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.

Tropes used in The Freshman (1990 film) include:

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:

Clark: So this whole thing as been a scam?
Carmine: This is an ugly word, 'scam.' This is business. If you want to be in business, this is what you do.

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? Faked by Larry London using more conventional ingredients. The animals never make it near the kitchen.
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.