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1997
127 mins
Director
- Mike Newell
Starring - Al Pacino - Lefty Ruggiero
Johnny Depp - Joe Pistone / Donnie Brasco
Michael Madsen - Sonny Black
Bruno Kirby - Nicky
Donnie
Brasco is based on the true story of Joe Pistone who was an
undercover FBI agent in the seventies assigned to infiltrate
one of New York's mob families in order to bring them down.
During this time he becomes good friends with Lefty an aging
mobster who takes Donnie under his wing and becomes his mentor
because Lefty knows that he won't get a chance to make the
step up to a main man anymore and so he uses Donnie to bring
a sense of purpose back into his life.
Because
of the time Donnie spent undercover (I can't remember exactly
but it was a number of years) he slowly finds himself becoming
Donnie Brasco and living this second life is playing havoc
with his real life. He never sees his wife and three daughters
and when he does he and his wife always fight with each other
which eventually results in his wife Maggie (Anne Heche) asking
for a divorce. This other side of the story means that Brasco
isn't your average gangster film as it offers interesting
insights into Pistone's relationships with both his wife and
Lefty and the effects these have on him as a person.
Pacino,
although not lighting up the screen as in something like Scarface
was still great as Lefty and the time Johnny Depp spent researching
his role with the real Joe Pistone definitely paid off. Michael
Madsen does what he does best, playing an all round nasty
bad guy and Bruno Kirby was alright I suppose. I thought that
he was trying to play the Joe Pesci role in the film though
but failing miserably, maybe it was just his high pitched
voice that reminded me. (if you don't know who he is it's
the gimpy officer in Good Morning Vietnam who always takes
Robin Williams off the air)
It
took me a while for me to get into the film but I enjoyed
it when he started getting deeper into the role of Donnie
Brasco but I think that I will definitely need to watch it
again to fully appreciate it. So I will.
BBM
BBM
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