Review of Donnie Brasco (1997) by Stuart K — 19 Jun 2012

Directed by Mike Newell, then hot off the success of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), you can't get anymore far removed than this. It was planned 5-6 years previously, but was delayed because of Goodfellas (1990).

But, it's a very good and suspenseful gangster drama with good performances and it shows the gritty, down and dirty side to the Mafia. It begins in 1978, when FBI agent Joseph Pistone (Johnny Depp) has been posing as jewel thief Donnie Brasco, and has been trying to infiltrate the Bonanno crime family.

Yet, he ends up befriending aging mob hit man Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero (Al Pacino), who takes 'Donnie' under his wing, and Lefty is able to get his boss Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano (Michael Madsen) to trust 'Donnie'.

Yet the longer Joseph assumes the role of 'Donnie', the more it has a massive strain on his family life, it nearly wrecks the career of his marriage to wife Maggie (Anne Heche). But, he gets in a bit too deep, and becoming 'Donnie' ends up changing his personality, but neither Lefty, Sonny Black or underboss Nicky Santora (Bruno Kirby) ever suss out that he's working for the FBI.

It's a power drama that shows the wheeling-dealing that goes on in the Mafia on the ground-floor level. Al Pacino gives one of his best performances in years, and Depp should be doing more down and dirty parts like this, as he's got a good knack for it.