MovieChat Forums > Knockaround Guys (2002) Discussion > $500,000?

$500,000?

posted 13 years ago by nwarlick
4 replies | jump to latest

Am I really supposed to believe that a major mob figure (apparently featured on A&E's mafia stories according to this movie) is really going to be brought down over $500,000?

You can't even own property in New York without that much. Not to mention these guys are flying around on private jets wherever they go, they drop about $500 in bribes, and then buy a $couple grand worth of firearms.

Even Seth Green's plane probably cost half that. I know it got destroyed, but my first inclination as a mob tough guy would be to make Marbles sell it to atone for the $$$ he lost.

Let's do the math. Barry Pepper has a crew of 4. Malkovic had at least that. Including Benny Chains, that's 9 people to support on mob pay. $500,000/9 is $55k a year working for this supposed mob. You could work a Manhattan bar and make more.

Couldn't they have at least made it $1 million?

[–] nwarlick 13 years ago

Source:

Here's a used 2005 single-prop plane for $365,000. Sell the plane, skip the bribes, travel accomodations, and the firearms, and you've got close to $400,000.

http://www.usedaircraftonline.com/apdetail13001.htm

Everyone then pitches in $10,000 and no one has to die.

[–] deadbodieseverywhere17 12 years ago

Am I really supposed to believe that a major mob figure (apparently featured on A&E's mafia stories according to this movie) is really going to be brought down over $500,000?

Sounds like you're referring to feds or the DEA or something when it's worded that way. He owed someone the $500,000 (and then borrowed from someone else to pay it). There were hints in the movie that they were going down on money and didn't have that kind of cash. At the beginning Teddy says that the vendors are paying up like they should be. Benny makes it known someone is stealing money from them as well.

Where do you get 9 guys working for them? Matty's boys went with him because they were his friends (aside from Johnny Marbles who was assumedly going to be paid upon delivery of the money). So you're just looking at paying the two guys who teddy had with him (who also could have been family, as a lot of Mafia in movies apparently is).

I agree it's not a ton of money, but the reasoning is there that they didn't have it and people have been killed for a lot less!

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[–] Panthro44 12 years ago

I don't believe it was so much as the amount that was important, but the mission itself. Just accomplish the mission, be it $500,000 or $50M. Just do it.

[–] I_Created_U 7 years ago

At first, yes, but later it's made pretty clear that it's about being able to reimburse the money to bigger shots, which they couldn't do if the bag was missing.

I agree with OP. During the movie i was also a bit dumbfounded by how relatively small the amount was. What kind of criminal organization can't come up with 500K? What kind of criminal organization has its "vice president" break rank for such a small amount? How miserably was he paid to be willing to undertake and risk all that for 500K? Minimum wage? 500K is what i expected a VP of such an organization to clear in a year, if not more.

They should have upped the ante and say something around a couple million to make it more credible, because as OP demonstrated with his break down, those guys should have been able to conjure 500K easily, if only for the time being, until they find the guys who have the bag and like that at least you don't look like a screw up in front of your whole family.

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