The Irishman
Movie, 2019, The 2010s, Set in Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa
The Irishman is #25 of 26 in release order and #25 of 26 in chronological order in the Martin Scorsese.
The story
Pennsylvania, 1956. Frank Sheeran, a war veteran of Irish origin who works as a truck driver, accidentally meets mobster Russell Bufalino. Once Frank becomes his trusted man, Bufalino sends him to Chicago with the task of helping Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union leader related to organized crime, with whom Frank will maintain a close friendship for nearly twenty years.
The Irishman recap
The Irishman (2019) follows Frank Sheeran, a truck driver turned hitman for the Bufalino crime family and bodyguard to Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Martin Scorsese directs from Steven Zaillian's adaptation of Charles Brandt's book I Heard You Paint Houses, using digital de-aging. Robert De Niro plays Frank, Al Pacino plays Hoffa, Joe Pesci plays Russell Bufalino, and Anna Paquin plays Frank's daughter Peggy. A lawyer, Bill Bufalino (Ray Romano), gets Frank out of a theft charge and introduces him to his cousin Russell, and Frank begins killing for the family. Russell connects him to Hoffa, and the two become close friends. Hoffa goes to prison after Robert Kennedy pursues him, and on release fights to retake the union from Frank Fitzsimmons, feuding with Tony Provenzano (Stephen Graham) and defying the mob. Peggy watches her father and says little, and the elderly Frank narrates it all from a nursing home. Released by Netflix, it falls between Silence and Killers of the Flower Moon, and his first film with Pacino.
The Irishman ending explained
The Irishman ends with Frank alone in a nursing home. In 1975, ordered by Russell, he flies to Detroit, drives Hoffa to an empty house and shoots him, and Hoffa's body is cremated. The killers go to prison on other charges. Frank outlives them, and his daughters, Peggy above all, will not speak to him. He picks out his own coffin and crypt and talks with a priest. As the priest leaves, Frank asks him to leave the door open a little, the way Hoffa used to.
Post-credits scenes
No. The Irishman has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch The Irishman
The Irishman is streaming on Netflix in the US.
Ratings
IMDb 7.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes 95%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Silence, before Killers of the Flower Moon.
- Chronological order: after Silence, before Killers of the Flower Moon.
Cast
- Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran
- Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa
- Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino
- Harvey Keitel as Angelo Bruno
- Ray Romano as Bill Bufalino
- Bobby Cannavale as Skinny Razor
- Anna Paquin as Older Peggy Sheeran
- Stephen Graham as Anthony 'Tony Pro' Provenzano
- Stephanie Kurtzuba as Irene Sheeran
- Jack Huston as Robert Kennedy / RFK
- Kathrine Narducci as Carrie Bufalino
- Jesse Plemons as Chuckie O'Brien
Directed by Martin Scorsese.