Look at me. Look at my smile. Your son is dead.
Are you familiar with the shmoo, Mr. Fisher?
I bet it was that mouth that got you that nose.
Y-you? Nahh... You're dead. You're DEAD!
[After he and Slevin approach a large freezer and look inside] Hey Slim, you know this cat? Slim? I'm sorry, it's no use. [Slim turns out to be a frozen corpse] Ever since somebody shot him ol' Slim's gone deaf.
If there's one thing I know, is when someone is lying. A man in my position, that's all he has to go on. To know a lie when he hears it: the difference between life and death... your own... someone else's. That being said, he wasn't lying.
Since we're not friends and you hate baseball, then why the fuck are you here?
[Repeated Line] I'm Slevin.
I'm going to say the same thing a man with two penises says when his tailor asks him if he dresses right or left. Yes.
Lucky Number Slevin, renamed for the German/USA DVDs as
Lucky # Slevin (and also known as
The Wrong Man in Australasia), is a 2006
crimeCrime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
thriller film written by
Jason SmilovicJason Smilovic is a writer, executive producer, and creator of the television series Kidnapped, My Own Worst Enemy, and Karen Sisco. Smilovic was most recently an executive producer on My Own Worst Enemy. He also wrote the movie Lucky Number Slevin. Smilovic graduated from the University of...
, directed by
Paul McGuiganPaul McGuigan is a film director, best known for directing films such as Lucky Number Slevin and Push. He has also directed episodes of Sherlock and Monroe.-Filmography:-Awards:...
and starring
Josh HartnettJoshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
,
Bruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
,
Morgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
,
Ben KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
,
Stanley TucciStanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
, and
Lucy LiuLucy Alexis Liu is an American actress and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal , and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda.-Early...
. Set in New York City, the plot focuses on the paths of Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett), Lindsey (Liu), two feuding crime lords known as The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley), and a mysterious hitman known as Mr. Goodkat (Willis).
Plot
During the film's opening credits, two bookies are separately ambushed and murdered, their ledgers stolen from their bodies by the unseen killer. Elsewhere, a young black man walks out of a downtown building and is shot by a sniper.
In a bus terminal, a young man is approached by a man in a wheelchair,
Goodkat (
Bruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
), who tells the story of Max and the
Kansas City Shuffle"Kansas City Shuffle" is a song by jazz pianist Bennie Moten. It was recorded in 1926 in Chicago, Illinois and released on the Victor record label....
. Around twenty years ago, Max bet borrowed money on a fixed horse race. The horse fell before the finish line and Max, unable to pay, was murdered by the mobsters financing the race. To send a message they also arranged the murder of Max's wife and son. Goodkat concludes the story, revealing that the Kansas City Shuffle is when "they look left and you go right" and promptly snaps the young man's neck. He leaves the terminal with the body in the back of a truck.
In New York City, Slevin Kelevra (
Josh HartnettJoshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
) is staying in his friend Nick Fisher's apartment nursing a broken nose. He answers the door, meeting neighbor Lindsey (
Lucy LiuLucy Alexis Liu is an American actress and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal , and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda.-Early...
), who ducks in to borrow some sugar. Slevin relates that he is visiting after some recent bad luck and explains the broken nose as the result of a mugging. He confesses he has not seen Nick and that the apartment was unlocked when he arrived. Lindsey suggests that Nick may be missing and that she and Slevin should investigate together.
Lindsey leaves for work moments before Slevin is kidnapped by two black henchmen. They take him to
The Boss, a powerful crime lord leading an all-black crime syndicate. Mistaking Slevin for Nick, The Boss orders Slevin to repay a large gambling debt. It is revealed that the young black man assassinated in the opening credits is The Boss's son. Believing his rival
The Rabbi to be responsible, The Boss offers Slevin the opportunity to murder The Rabbi's homosexual son, Yitzchok
The Fairy, as an alternative to payment. After Slevin leaves, Goodkat steps out of the shadows and it is revealed that The Boss has simultaneously hired him to kill The Fairy.
Slevin returns to the apartment but is shortly kidnapped again, this time by two henchmen from The Rabbi's all-Jewish crime syndicate. The Rabbi also mistakes Slevin for Nick and demands he repay another large gambling debt. As Slevin leaves, Goodkat again steps out of the shadows and it is revealed that he is enigmatically aware that Slevin is not Nick Fisher.
Slevin returns to The Boss and agrees to kill The Fairy. The Boss gives him three days and recommends that Slevin approach The Fairy romantically. Intercut with this conversation, Goodkat tells the Boss that he will kill Slevin after Slevin kills The Fairy, concealing both murders by making them look like a double suicide.
Slevin and Lindsey go out to dinner at The Fairy's favorite restaurant. Slevin approaches The Fairy in the restroom and arranges a future date. Slevin also meets Detective Brikowski, currently investigating The Boss and The Rabbi, but does not disclose his intended role as hitman. Returning home, Slevin and Lindsey's relationship develops and they spend the night together.
In the morning Slevin is hassled again by Brikowski but reveals only his name. That evening he is picked up by The Boss's henchmen in preparation for his date with The Fairy. As they leave it is revealed that The Rabbi's henchmen, keeping track of Slevin, have been shot.
Slevin arrives at The Fairy's apartment and promptly shoots him, nearly killing him. Goodkat appears behind Slevin and, in an apparent turn of events, finishes The Fairy off and leaves Slevin unharmed. Now revealed to be a team, Slevin brings the body of the bus terminal victim, revealed to be the true Nick Fisher, into the apartment while Goodkat kills The Fairy's bodyguards. Together they blow up the apartment and the bodies, thus concealing Slevin's false identity as Nick.
Goodkat kills the Boss's henchmen and takes him hostage while Slevin kidnaps the Rabbi. Both men awaken restrained to chairs in the Boss's penthouse. Slevin appears and explains the overarching twist: the ill-fated Max was Slevin's father, the mobsters who killed him were The Boss and The Rabbi, and Slevin's own murder was never completed as the hitman hired to do the job, revealed to be Goodkat himself, found compassion for him.
Twenty years later and with Goodkat's help, Slevin assumed the identity of Nick Fisher and killed The Boss's son and both mobster's bookies. As gang warfare loomed, both mobsters independently hired Goodkat, who insisted as a part of payment that both call in Nick's debts. Thus both Goodkat and Slevin gained access to the otherwise unreachable mobsters, allowing them to set up this final confrontation.
After this revelation Slevin kills The Boss and The Rabbi, asphyxiating them in the same manner by which they killed Max. At the same time Goodkat finds Lindsey at work and shoots her to protect his identity. Finally it is revealed that Detective Brikowski killed Slevin's mother when, as a young man, his own gambling debts were called in by the mobsters. Slevin kills Brikowski as the meaning of his chosen name "Slevin Kelevra" is revealed: "slevin" was the name of the ill-fated horse his father had bet on, and "kelevra" is Hebrew for "bad dog," mirroring Goodkat's name.
Sometime later at the bus terminal, Slevin is met by Lindsey. They embrace and it is revealed that Slevin, aware of Goodkat's intention to kill her, explained his true identity following their night together and helped stage her death. Goodkat appears at the terminal, apparently already aware of the trickery. Slevin explains himself by saying "I thought you wouldn't understand." Referencing his own decision to spare Slevin as a boy, Goodkat replies "I understood." (In an alternative ending, Slevin shoots and kills Lindsey while Goodkat looks on.)
The film closes with a flashback to Goodkat and young Slevin shortly after Max's death. Goodkat takes Slevin into his car and tells him that it will be a long time before they can return to New York. As they drive away, a hit song "Kansas City Shuffle" by Bennie Moten starts playing on the car's radio.
Cast
- Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
as Slevin Kelevra
- Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
as Mr. Goodkat/Smith
- Lucy Liu
Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal , and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda.-Early...
as Lindsey
- Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
as The Boss
- Sir Ben Kingsley as The Rabbi
- Michael Rubenfeld as Yitzchok The Fairy
- Peter Outerbridge
Peter Outerbridge is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Dr. David Sandstrom in the TMN series ReGenesis, as William in Saw VI and his role as Dan Farmer in Happy Town.-Life and career:...
as Detective Dumbrowski
- Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
as Detective Brikowski
- Kevin Chamberlin
- Life :Chamberlin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Moorestown Township, New Jersey, moving there as a nine-year old. Chamberlin graduated from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.- Career :...
as Marty
- Dorian Missick
Dorian Missick is an American actor, best known for his roles as Damian in Six Degrees and Victor Vance in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Missick was born in East Orange, NJ, but grew up mainly in Plainfield, NJ, and Decatur, Georgia...
as Elvis
- Mykelti Williamson
Michael T. "Mykelti" Williamson is an American actor best known for his role as Benjamin Buford Blue in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, as Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful crime drama Boomtown, and recently for appearing as the head of CTU for...
as Sloe
- Scott Gibson as Max
- Daniel Kash
Daniel Joshua Kash is a Canadian actor and director.He was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Canadian opera singer Maureen Forrester and violinist/conductor Eugene Kash. He is also the brother of actress Linda Kash. He studied at the Drama Center in London, England and has appeared in dozens...
as Bodyguard #1
- Dmitry Chepovetsky
Dmitry Chepovetsky is a Gemini Award nominated Canadian-Ukrainian actor, best known for his role of Bob Melnikov in the TV series ReGenesis.-Personal life:...
as Bodyguard #2
- Sam Jaeger
Samuel Heath Jaeger is an American actor and screenwriter.Jaeger graduated from Perrysburg High School in 1995 and in 1999, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Otterbein College...
as Nick Fisher
- Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush...
as Roth
- Oliver Davis
Oliver James Davis is an American child actor. He is perhaps best known for originating the role of Alex, the son of Nurse Samantha Taggart, on ER. More recently, Davis portrayed the older son on Rodney....
as Henry
- Corey Stoll
Corey Daniel Stoll is an American stage and screen actor. He received a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for Intimate Apparel, opposite Tony winner and Oscar nominee Viola Davis. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1998...
as Saul
- Howard Jerome as Abe
- J. D. Jackson as Mugger
- Sebastien Roberts
Sebastien Roberts is a French-Canadian actor of television and film, working in both French and English since the mid 1990s....
as Man
- Robert Forster
Robert Forster is an American actor, best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool, and as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the latter of which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.- Early life :Forster was born Robert Wallace...
as Murphy
- Shira Leigh as Hottie
- Janet Lane as Gloria
- Nicholas Rice as Doc
- Bernard Kay
Bernard Kay is a British actor with an extensive theatre, television and film repertoire.Kay began his working life as a reporter on Bolton Evening News, and a stringer for The Manchester Guardian. He was conscripted in 1946 and started acting in the army...
as Morty
- Sam Stone
Sam Stone is a British writer and poet.Sam Stone is a British author of gothic, horror and fantasy fiction. Stone's debut novel Gabriele Caccini won the with ForeWord in the USA. She was shortlisted for for her second novel, Futile Flame...
as Old Waiter
- Darren Marsman as Slim Hopkins
- Gerry Mendicino
Gerry Mendicino is a Canadian actor.Throughout his career he has been able to play various and versatile characters. He began on the television series King of Kensington and went on to host the popular Polka Dot Door show. He played the role of Sam Ramone in the hit television series Ready or Not...
as Benny Begin
- Diego Klattenhoff
Diego Klattenhoff is a Canadian actor best known for playing Derek in Whistler and Ivan in Men in Trees.-Career:Diego Klattenhoff studied with some of Canada's most respected acting coaches, including David Rotenberg, Bruce Clayton and Rae Ellen Bodie, and eventually his dedication and persistence...
as Ginger
- Rick Bramucci as Soldier
- Victoria Fodor as Helen
Home media
The film was released on DVD on September 12, 2006. and on Blu-ray November 8, 2008. To date the film has made $26,877,256 in home video sales, bringing its worldwide total to $83,186,137. This does not include rentals or Blu-ray sales.
Reception
The film received mixed to positive reception, with a rotten score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Awards and nominations
Directors Guild of CanadaThe Directors Guild of Canada is a Canadian labour union, founded in 1962, which represents more than 3,700 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. The DGC represents directors, assistant directors, location managers, production assistants and...
- Nominated: Outstanding Sound Editing - Feature Film
Milan International Film Festival
- Won: Best Film (Paul McGuigan
Paul McGuigan is a film director, best known for directing films such as Lucky Number Slevin and Push. He has also directed episodes of Sherlock and Monroe.-Filmography:-Awards:...
)
- Won: Best Actor (Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
)
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA:
- Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Music in a Feature Film
- Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Sound Effects and Foley in a Foreign Film
External links