Search - Paddy Whacked - The Irish Mob (History Channel) on DVD

Paddy Whacked: The Irish Mob

G. Walko | 09/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With all respect to the only other reviewer J Bryce, giving this documentary one star because of segments recreated with actors is like saying a major league baseball game is terrible because of the music and videos on the scoreboard. The History Channel frequently uses actors in its documenteries, mostly because photos or film of the people do not exist. Paddy Whacked: The Irish Mob is excellent, and tells the tale of the early Irish immigrants and their rise to power through politics, law enforcement, and Tammany Hall. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

A cheap approach undermines what should have been an interes

J. Bryce | Toronto, Canada | 03/12/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"A very poor documentary from The History Channel (who are surely capable of something better than this). It is a strange sort of docu-drama that relies far too heavily on posed shots of actors in lieu of actual archival film or photos and contains a lot of intentionally shaky, disjointed and highly distracting camera work (fake cinema-verite) which is quite simply irritating, particularly as it is coupled with an equally annoying narrative. It's hard to describe this narrative which sounds as if the narrator is trying to play the role of a tough guy instead of simply delivering a factual audio track. The whole thing reeks of being a cheap and quick knock off - all surface effects that are trying to cover-up the fact that there's not much visual substance here. This is all the more annoying because the actual filmed interview material is often genuinely interesting. Imagine if Ken Burns had made "Baseball" by showing us pictures and film of actors dressed as Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig instead of showing us the real thing. That's what you have here. History Channel also produced a similar and equally bad crime documentary called "Mob Scene ~ The Psychology of the Flip" which used identical techniques. Looks like we have the same crew at work. It's a shame that they appear to have adopted such a cookie cutter approach to their documentaries. I'll think twice before even bothering to watch another of their productions if this is what we can expect."

Not awful, but the book is better.

Katelynn Drudge | Richmond, VA, USA | 01/15/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This documentary, based on T.J. English's extremely enjoyable non-fiction "Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster", starts at the end. The attempt to bookend the hour with the story of Whitey Bulger (a frankly uninspiring figure compared to some of the others we meet in the course of the documentary) confused me until I remembered the flurry of Bulger and Southie-related media that sprung up around the time, mostly inspired by the Departed and other gangster movies released within a few months of each other. Once I figured that out, I was able to sit back and enjoy getting re-acquainted with a few historical miscreants that I first met when I picked up the book in college.

The documentary itself misses a few of the most memorable anecdotes from the book, and lacks the engaging true-crime prose that English did very well. But in general, it's a pretty good overview although it does loose track of its own thesis once or twice.

You would be better served by spending your hard-earned cash on the book, which delves deeper and includes photos, and waiting for St. Patrick's Day when this is sure to make a re-air on the History Channel or its crime-oriented sister channel."