Do we really need another mafia-themed movie starring a bunch of geriatric boys with toys?

At Cannes Martin Scorcese announced that he has raised money to make hitman movie The Irishman. Why do films in which men behave so repulsively achieve cult status?

Martin Scorsese with long time collaborator Robert De Niro (Getty)

Do we really need another mafia-themed movie starring a bunch of geriatric old men? Men settling scores. Men re-enacting ancient rituals. Men playing by their preposterous "rules", decimating anyone who stands in their way.

The people who finance films think there’s a huge audience for this twaddle – in Cannes this week, Martin Scorcese announced that he has raised a huge amount of money ($150 million) to make The Irishman, based on the memoirs of a gunman who carried out more than 25 killings for the mafia and the corrupt trade union boss Jimmy Hoffa. The film will star Robert De Niro and, it is rumoured, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel, none of whom are under 60 and all of whom (except Pacino) have played key roles in Scorcese’s hugely popular and critically acclaimed movies about criminals.

Pacino has starred in all of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather movies as the mafia boss Micheal Corleone. Last weekend I queued for a guided tour of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, a gorgeous gilded confection with six tiers of boxes, and rows of plush velvet covered armchairs, which has become a pilgrimage site since it starred in Godfather 3. I could have paid for a Godfather tour of the villages and bars in Sicily which were used as backdrops in Coppola’s trilogy celebrating a truly evil way of life, but it held no appeal.

Why do films in which men behave so repulsively (Scarface, Goodfellas) achieve cult status? The Irishman, combining a host of elderly macho men who look as if they’d rather be on the golf course, represents the pinnacle, the ultimate mob movie, if that’s your bag. I think it indicates a grim truth – the people running Hollywood aren’t remotely interested in producing big budget movies starring women (in spite of the odd hit like Carol with Cate Blanchett), and they never will be. The days of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis are long gone.

The only glimmer of hope is that Sandra Bullock is to star in an all-female Ocean’s Eleven, billed as a "caper" movie – talk about damning with faint praise. The director of Iron Man 3 was in Cannes this week promoting his latest film and revealed that before production even started, the studio bosses reduced the role of the two key female characters – mainly because "women don’t sell toys". Instead, Iron Man’s nemesis was turned into a man, played by Guy Pierce. Susan Saradon, at a Cannes Festival event celebrating 25 years since Thelma and Louise, made the wry observation that she doubted the much-loved film would be made in 2016.

When asked why there were so few films with two leading women she said "Hollywood has become more corporate… there’s a lack of imagination on the part of men”.

The vast majority of films now are geared towards toys and video games – facile entertainment for big (male) babies.