Fingers (1978)

A nightmare lasting 90 mins, when a man's morality is at stake

FINGERS (1977) is not a traditional horror movie, as in the genre,
but in the reaction that is imparted to the audience, as the action
unfolds over 90 minutes, with Keitel trying to pull himself out of
his station in life, as a collector of illegal debts that went bad
despite showing an innate talent in collections.

He tries to make the leap forward to a professional pianist, hoping
to perform at the famous Carnegie Hall one day. Unfortunately, the
character finds out there's a lot of hard work, practice in addition
to the necessary talent (something already taken for granted) and
competition to beat before attaining that special status.

The lesson of this movie, is the danger of embracing the darkness,
losing one's humanity, and vulnerability when violent, horrible deeds
are done, that take the yin and the yang out of balance. We see
Keitel's character weep, as he attends an after hours party, and the
owner expects Keitel and several ladies to perform sexually in the
presence of others, without privacy, or doing a menage a
trois. Keitel's role, shies away for various reasons, if not only
from the shame, as do the ladies as well.

Here, Keitel reprises his role, of someone who puts on his "diving
suit" and goes into the depths of estrangement, cruelty, dispair
violence, as a result of employing extreme "business tactics"
expected to in certain mob circles to avoid being
ridiculed, exploited, or run out of business, involving collection
debts of gambling, business loans, protection fees, etc

The merit of this picture, is the simplicity of the dialog, and often
the superb cinematographic quality of the wide-screen picture,
bursting with color, sharpness, vividness, showing an extremely
"live" feeling to the action, even 30 years later, amazingly. The
aging of the movie, is not perceived so easily, except for the dated
automobiles, and lack of cleanliness of the streets.

There are, of course, the token "eye candy" young ladies, played by
Tisa Farrow, and Tanya Roberts, shown at a swimming pool, relaxing,
giving Keitel an opportunity to change gears.

The protagonist, focused on his aspiring career as a pianist, is
estranged partly for that reason, and acts bizarrely, by carrying a
portable mini-cassette player with him to greasy spoons, public
parks, and more to listen to FM Radio and his own 50's and 60's hit
songs. We see Keitel tell an officer "You shouldn't be wasting your
time with this law enforcement nonsense!"

The sterotypical image of mobsters, justifiable or not, of people who
use hard language is amply demonstrated in this picture, which has
Keitel using dozens of phrases, words, straight from the gutter, or
even, simplistic, neanderthal ways of conveying human needs, desires.

This tough language is used between people, friends or foe, and will
shock people, from its graphic nature. The audience, will either
cringe, or mock it or both. Perhaps the ultimate cruelty, is Keitel
refusing to take out a debtor who is not cooperating, and being told
by his father " I should have strangled you in your crib!"

There is a complicated, challenging, difficult scene at the end,
involving ball squeezing, eyesocket punching, and similar, showing
below the belt tactics, further underlining the underground aspect of
this picture.

Overall, this picture is professional, extraordinarily lush, colorful
film with sharp images great for theatres, to scare the audience, in
a nightmare lasting 90 mins, when a man's morality is at stake, the
soul is up for grabs. June 4, 2007

Harvey Keitel Plays Bad Glenn

Director James Toback are to interracial relationships what Oliver Stone is to Vietnam. In this early effort, sponsored no less by Brut cologne, Harvey Keitel rehearses his lifelong cycle of variations as the bad lieutenant by playing this round, a bad Glenn Gould. The translucent Tisa Farrow (Mia's better half) personifies the complex seventies New York female artist, while Keitel, armed with Gouldish chattering teeth, begins his battle against on the cinematic motif of the piano, chosing this round, to attack Bach's Toccata BWV 914 (ironically, one of Glenn Gould's least favorite Bach piece).

The moment of high comedy arrives when Jimmy Fingers attempts to tame the beast within holding cell prisoners with an a capella rendition of the Allegro Fuga on the E Minor Toccata. One can't help but breath a sigh of relief that Toback didn't pick Schubert's Impromptu No.2 in E Flat Major. There's no telling what kind of sonic time space vortex Kietel would have unleashed in that instance.

Watch it nostalgically for the seventies swagger, the PlayLand-ladened Manhattan Streets and the cobblestones of Soho, and love it for the portable radio carrying pre-Walkman strut. Toback, is in top form juggling class, race, and taste between New York City characters that one would often see back in the day.

One almost expects scarfed-muzzled Gould to jump out at every intersection to give Jimmy Fingers a beating within an inch of his life with that big Canadian vocabulary. January 10, 2007

Mean Streaks

"Fingers" is solid 1970s character study starring Harvey Keitel as conflicted man struggling to unite his disparate persona. On one hand, he's a talented musician who loves to listen to Bach and carries a boombox around so that he can listen to 60s R&B. However, he's also a violent thug who does his even more brutal father's bidding. The movie follows his character over a few days as he attempts to resolve who he is and what he stands for in life. It's a short, dark film that's very good to great in nearly every aspect.

The movie represents Harvey Keitel's first leading role, and he`s terrific, even riveting at times. Michael V. Gazzo ("The Godfather Part 2) is perhaps even better as Keitel's crude, Jerry Vale-loving father; he nearly screams every line he has, yet manages to avoid being a caricature. The supporting cast is filled with actors who would go on to greater fame, including Danny Aiello, Ed Marinaro, and Tony Sirico (Paulie on "The Sopranos"). Director/screenwriter James Toback was a virtual unknown at the time, having written only "The Gambler" (starring James Caan). Nevertheless, the script is nearly brilliant - full of small, vivid details and texture, although it's not always as cohesive as one might wish (resulting in the 4-star rating). His directing is confident, particularly given the amazingly zippy 19 day shooting time!

Lovers of 70s indie cinema will likely find many things to appreciate in "Fingers." A few other reviewers here compared the movie to "Mean Streets," and I agree that it's a fairly apt comparison, as both essentially focus on characters' attempts to reconcile their violence with their morality. However, this film is no mere Scorsese copycat and stands on its own just fine. Surprisingly, "Fingers" was remade in 2005 as a French film, called "The Beat That My Heart Skipped." I can't wait to check out that version.

Extras: Original theatrical trailer; a short conversation with Keitel and Toback about making indie films; director's audio commentary. Toback's commentary is excellent, and he discusses the thinly veiled homoeroticism of the main character - a definite must-listen.
October 1, 2006

Made by the director for the director film that did not connect with me.

This is a movie that seems abstract though it isn't.

It follows the main character who is a talented pianist and also has a lot of connection to the crime world. He also has a prostitute love interest.

It doesn't do much to examine the relationships between these 3 aspects of his life. It pretty much shows him being a bumbling loser in all 3 of the aspects pretty much separately.

I didn't feel much direction to his motivations or point of the story. To me, it felt as watching uninteresting random moments in this guys life and just never finding a reason why or why to care.

The dvd does has a commentary track with the writer/director and you do get to see the psychology of what he is trying to portray.

But since psychology is not in anyway a science but a collection of opinion posing as science, analyzation of the meaning of this type of film is impossible without the commentary and therefore will seem random to most people. And for those who will apply meaning, will likely differ greatly as originally intended.

As such it is similar to Taxi Driver. However Taxi Driver was much broader and more general that more people would attach significance to it. Fingers is far more narrow and detailed as the directors very intricate explanations in the commentary demonstrate. Thus, a smaller audience will identify with it.

Personally, the actions of this character did not connect with any personal motivations and just seemed random.
May 24, 2006

Fingers

Harvey Keitel rules---Toback makes sure that NYC circa 1978 is not mistaken by those who had the luxury to see what was all about NYC at that point in time...The most impotant actor during that period of NYC "movie-dom" (regardless of Woody and Martin) is Keitel. . .He's never been a product of "witness protection", while he's blown away as a pimp, or a free-base detective--Good night, rradiof August 23, 2005

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