On M List of Movie Reviews
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My Blue Heaven (1990)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
1/05, 10/25
10/25:
My Blue Heaven has to be in the top five when it comes to Steve Martin's greatest performances.
Steve Martin dominates the show from start to finish and has a memorable character in Vincent "Vinnie" Antonelli
who may have been based on Henry Hill of Goodfellas fame. Yet it won't
be a stretch to think of Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno for the most part. As a matter of fact, Donald McPherson,
a deputy marshal of the federal witness protection program, said the following:
"The movie was a comedy, but it was more accurate than other movies and shows I've seen about relocated
witnesses. Steve Martin was just like dozens of mob guys I knew. There's a scene where Martin, who has never
mowed grass in his life, learns how. So he is out mowing the lawn one day in his silk suit and he calls to
his neighbor, ‘Hey, good day for a mow.' That's how these guys were. They didn't fit in."
Another marshal, Mason Ebhardt, was in agreement with his assessment, "Everything that happens in that movie
is what we had to go through." And that's Rick Moranis who's always being put on by Steve Martin due to
his smooth, cunning talk, so he could be conned in various ways. There are similar incidents that
happened to district attorneys like Joan Cusack's character whose hands were tied behind her back because of
the witness' importance over the presently crimes they committed by putting away major players in the Mafia.
How about these scams including stamping a new price on the meat containers? That's how their minds
operate. During the 70's, so many mob witnesses ended up being relocated in Orange County of California that
they accidentally ran into each other and went on to stage a big reunion. Speaking from experience, I 100%
agree with the complaint made by the mob witnesses how there's no good Italian food for hundreds of miles. One
of the funniest "aha!" moments is when Vinnie pointed out that he didn't marry Shaldeen under his real name and
therefore it couldn't be bigamy.
All in all, My Blue Heaven is the comedic equivalent of Goodfellas.