[2] Robert Duvall first saw the lead actor, Angelo, in 1977 when he was 8 years old, having an argument with an older woman on Columbus Avenue that "sounded like a lovers quarrel.

Besides Angelo are his older brother Michael, his fortune teller mother, his sister Debbie, and his girlfriend Patricia (Katerina Ribraka); his father Tony Evans, from the movie might have been thought to be absent, but is actually in a couple of scenes.

He is physically small but he has such a big, sharply defined personality that he seems to be a child possessed by the mind and experiences of a con man in his 20s.

Then, as the movie goes on, one sees Angelo moving from glib, smart-talking self-assurance to childhood tears and back again, all in the space of a few seconds of screen time.

"[3] Variety reported that Mr. Duvall spent five years and more than $1 million on the film[4] and that many of the cast, including Angelo, did not read English.