''Angel's Dance'' is a 1999 American-German
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
crime film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
written and directed by David L. Corley and produced by David Bixler.
The film stars
James Belushi
James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor and comedian. His television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' According to Jim'' (2001–2009), and '' Good Girls Revolt'' (2015–2016).
Belushi appeared in f ...
,
Sheryl Lee
Sheryl Lee (born April 22, 1967) is an American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and Maddy Ferguso ...
and
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American actor. He received critical acclaim for his performance as Eric Taylor in the NBC series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding L ...
.
[
]
Premise
Tony wants to be a hitman
Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...
for the Mafia
"Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
, but first he has to learn from a master. Enter Stevie "The Rose" Rosellini - cool, eats veggie dogs and quotes Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...
. Greco may not agree with Stevie's style, but he has to complete his training so he can go back and kill the Mafia's accountant, who is about to turn state's evidence. His final test: kill whoever is supposedly randomly picked out of the yellow pages
The yellow pages are Telephone directory, telephone directories of business, businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, ...
. His target: Angelica "Angel" Chaste, a very disturbed woman. Tony falls for Angel and fails to kill her, so Stevie sets out to finish the job.
Cast
* James Belushi
James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor and comedian. His television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' According to Jim'' (2001–2009), and '' Good Girls Revolt'' (2015–2016).
Belushi appeared in f ...
as Stevie "The Rose" Rosellini
* Sheryl Lee
Sheryl Lee (born April 22, 1967) is an American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and Maddy Ferguso ...
as Angelica "Angel" Chaste
* Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American actor. He received critical acclaim for his performance as Eric Taylor in the NBC series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding L ...
as Tony Greco
* Frank John Hughes
Frank John Hughes (born November 11, 1967) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his portrayals of "Wild Bill" Guarnere in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', Tom Fox in ''Catch Me If You Can'', Tim Woods in '' ...
as Nick
* Ned Bellamy
Ned Bellamy (born May 7, 1957) is an American actor.
Early life and education
Bellamy was educated at UCLA. His brother, Mark Bellamy, was the United States Ambassador to Kenya from 2003 until 2006.
Career
After graduating from UCLA, Bellamy ...
as Police Detective
* Mark Carlton as Bob
* Mac Davis
Morris Mac Davis (January 21, 1942 – September 29, 2020) was an American songwriter, singer, performer, and actor. A native of Lubbock, Texas, he enjoyed success as a crossover artist and writing for Elvis Presley during his early career, pro ...
as Norman
* Jon Polito
Jon Raymond Polito (December 29, 1950 – September 1, 2016) was an American actor. In a film and television career spanning 35 years, he amassed over 220 credits. His television roles included Detective Steve Crosetti in the first two seasons ...
as Vinnie "Uncle Vinnie"
* David Bickford as Accountant
* Timo Flloko as "The Shank"
Critical reception
''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote that ''Angel's Dance'' was, "A diverting, if just half-successful, attempt to put a fresh spin on the now-familiar mix of hit men and black comedy, "Angel's Dance" shifts the central p.o.v. to a female character --- then doesn't develop her well enough to make that refreshing switch pay off as well as it should."[
]
References
External links
*
1999 films
1999 action comedy films
1999 black comedy films
1999 crime comedy films
1999 independent films
American action comedy films
American black comedy films
American crime comedy films
American independent films
English-language German films
Films about contract killing
German crime comedy films
German black comedy films
German independent films
Films about the American Mafia
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
1990s German films
English-language independent films
English-language black comedy films
English-language crime comedy films
English-language action comedy films
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