4/5 Realism in the characters in crime-thiller
  by Pork Chop (Lisbon, Portugal)
Federal Hill (1994) is one of those movies that seems relentlessly
biographical, in the way the story is crafted, carrying a robust
emotional message or component underlying the action. There's an
illusion of a personal and upclose story to the writer.

At first, it would appear this terrain has been covered a million
times before, in terms of a guy-tries-to-get-girl scenario combined
with a crime thriller.

Nevertheless, the story is planned out convincingly enough, in NYC,
having personalized the story in a special fashion, and being
detail oriented to such a degree, that it has no difficulty in
capturing the audience's imagination over the 90 mins.

Nicholas Turturro is a phenomenon in himself, leading the picture
with a hectic, mind-racing, adrenalin-inspired approach, in between
showing a unique, vulnerable existance, as he interacts with Libby
Langdon and her lover, Robert Turano whom he's a roommate with,
as well as in caring for his parents and respecting the boundaries
of the ghetto, meaning, the power of the head honcho of the
neighborhood family, led by Frank Vincent.

The story surrounds a handful of high school friends, from the same
neighborhood, socio-economic and ethnic background, who
collectively get in various degrees of trouble, from the not so
legal behavior of Turturro, in various settings, showing a
propensity for temper-tantrums, irrational behavior, spontaneous
bursts of violence, whether it's when driving, or ransacking homes,
cloning keys, or in a social setting, such as a night-club.

Multiple times, the conduct shown is shocking, such as onanism
after a break -in, point blank executions, tasteless jokes,
scatological references in judging people, baiting and bashing sex
workers, the graphic threats made in various situations, pawnshop
deals, bribing a traffic officer in between more mainstream
references, in rappor to Vincent's crew, ( making your bones,
funeral for a shiping victim, etc.)

The music is appropriate, the filming is crystal clear and focused,
but there are no sub-titles and the image is not wide-screen at
all.

Overall, this work is memorable from having personalized so much of
the story, showing a warmth and realism in the characters that is
too often missing in other releases. It also suggests the danger of
people being introverted in their own ghetto and personal lives in
particular, and to the world in general.


4/5 little gem
  by Nancy J. Mcallister (huntsville, Alabama United States)
As a former Rhode Islander I was attracted to this movie. I had rented Outside Providence and did not care for it. Had an unknown local actor played Baldwin's part it might have been good. Federal Hill, however, was quite good. It completely captured Providence and Federal Hill. I imagine the upcoming movie about Buddy Cianci will be similar as far as the rich cultural portrait Turturro offers. I truly can not imagine anyone saying this is a horrible movie. It's really quite good.

5/5 EXCELLENT & UNDER RATED Greaseball GEM !!
  by discoblunto (Texas)
This movie was filmed in my home town of Providence, Rhode Island in the early 1990's. Back then Providence wasn't looking so good, as it was going through lots of construction. You can see some of the ugliness & gloom Providence experienced back then, in this film. It's a melancholy drama, with hints of oddball humor and plenty of greasy mob guy language. Also you can see enjoyable early footage of some famous actors, and some who SHOULD be more well-known. The portrayals of Rhode Islander Italian Americans is very well done.

The story is fairly simple, but very rich in texture and
typical Italian culture (namely the thug stereotypes.) The neighborhood in Providence in which the actors (thug-types) grew up together in, is called Federal Hill, hence the name of the movie. I used to live there growing up, and the scenes on 'the Hill' such as the bakery/deli, and the restaraunt, were very pleasant for me to see.

Needless to say, there is some odd behavior amongst a couple of the main characters, which leads to PLENTY of trouble!

With a good dose of drama, humor, sometimes depressing situations, class, and quality acting, Federal Hill is a well done, low budget, artsy mob-flick.. Under rated indeed!

These days, the downtown area of Providence is beautiful and a lot has been done to make this colonial city a fun place to visit.

The actor who plays Ralphie went on to become a big star on a major network station's police drama.. and the actress who plays the character Wendy in the film, can currently be seen on a home makeover program.

During the end credits of this wonderful film, the very beautiful song 'Run You Away' from the artist Susan Said (susansaid dot com) plays for you to enjoy... this song suits the ending perfectly, as it is very sad.

The previous reviewer was unconstructive in his tearing-down of this wonderful film. I don't see how anybody could dislike it, as it's a pleasure to watch. There is a black & white version, and a color version, I own the color VHS and also a color Laserdisk. It played on cable many times back in the mid-90's.

If you like mob flicks that aren't so 'gang related', but more 'bad decisions amongst buddies'.. then you should check this out.

Thumbs up for a favorite movie of mine, and for great shots of my old stomping grounds!

1/5 Beyond atrocity
  by Frank Dagostino (Long Island, NY)
My friends and I rented this movie a few years ago. It has become the barometer against which all bad movies are measured.

"We saw Alone in the Dark last weekend. It was terrible."
"Federal Hill terrible?"
"No, not THAT terrible."

Imagine a mob movie written by junior high students and performed by pre-schoolers and you're still doing a little better than Federal Hill did. The movie is beyond predictable in its dialogue, plot "twists" and tough guy talk. You'll cringe and wince at the overacting and poor direction. This is a movie where every line that is supposed to evoke awe from the viewer makes them laugh instead.

This one's good for a rental if you and your friends like to tear apart bad movies. Aside from that, AVOID.