Donnie Brasco (1997) - Newell's fantastic, authentic gangster tale

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Best Gangster Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year

An aesthetically pleasant poster for Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco

QUICK REVIEW:

Old-timer gangster Lefty Ruggiero trains and develops a friendship with the jewel thief Donnie Brasco. What he doesn't know is that Brasco's real name is Joseph Pistone, and that he works for the FBI in bringing the New York mob to their knees.

Donnie Brasco, adapted from the real life figure Pistone's autobiography (Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia (1988)) by Paul Attanasio (The Sum of All Fears (2002)) and directed by British director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)) is quite simply an excellent gangster movie.
It is an exciting story, well edited (by Jon Gregory (Mr. Turner (2014)) and carved out to elicit a neat, old-fashioned kind of suspense thorughout.  
Al Pacino (Heat (1995)), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs (1992)) and Johnny Depp (Dead Man (1995)), - who is kept from his tendency of overacting, - are great, and Anne Heche (Volcano (1997)) is also good as Depp's frail, sidelined wife.
For audiences far away from Manhattan and the time period depicted, Donnie Brasco stands as a wonderful dream of the dirty 70s in New York City.

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 35 mil. $
Box office: 124.9 mil. $
= Big hit
[Donnie Brasco earned splendid reviews and an Oscar-nomination for Attanasio for Best Adapted Screenplay, (he lost to Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson's great L.A. Confidential (1997)). Brasco earned 41.9 mil. $ in the US (34 % of the total gross), and a particularly strong reception in the UK, where it grossed 4 mil. £.]

What do you think of Donnie Brasco?