Fingers *** (1978, Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Jim Brown, Marian Seldes, Danny Aiello, Tanya Roberts) – Classic Movie Review 11,162

James Toback directs his own script about a quiet virtuoso pianist, Jimmy ‘Fingers’ Angelelli (Harvey Keitel), who gets sucked into becoming a ruthless debt collector enforcing payment of debts for his Italian mob-connected loan shark father Ben (Michael V Gazzo) while conflicted in his loyalty to his mentally disturbed Jewish concert pianist mother.

While preparing for his audition at Carnegie Hall, Jimmy falls for Carol (Tisa Farrow) and has to collect a large debt from mafioso Riccamonza (Tony Sirico), who threatens Ben’s life.

The 1978 film Fingers is old-hat violent thriller stuff, but it is written and played with a raw freshness that makes it look new again and attractive as a stylish neo noir, with classic rock music accompaniment from the 1950s and 1960s and with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata in E minor (BWV 914) played throughout the film (Jimmy always carries a stereo with him).

Apart from plaudits to Toback, praise also goes to the acting of Keitel and (perhaps more surprisingly) Jim Brown as Dreems.

Also in the cast are Tisa Farrow, Marian Seldes, Danny Aiello, Michael V Gazzo, Ed Marinaro, Tony Sirico, Dominic Chianese, Tanya Roberts, Largo Woodruff as Dreems’ girl and Sam Coppola as Sam.

Toback recalled: ‘Harvey agreed to play Jimmy and quickly began to astonish me by taking the character into dimensions of darkness well beyond my original imagining.’

It is remade in 2005 as the French film The Beat That My Heart Skipped [De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté] by Jacques Audiard.

John Travolta’s Chili Palmer character references Fingers in the 1995 film Get Shorty.

Fingers is directed by James Toback, runs 90 minutes, is made by Brut Productions and Fingers Productions, is released by Brut Productions (1978) (US), is written by James Toback, is shot by Mike Chapman, is produced by George Barrie, and designed by Gene Rudolf.

RIP Tanya Roberts, who starred in The Beastmaster (1982), Sheena (1984) and A View to a Kill, collapsed while she was out walking her dogs on Christmas Eve and died of an infection on 4 January 2021, age 71.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,162

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