Jeri Jacquin
HBO has brought a stellar look at the raw and grit of New York in the 1970’s
story of THE DEUCE: The Complete First Season coming to Bluray.
Vinnie Martino (James Franco) is a bartender who is about to
change his life. Working several bartending jobs and trying to keep the family
together, the cost is his marriage. Wife Andrea (Zoe Kazan) isn’t exactly
making things easier with her own wanton ways and bored homemakers life. If
that isn’t enough, he constantly is mistaken for his twin brother Frankie (also
James Franco) who has wracked up large gambling debts all over town.
Frequent visitors to Vinnie’s bar are pimp C.C. (Gary Carr)
and his girls Ashley (Jamie Neumann) and new girl Lori (Emily Meade). A few
more pimps include Larry (Gbenga Akinnagbe) who has the very sweet is Darlene
(Dominque Fishback) and Ruby (Pernell Walker), Rodney (Method Man) and Reggie
Love (Tariq Trotter).
One prostitute who doesn’t have a ‘man’ is Eileen (Maggie
Gyllenhaal) or Candy as she is known on the street. Making her money without
any interference, she sends what she can for the care of her young son. The
police also know what is going down on the streets as Officer Alston (Lawrence
Gilliard Jr.) keeps his eyes open and knowledge to himself. Even when Abby
(Margarita Levieva) is brought to the station, Officer Alston knows she is a
college student who has just done something stupid.
Brother-in-law Bobby (Chris Bauer) works construction and
when an opportunity arises to make a few extra dollars, he and Vinnie find
themselves working with Rudy Pipilo (Michael Rispoli) who is part of the
Gambino family. Rudy is impressed with Vinnie and decides to bring him in on
the way he wants to change the streets. He starts by starting a bar called the
Top Hat and gives Vinnie full control of how it is run. Everyone follows Vinnie
to the new place and it is a hit.
Eileen is also trying to make changes in her life as
standing on the street corner is getting to be more and more dangerous.
Learning that a man named Harvey Wasserman (David Krumholtz) makes porno films,
she seeks him out to learn more if it will get her off the streets and making
more money. She is quick to learn and isn’t about to let anything stop what is
to come.
Seeing that the Top Hat is doing well, Rudy decides he wants
to expand his business into the Massage Parlor trade which is nothing more than
getting the girls inside. That means less police harassment but the pimps
aren’t happy about it.
All of this comes under the watchful eye of reporter Sandra
Washington (Natalie Paul) who wants to do an expose of what goes on. Seeing how
the girls are treated and the police basically hauling them in and letting them
out along with payoffs from corrupt cops, she seeks out Officer Alston’s
knowledge.
Each has a story to tell, each has a path and each live in a
time of excess, corruption and using the oldest profession as their path to
more money than they could have imagined. What they haven’t learned is money
can bring out the worst in people and those who have it – rule.
Welcome to New
York of the 1970’s!
Franco as Vinnie and Frankie and although they may look a like,
clearly want different things. Vinnie wants a successful business that he can
be proud of and Frankie wants everything and doesn’t care how he gets it. In
that lies the problem for Vinnie who is constantly trying to protect a brother
he obviously cares about. Playing both the roles is stellar for Franco as the
duality is not being twins. Vinnie is the emotional one and Frankie is the ‘let
the chips fall where they may’ brother. So well done!
Gyllenhaal as Eileen/Candy is a woman who makes her own way
even if it is prostitution. The other girls know she doesn’t have a man and, in
their way, respect her for it. The pimps however aren’t as happy about it as
they don’t want their girls to get any funny ideas. Once Eileen/Candy realizes
there might be a less dangerous way to earn money off the street she knows it’s
just geography yet see the potential for so much more. Gyllenhaal is completely
free with her portrayal of this character in every aspect and so much so that I
believe her performance completely.
Levieva as Abby is a young woman who comes from an affluent
family but is breaking away and still not knowing where she wants to be. Vinnie
catches her eye but seeing The Deuce world affects her in ways she doesn’t
expect. Levieva doesn’t say a lot and observes everything while clearly
learning the New York
ropes. Bauer as Bobby is a hard working brother-in-law that wants to work less
hard and make more money. He talks Vinnie into helping that happen and the
double life begins. It’s interesting to watch his morals change when money is
no longer the issue in his life.
Carr as C.C. the pimp is no one to be trifled with and the
girls know it. Once he brings Lori into the group, previous favorite Ashley is
on the back burner. Carr may seem caring but underneath that pimp like exterior
of flash, he will cut you. Akinnagbe as Brown is the middle ground of the
pimp-group meaning not as scary as some but scarier than Gentle Richie.
Meade as Lori catches onto everything quickly; she caught on
to C.C. and what she came to New York
for. Rising quickly, she sees the world for exactly what it is and plans to
make sure she gets her share of it all. Paul as Sandra wants to report the
bigger picture and finds tension at her paper. Getting involved with Officer
Alston irritated me a little because, well, come on – using people never works
out well.
Speaking of Officer Alston, Gilliard Jr. is the eyes and
ears of the street both inside and outside the precinct. He knows so much that
I’m actually scared for his character! To much information isn’t always a good
thing, especially when you don’t know who to trust. I do love his smooth tactic
and non-judgmental attitude towards the ladies.
Rispoli as Rudy Pipilo is another character that presents
himself so calmly yet, anyone with an understanding of the times, place and
name knows not to underestimate him. There is a scene between Rudy and Vinnie
where he tells him off and my jaw dropped yet the character of Rudy just stands
there calmly with no anger what so ever. I loved that scene! Rispoli gives his
character strength of knowing who he is and how fast he can squash someone with
a word.
My two shout outs go to Fishback as Darlene who pulled at my
heart constantly! She is so endearing and knows that life has so many possibilities
but I feel is stuck out of fearing those possibilities. Fishback is stunning,
beautiful and amazing. Walker
as Ruby is the gem of street walkers with her wit, twisted wisdom and understanding
that this is her life. There is surrender about Ruby in that she knows this isn’t
the life she wanted but it is the life she has and in that is a sadness that is
even more heartbreaking than Darlene’s situation. These two women have given
their characters a deepness that I bow to. Well done to you both!
Other cast include Don Harvey as Danny Flanagan, Michael
Kostroff as Rizzi, Mustafa Shakir as Big Mike, Anwan Glover as Leon, Garry
Pastore as Matthew Ianniello, Caroly Mignini as Joan Merrell, Finn Robbins as
Adam, Kim Director as Shay, Olivia Luccardi as Melissa, Matthew Ballinger as
Gentle Richie, Kayla Foster as Barbara, Gino Vento as Carlos, Aaron Eisenberg
as Todd Lang and Chris Coy as Paul Hendrickson.
HBO Home Entertainment has an extensive array of
critically-acclaimed and groundbreaking programs found on Bluray, DVD and
Digital HD. They have provided viewers with some of the most amazing programs
with huge fan bases that include the shows True
Blood, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, True Detectives, The Wire, Entourage and Game of Thrones. Launched in 1984, HBO
is world wide in viewed entertainment in more than 70 territories around the
world! For more of what they have to offer please visit www.hbo.com.
The Bluray includes a Digital Copy to what anywhere on your
television, computer, Tablet and Smartphone. The Bonus Features include The Deuce In Focus, The Wild West: New York
The 3-disc set includes the episodes Pilot, Show and Prove, The Principle is All, I See Money, What Kind of
Bad?, Why Me?, Au Reservoir and My
Name is Ruby.
THE DEUCE is an amazing series created and written by David
Simon who was himself a police officer. Joining in is George Pelecanos who
worked with Simon on a little series you may know as THE WIRE. THE DEUCE is the
nickname for 42nd Street
that is between 7th and 8th
Avenue in New
York .
This series is the absolute grit and grim during the time New York became a boom
for the porn industry. What THE DEUCE doesn’t do is sugar coat anything and
that, I believe, is what surprised me the most. Lets actually be honest and
said there are several things that surprised me and this is just the first.
There is a rawness to the way these characters are
introduced to us because there isn’t a great way to say ‘hey, I’m a cheating
spouse’ or ‘hey, I’m a prostitute’ or ‘hey, I’m a spoiled kid who wants to slum
it to find myself’. Each of these characters has a history that has only been
hinted at this first season. I am counting on Franco, Gyllenhaal, Pelecanos,
Simon, Clark, MacLaren and the rest to let that history come forward.
The performances are so extreme and I marathoned completely
the entire first season. There was no way I was going out, going to sleep or
opening the front door until I saw what happened to each of these characters.
They are fascinating and as each of their story’s unfold I become invested,
heartbroken, majorly p.o.’d and yet still can not take my eyes off the screen.
It must be said that the finale just killed me, absolutely
wrung me and hung me out to dry! I can not wait to see where Franco, Gyllenhaal
and the rest of the cast take these characters next because this first season is
filled with baby steps. Knowing there is so much more story to tell is what
will bring me willingly back for the second season of THE DEUCE.
In the end – once upon a time in America pleasure because business!
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