Review of The Death Collector

Low level mafia connected guy from New Jersey wanders back into town and asks to be set up with some work. The guy he asks the favor of is reluctant because he doesn't like his ethic of making a lot of money and then disappearing until he needs more. Eventually coming around our hero gets work and hooks up with another mob guy played by Joe Pesci. Unfortunately our hero's temper and lack of good judgment gets him some enemies and it soon becomes clear that he's his own worst enemy. Good mob movie was apparently a one shot deal from its director who died in the early 80's. It's a shame because the film has a nice sense of place lacking from most big budget films. It's the sort of thing you stumble on when channels surfing on a rainy weekend. If there is anything wrong with the film it's with our hero who is a nice guy, but clearly has a death wish since he is constantly doing things that tick people off starting with beating up a mafia don's nephew for the hell of it. Watching the film you can see he's doomed from the start and it's all his own doing so the film becomes a vigil waiting for the other shoe to drop. This doesn't mean the film is bad, its not, its just that it could have been better. (Perhaps if they had cast Joe Pesci in the lead, since he's infinitely more charismatic then the guy who was cast.