R | 2h 14m | Biopic | June 20, 2014
In Clint Eastwood’s “Jersey Boys” (2014) we learn there were only three ways for young Italian-American men to escape Jersey in 1951: join the Army, join the mob, or get famous. “Jersey Boys” is the movie version of the Broadway musical about the life and times of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: four juvenile semi-delinquents who made it out of Belleville, New Jersey, on the third option.
When asked at a June 9, 2014 press conference in Manhattan how he related so well to this seemingly foreign material, Clint Eastwood revealed a little known fact: Growing up in Oakland, California, his high school and neighborhood were largely Italian-American. And much like comedian Jay Mohr, who grew up similarly and said it took him years to stop saying “Marone!,” Eastwood let on that, unbeknownst to most, he possesses an in-depth familiarity with all things Italian-American. Who knew?…