Source: Some information on this page may have been sourced as part of the 2023 Wikimedia Australia Partnership Projects grant, with the purpose of improving and expanding the use of Wikidata on our website. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Read more about this project here.
Mob boss Paul Vitti (Robert DeNiro) is having trouble sleeping on the eve of a planned meeting between rival Mafia gangs. His anxiety soon turns into a full blown panic attack prompting the tough guy to contact psychiatrist Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal). The neurotic Sobel initially refuses to take Vitti on as a patient but soon finds that the desperate criminal doesn’t take rejection well. Director Harold Ramis uses this comedic premise effectively, parodying the mobs ‘tough guy’ ethos, while lampooning an assortment of familiar gangster films. The casting of DeNiro is a joke in itself as the actor sends up his previous film incarnations as the quintessential Mafia ‘wiseguy’. Cast also includes Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri and Joe Viterelli.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Stream, rent or buy via
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
311658
Language
English
Audience classification
M (15+)
Subject categories
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Italian Americans
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → New York (N.Y.)
Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Mafia - United States
Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Organized crime - United States
Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Psychoanalysis
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)