JohnDeborgio Does anyone remember or know the name of the Trailer or Movie preview, or Short or Skit that was shown before the actual movie Fingers began playing in the theater? I remember couples as contestants on a game show, at one point they were naked, then they were farting back and forth. It was pretty funny from what I remember. Maybe it was X rated? I don't know, I was a kid and I remember me and my friend were taken there by his older brother who snuk us in that's why we had access. It may not have been X rated, I only suggest that due to the nudity - this was 1978. I have no idea how to track it down. Internet searches based on descriptions of a nude farting game show proved futile. If someone knows the name or remembers what it was from, please comment I only have a foggy memory of it and that it was damn funny, a lost gem. Thank-you, JOHN

JasparLamarCrabb A dour character study featuring what may very well be Harvey Keitel's best performance. Keitel is a would-be concert pianist torn between the world of art and crime. His institutionalized mother wants him to play Carnegie Hall, while his father, a low-life Mafioso, wants him to continue as his bag man. Keitel's performance here is ferocious. He's sensitive and clearly artistic while at the same time ruthlessly (and violently) loyal to his father. In the end, all he wants is love and without it he can't respond to anything or anyone, including his would-be girlfriend (Tisa Farrow). Writer-director James Toback has had a spotty directing career over the years and has yet to fulfill the promise he displays here. Though there's limited action and only a few (brutal) spurts of violence, FINGERS is extremely exciting, harnessed by Keitel's brilliance. The strong supporting cast includes Michael V. Gazzo as Keitel's father, Jim Brown as a very nasty pimp, Danny Aiello, Marian Seldes, Tanya Roberts and Dominic Chianese in a very unlikely role. Filmed in New York with great cinematography by Michael Chapman.

christopher-underwood Some may love this early Keitel movie but it is one hell of an ugly little bugger, with awkward sex, a fumbled rape and a vigorous rectal exploration. The drab 70s streets of New York are atmospheric but not much else is. Keitel carries around transistor radio on which he plays late 50s early 60s pop wherever he goes. At home however he is practising to be a concert hall pianist and we have to listen to large bouts of Bach while he pretends to be oh so involved. It is a strange fidgety performance, clearly at the behest of Toback, who has his mother in a mental hospital and his mobster father acting even more like a nut. Sorry not for me.

bandw Jimmy "Fingers" Angellelli (Harvey Keitel) is an aspiring concert pianist, but also a debt collector for his father who is a small-time racketeer. In addition Jimmy has enough sexual conflicts for a dozen men - sometimes he is shy, sometimes overly aggressive, most times attracted to women, sometimes attracted to men, but always sexually confused. And all of this is complicated by a serious prostate problem that makes the sexual act problematic in any case (be prepared for the most graphic prostate exam ever filmed).Jimmy's personality split between his better nature and being a thug is by implication handed down to him by his parents. His artistic side came from his mother, who was a pianist (now institutionalized) and his baser side came from his father Ben (Michael Gazzo). Ben is past his prime and depends on Jimmy to do his dirty work. In many ways Jimmy, who is a man in his thirties, is still a child. He is still trying to please his parents and make sense of his sexuality.Interesting themes, but I didn't buy a lot of what is presented. If Jimmy really had a shot at performing at Carnegie Hall, he would need to have been practicing six hours a day and studying with a mentor. We see scant evidence of that, so I just didn't believe in his talent as a pianist. Keitel is so obviously not playing the piano in those scenes where he is supposed to be playing Bach that it is disconcerting; his fake emotionalizing at the piano is embarrassing. Plus he is not very protective of his hands, to say the least.Michael Gazzo seemed to be able to talk only in an irritating shout. His overacting got on my nerves every time he made an appearance. And how was it that such a crude man was ever married to a classical pianist? Jimmy's sense of duty to his father did not seem well grounded. How can you have much allegiance to a father who tells you, "I should have strangled you in the crib"?However, Keitel gives a powerful, nuanced performance and that is the main attraction.This is the story of a man who is torn in so many directions that you are pretty certain that the ending is not going to be pretty, so don't expect to be uplifted when it's all over.This was essentially remade in France in 2005 as "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté). I think that film is more subtle and the personalities more well developed.