Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Johnny Dangerously’

Written by Scott Edwards

​After watching Birdman, I decided to jump back through a couple of my Michael Keaton movies and try to find one where he is basically playing the same character, but in a completely different way. Now being a child of the 80s, it was not that hard to find a good one since that is where his career really took off. Looking through the different genres that he has played in, I found a great movie where his character has to reinvent himself, in a gangster movie called Johnny Dangerously.

In the year 1910, Johnny Kelly is trying to earn himself a living and wants to take care of his mother and brother at the same time. Without having a father, Johnny has had to learn the rules of the streets on his own, or so he thinks, when he gets offered a job by a notorious gangster Jocko Dundee. Now Johnny never wants to do anything to break the law, but with his mother’s ailing health and medical bills pilling up, turning to a life of crime is the only way that he can get the money he needs to take care of her. With a little job turning into a career, Johnny Kelly joins the Dundee gang and changes his name to Johnny Dangerously.  

As the years go by, Johnny is living a double life, one as his mother’s son that has done nothing wrong and the other as the famous gangster Dangerously who has a heart of gold. Johnny will do anything to help out his family and the people of the old neighborhood, as long as nobody tells his family about who he really is. But Johnny is walking a thin line as his little brother is going to law school and when he graduates, he wants to focus on putting all of the people that break the law away and that includes the infamous gangster Dangerously. 
 
Johnny does not want to hold his brother back and decides to go straight, but when he is found in the police commissioner's office with the dead commissioner, he has been framed for a murder that he did not commit. Having to put his brother behind bars is the hardest thing for little Tommy Kelly to do, but when he finds out about the frame job, he will have to pull together everything he can to earn his older brother his freedom once again.

This is by far one of my favorite movies from the 80s and for good reason. There is so much star power in the movie, along with a ton of one liners that will make you wonder why they don’t even try to make you laugh in today’s movies anymore. Now, I know I did not hit everything that happens in this movie, with the betrayal by Danny Vermin, or the ‘Fargin War’ with Roman Maroni, or how awesome Jocko Dundee really is, or how Lil can keep pace with Johnny’s witty remarks. I was just looking at the aspect of changing one’s self to become someone new. That is really what the story is trying to tell, but it might be lost with all of the comedy that is being shoved into your face. With some over the top performances, you might need to check out this movie at least once… once. Keep Laughing.  

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