History Film / TheIrishman

* ForegoneConclusion: The fact that this film will cover Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance and the aftermath.

* MoralEventHorizon: In-universe, [[spoiler:Peggy realizes that Frank murdered Hoffa and refuses to speak to him for the rest of his life.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theirishman_9.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"In the still of the night..."'']]

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Over the course of the film subtitles flash on several characters listing the date and (incredibly violent/depressing) causes of their future deaths. [[https://i.redd.it/sdhjbcn6e4341.png The primary exception]] is Tony Jack, who is listed as dying of natural causes in 2001 and being "well-liked by all".[[note]]The closest he ever came to Fat Tony Salerno's fate, despite his numerous indictments and stints in jail, was doing a dime for tax evasion in the 70's, and his death was from heart and renal failure.[[/note]]

* PersonalSeals: Russell has obscenely expensive signet rings made for his innermost circle. When presenting Frank with his, he notes that "only three men in the world" have one (himself, Frank, and Angelo Bruno) and "[[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers only one of them is Irish]]".

->''"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."''

* FreezeFrameBonus: At the end, when Frank asks the priest leaving his room to leave the door open just a little, on the table next to the door is a framed picture of his daughter Peggy. The daughter who stopped speaking to him years ago and won't even look at him.

* ArcWords: “It is what it is...”

* CallBack

* HeKnowsTooMuch:[[spoiler: This is ultimately what gets the hit put on Hoffa. After hearing that the Mob wants him away from Teamsters activities for good, he starts to threaten them with information he can go to the Feds with. Even Russell, who was trying his best to get Hoffa to step down from trying to take back the Teamsters peacefully, gives up on Hoffa once Hoffa threatens him and Fat Tony Salerno at Frank's Teamsters award party, sealing his fate.]]

-->'''Frank''': Church?
-->'''Russell''': Don't laugh. You'll see. You'll see.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: By the end of the movie, [[spoiler: Hoffa and Sally Bugs are dead, Tony Pro, Tony Salerno and Russ have been hauled off to jail and Frank is left alone in his old age to ponder WasItReallyWorthIt.]]

* {{Pride}}: Hoffa just ''could not'' grasp that there are more powerful and ruthless men above him calling the shots. As far as he's concerned, the Teamsters are ''his'' union (even when he isn't president), and by virtue of that fact alone, he believes he can dictate orders to ''Mafia dons''.[[spoiler: Unsurprisingly, they eventually get tired of his attitude and have him killed.]]

* ProfessionalKiller: Frank is a hitman, professional and calculating enough to kill [[spoiler: Crazy Joe Gallo]] point blank even in a crowded restaurant with his wife and child there. There's even a montage of him disposing of the guns he uses after each murder; it's implied he'd dumped ''dozens'' of them off that bridge.
* PunctualityIsForPeasants: This is Jimmy Hoffa's pet peeve and BerserkButton in ''Film/TheIrishman''. He expects punctuality from everyone, and flies into a rage if anyone is late for a meeting, viewing it as being disrespected. His opponents know this, and therefore show up late for meetings in order to get under his skin.

* ShoutOut

*** [[spoiler: Frank telling the audience during narration that the person chosen to hit someone in the Mob is usually a friend of the victim whom they trusted. This echoes Henry Hill pointing this out in ''[=GoodFellas=]'' as a way of him knowing he was being setup and why he ran to the Feds. Only Frank is the hitman this time, confirming Henry was right. And like Frank, the character Jimmy Conway who would have killed Henry, was also played by Creator/RobertDeNiro.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: As if the tropes above and below didn’t clue you in, this is perhaps Scorsese’s most nihilistic work to date.

-->'''Russ''': If they can whack a president [of a country], they can whack the president of a union.

* OneSceneWonder: Quite a few actually. Scorcese does a brilliant job in this film of getting great performances from many small roles. Here are some notable examples:
** Angelo Bruno (Harvey Keitel in the only scene he has lines) grilling Frank about the attempted bombing of his industrial laundry service.
** Whispers Detullio (Paul Herman) putting Frank up to the bombing in the first place.
** Jack Huston as Robert F. Kennedy.
** And fans of Series/TheSopranos will certainly get a chuckle out of seeing Silvio Dante himself (Steve Van Zandt) crooning on stage as Jerry Vale.

** And fans of TheSopranos will certainly get a chuckle out of seeing Silvio Dante himself (Steve Van Zandt) crooning on stage as Jerry Vale.

** Joe Pesci plays Russell Bufalino. At some point in early 1961, Russell instructs Frank to go to Baltimore to pick up a shipment from "a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain fairy]]" (i.e., gay man). This guy turns out to be David Ferrie (who was played by Pesci in Creator/OliverStone's 1991 film ''Film/{{JFK}}''),, who would later be associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

** Joe Pesci plays Russell Bufalino. At some point in early 1961, Russell instructs Frank to go to Baltimore to pick up a shipment from "a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain fairy]]" (i.e., gay man). This guy turns out to be David Ferrie (who was played by Pesci in Creator/OliverStone's 1991 film '"Film/{{JFK}}''),, who would later be associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

** Joe Pesci plays Russell Bufalino. At some point in early 1961, Russell instructs Frank to go to Baltimore to pick up a shipment from "a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain fairy]]" (i.e., gay man). This guy turns out to be David Ferrie (also played by Pesci in the Creator/OliverStone film '"Film/{{JFK''),, who would later be associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

** Joe Pesci plays Russell Bufalino. At some point in early 1961, Russell instructs Frank to go to Baltimore to pick up a shipment from "a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain fairy]]" (i.e., gay man). This guy turns out to be David Ferrie, who would later be associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Joe Pesci portrayed David Ferrie in Creator/OliverStone's 1991 film ''Film/{{JFK}}''.