The Freshman (1990 film)

"Clark Kellogg: But it's an endangered species! Carmine Sabatini: Not any more. It's in New Jersey, it's fine."

The Freshman is a 1990 American crime comedy film starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, in which Brando parodies his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather. The plot revolves around a young New York film student's entanglement into an illicit business of offering exotic and endangered animals as specialty food items, including his being tasked with delivering a Komodo Dragon for this purpose.


 * Actor Allusion: Well, there's the honking big one at the heart of the movie -- that Carmine Sabatini is a dead ringer for Marlon Brando as The Godfather, and that Don Corleone was based on Sabatini.
 * Also, at the end of the film, Sabatini offers to pull a few strings for Clark in Hollywood, claiming to have "connections" there.
 * Big Applesauce: What action doesn't take place in New Jersey takes place in New York City.
 * Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word: In a variant of this trope, the following dialogue occurs near the end:


 * The Con: The Gourmet Club, which is set up to rip off rich people with more money than sense (or social conscience).
 * Also the entire scheme in which Carmine employs an unknowing Clark as a catspaw.
 * Corrupt Cop: The DOJ agents.
 * Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Definitely in play for Carmine, and some of his underlings.  Clark gets a little taste of this as well, somewhat unwillingly.
 * Dawson Casting: Broderick was 28 playing an 18-year-old.
 * Disney Death: Carmine.
 * The Don: Carmine is strongly implied to be this -- he's explicitly described as the model for Don Corleone.
 * The Family for the Whole Family: Carmine and his organization -- mainly because they're not really the Mafia, they just put on a good show of looking like it.  In particular, Carmine seems to be a big softy under it all, offering to mentor Clark and use his connections to help him after everything instead of just cutting him loose.
 * I Know a Guy: Carmine's offer to pull strings for Clark in Hollywood at the end of the film.
 * Joisey: What action doesn't take place in NYC takes place in New Jersey.
 * Legitimate Businessmen's Dining Club: The Gourmet Club.  Subverted in that it really is a restaurant
 * Living MacGuffin: The Komodo dragon.
 * Mafia Princess: Tina.
 * The Reveal: The dinners made from the endangered animals?
 * Suspiciously Idle Officers: Clark finds himself pursued by two agents of "Department of Justice, Fish and Wildlife Division." Eventually, it is revealed that these agents are actually in the pay of a rival Mob family, and plan on killing both the student and the gangster and stealing the proceeds of their crimes.
 * Walk and Talk: The final moments of the film, only shot from behind instead of the front.