The iceman
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The iceman |
| Original title | The iceman |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2012 |
| length | 110 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ariel Vromen |
| script | Ariel Vromen, Morgan Land |
| production |
Boaz Davidson , Danny Dimbort , Avi Lerner |
| music | Haim Mazar |
| camera | Bobby Bukowski |
| cut | Danny Rafic |
| occupation | |
| |
The Iceman is an American thriller from the year 2012 , which the director Ariel Vromen was staged. It deals with the life of the mafia killer Richard Kuklinski , nicknamed "The Iceman", who claims to have murdered over 100 people. The main roles are Michael Shannon , Winona Ryder and Ray Liotta . Anthony Bruno wrote the original book The Iceman - The Hunt for America's Most Brutal Killer . Furthermore, the film is based on the interviews with James Thebaut : The Iceman Tapes: Conversation with a Killer .
The film was shown at the Venice , Toronto and Telluride film festivals in 2012 .
action
The film opens with an old Richard Kuklinski being interviewed in prison. In a flashback, the film tells its life story, which is based on real events.
Richard Kuklinski is the son of Polish immigrants and grew up in poor conditions in the working-class neighborhood of Jersey City ( New Jersey ). In 1964 he works in the production of illegal porn films. This business belongs to the Italian-American gangster Roy DeMeo , who at the time was not yet part of the Gambino family . On the outside, Kuklinski leads a middle class life and tells his new girlfriend that he works for Disney cartoons . When someone from the criminal environment insults Kuklinski's friend in her absence, he murders him in cold blood.
DeMeo, who works closely with his foster son Josh Rosenthal (actually Chris Rosenberg in real life ), ends the porn production shortly afterwards and asks Kuklinski to murder a completely uninvolved homeless man, which Kuklinski does without hesitation. Since Kuklinski has a recognizable talent at murdering and disposing of corpses, he is quickly valued as a reliable and cold-blooded killer and is continuously commissioned by DeMeo with murders. At the same time he builds up personal happiness, he marries and becomes a father. He succeeds in deceiving his family for years by leading an exemplary private life in addition to his “work”. The deception also succeeds because his wife deliberately overlooks occasional references to Kuklinski's different nature.
Kuklinski works exclusively for DeMeo. He uses a wide variety of methods and also mocks his victims before killing them. However, Kuklinski does not kill women or children and therefore even lets a witness go once. DeMeo, who is in trouble with the Gambino family and Irish gangsters, is very outraged and suspends Kuklinski. Kuklinski visits his brother Joseph, who is in prison for the murder of a girl. The brother needs money for a lawyer and reminds him of their childhood when they suffered together from their beating father. When Richard refuses to give him money because he despises him for what he did, Joseph insults him and prophesies that he too will end up in prison because he is no better than him. Since Kuklinski is still not allowed to murder, his financial worries and his aggressiveness grow. The professional killer Robert "Mr. Meanwhile, Freezy “Pronge introduces himself to Richard and persuades him to partner with him. Pronge works as an independent killer for various gangsters and agrees with Kuklinski to dispose of the corpses that Kuklinski is now delivering to him. This mostly happens in a remote slaughterhouse.
Meanwhile, DeMeo is ordered by Leonard Marks of the Gambino family to part with Rosenthal, as he has trouble with Latin American gangsters, whose cronies he murdered and who also works on his own account. The Gambinos do not want to start a Mafia war because of him and therefore demand his death. With a heavy heart, DeMeo shoots Rosenthal because of these rule violations in Marks' presence. On this occasion, there is a scuffle between DeMeo's bodyguard Mickey Scicoli and Marks. With this, Scicoli signs his death sentence, because Marks assigns Pronge to murder him. Kuklinski then sprays Scicoli poison in his mouth at a disco and makes his demise look like a natural death so as not to upset DeMeo. However, he meets a friend at the crime scene who tells DeMeo of Kuklinski's presence at the crime scene. Shortly thereafter, DeMeo visits Kuklinski and threatens to wipe him and his family out if their paths should cross again. Kuklinksi then murders the mutual acquaintance who betrayed him to DeMeo. When Marks Kuklinski does not want to pay for the murder of Scicoli, he shoots him. Pronges and Kuklinski's families are now massively threatened by DeMeo. When Pronge Kuklinski suggests that the two of them murder each other's families, Kuklinksi shoots him on the spot.
The police have meanwhile become aware of Kuklinski and put investigator Dominick Polifrone, who calls himself Dominick Provenzano , on him, who poses as a potential customer to Kuklinski. When Kuklinski willingly tells him about his experiences as a murderer, the police have enough material to arrest him.
Then the film jumps back to the beginning: Kuklinski says that he has no regrets, only what he did to his family. Fade-ins at the end inform the viewer that Kuklinski, who is said to have murdered over 100 people, ended up in the same cell block in Trenton Prison as his brother Joseph. He never saw his family again; he died shortly before he could testify against a Gambino family mafioso, which led to suspicions that they had been helped in his death.
production
It was filmed in Detroit , Michigan and Shreveport , Louisiana .
background
Kuklinski's life could be reconstructed in detail, as he was very willing to provide information about his life after his conviction. In prison he gave numerous interviews and worked with author Philip Carlo , who wrote the biography about him, The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer .
Reviews
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The Iceman tended to get good reviews. 66% of the reviews counted on the Rotten Tomatoes website were positive. The consensus is summed up as follows: "Although the film deserves better direction and a stronger script, 'The Iceman' is recommended for Michael Shannon's captivating performance alone."
David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter praised the strong acting performances. The Los Angeles Times' Betsy Sharkey criticized the film for worrying about the killer. The film service wrote: "A portrait carried by outstanding actors, which, beyond its 'true story', inspires reflection on the underlying potential for violence in the 'American way of life'."
literature
- Anthony Bruno: The Iceman - The hunt for America's most brutal killer . Hannibal Crime, Höfen 2013, ISBN 978-3-85445-431-1 (Original edition: The Iceman )
Web links
- The Iceman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Iceman at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- The Iceman at Metacritic (English)
- The Iceman in the online movie database
- Review (German) of The Iceman on White Lightnin 'film blog by Tim Lindemann
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for The Iceman . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2013 (PDF; test number: 138 415 V).
- ↑ Bruno, Anthony: The Iceman - The Hunt for America's Most Brutal Killer. Hannibal Crime, Innsbruck 2013. ISBN 978-3-85445-431-1
- ^ Inmate Search: Richard Kuklinski . New Jersey Department of Corrections . Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
- ^ Filming & Production . IMDb . Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ Carlo, Philip: The Ice Man, Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer , HarperCollinsPublishers, 2006, Sydney ISBN 978-0-7322-8496-1 ISBN 0-7322-8496-1
- ^ Carlo, Philip: ICE MAN, Confessions of a Mafia Killer. Piper Verlag, May 2011. ISBN 978-3-492-26434-1
- ^ The Iceman on Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013
- ^ David Rooney: The Iceman: Venice Review . The Hollywood Reporter . August 30, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ↑ Betsy Sharkey: Review: 'The Iceman' can't heat up, even with Michael Shannon . Los Angeles Times . May 2, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ The Iceman. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 22, 2020 .
