Chazz Palminteri Movie:

Editorial Review:
A rash of assassinations of prominent government officials occurred in Sicily in the late 1970s and early 1980s--including the president of Sicily--by the Cosa Nostra, better known as the Mafia. The Mafia had a name for these highly placed victims: cadaveri eccellenti, or excellent cadavers. Judge Giovanni Falcone (Chazz Palminteri), a Sicilian native investigating some routine bankruptcy cases, ended up on an obsessive crusade to bring down these killers, who had been getting away with murder for so long. The HBO docudrama Excellent Cadavers dramatizes Falcone's heroic efforts as he met with ferocious resistance from every quarter, even the Ministry of Justice. An essential witness came to Falcone's aid: Tommasso Buscetta (F. Murray Abraham), a former mob kingpin whose sons had been murdered by the Mafia. A special courthouse was built to hold the thousand lawyers and witnesses in the ensuing trial, with 30 steel cages for the 400 accused Cosa Nostra members. The script and direction of this movie lacks focus and originality at times, and Palminteri, Abraham, and the other fine cast members are not always used to best advantage, but the facts of this true story are so gripping in and of themselves that the film is worth the watch. --Laura Mirsky

Excellent Cadavers [Region 2] Reviews:
A Documentary with the same title is coming out soon
2007-12-04 - A documentary film based on the same book and with the same title is coming out soon. It is, many people and I agree, better than this fictionalized account. The documentary EXCELLENT CADAVERS is already listed here on Amazon. I suggest you check it out. Interesting comparisions between the 2 films, too.

Great true story about organized crime
2007-01-03 - I truly enjoyed this story even though there was such great tradegy and loss through the violence of organized crime in Sicily. The legacy lives on with these courageous persons. Very inspiring.

alright
2006-02-21 - Not bad. It definately gave me a lot to write about for my Mafia class.

Muy buena película
2005-09-22 - Quisiera ver otras películas del mismo tema, sobre la lucha contra la mafia en Italia. Necesito que me envien toda la información en español.
José Neyra Flores

Gripping recreation of facts
2004-07-03 - Because "Excellent Cadavers" - or, as it's titled in Europe and Australia, "Falcone" - is a film based on facts, you begin to watch it knowing perfectly well just what is going to happen and what the ending will be. Nevertheless, it manages to be gripping and deeply involving. The story of judge Falcone and his self-sacrificial fight against the seemingly omnipotent mafia is faithully recreated (though perhaps a little too shortened for my liking) - if marginally fictionalized - and treated with respect it deserves. The script certainly does Falcone justice, as does Chazz Palminteri's portrayal of the relentless lawman. F. Murray Abraham delivers as well, and even though he obviously does not look anything like the real Tommasso Buscetta, he convincingly portrays an old-fashioned "man of honor", a relic of the mob era when the term had an actual meaning. Victor Cavallo as Salvatore Riina, shown here as a secondary character, is worth mentioning too - Cavallo, though his role has little screen time and is in fact reduced almost to a few dialogueless cameos, manages to create a memorable, truly frightening and malevolent screen personality, perfectly recreating the nature of the real "Toto". Though this is "only" a TV production, it can certainly stand tall and proud next to any cinematic giants of the mob film genre. Highly recommended.