We don't even want her in this movie." Huston, who was not only John Huston's daughter but also Jack Nicholson's girlfriend at the time, wrote in her 2014 memoir Watch Me that she later overheard a production worker saying, "Her father is the director, her boyfriend's the star, and she has no talent." She would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.Ī 25-year old Stanley Tucci made his film debut in Prizzi's Honor, playing the minor role of a mafia goon. When her agent called up the movie's producer to request if she could be paid more, she was told "Go to hell.
In time, the don tells Charley that his wife's "gotta go."
The don is also still demanding a large sum of money from Irene for her unauthorized activities in Nevada, which she doesn't want to pay. Irene and Charley team up on a kidnapping that will enrich the family, but she shoots a police captain's wife in the process, endangering the organization's business relationship with the cops. Angelo sides with his son, and Eduardo is so appalled by his brother's actions that he helps set up Dominic's permanent removal from the family. Charley's father later reveals that Irene (who had claimed to be a tax consultant) is a "contractor" who, like Charley, performs assassinations for the mob.ĭominic, acting on his own, wants Charley out of the way and hires someone to do the hit, not knowing that he has just given the job to Charley's own wife. The information restores Maerose to good graces somewhat with her father and the don.
A jealous Maerose travels west on her own to establish for a fact that Irene has double-crossed the organization. By this point they have fallen in love and eventually travel to Mexico to marry. She repays some of the money Marxie stole as Charley naively (or willfully) believes that Irene was not involved with the casino scam. He is surprised to learn that Marxie is the estranged husband of Irene, the woman from the wedding. Maerose is in disfavor with her father for running off with another man before the end of her romance with Charley.Ĭharley flies to California to carry out a contract to kill a man named Marxie Heller for robbing a Nevada casino. He asks Maerose Prizzi, estranged daughter of Dominic, if she recognizes the woman, oblivious to the fact that Maerose still has feelings for Charley, having once been his lover. The film also won four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for Nicholson and Turner, respectively.Ĭharley Partanna is a hitman for a New York Mafia family headed by the elderly Don Corrado Prizzi, whose business is generally handled by his sons Dominic and Eduardo and by his longtime right-hand man, Angelo, who is Charley's father.Īt a family wedding, Charley is quickly infatuated with a beautiful woman he doesn't recognize. The film received eight nominations at the 58th Academy Awards (including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay) with Huston winning for Best Supporting Actress. However it was judged a box office disappointment, grossing only $26 million against its $16 million budget. It received critical acclaim, praised for the performances of its cast (most notably that of Huston). Prizzi's Honor was theatrically released on June 14, 1985, by 20th Century Fox. Stanley Tucci appears in a minor role, his film debut. The film's supporting cast includes Anjelica Huston (the director's daughter), Robert Loggia, John Randolph, CCH Pounder, Lawrence Tierney, and William Hickey. The screenplay co-written by Richard Condon is based on his 1982 novel of the same name. Prizzi's Honor is a 1985 American black comedy crime film directed by John Huston, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner as two highly-skilled mob assassins who, after falling in love, are hired to kill each other.