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List Price: $19.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 24805
Released: May 8, 2007 |
| Our Price: $8.77 |
| Used Price: $4.08 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Posing as jewel broker Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone (Johnny Depp) is granted entranceinto the violent mob family of aging hit man Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino). When his personal and professional lives collide, Pistone jeopardizes his marriage, his job life and, ultimately, the gangstermentor he has come to respect and admire. From acclaimed director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and featuring an extraordinary supporting cast including Michael Madsen, Anne Heche, BrunoKirby and James Russo.
Description of Donnie Brasco (Extended Cut):
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 andGoodFellas, 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
Stills from Donnie Brasco (click for larger image)
Beyond Donnie Brasco on Amazon.com
DVDs starring Al Pacino |
More Gangster Movies |
The Memoir |
Donnie Brasco (Extended Cut) Reviews:
Again --I LOVE JOHNNY 
2009-12-01 - GREAT MOVIE, GREAT PRICE, GREAT SERVICE. !! Johnny Deppy and Al Pacino!!....need I say more. Best gangsta movie out there!!!!
Great movie, great bluray, not so great extended cut 
2009-10-31 - Many reviews here seem to be only about the movie, not about the specific edition on bluray, so I thought I add a few comments on it. I've seen "Donnie Brasco" some twenty-odd times, so I was excited to get it on bluray. My impression? Well, the technical quality is really great: the picture is very much better than on the very good regular dvd's for sale (and the sound too, I guess, but I use headphones so I don't really know). The "extended cut", however, was a bit of a disappointment (note: at approx. 145 minutes, this version contains far more extra scenes than earlier versions). Only one or two instances of added material really added something to the story or movie as a whole, to my mind: most of it actually detracted from my experience of the movie - and not only because I'm so habituated to the regular version, I think. Still, even so it's a great gangster and psychological drama, with great acting: but if you already have the "Special edition" with the director's commentary etc (not included in the meagre extras on this bluray edition), you might want to wait for a new bluray release with the original cut. Trust me, sometimes less is really more.
Addition: I noticed now the same "extended cut" is apparently available on regular dvd too, so if you've seen that one you know what the problem is - the additions don't really add anything, but only disturb the careful pace and rhythm of the original version (and there is way too much lion...)
WARNING: "Extended Cut" is missing the Director's Commentary
2009-08-28 - So be sure to pick this release ("Special Edition") over the later "Extended Cut" which deleted the very excellent commentary from director Mike Newell.
The Godfather and Goodfellas don't hold the trademark on mob movies, so if you like this genre, you owe it to yourself to give Donnie Brasco a try.
Scored by Patrick Doyle. The music is in fact one of the many strong points of this film. Anne Heche (who I don't normally love) is good, too.
Highly recommend
2009-08-11 - Excellent movie - delivery was fast, price was good and the product was exactly as advertised.
"I'm not like them---I am them."
2009-06-24 - How did I miss this film for twelve years? As a Pacino fan, a Johnny Depp fan, and a mobster movie addict, it's nothing short of amazing that I only watched DONNIE BRASCO for the first time this week.
My only complaint about DONNIE BRASCO is that it's too short and light. Another fifteen minutes of screen time would have deepened the characters immensely. DONNIE BRASCO doesn't do a great job of capturing the ambience of the late 70s, but it's a relatively minor flaw in an otherwise impressive picture. Overall, with its renditions of petty thievery, (breaking open parking meters for change), cheap shot extortion (putting muscle on Mom-and-Pop corner grocery stores for a few hundred bucks a week) and constant pointless but violent arguments, the timbre of DONNIE BRASCO reflects Mean Streets more than The Godfather.
There's no romance in DONNIE BRASCO's Mafia. Depp plays Federal Agent Joe Pistone, who is tasked with infiltrating the Bonnanno Family in late 1970s New York City. Using the alias "Donnie Brasco," Pistone befriends low-level torpedo Lefty Ruggerio (Al Pacino), who is permanently rooted near the bottom of the Family food chain. The dynamic "Brasco" however, soon attracts the attention of crew boss Sonny "Black" Napolitano (Michael Madsen), who begins moving Brasco (and himself) up through the ranks. A disappointed Lefty is left behind, although Brasco/Pistone tries mightily to maintain his links with Lefty if for no other reason than they've become friends.
The strain of leading his double life puts Pistone at terrible risk. His marriage collapses and his personal family life becomes a shambles. He begins to adopt street talk, to hit his wife, and to put his Family before his family. He is forced into committing minor crimes as part of his cover, and assists in chopping up and burying the bodies after a hit. He's recognized by a law-and-order colleague whom he punches out in order to protect himself. Still, there is much in the camaraderie of the Family that Pistone appreciates. Eventually, as he tells his wife, "I'm not like them---I am them." Just as he's about to become a made guy, the FBI swoops in and arrests everyone, shutting down his undercover operation.
Pistone's activities send roughly one hundred mobsters to jail, and earn him a medal, a commendation, and a $500.00 bonus check, and a deep ambivalence toward his work and his life.
After watching DONNIE BRASCO, I found myself questioning whether, given the crummy quality of the mob as portrayed, the risk and expense of breaking up "organized crime" was at all worth it. It seems like a lot of effort for a few dozen yards of chintz.
