified with Scorsese's admission that he "made the film years ago".
• Door Stopper: Three and a half hours, a very long film even for the New Hollywood era.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Ice Pick Joe is a secondary character, but is easily one of the most iconic and beloved characters, both for his amazing kill scenes, and his tragic backstory.
• Fair for Its Day: If it were to come out today, Goncharov's homoeroticism would be seen as rather quaint, but nothing special compared to other media with openly-queer characters. But by 1973, it might as well have been yelling "gay rights" at the top of its lungs, portraying both gay and lesbian relationships in a positive, if messy and subdued manner.
• Fandom Rivalry: An odd one between this film and Avatar. When Goncharov exploded in popularity online and started getting fanfiction, it quickly began to catch up with the number of fics for Avatar. Cue a fandom effort to write even more fic of Goncharov, solely for the comedic value of a pseudo-lost film having more fanfiction than the highest grossing movie of all time.
• Fanfic Fuel: Many a fanfic on Archive of Our Own has been made about the film, the most common ships being Goncharov/Katya, Katya/Sofia and Andrey/Goncharov, all of about equal number.
• Genius Bonus: In one scene, Katya and Sofia are exiting a double-screening of The Invisible Man Returns and Bride of Frankenstein. Aside from cementing Sofia's interest in Universal's horror movies, it also subtly shows her appreciation for queer horror outside of Dracula's Daughter. James Whale, who directed the Bride of Frankenstein film, was openly gay while Vincent Price, the star of The Invisible Man Returns, was attracted to men (but did not publicly identify as bisexual in his lifetime).
• Harsher in Hindsight: Goncharov's vision of a post-Soviet Russia is eerily close to what actually ended up happening to the former Eastern bloc, with the state essentially becoming a front for organised crime, despite it not happening until 18 years after the movie was released.
• Ho Yay:
  • When Katya ends up forming a 'close friendship' with Sofia, Sofia tells her that time doesn't stop, not even for them. This is also reflected in Andrey and Goncharov's relationship with time.
  • When Sofia admits she doesn't know how to shoot, Katya insists on teaching her, using a Hands-On Approach. It looks... very suggestive. The romantic strings soundtrack and soft lighting doesn't help.
  • Goncharov, by his own admission, can't be close with Katya, but is very emotionally intimate with Andrey. When Andrey comes to kill him in the end, Goncharov outright admits he hoped this is how his life would end. And then Andrey decides to join him.
  • Sofia mentioned watching Dracula's Daughter was a formative experience for her. Later, she tells Katya "I never lose myself... to men" in a manner similar to Bela Lugosi's delivery in Dracula (1931) and Gloria Holden's delivery in Dracula's Daughter.
• Improved by the Re-Cut: An extreme case of YMMV. Which is better — the Matteo cut? The studio/Scorsese cut? The Italian cut? The Russian — HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah no, no one likes the Russian cut.^note The infamous "Russian Cut" is a subject of legend among the film community, and not just because almost every copy in existence was destroyed due to how horrid it was; the changes to the movie are astronomically bad, with issues including, but not limited to: Removing most of the harsh language and replacing almost the entire soundtrack with off-key Russian choir music, major scenes being rearranged or chopped out completely, inexplicable changes to character backstories (such as removing Ice-pick Joe's childhood in the orphanage and instead implying he was raised in Kosovo by an affluent but physically abusive uncle via a series of extremely poor internal monologues shoehorned into several scenes), and, most egregiously, renaming Andrey to "Bart" for half the movie, only to suddenly refer to him as Andrey again mid-dialogue just before the climax. There is a very healthy debate among film buffs over exactly why the Russian Cut was made the way it was, with the top two theories being either a misguided and/or half-assed attempt at making the film more palatable to citizens of the U.S.S.R. or a convoluted form of corporate insurance fraud. Complicated by varying availability of the different cuts.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Icepick Joe is a murderer, but his early life was genuinely miserable, being orphaned and locked in an asylum. He's also implied to have been lobotomized or to have narrowly escaped that fate. It's heavily implied that he's mentally ill, and had he received proper care and a little compassion, he might have lived a fairly normal life.
  • Katya is a world-class manipulator and has blood on her hands, but she's implied to come from an abusive home, and she's married to a man who gives her little affection. There are also many hints that she wishes for a more peaceful life. Her death is heartwrenching, especially as she gazes into Sofia's eyes before fading away.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • This scene has been doing the rounds with various other things substituted for "Ice Pick Joe"/"Joe Morelli" and said to be the same.
  • The pear seller’s line: “I may not have your glass but I have beautiful hair!” thanks mainly to the bizarre way the actress pronounces “hair” (so that it sounds more like “hi-yah!”). Kermit and Miss Piggy are often photoshopped into the scene over Andrey and the pear seller, respectively.
  • The sheer weirdness of Matteo JWHJ0715's name has led to many, many fandom jokes, including, "His mother was Italian and his father was a license plate!"
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: While a cult-classic in its home market of the United States, the movie has many fans in both Italy and Russia. Italian fans were surprised at the accuracy Scorcese showed in depicting life in the country's south and its many cultural intricacies, while Russian viewers were impressed at the Superlative Dubbing of their country's release^note The official dubbed release—not the alleged "Russian Cut", which had very much the opposite effect on unfortunate Russian viewers. and found the characters relatable and likeable.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Sotya (Katya/Sofia), Gonchrey (Andrey/Goncharov)
• Signature Scene: The apple scene in the Neapolitan market between Goncharov & Andrey, especially in the wake of The New '20s. Not only does it play up the homoerotic subtext between the two and establishes their relationship, it marks the moment Andrey begins to take advantage of Goncharov for his own purposes. The overt biblical imagery only serves to make the scene more memorable to the audience.
• Song Association: Good luck listening to "Je t'aime... Moi Non Plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin without recalling its masterful use in the warehouse ambush sequence.
• Squick: some would say this about the dream sequence in which Joe Pesci's arm is broken, if not for the rubbery and sticky texture of the octopus' tentacle distracting the audience as it happens.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: There were various videogames made around the time of the VHS release in the mid-90s. None of them are very good, though the Genesis game does go charmingly off the rails in the final levels (the final boss is Mario turning into a dragon, among other things). Very narrowly averted with The Godfather; it was originally supposed to be based off Goncharov, but Electronic Arts ran into an issue while negotiating with JWHJ0715's estate over obtaining the rights; fearing that the bogging down of negotiations could axe the game completely, EA instead turned to The Godfather for inspiration, and the deal with Goncharov fell through.

Trivia Tropes

• Actor Allusion:
  • At one point, Andrey's father tells him to change his suit because "You look like a goddamn scarecrow". This was presumably a cheeky reference to Pacino's other project at the time, Scarecrow, which he was filming scenes for in tandem with Goncharov, often delaying schedule.
  • Goncharov calls his mother "the Queen of Spades", a reference to the 1948 film starring Yvonne Mitchell, who plays Mrs. Goncharova.
  • When Pescegrande is found dead, one of his subordinates cries, "A star is dead!" Lionel Stander (Pescegrande) had been in A Star Is Born.
• Alan Smithee: By the time the film returned to prominence in the 2020s, it became accepted that the name Matteo JWHJ0715 is very likely an alias for an unidentified director that, for whatever reason, refused to associate his real name with the film. Damiano Damiani was announced as director in trade publications in 1972. It is unsure if he was ever involved, but it is alleged he and De Laurentiis scouted locations in Finland. Further complicating matters is reports that Matteo JWHJ0715 died in a tragic and horrifically violent Ferrari accident not long after the film's release, but many of the details of the crash, and the identity of the person behind the wheel of the Ferrari, were apparently lost.
• California Doubling: Set in Russia, shot mainly in Yugoslavia, with some Italian locations, and at least one shot taken in New York. Some shooting was also done in Scotland. Caird Hall in Dundee plays Red Square, while the church on the hill overlooking the industrial district is St. Broderick's Church in Aberguthrie.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Meryl Streep unsuccessfully auditioned to play Sofia, but still made her film debut in a small role as a nun. Her scene only appears in the TV cut (one of the aborted New York scenes involving DiNosso).
• Deleted Scene: Several.
  • The Goncharov/Michailovs' time in England was cut out entirely.
  • Most of the scenes involving the Seekuh, apart from its appearances in Andrey's flashback, were removed, along with the appearances of her crew aside from some background extras.
• Fake Russian:
  • The Russian Goncharov is played by the American Robert De Niro.
  • Plus American Cybill Shepherd, Brits Yvonne Mitchell and George Coulouris, German Peter Berling, Italians Gastone Moschin and Luciano Catenacci, Indian Marne Maitland and Italian-Welsh Victor Spinetti.
• Follow the Leader:
  • The Italians, quick to respond on any big American film, responded with a series of 'rosso mafioso' films about fictitious Russian mobsters, often starring actors from the original film. At least three of them feature Lionel Stander, notably in the Austrian co-production 'Moscow a Mano Armata' (1976). Fernando di Leo's Germechoff (1974), starring Mario Adorf as an exiled Russian mobster in Rome is almost an unofficial remake, even down to Gastone Moschin playing the Russian cop. Other films merely gave their otherwise Italian or American characters Russian names.
  • Stelvio Massi's Pescegrande (1977) stars John Saxon as a character hinted to be the son of Lionel Stander's Big Fish, a mafioso's son turned cop living in Italy, hunting down exiled Soviet dissidents who "ruined his family". Alfonso Brescia even made a film called Revenge of the Goncharoffs [sic] in 1977.
• Inspiration Nod:
  • In the original draft of the script, Katya was called "Nastasya" in reference to a femme fatale-like character in Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Much like Katya, Nastasya was raised by an abusive man, ends up in a strained marriage, and falls into two messy love triangles (with Aglaya, Rogozhin, and Prince Myshkin) that have homoerotic undertones. While her name was changed, there is a moment where Katya is seen reading the book.
  • The scene where Goncharov leaves a bottle of alcohol tied to a rope and hanging outside his window (to hide his growing alcoholism) is a reference to The Lost Weekend. Funnily enough, the film itself was heavily censored. The original novel was about a man having a gay affair while married, but was changed to him struggling with writer's block.
  • Scorsese, a lifelong fan of Powell and Pressburger convinced David Farrar to come out of retirement to play Prince Stefani. Also, Yvonne Mitchell was cast as Mrs. Goncharova, on account of Scorsese being a fan of The Queen of Spades (1948).
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: HOO BOY. A short run on VHS and Laserdisc, reproduction rights tangled up through several production houses over 30+ years, the ACTUAL MAFIA trying to stop circulation...suffice to say finding even a few seconds of the original film on the internet is an endeavor indeed.
  • The alleged "Russian Cut" got it even worse, since not only were almost all unsold copies destroyed by the studio, but rumors abound that the Russian Mafia may have ordered the deaths of several involved in the Russian Cut's production, and there were documented incidents of them carrying out hits on their own members who were accused of owning one of the copies.
• Newbie Boom: While Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have always had a strong fandom presence online, with the recent explosion in popularity of this film, the other actors in it such as Harvey Keitel and John Cazale have received the most recognition from mainstream audiences than they've ever had in decades thanks to the supporting players' acclaimed performances.
• One-Book Author: The only known credit of Matteo JWHJ0715.
• Reclusive Artist: If Matteo JWHJ0715 is a real person, then he is so reclusive that no one is sure if he's even still alive as of 2022. Rumors circulate of him having died in either a car crash or from having fallen backwards out a window.
• Throw It In!: The moment in which Katya picks up Goncharov's discarded cigar with a fire poker was improvised by Cybill Shepherd after Robert De Niro left the cigar on-set accidentally.
• Troubled Production: Good God, yes. It's probably easier to list the things that didn't go wrong in this movie:
  • Scorsese had hoped to shoot most of the film in New York, scouting locations that he felt would look 'Russian'. De Laurentiis wanted to shoot in Moscow, having had connections from Waterloo. But the anti-Soviet themes caused alarm bells at Goskino.
  • De Niro broke two bones ribs and one of his arms, in addition to giving himself a concussion, in a motorcycle crash, the shot of which, shockingly, ended up in the final cut.
  • This delay voided several union contracts, meaning a lot of the lighting, and set design was done by Matteo JWHJ0715 himself.
  • Shooting took place in New York for two weeks, but during filming, the Mafia heard about the film, and sent out threats. The production was forced to go to Italy, with additional locations in Yugoslavia.
  • Marius Goring's scenes as the doctor were a late addition, to tidy up strands left behind by the inability to shoot in New York.
  • Earlier drafts of the script involved "Herb" Fyodorovich taking more of an active role, but due to Mafia threats curtailing NYC location filming, not to mention an almost-immediate intensive dislike between the director and a 20-year-old Tony Shalhoub, his role was cut to a One-Scene Wonder and much of his dialogue was repurposed for other characters, most notably "Ice-Pick Joe". Shalhoub was reluctant to act again for years due to the stress of this early experience.
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was going to be a remake in 2003, but it fell through for unknown reasons. Nicolas Cage was attached, presumably to play Goncharov, but Scorsese directly rejected the idea, citing that "He smells of fish".
  • The script by Akiva Goldsman was leaked. It would flip the original idea on the head — with Goncharov, Mikhailov and Katya defecting Capitalists. It would begin in the 1970s. Goncharov would be a Moscow urchin, who knows only his surname, with Mama and Papa being Italian socialist defectors who adopted him. The film would begin with 'Mama' and 'Papa's bakery being burnt by 'Communist Pigs', and young Goncharov fleeing with Katya and Valery to the embassy, believing that a new age of Violent Communism is coming. From here, Goncharov grows up in a refugee camp in Sardinia. Daddario would be a Mafioso moonlighting as an aid worker, the son of a Russian mother and an Italian father. Mikhailov would become an Italian police officer, only to befriend local boss Gisaburo Morelli. Here, Goncharov becomes a protege of Morelli, moves to New York, and develops a rivalry with Santo Pescegrande, the son of Lino, 'the Big Fish' Boss of Bosses. Apparently, this script ended inside the World Trade Center at 9/11.
  • Later on, Abel Ferrara was supposed to do a remake in 2007. Here, Goncharov is a baby (again, first name unknown) smuggled out of a Moscow orphanage in the 1970s, by the American ambassador, 'Gil Napier', to be given to his infertile wife. When his wife is killed in a terrorist attack, the boy is handed to Mikhailov, a member of the Soviet Embassy in New York. This version would have Katya not as Mikhailov's daughter, but his niece, who when the Iron Curtain falls down, moves with him to New York. This script would have cut out the Italian subplot entirely, and been set 75% in New York, with 25% in Moscow.
  • Lynda Carter was offered a major role in the film, but had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict. (She also appeared briefly as a dancer in the original.)
  • The New York scenes were heavily cut when the Mafia threatened to kill the crew. All of Lionel Stander's scenes as Lino Pescegrande were shot in Italy. George Memmoli as Di Nosso and Tony Shalhoub as Herb would have had larger roles, but unable to go to Italy, their scenes were mostly cut out.
  • Originally, the final third of the film would have been set in New York, with the Pescegrandes larger characters and a greater focus on the Russian community in New York. The rewrite meant that after the massacre, we never hear about what happened to Di Nosso.
  • Scorsese hoped to shoot in Moscow, but instead shot exteriors in Yugoslavia and Scotland, with interiors at Cinecitta.
  • Many actors were recast late. Abe Vigoda was initially cast as Papa Goncharov, but when filming was relocated to Europe, he was replaced by George Coulouris.
  • Anna Massey was considered as Mariella.
  • David Farrar was a late addition. Long retired in South Africa, Scorsese, fearing Farrar wouldn't budge, offered the role of Stefani to Dirk Bogarde and Rossano Brazzi, and had actually paid Cesare Danova (who was initially cast as Donnelli, before production moved to Italy) to be on standby if Farrar dropped out, but when Farrar was apparently persuaded by Michael Powell personally, he decided to take the part. It was his last film.
  • De Laurentiis had hired John Guillermin to direct and Heywood Gould to write a sequel, which would have revealed that Goncharoff survived, and would undergo plastic surgery to take over the Pescegrandes. Michael Cimino was also approached about the sequel, but his plan to do background research by actually becoming an organized crime boss was rejected as impractical.
  • ABBA was slated to compose the music for a musical adaptation of the film that never came to fruition. Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson went on to create its borderline Spiritual Successor in Chess, another tragedy about a Soviet in a love triangle.
  • Mitrov (Gastone Moschin), the Soviet commandant who briefly harasses Ice Pick Joe near the midpoint of the movie was originally supposed to be a major character in early drafts, and in early cuts of the film he still had a significant supporting role, but he was reduced to one scene in the theatrical release.
  • Even moreso with Di Nosso, due to problems shooting in New York.
  • Sir Giles Napier (Michael Gough), the British Ambassador who gives the Goncharovs the chance to escape from the roof of the embassy in a helicopter, in the novel becomes Prime Minister, and eventually knights Goncharov.
  • The Seekuh, the old U-boat only seen in Andrey's flashback, was supposed to play a larger role, becoming Andrey's (and eventually Goncharov's) primary method of smuggling and eluding the authorities, and would ultimately have been tragically sacrificed in a Dying Moment of Awesome battle with Mitrov (see above) but most of the Seekuh's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor because Scorsese (somewhat justifiably) felt like it "was turning [his] film into a war movie".^note Though there is some speculation that another reason was that Scorsese was incensed about John Wayne, who played the Seekuh's captain, being unable (or according to some tabloids unwilling) to do a decent German accent and thus dropped the actor's role from prominence. It was rather prominently seen in the background of several shots involving Mitrov, but when his appearances were cut out, so were the Seekuh's, apart from Andrey's aforementioned flashback.

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Character Specific Tropes

Goncharov

Played by: Robert De Niro

A Russian-born gangster looking to make a name for himself after escaping to Italy.

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• Ambiguously Gay: He isn't very affectionate to Katya, and admits he can't bring himself to be close with her. However, he has a very intense relationship with Andrey.
• Deadpan Snarker: His brand of humor are dry comments that are sometimes hard to tell apart from when he's being dead serious.
• Face Death with Dignity: After Andrey fatally stabs him, he accepts his death with grace and seems almost glad, using his last breath to give Andrey a forgiving smile and one last pull from his cigarette.
• Living Lie Detector: His bullshit sensor is impeccable... except for when it comes to Andrey.
• No Full Name Given: We never know his first name.
• One Last Smoke: Downplayed in that he didn't realize it would be his last cigarette, but after Andrey fatally stabs him, he uses his final breath to take a pull from the cig he'd managed to light.
• Running Gag: He can never seem to figure out which pocket his lighter is in when someone asks for a light.

Katya

Played by: Cybill Shepherd.

Goncharov's intelligent, ambitious wife.

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• Consummate Liar: Katya can spin a perfectly believable lie out of thin air and convince everyone of it within minutes. She says it's a necessary survival skill. Goncharov, however, is never fooled.
• Deadpan Snarker: She has a mean wit. It's one of the things she and her husband have in common.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Bisexual, but she still counts. Katya wears makeup, high fashion, lots of jewelry, and feminine hairstyles.
• Manipulative Bastard: Katya has a real gift to talking people into doing things they wouldn't normally do, and making things go her way.
• Not with Them for the Money: She insists she didn't marry Goncharov for financial reasons. It's hard to be sure if she's telling the truth or not.

Andrey/Andrei Daddano

Played by: Harvey Keitel

A mobster, both friend and foe to Goncharov.

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• Affably Evil: Comes with being a friendly neighborhood mafia don.
• Bad Boss: At first seems like A Father to His Men, but this facade fades after the death of Mario. Like many points in the movie, it is ambiguous as to whether it truly was a façade, or if Mario's death pushed him over the deep end and resulted in a degradation of his sanity.
• The Don: Head of his organization.
• Hidden Depths: He really did value Herb as his closest friend, and, when the latter returns to Naples and, instead of welcoming Andrey as an old acquaintance, proceeds to tear into him over his failures in life, the look of betrayal and pain on Andrey's face is visceral. When Andrey retorts to Herb with a breaking speech of his own, it's clear that the hardened mobster is on the verge of tears.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Herb returns to Naples and reads Andrey the riot act for how far the man had fallen since their parting, Andrey immediately fires back at Herb about how he fled Naples and left Andrey holding the bag after their botched takeover. Sure, Andrey may have only made the situation worse with his poorly-handled damage control, but it was indeed Herb who advised Andrey to do the takeover in the first place, failed to actually check the intel he'd been given, and ultimately left Andrey out to dry when the plan went to hell. Regardless of the mistakes Andrey made during the movie, he was dealing with a bad hand from the start.
• Murder-Suicide: He kills Goncharov (who was possibly on his way to kill Andrey himself) and then himself, though it is left ambiguous as to whether the act was planned, or only killed himself after killing Goncharov in self-defense.

Sofia

A mysterious young woman with whom Katya becomes taken.

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• Artificial Limbs: Has a prosthetic right leg.
• Butch Lesbian: Downplayed. Sofia has long hair and wears some makeup, but prefers to wear suits and has a love of horror movies.
• Hero of Another Story: Because Katya is a criminal Femme Fatale that leads Sofia deeper into the criminal underworld, Sofia closely mirrors protagonists such as Walter Neff in Double Indemnity, Johnny Farell in Gilda, and Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Her side of the story most likely looks like a lesbian noir.
• The Mistress: She's heavily implied to become this for the married Katya.
• Morality Pet: Katya genuinely cares about her, though it doesn't stop her from manipulating her.
• Mysterious Past: She's rather cagey when asked about her life before moving to Naples. We know she's an orphan and had to look after herself as a kid, but that's about it. She declines to reveal whether she lost her leg later in life or was born that way, making a joke when Joe asks her about it.
• Nice Guy: Downplayed. She's probably the kindest person in the film, but she's still a criminal.
• No Name Given: While she introduces herself as Sofia, we never know for sure if that's her real name. She also never gives her last name. In alternative credits sequences for different translations, they give her the surname "Anselmo" for the Spanish translation, "Toussaint" for the French, and "Meltzer" for German. A writer that does not want to be named said it was originally going to be "Dietrichson", but it was scrapped since the actors could not pronounce it while doing their fake accents.

Joseph "Ice Pick Joe" Morelli

Played by: John Cazale

A hitman for the mob.

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• Agent Peacock: In an otherwise fairly grounded film with typical Scorsese-style gangsters, Ice Pick Joe stands out, dressing and behaving like a Dick Tracy villain that hatched from a disco ball.
• The Alleged Car: His (stolen) Citroen 2CV is in abysmal condition, to the point that the guy he stole it from tracked him down just to thank him for removing the car from his life. Joe even snarks that the vehicle is doing its damnedest to kill itself, what with its brakes completely nonfunctional and it leaking all manner of fluids, several of which prove frighteningly flammable. When it finally meets its end (via rolling down a hill and into the harbor, then exploding due to a Vapor Trail from the gas tank and an errant cigar), Joe just comments that it finally got what it wanted in the end.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Orphaned, institutionalized, nearly lobotomized, living on the streets... the man's had a hard life.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Of a strange variation — he actually has nothing against handguns, but he absolutely loathes long guns and rifles, to the point of accusing them of being a "coward's weapon". His reasoning for this apparently stems from a belief that pistols (and other short-range weapons) require the user to get close enough to "feel" the life they take from their target, and thus forces the shooter to personally confront their act of killing, whereas with longer range weapons, the shooter is able to distance themselves and thus casually pick off a target without thinking too much about it.
  Joe: When you look at the man you just killed through the lenses of some...expensive, high-powered scope, is he even a man? Or just some bag of meat and blood? Will you sleep at night, unbothered by nightmares of seeing that last light drain from a man's eyes, not knowing that you just killed someone's loving brother, or father, or son? I know what I've done, who I've killed, and I feel the weight of every life I've ever taken. Can the same be said for your sharpshooter on the balcony there?
• Face Death with Dignity: He takes his eventual demise at the hands of Katya rather civilly, telling her he understands and would have done the same thing in her shoes, and this is despite the fact that Katya is essentially denying him the chance to turn his life around.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He can be quiet and harmless one second, and enraged and violent the next. No one's ever sure what or who will set him off.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: He wants to put a stop to the needless bloodshed and do something better with his life, but his first steps at even trying to do so get him killed.
• Innocently Insensitive: His question about Sofia's disability is pretty rude, but he seems to be honestly just curious. Sofia herself doesn't seem too offended, though she side-steps actually answering.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Despite being a violent Serial Killer, he has a soft spot for cats, and has a few in his apartment. He also has a soft soft for Katya (despite how antagonistic they act to each other) which ultimately leads to his death.
• Mood-Swinger: Part of why, skilled at killing as he is, Joe is also considered a potential liability. You can never be sure what mood you'll catch him in, or when that mood will flip to "murderous rage."
• Professional Killer: He kills people for the mob.
• Race Fetish: He's implied to have an oddly specific fascination with Bolivian women.
• Wham Line: He delivers one to the hit squad hired by Katya, going on a monologue about the cowardice of using long guns against a target before pointing out the sharpshooter they have trained on him. Said sharpshooter is the only one to survive the encounter with Joe.

Mario Ambrosini

Played by: Al Pacino

A mid-level Naples mafioso who works with Goncharov.

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: Sure, he'll ruin your life, leave you penniless, and have your car repossessed if you have a bad run of luck at the tables, but he hates the idea of actually killing anyone.
• Does Not Like Spam: Mario doesn't care for traditional Italian food much — especially pasta.
• The Eeyore: A very, very sad man. Small wonder he rarely shows his face at the establishments he runs.
• The Gambler: Subverted. Mario runs a sizable high-stakes underground gambling operation, but he doesn't gamble himself, and comes across as very cautious.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His attempts to break free of Andrey's control result in his death. And his death results in the threads of Andrey's empire slowly coming unraveled once he's discovered to be missing...

Valery Mikhailov

Played by: Gene Hackman

A divisive Russian mobster related to Katya.

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• Ambiguously Related: We're not sure exactly what Valery's relation to Katya is. We do know that she doesn't like him, but that doesn't narrow it down much.
• Hidden Depths: He has an interest in the concept of alien life and realistic science fiction.
• Hot-Blooded: Usually loud, very passionate, very violent-tempered.
• Husky Russkie: Downplayed, but he's very physical and seems to have a bit of a pot belly under that coat.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Thinks he's in a Heroic Bloodshed piece. Small wonder he doesn't stick around long... Thanks, Sofia.

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