Donnie Brasco

Donnie Brasco will not disappoint fans of the genre, it has all the mob talk, the back alley butcherings and the tense stand offs. But what makes the film the masterpiece that it is, the warm and brilliantly acted and realised central relationship between Donnie/Joe and Lefty. I read an interview with director Mike Newel where he called the film "a love story", and that is absolutely right.

People often accuse Al Pacino of hamming it up and going for an autopilot "whoa" performance in many of his films, like his Satan in The Devil's Advocate. Nevermind the fact that Pacino's autopilot is more gripping then most actors' most vivid characterisation, his performance in Donnie Brasco is arguably his best. As Lefty Ruggerro he is both heartbreaking and frightening, ruthless and all too human. He delivers his lines with is patented fiery intensity, but this time he lets you know he's bluffing, that he' can't back up that big mouth of his. He shines in two particular scenes, one in the hospital and the other is final haunting scene. I will not describe them here. See them for yourself.

Donnie Brasco was released in the spring of 1997, and since the Academy has a pathetically short memory, the film only managed one Oscar nomination which was for Paul Attanasio screen adaptation. When they ignored Pacino's performance here, that is when they completely lost credibility with me.

Is Donnie Brasco one of the best gangster pictures ever made? Fuggedaboutit (in the positive sense of the phrase). It deserves to sit at the same table and have coffee on the house with the masterpiece of the genre, Goodfellas.


"WHEN THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE.... CALL LEFTY" EVEN THE GODFATHER HIMSELF WAS INTIMIDATED..............   February 1, 2007
Patrick Miller (NEW YORK)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Filmed entirely in NYC and some in N.J. "Donnie Brasco" is one suspensful realistic gangster film. Excellent classical soundtrack by composer Patrick Doyle. Great acting from Al Pacino and Johnny Depp portraying real life gangster Benjamin Ruggierio, and N.Y.P.D. officer Joeseph D. Pistone. I swear at times watching this movie Pacino and Depp were the charachters and forgot that these superstar actors were acting. The late Bruno Kirby plays an excellent but lovable gangster. Mike Madsen plays a tough authentic, believable Boss Sonny Black. The story for "Donnie Brasco" was taken from the real eyewitness, and experiences of former cop Joe D. Pistone. From what I've read, and from what I've seen on tv documentaries on the real "Donnie Brasco", this movie is portrayed as close to the eyewitness accounts and experiences of Joseph D. Pistone as possibly could be portrayed. Director Mike Newell did an incredible job not only directing, but going to the real Little Italy in Manhatten and speaking to real life gangsters to get a real feel of the life that real mobsters lead. Newell really did his research on Donnie Brasco, as the result is one fine realistic gangster movie. Believe me there is nothing Hollywwood about this gangster movie. "Donnie Brasco" may not be as good as "The Godfather" movies or "Goodfellas" but as I will tell you, it is more authentic than any of the afore mentioned movies. Donnie Brasco is gory at times. There is a scene were Donnie (officer Joe D. Pistone) was forced to cut up dead human bodies to get rid of the evidence. During this time, when the real Joseph D. Pistone was undercover (1976-1981) real gangsters in NYC were performing these horrible acts. During these times real life gangsters like Roy Demeo and his Gang were performing these violent acts at will and made quite a name for themselves in La Cosa Nostra. Even the N.Y.C. Godfather himself Paul Castellano was very intimidated by the likes of Roy Demeo and his savage gang. Castellano although intimidated, tolerated Demeo for his awesome earning rackets. "Donnie Brasco" brings this horrific gangster act to life as well as the illegal money rackets going on at this time. Director Mike Newell read up on Roy Demeo and his Gang and brought their actions to the screen and left Hollywood make believe far behind. All I can say is watching "Donnie Brasco" made me see the guts undercover officer Joseph D. Pistone had. It really took a special person to do what Joe did. For all his troubles, all Pistone got was a $500.00 check, a medal and a several year stay in the Witness Protection Program. Joe D. Pistone lives in annomity today as there is still a price on his head. "Donnie Brasco" is highly recommended viewing as it is portrayed realistically and authentically. Director Mike Newell definintly left the hollywood gangster out of this film........



One of the best of the nineties!   February 11, 2000
G. Shkodra (Montreal, Canada)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is not just yet another mobster movie; it certainly is one of the best of the genre. I haven't read the book but I found this movie so real and intense. I'm not going to write anything about Pacino since we're all used to his magnificient performances every time he's onscreen or on stage; it's certainly Johny Depp who gives the best performance in this movie, but I'd not like to forget Madsen who is simply fascinating (can a mobster be?). I've seen this movie so many times and after all these years I still enjoy it.


Glad I Rented this Movie Last Night!   February 1, 2004
Monkdude (Hampton, VA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I have been wanting to see this movie for what seems like years now, due to the fact I love Mob movies and Johnny Depp's acting ability in any film he does. This is one of Johnny Depps first Big leading roles in a film and he holds up even against the great Al Pacino. Speaking of Al Pacino..he should easily have been nominated for a Oscar for his portrayal of Lefty, but more times than not the Oscar Academy has no clue what great acting is (Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York should have won last year no questions asked!). Michael Madsen is always a fun actor to watch on screen and this is one of his best performances. Anne Heche really impressed me with her acting as well and she actually looked kinda hot. The last scene in this film featuring Al Pacino opening a drawer, putting in a few precious items, closing it, only to open it again and leave it ajar a few moments later is truly powerful because of what it implies. This film may not be as great as Goodfellas, but it is one you can mention in the same sentence and not feel guilty about it. Tired of renting bad movies that look interesting because of the cool covers on the dvd, fuggetaboutit, rent or buy Donnie Brasco and go home happy.


Fuhgettaboutit, indeed   July 30, 2004
N. P. Stathoulopoulos (Brooklyn, NY)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful

Donnie Brasco is one of those movies I always regarded well...until I watched it again. After a few years, it doesn't hold up. Actually, I think it's a pretty bad movie, with only the acting of the leads to recommend it.

Perhaps it's The Sopranos effect--we've seen much better written and acted drama involving the Mafia since this movie appeared. Perhaps we've just been spoiled, so Brasco looks even weaker. Or perhaps Brasco isn't really much to begin with.

While it's based on a true story, it's pretty loose. In fact, the story is almost completely fabricated in order to present a drama that comes off as very forced in some spots, again with the acting being the only saving grace.

In the mid-1970s, FBI agent Joe Pistone went undercover as 'Donnie Brasco', a connected guy. After a couple of years of hanging around made guys, he hooked up with Benny 'Lefty' Ruggeiro, a made guy in the Bonanno crime family. He hung around for a few more years, even meeting with a couple of bosses, until he ended the assignment and went on to help put about a hundred wiseguys in jail.

Unfortunately, the film tries to fit a lot into its running time. We never get a good sense of how long this assignment is, and how Brasco (Johnny Depp) really gets along with the family. Instead, we get cliche after cliche. He's away from his wife (Anne Heche) and his kids, slowly bending his marriage until it breaks, with the requisite cliches about how 'you're becoming like Them', etc, etc. He has to engage in several unpleasantries, like beating the maitre'd of a Japanese restaurant who insists Brasco remove his boots before being seated...except Brasco keeps his trusty FBI tape recorder in there. Brasco even helps the crew chop up some bodies after a grisly quadruple hit, reluctantly sawing a leg in a dingy basement.

The only recommendation points are the two leads. Pacino is perfect as the rumpled, passed-over Lefty, who spends much time complaining about the unfairness of the current Mafia administration. Depp seems much older, and he holds his own. The rest of the cast is good, though we get the feeling they're not acting so much as playing up stereotypes of guys they've seen in other movies, or even played (Bruno Kirby). Michael Madsen also does a raspy, Brooklyn accent that slips a couple of times. It all seems forced, too contrived, and I chalk that up to the writer and the director. There are some seriously laughable lines in here that I doubt any wiseguy has ever said, the kind of lines and scenes that are flashing 'Exposition'. The director is a Brit, having previously helmed Four Weddings and a Funeral, perhaps not the best choice for a flick about the Mafia in Brooklyn.

Overall, if you're a mob movie addict, you'll have to see the movie. But I remember it being much better back in 1997. It's kind of tired, the drama is very connect-the-dots, and perhaps worst of all, most of the material is downright fabricated with only a very loose connection to the real events Pistone covered in the source book. Also, the movie does very little to even explain what's going on in the Mafia it's depicting--the internal wars, the personal beefs--and it's only illumination is about 'the rules' that Brasco slowly learns from the veterans. In 2004, many of the details of these events came to light in a federal trial for the current Boss of the Bonannos, making you think the real wiseguys laughed out loud at this. The film hinges on self-parody many times, especially the repetition of 'fuhgettaboutit', repeated by no less than three of the main actors. If you don't take it too seriously, and if you realize it's just Hollywood-ized Mafia, it can be a lot of fun.