Jack Goldsmith, the stepson of Chuckie O’Brien, who is portrayed in the Netflix film, “The Irishman,” is upset with the way his stepfather was portrayed in the film.
In an editorial published in the New York Times on Friday, Goldsmith referred to the film as “by far the greatest depiction of the false charge against my stepfather.”
Jack Goldsmith, who is the author of a book titled “In Hoffa’s Shadow: A Stepfather, a Disappearance in Detroit, and My Search for the Truth,” writes about the toll that misinformation took on O’Brien, now 86-years-old.
“The Irishman,” directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt, follows the life of mob hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his involvement in Jimmy Hoffa’s (Al Pacino) 1975 disappearance and alleged confession to his murder. The movie has been nominated for several Academy Awards including best motion picture – drama, best director, and best supporting actor for both Pacino and Joe Pesci, who played the role of mob boss Russell Bufalino.
Portrayed by Jesse Plemons, O’Brien is seen in the movie driving Hoffa and Sheeran to a Detroit-area home, where Sheeran murders Hoffa.
Goldsmith noted that O’Brien was not pleased that the role he played in Hoffa’s life, which was that of his bodyguard and trusted confidant, was portrayed in the film as being Sheeran’s instead.
According to Goldsmith, after seeing the movie, O’Brien was so irked with the way in which he was portrayed, he said: “I’d like to get hold of that Scorsese and choke him like a chicken. And then after I get through with him, I’d grab that other pipsqueak, the guy who played the Irishman.”
Goldsmith also condemns other onscreen composites of O’Brien, including the 1992 movie Hoffa and 1981’s Absence of Malice. But he concludes his editorial calling “The Irishman,” the “capstone to my stepfather’s 44-year humiliation.”
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