Movie; The Family (2013) Caution Spoiler Alert

 The Family

Came out; 2013

Time; 1 hours 51 minutes

Watched: Amazon

Rating; R for violence, language and brief sexuality

IMDB Rating; 6.3/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Robert DeNiro as Fred Blake

Michelle Pfeiffer as Maggie Blake

Dianna Agron as Belle Blake

John D'Leo as Warren Blake

Tommy Lee Jones as Robert Stansfield

Jimmy Palumbo as Di Cicco

Story Line;

A mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of FBI Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo) can't help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the "family" way, enabling their former mafia cronies to track them down. Chaos ensues as old scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings

Thoughts;

I swear I watched this movie before, but it wasn't listed.

This is pretty good, it's a funny movie with lots of little details.

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

The camera pans out on a family of four eating a meal together. The doorbell rings, and the husband/father answers. As he puts his eye to the peephole, a bomb explodes, blowing his corpse back to the dining table. The wife/mother frantically tries to call the police as a man in a black hat and coat walks through the destroyed door, holding a gun. He rubs out the rest of the family, including both adolescent kids, without a word. He then takes a hatchet from his briefcase and hacks off a finger from the man's hand.

The voice of Fred Blake (Robert De Niro) says that the only question people should ask is the value of a man's life. Fred says he's worth $20 million, and he'd give away the entire fortune to get his old life back.

Fred is riding in a car driven by his wife, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), while their two kids, Warren (John D'Leo) and Belle (Dianna Agron) ride in the back with the family dog, Malavita. They're all heading toward a new home in Cholong-sur-Avre in Normandy, France. Maggie is unsure of the house's exact location because the houses on the street have no numbers, but Fred is able to locate the correct house due to instructions from an acquaintance named Stansfield.

They all get settled in, unpacking some of their belongings, which are already there (although the TV is late in arriving). During small talk, it's revealed that the Blake family has lived in the Riviera and Paris.

Maggie offers to help Fred unpack, but he tells her to get the kids to bed, as they have school the very next day. The real reason, however, is that unknown to the rest of the family, Fred had a dead body in the trunk. He buries it in the back yard while nobody is looking.

In the morning, over breakfast, it's revealed that the Blake family has used different surnames in different parts of France. After Warren and Belle leave for school, Maggie tells Fred she's going to pick up groceries, and that Stansfield said that until he arrives that day, Fred shouldn't step outside the house. They need to come up with something to tell the neighbors, and if anyone were to ask, they should say they're American.

The Blake family are federal witnesses. Fred's real name is Giovanni Manzoni, and he and his family were part of a mafia family from Brooklyn. Giovanni's grandfather drove one of the cars at the funeral procession for Vito Genovese's wife, and Gio's father was one of 107 mob bosses to attend a notorious 1957 Apalachian Convention. Giovanni and his family are in Witness protection because he turned informant and testified against a high-ranking Don named Luchese (Stan Carp), sending him to jail. Squeaking rats being one of the most despised things among the mafia, the whole Manzoni family has a $20 million bounty on their heads. Stansfield is the family's FBI contact.

Soon as Maggie is gone, Fred steps outside. He's seen through a camera lens, and he seems to turn right toward it, as if he knows the person or persons with the camera, are there. Later, he rummages through some of the family belongings until he finds something he appears to prize: a manual typewriter.

The Manzonis waste little time starting to run afoul of the locals and the way of life in Cholong-sur-Avre, and they deal with it the best way they know how: mafia style. Maggie stops for coffee and learns the closest sightseeing attractions are in another town, twenty kilometers distant. Warren runs into a group of young French students led by Andre (Jonas Bloquet), who want to shake him down for some cash, take his backtalk with disdain, and mudhole stomp him in a locker room.

Maggie is annoyed with the stereotypical anti-American sentiment of the French grocery store owner and two French customers. She grabs some materials that act as a makeshift explosive and sets it off in the back of the store, destroying much of it.

Meeting for lunch, Belle and Warren strategize. As the outsiders in a foreign school, they need to stick close together. Warren has cased a majority of the students and has learned who runs 'contraband' (like cigarettes), and who can be exploited for what-- including the potential to turn the tables on Andre's gang, who beat him up and hit on Belle.

Fred begins typing a memoir of his life on the typewriter. Later, he goes out into the backyard and is spotted by a neighbor tending to his rose garden. The neighbor strikes up small talk, which proves troublesome for Fred. Asked about his work, he says he's a writer. Afraid to say he writes novels, because he doesn't know anything about it, he says he's writing about the armed forces landing at Normandy on D-Day... and finds his neighbor knows a lot about this subject; much more than Fred himself.

Maggie visits a church, where the local priest makes her acquaintance. He greets new arrivals cordially, which is something Maggie feels she and her family need right now.

After school is done for the day, Warren goes right to work. He finds that an engineer's son collects trading cards for the Paris S.G. and is only missing one card, ready to give anything in return for it. Warren assures the youth he'll see if he can help acquire it. Meanwhile, Belle is walking home when Andre and his gang start following her in their car, offering her a ride. When Belle realizes she missed a turn trying to ignore them, they take advantage, asking where she lives and then telling her it's miles away, and it'll be dark before she gets home. Against her better judgment, Belle accepts the offer of a ride, and she doesn't need long to see through the French boys' charm; they drive to a local leisure park and lay down a picnic blanket. They clearly have seduction on their minds. Their overconfidence proves deadly, as they allow Belle to rummage through the trunk of their car, where she finds a tennis racket. She knocks Andre down and viciously bashes the racket against his head until it breaks, before giving the shocked boys a stern lecture on how young women deserve to be treated. She gets in their car and drives off, leaving them there. She drives partway home before leaving the car on the shoulder of the road and walking the rest of the way.

The scene shifts to Attica State prison, where a guard delivers a bucket of ice to Don Luchese. Despite being in prison for life, Luchese lives like a king, with a private cell furnished nearly as well as a good quality motel room, and at least one of the guards caters to him as well. One of Luchese's underlings is in the prison with him. He takes the bucket and dumps it in the sink; among the ice is the finger hacked off from the man who was killed the beginning of the movie. The ice kept it fresh so that Luchese is able to take a fingerprint and compare it to Fred's prints from a copy of his Buffalo police record. The prints don't match, so Luchese knows that the Manzonis are still alive. They call Rocco (Jon Freda), who carried out the hit, to inform him, and he promises to continue looking.

The Manzonis are making small talk over dinner when Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) shows up to see how their first day went. He's also there to make sure the Manzonis behave themselves: two weeks ago, in Nice, Maggie bought a dozen lobsters from a man named Mourad, that turned out to be rotten; Fred beat Mourad to a pulp, and two days ago, Mourad went missing (he's the stiff that Fred buried in the backyard). That the Manzonis bought a whole dozen lobsters smacks of a 'business deal;' the kind the Manzonis aren't allowed to make, as per the terms of the Witness Protection program. Stansfield has had to relocate the Manzonis numerous times because of how they all handle 'fitting in' at each new place. His job is to keep them safe, but they're making his job very hard.

That night, Fred has a nightmare about a party he and Luchese's men co-hosted back in Brooklyn; he happens to turn and look at Luchese, who runs a finger across his throat, and suddenly every guest at the party turns toward Giovanni, pointing a gun at him.

Fred is at his typewriter again, continuing his memoirs. He says, in a voiceover, that Stansfield's duty is to tell the 'official' version of what happened to get a $20 million bounty on the lives of all four Manzonis. Fred wants to write down the whole truth, just once, without any deception, even if nobody reads it. He says his story is impossible to just make up. It turns out Maggie has suspected what Fred was up to, and she's plenty angry about it, even a single typed hardcopy, as opposed to something written on computer disk, is at risk of being seen by the wrong eyes. Maggie insists she could have been consulted, but the last time Fred did that, she had him say he was an architect and suddenly everyone was coming to him for advice on expanding their homes. For now, Maggie wants her husband to be a plumber; the sink's tap water is brown, and can't be trusted for washing or drinking. She called the local plumber twice and he never showed.

Maggie steps outside, looking around for prying eyes, and goes to a nearby house where two FBI agents, Caputo (Domenick Lombardozzi) and DiCicco (Jimmy Palumbo), are watching over their safety. She brings them some home-cooked food, making pleasant small talk. Unlike Fred, Maggie knows the value of proper diplomacy and keeping on the agents' good side... and she can use the company, being Americans in a country infamous for not looking kindly on most Americans. During small talk, it's revealed that Stansfield is arranging for the Manzonis to host a block barbeque to meet and get acquainted with most of the neighbors.

The next day at school, during lunch, Belle and Warren again strategize. Warren has been hard at work doing 'business' of his own; he's made a fake copy of the last trading card the engineer's son needs; in return he gets a copy of math homework which he trades to another student for another favor. He also gets a copy of the Goth girl's school report, promising to alter it in a way her parents would like, in return for an equal share of the cigarette market. He also 'picked up' a splinter so he could raid the school nurse's medicine cabinet for some energy pills he sells. Belle, meanwhile, found out who took something from her purse, and beat the girl to a pulp in the rest room.

Belle looks across the lunch room and her gaze falls across a handsome young man, who Warren knows is a college student doing substitute teaching work for a disliked regular who's on maternity leave. The substitute is studying for a very difficult math exam, and all the senior-level girls have the hots for him.

Still with Caputo and DiCicco, Maggie looks through their binoculars with which they spy on, and gather information about, all the neighbors, to watch for any security threats. Maggie also sees the plumber show up at her house, and smiles to herself in satisfaction.

The plumber, Ramirez (Tonio Descanvelle), tells Fred that the brown water could be a result of either the house's pipes, which are very old, or the town water mains. If it's the mains, the Manzonis would need to take it up with the town mayor; if it's the pipes, they'll need a full overhaul, which will cost a great deal of money and take a great deal of time. Ramirez gets very condescending and rude as he suggests Fred call Ramirez's wife, pay 50% up front and make another appointment. He boasts about his family, fathers and sons, being plumbers for five generations.

When Ramirez asks Fred about his line of work, Fred turns toward a nook in the basement and pulls out a baseball bat. Cut to Maggie still watching through the binoculars, and she sees Fred carrying an unconscious Ramirez out of the house and putting him in the back of his plumber van, before Fred gets into the driver's seat and drives the van off.

As school ends, Belle makes her move on the substitute, Henri (Oisín Stack), telling him she needs private tutoring in math.

Andre and gang meets the engineer's son to acquire a hi-fi they need for a pre-prom party, only to find that the engineer's son and several other students are working with Warren. The bully gang gets their taste of being on the wrong end of a beatdown.

Fred has brought Ramirez to a hospital after having beaten him with an inch of his life with the baseball bat. He's unable to explain to the doctor how Ramirez became so badly injured from 'a fall down stairs,' but finally provides a street-smart escape by saying he's not a doctor himself.

Rocco is speaking with Mourad's family, showing them a photo of Fred. He's posing as an FBI agent looking into disappearances. Mourad's wife tells Rocco that Fred is a friend of her husband, and unlike in the photo, he has a beard now. Rocco's questioning makes one of the sons suspicious and he asks to see Rocco's FBI badge. Rocco flashes an evil smile as he agrees to the request, and we then see him looking around shiftily as he steps out of the apartment, after he's killed the whole family.

Fred is writing his memoirs, and in a voiceover and flashbacks, he goes over a list of ten points that show he's a 'good guy;' of course, the flashbacks show scenes of his time running a crime ring in Brooklyn that demonstrate just how 'good' of a guy he really is. His top point is that he only causes pain with good reason. Cut to his beating Ramirez senseless with the baseball bat, pounding on him until the bat breaks, and then picking up where he left off with a short-handled mallet.

Maggie confronts Fred about crippling Ramirez, but he shuts her up by pointing out he knows about the supermarket she blew up. He starts coming on to his wife, and she's reluctant at first, but Fred knows how to turn the charm up in ways she can't resist.

Preparing for the barbecue, Maggie tells Belle that Henri called to find out what time it was. Despite Belle's protests that he's just tutoring her in math, Maggie knows what is really on her daughter's long-term goal list. Warren arrives home with bottles of Coca-Cola, assuring his mother that the French neighbors will be expecting 'greasy, fatty American slop' from the American family living among their midst.

As Warren predicted, the whole neighborhood shows up for the barbeque. Stansfield calls Caputo and DiCicco and tells them to go too, as all the neighbors are there and they need to blend in.

Maggie greets the incoming guests, playing perfect hostess, until she notices one neighbor (who Caputo and DiCocco had told her, was kleptomaniac) quietly pocketing some silverware. Maggie pours the neighbnr some champagne and whispers to her to put the silverware back or Maggie will break her arms.

Fred hasn't come out yet; he's still writing. Maggie sends Belle to get him. Fred quietly tells Belle one of his regrets; despite the zeal with which he carried out his work as a crime boss, he regrets not always having done right by his kids. Belle assures him that she loves him and wouldn't trade him for any other father, and this convinces him to come out.

No sooner is Fred preparing the barbeque, however, when several neighbors start telling him that the method he's using isn't efficient, and how he should really be doing it for better results. He smiles politely, but his eyes show his irritation. As they continue laughing, we see Fred lose his cool and start maiming them-- until Stansfield taps his shoulder, showing it was just Fred imagining it. Sharing a drink with Fred at the bar, Stansfield reveals that Whalberg, a contact who's recently been elected to the Senate, was worried about Fred telling the latest neighbors that he's a writer. Whalberg and Stansfield know that Fred is writing personal memoirs, and Stansfield is there to caution him about what he puts in them, and whether or not it's a good idea to let anyone see them.

As the party is wrapping up, Maggie comforts Belle about Henri not having shown, and Stansfield drops a not-so-subtle warning to Fred regarding one of Gio's former associates.

The next morning as they walk to school, Warren tells Belle that Fred can turn the word 'fuck' into one of the most versatile in the human vocabulary, which makes it curious how he spends so much time writing.

Fred goes to see the mayor about the town water main, only to be given a runaround. The mayor insists that the water main is working normally and makes a sticking point about the Manzonis being new in town. Fred shakes hands politely, but we see him enjoying the thought of grabbing the mayor and using the mayor's desk drawer to crush his fingers.

At the school study hall, Henri notes that Belle has improved considerably, but she sees she really has her work cut out for her when she learns that once he passes his exams, he plans to move to Paris in search of a full-time main teaching position.

Meanwhile, following the trail, Fred visits the town water main. The maintenance supervisor shows that the water is already brown when it reaches the water main, and he suspects a nearby chemical fertilizing plant; the only one of its kind in the area.

Maggie is praying at church when the priest arrives. The priest notes that Maggie often comes to pray during midday, but never at Mass. He asks if she's interested in making confession. Maggie warily asks about priest confidentiality, and he assures her that the oath is sacred.

During class, one of Warren's teachers requests a homework assignment that's overdue from him; a short story written in English, on wordplay and double meanings, for the school newspaper. She gives him a strict deadline, leaving him scrambling to come up with something on the fly. Remembering a neighborhood mafia party at which all of Luchese's family were present, Warren remembers a double entendre recited by Luchese regarding Boris Godunov: "If it's Godunov for you, it's good enough for me." The much younger Warren had found it funny and laughed along with it. Warren quickly writes it all down for his teacher, and it's printed in the school newspaper. Of course, a copy of this newspaper ends up in the one pair of hands it was never meant for: Don Luchese (a funny series of actions shows how the paper arrives in his cell and gets his attention). He recognizes the short story immediately and glares at the credit: "Warren Blake, 3e2."

Fred has just enough time to walk into the office of the chemical fertilizer company president, Mr. Chambard (Serge Tranvouez) when he's told not to talk about the 'brown water' problem. Chambard gives a shockingly rude and crude suggestion to buy bottled water instead of using free tap water. This time it's no mere moment of personal imagination when we see Fred drag a badly beaten Chambard out onto a road with Chambard's motorcycle, threatening to drag him along the road by the cycle. Chambard tells him about one of the turbines and where it is; if his company is responsible at all, the turbine would be the culprit.

Fred arrives home to find Stansfield reading his memoir manuscript, and they have it out over the writing, as well as Fred continuously escaping regular FBI surveillance, which is enough to warrant termination of Witness Protection. Stansfield tells Fred he wants the manuscript when Fred is finished.

Henri is packing to take a train to Paris, and has prepared some home work for Belle. But it's Belle who's donning the teacher's cap for a lesson in something quite different from math, in the privacy of the office.

Mr. LeMercier (Cédric Zimmerlin), the English teacher whose face Fred imagined pushing down on the hot barbeque grill, calls to tell Fred that he's hosted Cholong's film society for five years now; they show a classic film, followed by a debate on it. He's asking Fred to attending a showing of the classic film Some Came Running (1958) by Vincente Minnelli. Not wanting to come across as rude, Fred tells LeMercier that he'll get back to him.

Soon as Fred hangs up, DiCicco, who along with Caputo, listen in on all calls to and from the Blake home, promptly grills Fred about his response. Stansfield shows up a few moments later, furious at Fred's leaving the decision open, because it can blow his cover. Trying to defend himself, Fred points out he's supposed to 'integrate' to the community and didn't want to give them a rude brush-off. Fred insists he's going to get a copy of the movie in advance of the showing, watch it at home, and then he's bringing Stansfield to the film society showing and debate, which will earn Stansfield a good write-up in Fred's memoirs (a promise that draws a chuckle from Stansfield).

Don Luchese sees Fat Willy (Vincent Pastore), one of the heavy muscle in his organization, and shows him a copy of the newspaper from the school Warren and Belle attend. He orders all available men to head there at once and kill all of the Manzoni family.

Warren is summoned before a faculty board to answer twenty-two student complaints. The committee head offers for him to take his pick of where to start: assault, corruption, bullying, and threatening students and faculty alike.

Caputo and DiCicco are finding continued surveillance of Fred getting tedious, as he simply sits at his desk in the shed. But in fact, they're watching a cleverly made-up mannequin, as Fred has gone to the chemical fertilizer plant's main turbine. He wires a batch of explosives to a wind-up alarm clock and places it where it will do the 'most good,' but not be easily spotted.

Henri calls Belle to tell her that he's certain he's gotten an excellent grade on his exam to qualify for a full-time teaching position, and he's going to stay in Paris a few days to look for an apartment and see his father. Belle's smile reverses as Henri then tells her that her seduction of him was 'a fabulous moment' and 'an experience.' Belle starts to cry as Henri tries to downplay what she thought was a declaration of her undying love (even Caputo and DiCicco call him an asshole for 'doing it over the phone'). Belle tells Henri that love was the only thing that could extract her from the crazy life she's been required to lead, and he's just crushed it, before she hangs up and breaks down in tears.

Stansfield shows up to attend the film showing and debate with Fred. He's still quite displeased at being roped into it. Rather than walk, Stansfield says they'll take his car.

If life was not taking enough of a downturn for the Manzonis, Maggie goes to the church during a flea market, to find the priest has turned against her. He's appalled and horrified at the confession she's made as the moll of a mob boss. He's under sacred oath not to share the confession, but it's haunted him all week, calling her family out as having made a pact with the devil. He demands she leave the church and not return.

The film showing is about to start when LeMercier announces that the Normandy Cinema association has sent the wrong film. Instead of Some Came Running, the film of the night will be Goodfellas (1990), by Martin Scorsese. Stansfield is horrified, wanting to drag Fred away and out of the showing then and there, but Fred pushes for them to stay, because it would look too suspicious if they ran away now; and more importantly, because Fred is extremely familiar with the meaning of the movie's storyline and background, he can be a very credible figure in the debate.

Belle overhears Warren hurriedly arriving home and hastily packing. Warren tells his sister that he doesn't want the Feds blaming her and their parents for what he's done at school, so he's running off to Paris. He's prepared forged ID and a passport to assist him in 'starting in the business.' Warren sees that Belle is wearing one of Maggie's pearl necklaces; she tells him she's going to be with the man she loves. Belle hugs her brother and wishes him good luck, telling him she loves him.

The showing of Goodfellas finishes and LeMercier asks Fred to sit up front for the debate. Stansfield listens as Fred starts to describe the start of a young teenage boy's start in a life of crime that sounds eerily like his own beginnings.

Warren is at the train station waiting for a train to Paris. A train pulls up, and a number of burly men debark, all carrying heavy leather cases and wearing trenchcoats. Warren nearly has a heart attack as he recognizes these men as Luchese's. For a moment he thinks he's dead, but the men walk past him, not paying attention, and not recognizing him, as it's been several years since any of them had last seen him as a child. They pile into two black cars that are waiting for them.

With Rocco and Willie are a number of serious heavy hitters: Bernie (Anthony Desio), Tommy (Ted Arcidi), and Billy the Bug (Michael J. Panichelli Jr.), all of whom are huge and burly. Seasoned hit men Paulo (Raymond Franza), Mezzo (David Belle), and Albert (Paul Borghese) round out the hit team.

Warren hurries to a phone booth to warn his family. Caputo and DiCicco wonder why nobody's answering, until they see Maggie's car pull in. But just as Maggie reaches the phone, Warren has run out of the phone booth, leaving the phone dangling off the hook.

As the two cars drive down the road, Rocco calls Albert on a cell phone and tells them to take care of the fire house, and then meet him and his group outside the town hall. His men will be getting a feel for the town in order to carry out their mission quietly, quickly, and without raising a general alarm.

Fred is a huge hit at the post-movie debate, but Stansfield isn't pleased. He calls Caputo and DiCicco, telling them to round up Maggie and the kids for Plan B.

Belle calls Henri from a cell phone she's mugged another girl for. She tells him that she just wanted to say that she loves him and that she wanted to hear his voice one more time, 'before she goes.' The camera pans out to show she's on the roof of the Cholong church, and the meaning of 'before she goes' becomes ominously clear.

As it happens, Belle is right across from the local police station, and she glances down to see Rocco and Bernie with their men arriving there. They quickly ambush and kill the officers on duty, and access the computer, inputting the name Warren Blake. When a Fred Blake, Maggie Blake and Belle Blake all also come up at the same address, they know they've hit paydirt. Belle watches in growing fear as Rocco and his men exit the station and return to their car. She hurriedly tells Henri she'll call him back; all thoughts of killing herself turning into a need to protect her family.

The other group of Luchese's men arrive at the fire house, taking out the one man on duty and puncturing all the tires on all the fire trucks. Warren sees them pulling up to the fire house and turns away desperately, so they don't see his face.

Maggie checks in with Caputo and DiCicco, who tell her that Stansfield has ordered emergency evacuation of the family. Fred's performance at the debate has earned him the accolades of, and a standing ovation from, everyone except Stansfield, who's sure that loose lips about his regalement of them with his stories, will lead back to him. Little does Stansfield know that Luchese's men, in a cafe not far, are already meticulously planning their hit; a fully coordinated assault on the Manzoni household. They're not taking any chances at blowing the $20 million bounty. They synchronize their watches; it will be midnight, French time, in 15 seconds.

Midnight hits, and the explosives Fred planted at the chemical fertilizer plant's turbine, goes off, destroying the turbine and giving Fred an airtight alibi; he was at the film society meeting, with Stansfield in attendance, the whole night.

Everyone, however, feels and hears the rumble from the explosion: Luchese's men, Caputo and DiCicco, and Fred and Stansfield. The feds call the emergency response crews to find the switchboards are down, which they know means serious trouble. Racing back to the Manzoni house with Fred in tow, Stansfield warns Fred that there had better be no trail leading anywhere near him; that Fred's alibi is so airtight is exactly what makes him so suspicious.

Stansfield drops Fred off at his house, forbidding him to leave, and calls DiCicco to tell him that he wants the whole family in the house while he swings by the police station.

Rocco and crew pull up to a town square and spread out to get a feel for the area. Rocco knows that the Manzonis have federal officers nearby watching them, and he dispatches Bernie to find and deal with them.

Despite orders to the contrary, Caputo and DiCicco give in to Maggie's pleas that she be allowed five minutes to find Warren and Belle, and pack some clothes. As she heads toward her house, she spots several of Luchese's men carefully spreading out and staking out key street intersections and all possible avenues of escape for them to cut off and intercept. Making it back to the fed house, she gasps for air and tells Caputo and DiCicco. "They're here. The streets are crawling with them."

Stansfield arrives at the police station and finds the dead officers. He warns his men that a cleanup operation is underway.

Fred turns on his water faucet and is pleased at seeing clear, clean water emerge. It's the urgent barking of the dog, Malavita, that alerts him to possible trouble. Luchese's men are unpacking all their hardware for the cleanup. Peeking through the window, Maggie gasps in horror at seeing Billy the Bug preparing a portable rocket launcher. She calls Fred, tearfully begging that he pick up the phone. Fred stares at the phone as it rings, listening to both the ringing and Malavita's agitated barking. He's unsure whether the incoming call is to verify that he's home as preparation for a hit.

Billy releases the rocket, and the explosion is seen and heard across Cholong. Stansfield steps on the gas to hurry to the Manzoni home. Caputo covers Maggie's mouth to mute her scream. Paulo, on lookout, kills two neighbors who step outside, including Arnaud. Grabbing their heaviest duty ordnance, DiCicco and Caputo tell Maggie that they're going to step out their back entrance, and Maggie is to wait for their signal before following.

The two feds never reach the door: Bernie is waiting outside with his automatic rifle, and he kills them both before they know what hit them. Maggie cowers in a corner, but it takes Bernie very little time to find her. Bernie has enough respect for Maggie as a person, that he wants to kill her clean and quick. But mob rules demand no such respect for the family of a rat. She must be raped before she's killed. But although dirty and a little shaken up from the explosion, Fred is otherwise unscathed, and has made it there unseen. He jumps on Bernie's back from behind, grabs Bernie's belt, which the enforcer had removed while undoing his pants, and uses the leather strap as a garotte. Bernie fights viciously, but Fred hangs on like a bulldog. The chokehold finally starts to sap Bernie's strength. Seeing her husband's defense of her, and Bernie weakening, Maggie finally grabs a big kitchen knife and stabs Bernie in the chest, finishing him.

Paulo goes to reload, but Warren and Belle have arrived back home. Belle whacks Paulo from behind just as he turns back around, and she and Warren arm themselves with spare guns. They ambush the remainder of Luchese's men, and even Malavita gets in a kill. Both Belle and Warren run out of ammo, and Warren hurries to the car to grab another. He grabs a shotgun and turns just in time to kill Mezzo. The recoil knocks Warren back against the car and stuns him. Belle catches him before he falls.

One last enforcer has to be dealt with: Rocco himself. He points his gun at Belle, poised to kill the girl-- but he, too, is out of ammo. Dropping Warren, Belle turns and runs as Rocco chases her down. But at an intersection, just as Rocco runs through it, a mere few meters behind Belle, he's run down by Stansfield, arriving on the scene to make the final save. Belle collapses to her hands and knees on the street and sobs, as Warren comes to, comes up behind his sister, and holds her.

Maggie is at the wheel of the Manzoni car as they drive through the late night to their next home. Fred is pleased with himself; he's fixed the brown water problem, was a hit for one night at Cholong-sur-Avre's film society, and he believes his family is more close-knit than anything. The bounty on his head is probably double what it was before, but the only real bummer to him is that he has to rewrite his memoirs from the start, and they have to change their names again.