Film Oddities: Pope of Greenwich Village, 1984

I am sitting here on a Sunday admiring a drink...that drink reminds me of a film, that combination reminds me of my youth and eating certain foods, being around certain people and enjoying my childhood. Early in the film Pope of Greenwich Village we see the beautiful Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts playing Italian-Americans hustling in the streets, dressing fancy and playing a little stick ball, eating an Italian Sandwich and drinking the drink I have in my hands, a Manhattan Special. This was a special drink of my youth, an iced espresso coffee soda. The song playing in the film is Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind". It is a perfect combination. Mickey Rourke was a god...this film is a snapshot, not really a gangster film, but a street film, as much as Mean Streets or Requiem for a Dream is. Charlie and Paulie in a film memory.