Kill the Irishman

As someone who went to the same grade school as Danny Greene and grew up hearing stories about the brazen Irish gangster, Kill the Irishman is a treat leaving much to appreciate with its Cleveland references. Other than that there is not much to appreciate. Back in the 1970s, Cleveland was known as bomb city as numerous bombs were detonated and many mobsters were wiped out. At the center of the war was Danny Greene, a tough from the Collinwood neighborhood who came from nothing, worked his way up in a union, went to prison for racketeering, and made a name for himself with the mafia. After refusing to pay back a loan and further refusing to cut the local mob boss in on a piece of his action, Greene became a target, whence he was able to dodge hit after hit, seemingly due to the luck of the Irish. Nothing about Kill the Irishmen seems particularly fresh, and much seems borrowed from Goodfellas (as do many subsequent mob flicks). The dialogue is corny and the film is not particularly well written. Lines even approach the "so bad they are unintentionally funny" arena. Ray Stevenson, though his character grows on you, does a poor job acting as Greene. Some supporting players do nice work such as Vincent D'onofrio as Greene's mobbed up friend and Val Kilmer as a detective and friend. Christopher Walken seems out of place and not credible as a Jewish gangster. Despite this review, I still think the film is fun for Clevelanders. All others beware.