Mob Law: A Film Portrait of Oscar Goodman

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UK / USA, 1998, 92 min

Directed by:

Paul Wilmshurst

Screenplay:

Paul Wilmshurst

Cinematography:

Christopher Titus King

Composer:

Daniel Pemberton
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‘Through every big city runs a river, and in Las Vegas it is a river of dollars,‘ one of the interviewees says in Mob Law. This pool of dollars can better be avoided by the weak-spirited, because they will inevitably drown in the temptations. This does not apply to the shrewd mob lawyer Oscar Goodman, who played himself in Scorsese‘s Casino. Goodman made a fortune by defending gangsters such as Tony ‘The Ant‘ Spilotro, a man who made at least twenty-five opponents that infamous offer they could not refuse. Although Goodman claims to have done nothing but defend the constitution, and even denies the existence of the Mafia, his more than friendly connections with the mob emerge between his evasive answers. The English director Paul Wilmshurst draws Goodman‘s portrait in Scorcese‘s compelling style, but the difference is that this time real murders shimmer through the reserved gangster logic. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)

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