Amazon.com video review:
Based on a memoir by former
undercover cop Joe Pistone (whose daring and unprecedented
infiltration of the New York Mob scene earned him a place in the
federal witness protection program), Donnie Brasco is like a
de-romanticized, de-mythologized version of The Godfather. It
offers an uncommonly detailed, privileged glimpse inside the world of
organized crime from the perspective of the little guys at the bottom
of Mafia hierarchy rather than from the kingpins at the top. Donnie
Brasco is not only one of the great modern-day gangster movies to
put in the company of The Godfather films and
GoodFellas, but it is also one of the great undercover police
movies--arguably surpassing Serpico and Prince of the
City in richness of character, detail, and moral
complexity. Donnie (Johnny Depp, a splendid actor) is practically
adopted by Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a gregarious, low-level
"made" man who grows to love his young protégé
like a son. (Pacino really sinks into this guy's skin and polyester
slacks, and creates his freshest, most fully realized character since
his 1970s heyday.) As Donnie acclimates himself to Lefty's world, he
distances himself from his wife (a terrific Anne Heche) and family for
their own protection. Almost imperceptibly his sense of identity slips
away from him. Questioning his own confused loyalties, unable to trust
anybody else because he himself is an imposter, Donnie loses his way
in a murky and treacherous no-man's land. The film is directed by Mike
Newell, who also headed up Four Weddings and a
Funeral and the gritty, true crime melodrama Dance with a
Stranger. --Jim Emerson
Amazon.com video review:
Based on a memoir by former
undercover cop Joe Pistone (whose daring and unprecedented
infiltration of the New York Mob scene earned him a place in the
federal witness protection program), Donnie Brasco is like a
de-romanticized, de-mythologized version of The Godfather. It
offers an uncommonly detailed, privileged glimpse inside the world of
organized crime from the perspective of the little guys at the bottom
of Mafia hierarchy rather than from the kingpins at the top. Donnie
Brasco is not only one of the great modern-day gangster movies to
put in the company of The Godfather films and
GoodFellas, but it is also one of the great undercover police
movies--arguably surpassing Serpico and Prince of the
City in richness of character, detail, and moral
complexity. Donnie (Johnny Depp, a splendid actor) is practically
adopted by Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a gregarious, low-level
"made" man who grows to love his young protégé
like a son. (Pacino really sinks into this guy's skin and polyester
slacks, and creates his freshest, most fully realized character since
his 1970s heyday.) As Donnie acclimates himself to Lefty's world, he
distances himself from his wife (a terrific Anne Heche) and family for
their own protection. Almost imperceptibly his sense of identity slips
away from him. Questioning his own confused loyalties, unable to trust
anybody else because he himself is an imposter, Donnie loses his way
in a murky and treacherous no-man's land. The film is directed by Mike
Newell, who also headed up Four Weddings and a
Funeral and the gritty, true crime melodrama Dance with a
Stranger. --Jim Emerson
Amazon.com video review:
Based on a memoir by former
undercover cop Joe Pistone (whose daring and unprecedented
infiltration of the New York Mob scene earned him a place in the
federal witness protection program), Donnie Brasco is like a
de- romanticized, de-mythologized version of The Godfather. It
offers an uncommonly detailed, privileged glimpse inside the world of
organized crime from the perspective of the little guys at the bottom
of Mafia hierarchy rather than from the kingpins at the top. Donnie
Brasco is not only one of the great modern-day gangster movies to
put in the company of The Godfather films and
GoodFellas, but it is also one of the great undercover police
movies--arguably surpassing Serpico and Prince of the
City in richness of character, detail, and moral
complexity. Donnie (Johnny Depp, a splendid actor) is practically
adopted by Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a gregarious, low-level
"made" man who grows to love his young protégé
like a son. (Pacino really sinks into this guy's skin and polyester
slacks, and creates his freshest, most fully realized character since
his 1970s heyday.) As Donnie acclimates himself to Lefty's world, he
distances himself from his wife (a terrific Anne Heche) and family for
their own protection. Almost imperceptibly his sense of identity slips
away from him. Questioning his own confused loyalties, unable to trust
anybody else because he himself is an imposter, Donnie loses his way
in a murky and treacherous no-man's land. The film is directed by Mike
Newell, who also headed up Four Weddings and a
Funeral and the gritty, true crime melodrama Dance with a
Stranger. --Jim Emerson
