Dennis Farina made a threat sound both credible and faintly unreasonable. We like him most when a film gives that toughness something else to do: make us laugh, or let a father's worry show.
Fi1m perspective
In Out of Sight (1998), Dennis Farina's Marshall Sisco gives his daughter a gun for her birthday, then worries about her. We laughed at the order of those two impulses, because Farina makes them belong quite comfortably to the same father. That is a useful introduction to an actor too often described simply as a tough guy. The present is absurd, but it also makes sense for this particular parent. Soderbergh gives him room to be funny without making the father a distraction from the daughter.
The cops and criminals were not accidental casting: Farina had been a Chicago detective, and Michael Mann brought him into films with Thief (1981). The Mann-produced television series Crime Story (1986–88), with Farina leading as Lt Mike Torello, made him more than a useful supporting presence. Midnight Run (1988) then helped establish the comically overheated mobster, Jimmy Serrano. Those roles explain why he was hired so often for authority and intimidation, though treating that as his entire contribution misses the humour.
In Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty (1995), his Ray ‘Bones’ Barboni fits into a cast whose different ways of throwing their weight about supply much of the pleasure. Farina, Delroy Lindo and James Gandolfini each have their own swagger; Sonnenfeld wisely does not ask them to imitate John Travolta's composure. We rated the film highly for those conversations, despite the easy Hollywood jokes and shortage of suspense. Farina's tendency to overheat gives the comedy something Travolta's calm cannot provide on its own. He belongs in the comedy because he takes the business of intimidation seriously.
Frequent casting as cops and mobsters made repetition a risk, however well he could do the job. The familiar toughness needed a director willing to use it for more than another display of menace. Sonnenfeld supplies contrasting personalities; Soderbergh gives him a daughter to worry about. Begin with Out of Sight if the gangsters are all you know.
Biography
Dennis Farina was an American actor. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on 29 February 1944, he served in the Chicago Police Department for 18 years before turning to acting in his late thirties. He began with small roles in films directed by Michael Mann and appeared in Chicago stage productions, including work with the Steppenwolf Theater Company.
Farina was frequently cast as police officers or criminals. His film credits include Jack Crawford in Manhunter (1986), Jimmy Serrano in Midnight Run (1988), Ray 'Bones' Barboni in Get Shorty (1995), Lieutenant Colonel Anderson in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Marshall Sisco in Out of Sight (1998), and Avi in Snatch (2000).
On television he played Lieutenant Mike Torello in Crime Story and NYPD Detective Joe Fontana in Law & Order. He also voiced a character in Family Guy, appeared in New Girl as Walt Miller, and hosted Unsolved Mysteries. Farina died in Scottsdale, Arizona, on 22 July 2013.
