Movie · 1985 · Romance, Comedy, Crime · 2h 4m · R · English
Curator score: 4.5/10 (43.6K ratings)
Hired killers by day. Devoted lovers by night. Until they found out their next assignment was each other.
Overview
Charley Partanna is a hitman who works for the Prizzis, one of the richest crime families in the US. When he sees Irene Walker, it's love at first sight. But he soon finds that she, too, is a killer for hire. Charley can overlook his suspicions, but he can't turn off his heart. And the couple must remember that even if they love each other, the Prizzis love only money.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.5/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.26/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Metacritic: 84
TMDB: 6.4/10
Director
John Huston
Production
20th Century Fox, ABC Motion Pictures
Cast
Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia, John Randolph, William Hickey, Lee Richardson, Michael Lombard, Anjelica Huston, Lawrence Tierney, CCH Pounder, Ann Selepegno, Vic Polizos, Dick O'Neill, Sully Boyar, Antonia Vasquez, Tomasino Baratta, John Calvani, Murray Staff, Joseph Ruskin, Raymond Serra
Curator Review
Verdict
A stylish, offbeat mob romance with sharp performances and a slyly satirical edge, but its deliberately awkward tone and uneven pacing can make it feel more mannered than funny or thrilling. The chemistry between Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner, plus John Huston’s late-career bite, give it enough distinction to recommend with caveats.
Best for
viewers who like crime stories with dark comedy and romantic complications
fans of old-school studio filmmaking with a slightly theatrical feel
people interested in late-career John Huston or 1980s Oscar-era prestige oddities
Skip if
you want a fast, tightly plotted gangster movie
you dislike slow pacing or tonal whiplash
you prefer romance or comedy to be warm, breezy, or emotionally straightforward
Overview
Prizzi’s Honor is a gangster movie that keeps tripping over its own elegance in interesting ways. John Huston treats the mob as a family business of vanity, obligation, and bad judgment, and the result is less a slick crime caper than a dry, almost stagebound satire with bullets in it. That oddness is the point, even when it makes the film feel stiff or emotionally distant.
Worth noting
Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner give the movie its voltage. Their relationship has real snap, and the film works best when it leans into the absurdity of two professionals trying to conduct a love affair inside a criminal ecosystem that rewards loyalty over common sense. The supporting cast and the period polish help sell the world, even if the rhythm is uneven.
Bottom line
This is not a crowd-pleasing mob classic in the usual sense. It’s more of a curio: polished, cynical, and frequently funny in a deadpan way, but also slow and strangely detached. If that combination appeals, it’s a rewarding watch; if not, it may feel like a very expensive joke told at half speed.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Sam · 209 likes
Genuinely one of the messiest and most over the top yet simultaneously boring and slow films I’ve ever seen. Could’ve been my mood but I strongly disliked each character and storyline. It tries to be The Godfather, then it tries to be The French Connection, then it tries to be an Audrey-Hepburn-like romcom, then it tries to be what Moonstruck became, then it tries to be all of them at the same time. Yikes!
theriverjordan (3.5★) · 141 likes
In “Prizzi’s Honor,” the mob is less a pact between made men, than it is a pact made between morons.
Creating a template that would permeate the gangster genre throughout the 90s with the likes of “Analyze This” and “Get Shorty,” John Huston was among the first to get the last laugh over on the wise guys.
“Prizzi’s,” belonging to the second career Renaissance of Huston, can still trace some of its heritage back to his camp adventure comedy “Beat… more
theo (2.5★) · 85 likes
this movie was like “bros before hoes”
legolas (3★) · 70 likes
Towards the later years of his career, John Huston was still making films that carried a sense of respectability, plus it's catching the attention of the Academy. Prizzi’s Honor not only extended that streak but also gave his daughter, Anjelica Huston, an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
The film plays as a satirical comedy or at least that’s how I interpreted it. It ridicules its protagonists, showing them as anything but clever or wise. In many ways, it feels like… more
Sam (3★) · 69 likes
Prizzi's Honor is quite an offbeat mob drama with touches of subtle dark comedy and is a totally unconventional mob film, which seems anything but conventional. It follows Charley, a powerful hitman for the Prizzi family, who falls in love with Irene, who he finds follows a life similar to his. It's a great setup, and for the first hour or so, with its subtle setup, I enjoyed its tense irony and emotional conflict. It works due to its dry,… more Prizzi's Honor is quite an offbeat mob drama with touches of subtle dark comedy and is a totally unconventional mob film, which seems anything but conventional. It follows Charley, a powerful hitman for the Prizzi family, who falls in love with Irene, who he finds follows a life similar to his. It's a great setup, and for the first hour or so, with its subtle setup, I enjoyed its tense irony and emotional conflict. It works due to its dry,… more
1984 · Action, Comedy, Crime · 2h 1m · R · Curator 4.0/10 (20.4K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A New York crime dramedy with messy loyalty, romantic trouble, and a lived-in streetwise texture.