
A small-time Jewish racketeer, just out of prison, finds himself in a quandary. Returning to his old neighborhood, he finds that the streets that he and his friends once controlled have now been taken over by blacks and Hispanics. On top of that, he must try to get back with his family, who want nothing to do with him.... (Full plot summary below)
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A small-time Jewish racketeer, just out of prison, finds himself in a quandary. Returning to his old neighborhood, he finds that the streets that he and his friends once controlled have now been taken over by blacks and Hispanics. On top of that, he must try to get back with his family, who want nothing to do with him.
Leave your thoughts about The Plot Against Harry.
| New YorkerRichard BrodyBares unhealed and unspoken wounds of New York Jewish life. |
| User ReviewLee MThe Plot against Harry is hilarious and often poignant. It was shot in 1969 but was held up because of a lack of completion funding. B&w pic is a sociological fossil of manners, mores and life in the 1960s. |
| User ReviewJ DA slice of life film along the lines of movies like "Shadows", "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", and "Killer of Sheep". The story is fairly loosely structured, though with a more clear beginning, middle, and end then the aforementioned movies. It really hinges on the performance of Martin Priest as Harry, a Sad Sack of a second-tier Jewish mobster, who slowly and mostly accidentally ingratiates himself back into the life of his estranged family. It's really Priest's performance that makes this so enjoyable. His hang-dog "Why me?" expression makes you root for him even though he is a bit of a heel. It's also another great example of the great independent filmmaking of the '60's and '70's that Harry's moment of clarity is a subtle one; in a modern movie, it would probably be accompanied by a swelling score and over-the-top waterworks to make it beyond obvious that we're seeing Harry's redemption, but thankfully here the filmmakers trust the audience to make that discovery on their own. A quick, satisfying watch. |