Frank Grillo takes on the Tulsa King

After 20 years behind bars, New York City Mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) got a pat on the back and a new job. It was goodbye, New York, and hello to the sticks, as the Invernizzi crime family assigned Manfredi to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the locals hadn’t even heard of protection rackets. Frank built up his crew of weirdos while getting up to speed with 20 years of pop culture, progress, social media and cell phones. But at the end of the season, the woman he fancied, ATF Agent Stacey Beale (Andrea Savage), slapped him behind bars because he got sloppy with his electronic footprint while trying to bribe her. A flashdrive, Frank? Really? 

You can’t keep the big dog down, so as Tulsa King Season 2 begins, Manfredi is out on bail. But his new “green” energy plan captures the attention of lizard-eyed Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough). Does this man ever blink, or does his tongue just dart up to lick his eyeballs? Creepy Cal is Tulsa’s biggest medical marijuana supplier, so his boss, Kansas City mobster Bill Bevilaqua (Frank Grillo), is going to be pressed! 

Meet the Don

The Bevilaqua crime family controls the area west of Chicago and east of Las Vegas, including the city of Tulsa. They go way back with the Invernizzi, who didn’t bother mentioning this to Manfredi. So Bill just has to pick up the phone to get a direct line to consigliere Vince Antonacci (Vincent Piazza) and his boss, Chickie (Domenick Lombardozzi), and make them sweat. Bill lets them know that he doesn’t take kindly to “squatters” like Manfredi on his turf and he warns the Invernizzi that he considers Dwight’s encroachment an act of war. 

Bill Bevilaqua is proud and touchy, with an itchy trigger finger to back up his ego. But could a face-to-face with Manfredi give the Tulsa King a chance to work his charm? With Manfredi’s trial coming up in episode 3, Bill’s going to have a chance to see him at work sooner rather than later. And if there’s one thing Manfredi knows how to do, it’s to be a gold medal yapper! By the time a third player enters the game for control of Tulsa’s marijuana industry, Manfredi might look more like an ally than an enemy.

Binge Tulsa King Season 1-2 now.

Flame on, Frank Grillo!

You aren’t just born a mob boss, it takes grit and wit to stand toe to toe with Mr Macho, Sylvester Stallone. So we did a background check on Frank Grillo and his roughly 30-year, 100-role career of playing tough guys and troublemakers. Here are just nine roles to back up his boss credentials, from most to least fire on the Grillo.

1. Boss Level

Named as an all-time favourite by many Frank Grillo fans, this is a hard to beat sci-fi action film about a retired special forces soldier named Roy Pulver (Frank) who finds himself trapped in a time loop in which he’ll die over and over again in all kinds of nasty and exciting ways unless he can figure a way out. By the time we meet Roy, he’s been in his blood-drenched Groundhog Day for about 140 repetitions, but there are still some major clues he has to figure out between dodging assassins, which will reveal why he’s been trapped. 

As well as acting, Frank got a producer credit on the film, and it’s worth reading up about the bloodbath behind the scenes, too. For starters, the production schedule was slashed from 43 days to just 27 days, forcing Frank to learn fight choreography for at least one big battle in just two hours.

Grillo rating: The real steak sizzler!

2. Billions Season 5

A latecomer to this clash of egos between legal eagle Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), and the billionaire finance bros he’s trying to take down – especially Axe Capital’s Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis) – Frank joins Billions Season 5 in a recurring role as Nico Tanner, a modern abstract expressionist painter. 

Axe takes an interest in Nico and commissions an exhibition of his work. But when Nico hits a creative block, Axe sends his  psychiatrist and performance coach, Chuck’s estranged wife Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff), to goose him out of it. Axe is taken aback and even jealous when Wendy becomes equally obsessed with Nico’s body of work, and his muscled bod. This unusual role won Frank rave reviews and a whole new audience of thirsties, thanks to his off-the-charts chemistry with Maggie.

PS: Nico’s “Implosions” series of paintings was created for Billions by the series’ production and art designer, James Gloster (and his team).

Grillo rating: Whew, that’s almost too hot!

3. Copshop

Directed by Boss Level’s Joe Carnahan, this action comedy thriller is set in a small town police station where rookie cop Val (Alexis Louder) gets caught in the stand-off between conman and mob fixer Teddy (Frank Grillo) and hit man Bob (Gerard Butler) after Teddy begs her to arrest him. 

Depending on your age, this feels like a classic “skop, skiet en donner” movie you’d go feral to at the movies on a Saturday morning, or the kind of movie you’d rent from the video shop for a boys’ night sleepover when you were 13. Cue the chit-chat about beating a man to death with his own leg. 

Grillo rating: Grillo with Butler? We’re going to feast!

4. Jiu Jitsu

Frank started studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Rickson Gracie in 1991, and currently holds a black belt, so he could hold his own in this sci-fi martial arts adaptation of the 2017 comic book of the same name by Dimitri Logothetis and James McGrath. The story centres on an intergalactic battle that has taken place every six years for the past 2000 years, in which superhuman fighters from Earth known as Jiu Jitsu must hold back alien invaders who want to take over the planet. 

Not completely sold? Nicolas Cage plays a crazed, sword-wielding Jiu Jitsu veteran named Wylie, while Frank plays Harrigan, who leads a squad of Jiu Jitsu fighters through the remains of the scenery Nic has chewed.

Grillo rating: Watching the flames with your friends, beers in hand.

5. Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

In this sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson take centre stage as criminal besties Michael and Darius, who’re on a mission to save Darius’ wife, Sonia (Salma Hayek), and get saved by her in return, as the three take on Sonia’s ex-lover, Greek shipping tycoon and international scumbag Aristotle (Antonio Banderas). 

Frank Grillo plays brand-new Interpol agent Bobby O’Neil, who’s trying to get to the bottom of their convoluted web of kidnappings, alliances, and relationships as Michael, Darius and Sonia try to help him to stop a cyber attack in Europe. With the buddy duo getting the lion’s share of the action, this is not Frank’s movie, but it’s still good to see him.

Grillo rating: Good for a sausage or two.

6. Black Lotus

Look who finally gets his face on the poster! Frank plays Saban, a global crime syndicate leader nicknamed the “Eurotrash Tony Montana” (referring to Al Pacinio’s role in Scarface), who’s targeted by the movie’s hero, a massive Dutch bruiser named Matteo (played by kickboxer Rico Verhoeven) after Saban kidnaps a little girl named Angie (Pippi Casey) to teach one of his employees a lesson. 

It’s a classic, 80s-style action movie that offers sightseeing that’s miles better than your average guided tour of Amsterdam.

Grillo rating: Enough to torch your marshmallow.

7. A Day to Die

Frank is on the movie cover, along with Bruce Willis and Entourage’s Kevin Dillon. Disgraced parole officer and former special ops soldier Conner Connolly (Kevin Dillon) has just one day to pay local gang leader Tyrone (Leon Robinson) $2 million by pulling a string of drug heists  in order to save his kidnapped wife Candice (Brooke Butler). 

Frank plays Brice Mason, the ex-captain of Connor’s “Ghost Squad”, who agrees to help Connor because it’ll give their whole squad a chance to get back at corrupt police chief Alston (Bruce Willis). This was one of 12 straight-to-video Bruce Willis films released in 2022, the year he retired.

Grillo rating: Charcoal and lighter fluid.

8. Zero Dark Thirty

Political action thriller about the 10-year manhunt for Al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden, from his orchestration of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, to the Navy SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU) raid on his compound Pakistan on 1 May 2011, during which bin Laden was shot and killed. 

Frank plays a Seal Team 6, Red 2 Squadron officer who doesn’t get a name, which is not as surprising when you learn that 76 commandos and one dog took part in the Operation Neptune Spear raid. The dog’s name was Cairo.

Grillo rating: Hot to watch, but not much on the Grillo.

9. Stowaway

Hey, look! It’s The White Lotus star Patrick Schwarzenegger as Michael, the guy Bella (Ruby Rose) brings back to her place – a luxury yacht – for touchy-feely time before it’s hijacked by three mercenaries and Michael nopes out by jumping overboard, leaving Bella to outsmart the baddies and take back the boat. 

Frank Grillo plays Meeser, the guy who contacts Bella to announce that her estranged father has died and left her the yacht. 

Grillo rating: Just keeping the flame alive here.