Although perhaps familiar in its outer trappings, Pacino's fine work is the key to the film succeeding to the extent that it does.
Donnie Brasco (1997)
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Reviews Counted:15
Fresh:11
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: A stark, nuanced portrait of life in organized crime, bolstered by strong performances from Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.
Runtime: 2 hrs 27 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI mole who integrates himself into the Mafia pecking order by posing as "jewel man" Donnie Brasco. He finds his loyalties divided when Lefty Ruggiero, a jaded hit... Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI mole who integrates himself into the Mafia pecking order by posing as "jewel man" Donnie Brasco. He finds his loyalties divided when Lefty Ruggiero, a jaded hit man, takes him on as a protégé and places real trust in him. The two men form a friendship--and a criminal partnership--that jeopardizes Brasco's mission and obscures the boundaries between the law and the underworld. The film is based on the autobiography DONNIE BRASCO, MY UNDERCOVER LIFE IN THE MAFIA by former undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone. Directed by Mike Newell (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) and also starring Bruno Kirby (THE FRESHMAN, THIS IS SPINAL TAP), Michael Madsen (RESERVOIR DOGS) and Anne Heche (WAG THE DOG). [More]
Starring: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Anne Heche
Starring: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Anne Heche, Bruno Kirby, Zach Grenier
Director: Mike Newell
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Paul Attanasio
Story: Joseph Pistone, Richard Woodley
Producer: Mark Johnson, Barry Levinson, Louis Di Giaima, Gail Mutrux, Patrick McCormick, Alan Greespan
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Reviews for Donnie Brasco
Unfortunately, the story isn't inventive and Newell's methodical approach to it verges on monotony.
In the tired figure of Lefty, manifest in the craggy icon of Pacino, our sympathies are definitely enlisted, and the theme rings a poignant note.
Pacino and Depp are a match made in acting heaven, riffing off each other with astonishing subtlety and wit.
Though the outline of what the film has tried to do is visible, so little feels at stake emotionally that anyone intending to care about these characters would be well advised, for want of a better phrase, to simply fhuggedaboudit.
For all its treacheries, twists and turns, nothing really comes as a surprise.
Takes us into a world that the movies frequently open to us, but somehow this trip seems more real and less glamorized than most.
An affirmation that the director, Mike Newell, has a gift for talkative, intelligent films that make his actors shine.
The movie has many human qualities and contains what will be remembered as one of Pacino's finest scenes.
You get something far richer, if more unsettling, here than conventional crime drama's romanticism and easy analogies.
Pacino cans the showboating bluster and gives a gently nuanced portrait of a simple man in decline.
Latest News for Donnie Brasco
August 16, 2006:
Character Actor Bruno Kirby, Dead at 57
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February 17, 2006:
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International acting stud Javier Bardem and well-rounded movie director Mike Newell are about to bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Love in the Time of Cholera" to the... More...
May 09, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: "Harry Potter Part 4" Teaser
Those who love and admire the Harry Potter books and films, which is pretty much all of us (to one degree or another), will want to head over to Apple Quicktime's Movie Trailer... More...
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