Joe Grifasi Movies List

A quirky, romantic New York comedy about the pursuit of love, life and the right to be yourself.

It's a hot summer day in 1933 in South Philly, where 12-year old Gennaro lives with his widowed mom and his ailing grandpa, who sits outside holding tight to his last quarter, which he's promised to Gennaro and which Gennaro would like to have to buy a ticket to the plush new movie theater. But grandpa's not ready to pass on the quarter or pass on to his final reward: he has some unfinished business with a woman from his past, and he enlists Gennaro to act as his emissary.

When Will Browning is threatened with military summer school if he doesn't get better grades, he decides to do a science project that will definitely get an A. So he buys some Ocean Pups, unhatched sea creatures that will look spectacular, but he hasn't bargained for the cloning agent that the unscrupulous manufacturers have put in the kit. Next thing he knows there's another him.

An innocent man is thrust into a political power struggle in this drama. After witnessing a mob killing, New York restaurant owner Sam Paxton (Aidan Quinn) reports the crime. Overzealous attorneys (Brian Dennehy and Stockard Channing) put pressure on Paxton to testify in court, but Paxton is in a tough spot when the mob starts threatening his family. Paxton now faces an impossible choice: testify and put his family at risk … or go to jail.

When a senator's new wife is murdered, the prime suspect is his ex-wife, Laurel. Laurel's brother-in-law, lawyer Paul Madriani, still reeling from the death of his wife, takes on the case.

A taped version of the stage play about a hideously deformed 19th-century London man and how he managed to triumph over his disease.

A recording of Julie Taymor's New York stage production of William Shakespeare's comedy.

Batman must battle a disfigured district attorney and a disgruntled former employee with help from an amorous psychologist and a young circus acrobat.

In this political thriller, a gubernatorial candidate's idealistic press secretary discovers that the opposing political candidate has feathered the nest of his campaigns with terrible lies.

A young couple in New York are having problems with their relationship.

Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.

Chilly is "top con" on the yard, a title that gives him absolute power. Power to make the rules. Power to kill. When a young con confronts Chilly's power, he learns the vicious price of defiance.

Lifelong friends Lenny Sugarman and Ruben Liebner , both in their 70s, both dyed-in-the-wool New Yorkers, barely recognize the Manhattan of their youth. The city they’ve loved for decades has become a playground for the too-rich; their places, the ones they’ve frequented for years, are now refuges from a changing world they’re increasingly unable to keep up with. When Lenny—a lone schemer all his life—finally gets in over his head, he decides to seek the one thing he’s never had: true love. But to achieve it, he may have to abandon the only place he’s ever known. THE LAST NEW YORKER is a tale of friendship, love and the world’s greatest city -- and how all three keep us young and make us feel alive.

Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on. The aftermath of the robbery gets them into serious trouble with the local Mafia boss and the corrupt New York City police department.

A chronicle of an eccentric Italian-American family in New York City in the 1950's and 60's. Young Teresa dreams of joing the convent, over the objections of her family.

Jeff Marx wants to study medicine and become a physician. However, his grades are far from enough to get him into an American medical school. But then he gets a chance to study medicine abroad in a small Latin American dictatorship governed by the dictator Ramon Madera who has a big interest in how the medical students behave.

In 1961, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle played for the New York Yankees. One, Mantle, was universally loved, while the other, Maris, was universally hated. Both men started off with a bang, and both were nearing Babe Ruth's 60 home run record. Which man would reach it?

As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves.

Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Willis, thoroughly unhappy with his modest homestead, embraces the other-world aspects of his summer job at the posh Flamingo Club. He spurns his father in favor of the patronage of smooth-talking Phil Brody and is seduced by the ample bikini charms of club member Carla Samson. But thanks to a couple of late-summer hard lessons, the teen eventually realizes that family should always come first.

A district attorney (Ray Liotta) is involved in a 24-hour showdown with a gang leader (LL Cool J) and is, at the same time, being manipulated by an attractive assistant district attorney (Jolene Blalock) and a cryptic stranger.

When one of his patients is found murdered, psychiatrist Dr. Sam Rice is visited by the investigating officer but refuses to give up any information. He's then visited by the patient's mistress, Brooke Reynolds, whom he quickly falls for despite her being a likely murder suspect. As the police pressure on him intensifies, Rice decides to attempt solving the case on his own and soon discovers that someone is trying to kill him as well.

When Michael Norell witnesses a murder, he doesn't want to testify but he is forced to by the police. A cop is ordered to bring him to the court, but before they get there they have to deal with several attacks from killers.

True story of a man in search of his children after his ex-wife enters the Witness Protection Program.

Louie Jeffries is happily married to Corinne. On their first anniversary, Louie is killed crossing the road. Louie is reincarnated as Alex Finch, and twenty years later, fate brings Alex and Louie's daughter, Miranda, together. It's not until Alex is invited to Louie's home that he begins to remember his former life, wife and best friend. Of course, there's also the problem that he's attracted to Louie's/his own daughter.

A successful businessman falls in love with the girl of his dreams. There's one big complication though; he's fallen hook, line and sinker for a mermaid.

A group of working-class friends decide to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.

Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. The people of Ticlaw, leaded by its Mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project.

This film concerns two mysterious characters who meet on a Sunday in Queens. Madeleine the most unsettling creature of that name since "Vertigo" is a middle-aged, moderately successful actress. Oliver/Matthew is either a homeless man or a famous film director or both. Madeleine hails him on the street as the latter, launching a bizarre chain of events that includes a conversation in a diner, a very unromantic sexual encounter, the arrival of Madeleine's odd husband and unsuspecting daughter, and a child's birthday party. The film also compassionately tracks the daily rounds of Oliver/Matthew's fellow denizens of the homeless shelter, some of whom will be recognizable to New York audiences.

A recent college graduate decides to sell marijuana on the streets of Manhattan after losing his job at a consulting firm. He soon meets the girl of his dreams. With an unsupportive girlfriend, an increase of clienteles, and the growing threats of being caught or killed, he soon realizes he is in way over his head.

One of Kojak's old enemies uses Ariana, a young Greek girl, as bait to trap the legendary New York detective. Meanwhile, Kojak finds himself a brash young associate.

Jersey City teen Ray Ray Morales is wasting time in a low paying job until a local loan shark offers him a job — making sure that Ray Ray's friend, an immigrant pawnbroker makes his weekly payments.

Following a mysterious suicide at Niagara Falls, a low-rent detective unravels a conspiracy to build a revolutionary invention by enigmatic scientist, Nikola Tesla.

A detective uncovers a sinister conspiracy when he is sent to research a disintegrating neighborhood for a public relations campaign.

After total humiliation at her thirteenth birthday party, Jenna Rink wants to just hide until she's thirty. With a little magic, her wish is granted, but it turns out that being thirty isn't as always as awesome as she thought it would be!

A man takes matters into his own hands when a pharmaceutical kingpin moves into his town to cause some real trouble.

A movies special effects man is hired by a government agency to help stage the assassination of a well known gangster. When the agency double cross him, he uses his special effects to trap the gangster and the corrupt agents.

Brewster, an aging minor-league baseball player, stands to inherit 300 million dollars if he can successfully spend 30 million dollars in 30 days without anything to show for it, and without telling anyone what he's up to... A task that's a lot harder than it sounds!

Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

Melanie Parker, an architect and mother of Sammy, and Jack Taylor, a newspaper columnist and father of Maggie, are both divorced. They meet one morning when overwhelmed Jack is left unexpectedly with Maggie and forgets that Melanie was to take her to school. As a result, both children miss their school field trip and are stuck with the parents. The two adults project their negative stereotypes of ex-spouses on each other, but end up needing to rely on each other to watch the children as each must save his job. Humor is added by Sammy's propensity for lodging objects in his nose and Maggie's tendency to wander.

A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.

Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.

This gritty inner-city film follows various people living in a troubled New Jersey setting, most notably Nick Rinaldi, a disillusioned contractor who has been helped along his whole life by his wealthy father. Other characters in this ensemble drama about urban conflict and corruption include Asteroid , an unstable homeless person, and Wynn, an idealistic young politician.

Vincent's life is on hold until he finds his wife's killer. Alice, his neighbor, is convinced she can make him happy. She decides to invent a culprit, so that Vincent can find revenge and leave the past behind. But there is no ideal culprit and no perfect crime.

A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.

A veteran New York City Police Lieutenant's investigation of a woman's murder uncovers corruption in high places.

Based on the real-life ordeal of Baltimore priest Bernard Pagano, who was accused of several armed robberies in the late Seventies.

When a vengeful New York transit cop decides to steal a trainload of subway fares, his foster brother—a fellow cop—tries to protect him.

This is the story of actress Frances Farmer, her struggles with mental illness and involuntary confinement in an insane asylum.

A rush-hour fender-bender on New York City's crowded FDR Drive, under most circumstances, wouldn't set off a chain reaction that could decimate two people's lives. But on this day, at this time, a minor collision will turn two complete strangers into vicious adversaries. Their means of destroying each other might be different, but their goals, ultimately, will be the same: Each will systematically try to dismantle the other's life in a reckless effort to reclaim something he has lost.

Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.