Most of us come from families who came from the old country with practically nothing. Naturally, our grandparents worked from dawn to dusk to survive in the new land and make a better life for the kids. It was the generations that followed that caught the American disease of wanting to become a "somebody" as a substitute for the integrity of the Old World that was left behind. The paradox of this film, the paradox of achieving "the American Dream", of "building this great nation" is that after all the generations of struggle for position, money, and importance, we wake up and realize that it's all empty, that simple integrity and friendship are all that mean anything, that our fore-fathers had that in the beginning.It has been said that in order to save one's life one must loose it....

Don Ameche plays a wonderful portrayal of an Italian Shoe repair man thrown into a world of mobsters. Somehow this has very little effect on his spirit or mood, and at the same time driving his caretaker(Joe Mantegna)absolutely insane. By the end of it's whirlwind tour you realize that the old man is very wise in taking it all in stride.It's especially good if you are a fan of Mafia movies like The Godfather and such because it shows a lot of really typical mob types to keep you interested.This movie is a very laid back comedy that would entertain people from many different walks of life. I just told someone the other day that it's the best movie I know of that no one has heard of. If you get a chance see it!

Mamet is intrinsically the classical playwright. Things may change in life but the classical playwright begins the story with a shoe shine setting up his corner in the cobbler's shop and ends the story with a shoe shine. Even the mid-point of the film, when the 3 day dream is about to end, there is the short lecture on how to shine shoes.Though all the actors provide commendable performances, the flow of the story is absorbing. There is a layer of human values and honesty that permeates the world of murders and mafia thugs. Mamet is able to use such contradictions to great effect--threats stated with considerable politeness, women who are apparently in charge (the woman overseeing the arrangements for the meal at the house, the mafia wife/moll in blue) and yet play no significant role, teasing the viewer as it were, use of hats and newspapers to cover faces that seem ridiculous as the story unfolds..The epilogue makes you wonder if things do change. Change for one may not be change for another. Change for one may come in economic terms, for another in friendship.Early Mamet's work seems to neglect women characters. I wonder why this is so evident.

This is a quiet, enjoyable film with Mantegna playing Mantegna, the nervy, edgy man who thinks he is smarter than everyone else but needs to go back to school for a few more lessons. He is saved by Ameche, a little man who plays a fool to get by in a dangerous world, never letting anyone know if it is an act or real. He lets the cat out of the bag in the bath house scene, when he opens his mouth and out comes this magnificent version of "Return to me" but in Italian.The film has one problem once the pair arrive in Tahoe, Mantegna passing the gentle shoe shine man off as a Capo. It's quite funny to watch everyone bow and scrape in those scenes from the arrival at the airport until they settle into their suite, but after that Mamet has a problem. Where do he go from here? The ending is predictable, but any other would have chased patrons out of the theater in anger.