Bigfoot Hunters And Mob Feuds

Bigfoot Hunters And Mob Feuds

Bruce Von Stiers

What do you get when you mix mobsters and backwoods hillbillies? A very strange brew. And that's what you get with the comedy film The Families Feud.

The force behind this film is Stew Replogle. He wrote, directed, and produced it. Replogle is a first-time director but has extensive acting credits.

Angelo D'Angelo is a New York mob boss. He sends three guys, Sloppy Joe, Rocco, and Vinny up to a remote spot in Maine to dispose of a body. But instead of an easy dig, bury and go job, things take a turn for the worse. Very fast.

The three mob guys encounter a group of hillbilly Bigfoot hunters. Those guys are Buck, Chuck and Da Bear. When the posturing ends, the shooting begins. Da Bear is killed, Sloppy Joe is mortally wounded, and Buck and Chuck run off. And things go downhill from there.

Joseph D'Onofrio played Rocco. He has been in a lot of films, including one I recently reviewed, Townhouse Confidential. He played a mobster in that film as well. William DeMeo was Vinny. He starred in the crime drama Gravesend and was featured in films such as Gotti. Louis Vanaria was Sloppy Joe. He appeared in Gravesend, The Good Fight and Law and Order: SVU. Da Bear was played by Dennis Neri. Buck was played by Jeffrey Vincent Thompson. He has been featured in several films and television shows. And Chuck was played by Stew Replogle.

As for the mob boss, Angelo, he was played by John Fiore. He was in episodes of The Sopranos as well as The Brotherhood.

The rest of the film has scenes that move between what's happening in the Maine woods, what's going on with Angelo, and conversations at a poker game. This poker game has players that are both Angelo's colleagues and rivals. One rival is Sonny Green, who apparently is out to get Angelo. Other players in the game include mobsters Luigi, Mario and Nicky Knuckles. Paul Borgese played Mario and Arthur Hui was Luigi. Tony Darrow, who has played a mobster in a bunch of films and television programs, plays Nicky. Sonny is played by Artie Pasquale, who has played mobsters in films such as MobKing and Made In Chinatown.

The Maine woods situation has Rocco and Vinny captured, then Rocco tortured. Vinny escapes and calls Angelo for reinforcements to rescue Rocco. But Angelo has other problems as well. An attempt on his life results in the death of a woman he's partying with. He knows Sonny Green is behind the attempt. So he's trying to find someone to whack Sonny before Sonny can have him whacked. Typical mob rivalry scenario, right?

At times the film goes over the top with stereotypes. The hillbillies hoot and holler a lot and say lame, not-too-bright things. The mobsters posture a lot, acting tough, often dropping the F bomb. Especially Angelo. It seems that is his favorite word, uttering it a least a few times during a conversation.

There are a couple of bits in the film that I liked. Buck and Chuck go get food at a fast-food place. Chuck has an expired coupon that he tries to use. And the food he asks for isn't even served there. And they are supposed to be wearing a mask while being there. Apparently, this was during the pandemic, so the mask thing makes sense. The counter person was played by Kayla Caulfield, who does the role straight, but with a twinkle in her eye. Things move down the scale a little later on in the bit, with a silly sequence with masks, guns, cops, Miranda warnings and First Amendment misinterpretations.

The other bit I liked in the film deals with Angelo trying to get outside help dealing with Sonny Green. He's on the phone with a kind of stocky guy wearing a bath robe. Think Tony Soprano. The robe guy gives Angelo someone to call about his problem. The guy who answers the phone tells Angelo he is retired. The guy has sunglasses, is rough shaven and has a teen girl ward. Think Leon The Professional. He is played by Stephen Bruno and the girl is played by Amber Rothberg.

There is so much more to tell about the film. But in the interest of not giving away the rest of it, I will only highlight a few other scenes. Angelo's daughter, Santina, becomes part of the reinforcement crew sent up to the Maine woods. Things don't end up too well. Santina is played by Anna Rizzo. Dynasty, The Game and FBI: Most Wanted are just a few of the shows that she has appeared in.

Giovanni is one of Angelo's mob associates. He is supposed to be helping Angelo celebrate his birthday. He even brings Angelo a cake. But the women with Angelo who sample the cake first don't like it too much. Giovanni is played by Al Sapienza, who has played both good guys and bad guys in films and television with over three hundred screen credits to his name.

The film does conclude with a clear victor in the feud between Angelo and Sonny Green. But before that happens there is a lot of violence and death. Most of it comically done.

I did like the film. I found most of the scenes were funny. But a few were a little too over-the-top for my tastes. Some of the characters seemed a bit too stereotypical. A few of the hillbillies dripped with yeeha dialog. A couple of the mob guys also seemed like they practiced being a Goodfellas boss in the mirror.

But overall, the acting was okay. And there were a lot of supporting actors in the film. From a cannoli delivery guy to Angelo's dead girlfriend to a caddy shooting a mob boss, there were a lot of actors to fill in pieces and parts of the film. There are escorts helping Angelo celebrate his birthday and a trio of sure-shot young women who take part in a gunfight scene between the hillbillies and mobsters. The dead girlfriend was played by Chelsea Hueter.

This was a low budget film. So apparently there wasn't a lot of money to spend on special effects. And that does show. There is a send-up about passing gas involving a campfire and resulting smoke cloud. I felt it could have been done better. And some of the special effects during the various gun battles could have been more realistic. But the essence of the gun battles was okay. It's not like anyone on either side were professional gunslingers.

I mentioned that there were a lot of actors in supporting roles. A few of them have fairly extensive film and television credits. Fredrico Castelluccio played a pivotal role at the end of the film. He starred in the film The Toy Gun. A series regular on the original Dallas, Deborah Rennard plays a limo driver in this film. Some of the other actors appearing in the film include Christopher Serrone, Michael Mota, Jerry Dileo, Patrick Lnanguzzi, James Glorioso Jr., Joey Catalano, Donald Napolitano, John Ruggiero, Amedeo Dirocco, Bruce Soscia, Benjamin Healy, Matthew Volpi, Nick Petito and Leslie Pinata. There was also Chuck Slavin, Doug Balakovich, Lenny Curreri, Chistian DeMeo, Andy Senosk, Michael Swanson and Janelle Feigley. A few of the other cast members were Jamie Lyn Bagley, Anna Kulinova, Jessica Jusayan, Courtney Glorioso, Leah Procito, Jenny Chen, Christine Cilano, Jamie Ghazarian, Nicole Vanlandingham, Cecilia Lois and An'Gele Anderson.

With the few exceptions that I mentioned, I liked the film. It mixed your standard mob feud with hillbilly Bigfoot hunters to make a strange but entertaining combination.

As of this writing The Families Feud has received thirty awards from various film festivals. The film's festival run has pretty much been concluded. And the producers are working on a distribution deal so the film is not yet available to the general public.

But if you'd like to see a trailer for the film, view some still photos from it or some additional information about it, visit https://thefamiliesfeud.com/

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