While a lot of attention will be given to the fact that director Brian Caunter and his Columbia College Chicago colleagues landed the very recognizable Frank Vincent (The Sopranos, Goodfellas, etc.) for their feature debut, I was more excited to see the late cameo by Stacey Keach. There wasn’t an art house cinema in my hometown, but I grew up watching “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” on TV, back when TVs were either tiny or part of a large piece of furniture, sometimes both. For anyone with a touch of nostalgia for pulpy noir, Chicago Overcoat has a lot to offer. Vincent plays a washed up middling mobster hitman who comes out of semi-retirement in order to make some extra cash. In doing so he sparks the attention of an old school cop (Danny Goldring), who is the only one who sees a connection between the new bodies and a string of dusty unsolved murders files.
Thus we have a fertile, if familiar set up: the mirror image good guy and bad guy, each one not as good or bad as he might seem, and both pining for the old days and the old rules. Caunter and screenwriters Andrew Dowd and Josh Staman seem to be pining for the old days, too. For the most part that reverence for genre staples is fun for the audience. For a debut effort, I was impressed with how assuredly this team of filmmakers stuck to their stylistic choices, especially in terms of its look and sound. Some of the dialog is strained and awkward, though, begging for a more ruthless editor, both in pre- and post-production. And there are both scenes and minor narrative threads – one involving Vincent’s grandson’s bullying comes to mind – which are inauthentic and, more importantly, non-essential.
But as much as Chicago Overcoat is a respectful homage to its mafia- and noir-infused ancestors, the filmmakers have packed a few surprises, right up to the end. And for that, it has earned from me the one thing both its heroes want most from each other: respect.
[Editorial Note: My general practice is for postings to reflect the date and time that I watch a film. That is unless, as is the case here, I'm provided an early screening opportunity. I actually screened Chicago Overcoat on September 2.]
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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