The Florentine

The Florentine

R 1999 · 104 min · ★ 5.7 · Drama, Comedy

A slice-of-life story unfolds inside The Florentine, a bar in a Pennsylvania steel town whose brightest days are behind it, leaving behind many of life's disillusioned "losers." Its owner, Whitey, is deep in debt to the town's loan shark, Joe McCollough, and desperate for a path forward which won't cost him the bar. His sister, Molly, is days away from her long-awaited nuptials, and then her former fiancé, Teddy, shows up in town for the first time since leaving her at the altar years before. Ne'er-do-well Billy Belasco runs a con on Frankie to steal the money for the wedding caterer, while long-time regular Bobby becomes a patron-cum-inhabitant as he hides from his fast-crumbling marriage to Vikki. Every plot in this multi-layered story seems to be at its nadir just as a pair of unlikely heroes emerge out of the backdrop to turn everything around.

Directed by Nick Stagliano · Written by Tom Benson

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

Make it a double feature

3h 20m together

The Florentine

The 24th Day

Both from Nick Stagliano.

More from Nick StaglianoSee all →

Against the Spread

Against the Spread · 2025

Against the Spread

MovieCrimeThriller

In the rural South, a down-and-out gambling addict reignites a deep-rooted rivalry with a ruthless loan shark to finance his nimwitted nephew's half-baked scheme.

The 24th Day

The 24th Day · 2004

MovieDramaThriller

Tom and Dan's one-night stand turns into an intense power-play between captor and captive.

The Virtuoso

The Virtuoso · 2021

MovieThrillerCrime

Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.

The Doorman

The Doorman · 2020

MovieActionThriller

A former Marine turned doorman at a luxury New York City high-rise must outsmart and battle a group of art thieves and their ruthless leader — while struggling to protect her sister's family. As the thieves become increasingly desperate and violent, the doorman calls upon her deadly fighting skills to end the showdown.

Good Day for It

Good Day for It · 2011

Good Day for It

MovieActionThriller

A man forced to abandon his wife and daughter years earlier must risk his life to settle an old score and reunite his family.

Wicked Blood

Wicked Blood · 2014

MovieActionDrama

Hannah and Amber Baker are trapped in a dark Southern underworld of violence, drugs and bikers. Both live in fear of their "Uncle Frank" Stinson, the ruthless leader of a crime organization.

Scared Stiff

Scared Stiff · 1987

Kate's a single mom rock star recovering from a nervous breakdown; David is her psychiatrist turned lover. After David buys an old Charleston mansion and Kate and her son move in with him, strange events occur including the discoveries of a secret hidden attic and the diary of the murderous slave trader who owned the home. Kate hears a piano playing by itself and sees the ghost of the slave trader who once lived there. Their relationship is strained by the bizarre events as Kate's sanity is again questioned as she insists what she's seen is real...but is it?

Home of Angels

Home of Angels · 1994

MovieFamilyComedy

More Like This

Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai · 1954

MovieActionDrama

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Contempt

Contempt · 1963

MovieDramaRomance

Art film producer Jeremy Prokosch, unhappy with the work of his director, hires Fritz Lang (as himself) to direct an adaptation of The Odyssey, but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb, he brings in a screenwriter to energise the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife.

The Edukators

The Edukators · 2004

MovieDramaComedy

Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.

Homestead

Homestead · 2024

A nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, and the nation devolves into unprecedented chaos. Ex-Green Beret Jeff Eriksson and his family escape to The Homestead, an eccentric prepper’s fortress nestled in the mountains. As violent threats and apocalyptic conditions creep toward their borders, the residents of The Homestead are left to wonder: how long can a group of people resist both the dangers of human nature and the bloodshed at their doorstep?

The Man Who Invented Christmas

The Man Who Invented Christmas · 2017

The Man Who Invented Christmas

MovieDramaHistory

In 1843, despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer, the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads, until the moment when, struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood memories, a new character is born in the depths of his troubled mind; an old, lonely, embittered man, so vivid, so human, that a whole world grows around him, a story so inspiring that changed the meaning of Christmas forever.

D.E.B.S.

D.E.B.S. · 2005

MovieActionComedy

The star of a team of teenage crime fighters falls for the alluring villainess she must bring to justice.

The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation · 1915

The Birth of a Nation

MovieDramaHistory

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

Persona

Persona · 1966

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.

Jour de fête

Jour de fête · 1949

Jour de Fête tells the story of an inept and easily-distracted French mailman who frequently interrupts his duties to converse with the local inhabitants, as well as inspect the traveling fair that has come to his small community. Influenced by too much wine and a newsreel account of rapid transportation methods used by the United States postal system, he goes to hilarious lengths to speed the delivery of mail while aboard his bicycle.

The American Astronaut

The American Astronaut · 2001

The American Astronaut

MovieMusicScience Fiction

Samual Curtis's first mission in this bizarre science fiction musical comedy requires him to take a cat to a saloon on an asteroid. There, he meets his former dance partner (the Blueberry Pirate) and collects his payment: a device capable of producing a Real Live Girl.

The Last Stop in Yuma County

The Last Stop in Yuma County · 2024

The Last Stop in Yuma County

MovieCrimeDrama

While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-gotten fortune.

Polytechnique

Polytechnique · 2009

MovieCrimeDrama

A dramatization of the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, on December 9, 1989, where 14 female engineering students were murdered (and 13 were wounded) by a 25 year old psychotic misogynist armed with a semi-automatic weapon.

Youth in Revolt

Youth in Revolt · 2009

Youth in Revolt

MovieComedyRomance

As a fan of Albert Camus and Jean-Luc Godard, teenage Nick Twisp is definitely out of his element when his mother and her boyfriend move the family to a trailer park. When a pretty neighbor named Sheeni plays records by French crooners, it's love at first sight for frustrated and inexperienced Nick. Learning that she is dating someone, Nick launches a hilarious quest to find his way into Sheeni's heart -- and bed.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter