A Slight Case of Murder 1999

With the end of Prohibition, the once-notorious bootlegger Remy Marco attempts to reinvent himself as a legitimate brewer. Yet the beer he produces is cruelly unpalatable, and customers stay quiet to spare his pride, leaving the enterprise teetering on the edge of collapse. After four tense years, bank officers close in, preparing to foreclose on the brewery, and the family retreat moves to a quieter life at a Saratoga summer home. He brings along an orphan from his old circles and, along with his daughter Mary, settles into a fragile routine that pretends normalcy can be restored.

Around the estate, a more dangerous current begins to surface. Four dead mobsters—who had plotted to ambush him—are found, and a shadowy gang member who lurks near the property seems to be pulling the strings from behind the scenes. The dead men become a macabre spectacle for the locals, as Marco’s henchmen distribute the bodies in various places as a grisly joke, a grotesque reminder of the violent world that still clings to the family’s fortunes. When the gang learns there’s a substantial reward for the capture or discovery of its members, they scramble to retrieve what they can and slyly stash the remains in a closet inside Marco’s own home.

As the mystery unfolds, the situation takes a darker turn when the gang’s loot is uncovered beneath a bed, revealing a potential lifeline to salvage the strained finances. Marco decides to use the money to appease the bankers and keep the operation afloat, and he presents the stash in the hope that credit will be extended to preserve the business his family relies on. The bankers, wary but pragmatic, acknowledge the dilemma and hint that a continued loan might be possible if the ploy can be kept clean.

In a dangerous gambit to seal the deal, Marco coordinates with his daughter’s fiancé, a state trooper, to stage a dramatic, if illicit, takedown. The plan involves firing a gun through the closet door repeatedly to give authorities the impression that a lone operative has single-handedly nabbed and killed the gang. The ruse seems to work until a stray shot ricochets, striking a fifth gang member on the roof and sending him tumbling into the path of approaching police officers. The scene erupts into chaos just as the confession of the ruse hangs in the air, leaving Marco and his family to confront the consequences of a scheme built on deception, risk, and a stubborn hope that luck might still tilt in their favor.