Donnie Brasco (film)

All you want to know about Donnie Brasco (film)

Donnie Brasco

Donnie Brasco theatrical poster
Directed by Mike Newell
Produced by Alan Greenspan,
Patrick McCormick
Written by Paul Attanasio
Starring Johnny Depp
Al Pacino
Michael Madsen
Anne Heche
Bruno Kirby
Distributed by Sony
Release date(s) 28 February 1997
Running time 127 minutes
Country  United States
Language English

Donnie Brasco is an Academy Award–nominated 1997 film by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Michael Madsen and Johnny Depp. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who successfully infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia's Five Families based in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias "Donnie Brasco". Depp met with Pistone several times while preparing for his role.

Contents

Plot

In the late 1970s, FBI agent Joe Pistone (Depp) is assigned to infiltrate the New York City–based Bonanno crime family. Calling himself, "Donnie Brasco" and posing as a diamond expert from Vero Beach, Florida, he befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino), a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters, and Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano (Madsen). Lefty can't seem to make any money, his son is a drug-addict and he is continually passed over for promotion to a higher position within the crime family. He continually reminds Brasco of his growing disillusionment about having spent 30 years in the Mafia (and killing 26 people), with little to show for it. In Donnie, however, Lefty sees a young protégé who might be able to succeed where he had failed. He takes Donnie under his wing, and under Lefty's tutelage Donnie quickly becomes accepted by the other Family members, although he is never elevated above the rank of "associate" member (the lowest mafia rank). But the longer Pistone plays the role of a gangster, the more he finds himself actually becoming Donnie Brasco during his rare off duty hours. His change in personality drives a wedge between him and his wife (played by Anne Heche) and three children. Over time, Pistone comes to realize that the slightest mistake in his performance as a mobster could result in the death of him and his family. In addition, Joe Pistone has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend. He knows that when the day finally comes that the FBI arrests his mob associates, he will be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he himself had killed him.

Cast

Actor Role
Johnny Depp Joseph Pistone/Donnie Brasco
Al Pacino Benjamin Ruggiero
Michael Madsen Sonny Black
Bruno Kirby Nicholas Santora
Anne Heche Maggie Pistone
James Russo John Cersani
Zeljko Ivanek Tim Curley
Jack Rann Dean Blandford
Andrew Parks Hollman
Robert Miano Sonny Red
Brian Tarantina Anthony Indelicato
Rocco Sisto Richard 'Richie' Gazzo

Box office

US Gross Domestic Box Office Numbers: US$ 41,909,762

+ International Gross Box Office Numbers: $83,000,000

= Worldwide Gross Box Office Numbers: $124,909,763

Academy Award nominations

The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay

Historical inaccuracies

  • The loanshark collection scene at the strip club really did happen, except that Joe Pistone was with the notorious Anthony Mirra who worked for the Bonanno family. Tony almost did this after Joe got into an argument with a drunken patron at a nightclub.
  • Nicholas Santora, portrayed as "Nicky" by Bruno Kirby, was never murdered by Benjamin Ruggiero, as he is still alive and is a high ranking member of the Bonanno crime family as of 2008.
  • Bonnano soldier John "Boobie" Cerasani (whose character was called Paulie in the movie) played by James Russo, filed a libel suit against Sony Corporations, TriStar Pictures, the film director Mike Newell and other corporations that were involved in producing the film. Cersani had dealings with Donnie Brasco from back in 1972 and was actually brought up on racketeering charges in 1982 that were brought on by the Donnie Brasco investigation.
  • King's Court was located in Holiday, Florida on U.S. 19. Since the 1980s, the building was moved to house a church on Darlington Road in Holiday.
  • It is implied that the character Lefty was killed by fellow Family members for allowing Pistone to infiltrate the Family; in reality, Ruggiero died of lung cancer, in prison, on Thanksgiving in 1993, after being picked up by the FBI. And in real life, Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, Lefty's boss, was the one murdered for having allowed Pistone's infiltration, allegedly on the orders of then-current imprisoned boss Philip Rastelli, whose nickname "Rusty" is only mentioned once by Michael Madsen in the film, after his character "Sonny Black" is promoted to capo of Brooklyn.
  • Over the closing credits the film states that at the time of its release "there is still a $500,000 open contract on [Pistone's] head". Following separate sitdowns FBI officials had with the Bonanno crime family and Paul Castellano, the head of the The Commission and boss of the Gambino crime family at that time, ordered all Mafia bounties on Pistone to be rescinded. Subsequent wiretaps and intelligence reports confirm that this was indeed ordered throughout the Mafia.

External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Mike Newell

The Awakening (1980) · Bad Blood (1981) · Dance with a Stranger (1985) · Enchanted April (1992) · Into the West (1992) · Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) · Donnie Brasco (1997) · Pushing Tin (1999) · Mona Lisa Smile (2003) · Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) · Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) · Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Brasco_(film)"

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