“I love you, Donnie,” says a tearful Lefty Ruggiero – played by Al Pacino in “Donnie Brasco.” He’s in the hospital, and his son might die of an overdose. He’s full of conflicting emotions – his real son is dying – yet he’s never felt close to him. Donnie – played by Johnny Depp – is there to console him. He’s the son he always wished he’d had. It’s a rare moment of intimacy between two men in a film about the Mob. It’s an unexpected scene because of the emotional depth. It’s also unanticipated to see two straight men express their love for one another. It’s also thrilling to see two actors who are not known for their understated work – be so nuanced and tempered. There’s so much that is not what you envisage in “Donnie Brasco.” It’s a love story disguised as a crime drama. It’s a tremendous movie – one that I was glad I revisited last night. Al Pacino’s performance is one of his best.
I like that the movie is not what it seems for deception is a big part of what this story is about. Loosely based on a true story, Joseph Pistone is an FBI agent who wants to infiltrate the Bonanno crime family. He creates a new identity for himself – Donnie Brasco – a jewel thief from Miami – and finds himself an easy target in “Lefty” Ruggiero – an aging member of the family who’s been passed over. “I’m a spoke on a wheel,” he describes himself. Lefty has mounting debts and tries to sell Donnie a diamond for $8k. Donnie spots it as a fake. From then on, Lefty has found himself someone he can mentor and take under his wing and make him feel important. Donnie/Joseph finds himself inside the mafia – as well as a father figure. The first half of the movie is the training of Donnie into Mafia culture – and it’s so engaging – we’re being seduced into this just like him – on how to dress – how to be respected. What was supposed to be a few weeks turns into years – taking a toll on Pistone’s real wife and three daughters. “You’re becoming like them, you know that?” his wife reproaches him. Donnie gets so close to Lefty – that he starts losing his own identity. He also understands that betraying the wiseguy will ultimately mean his demise. “I’d die with you Donnie. Anything happens I’m responsible,” Lefty tells him. In order to protect him, Donnie betrays his own morals. There’s a lot more duplicity happening in the other relationships in the narrative – including the FBI, and within the mob. The least you know the better.
“Donnie Brasco” is directed by Mike Newell – better known for “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Enchanted April.” In a world associated with Scorsese and Coppola, Newell takes a more down to earth – introspective approach – focusing on character study and family. This doesn’t mean that he shies away from violence. He uses very handsome camera work – and some poignant visual touches. Early in the film Lefty’s fascination with wild animal documentaries is established – and Newell cross cuts with a shot of Donnie standing next to him. “Hunter and hunted. Predator and prey. The endless cycle of nature repeated,” the narrator from TV says. Later in the movie, after a dramatic scene at a Japanese restaurant where Donnie is almost caught with his tape recorder and is forced to beat up the maître d’, there’s a shot of Donnie listening to the recording. The camera lingers on the tape playing – obliquely and queasily moving – demonstrating Donnie’s internal struggle.
Depp as Joseph Pistone makes the internal toil and the slow physical transformation into Donnie Brasco believable. “This job is eating me alive. I can’t breathe anymore,” his Donnie says. As I watched this film I thought about the many pairings that Al Pacino has had with younger terrific actors from Sean Penn and Keanu Reeves to John Cusack. He seems to bring out the best in them and he certainly does it with Depp. Pacino is subtle, detailed and ultimately heartbreaking as Lefty – he makes this role into his own Willly Loman from “Death of A Salesman.” His very last scene might be one his finest moments in cinema – as he prepares to leave his apartment – notice all the nuance and body language. And the way he leaves the drawer open.
At a time when we’re longing for connection, friendship and family – “Donnie Brasco” makes for good company.
Donnie: “‘Forget about it’ is, like, if you agree with someone, you know, like ‘Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass. Forget about it!’ But then, if you disagree, like ‘A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it!’ You know? But then, it’s also like if something’s the greatest thing in the world, like, ‘Minchia! Those peppers! Forget about it!’ But it’s also like saying ‘Go to hell!’ too. Like, you know, like ‘Hey Paulie, you got a one-inch pecker?’ and Paulie says ‘Forget about it!’ Sometimes it just means ‘Forget about it.’”
Love,
Roger
Available to stream on Netflix, SundanceNOW, DIRECTV, The Roku Channel, SHOWTIME and Fubo. Available to rent on Vudu, Amazon Prime, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, FandangoNOW, Microsoft and AMC Theatres on Demand.
Screenplay by Paul Attanasio
Based on the book by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley
Directed by Mike Newell
Starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, Anne Heche
127 minutes
Bringing “Donnie Brasco” to the Screen
“…Johnson first heard about the book Donnie Brasco while working on “Rain Man” with director Barry Levinson, but even a year later, says the producer, We couldn’t figure out what to do with it…After Levinson and Johnson met with Joe Pistone, the undercover FBI agent who penetrated the mob under the alias of Donnie Brasco, the producers “got it…They hired Attanasio to pen the screenplay. “The script was great, and at first we were going to make it with Al Pacino and Tom Cruise,” Johnson says. But along came “GoodFellas” and, as Johnson, 51, remembers, “no one wanted to compete with Martin Scorsese…So “Brasco” was shelved, and Cruise moved on, but Pacino was determined to play Lefty, the wiseguy who takes Brasco under his wing into the mob. Finally, last year, all the planets lined up. Johnson enlisted Newell, hot from “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” to direct. All agreed Depp was perfect for Brasco, and he was signed.” (nydailynews.com)
Michael Madsen on Being Cast as Sonny Black
“…they asked me to come in and read for it, and I said, “No.” And they said, “Well, then you’re not gonna get the part.” I said, “Well, put it this way: If I come in and read, then I definitely won’t get it.” And they’re, like, “Michael, you’re perfect for this.” And I said, “Well, if I am, then why don’t you just give me a contract? Because I don’t understand what the whole reasoning is.” For about two weeks, I didn’t hear from them. Finally they said, “Would you be willing to go to New York to meet Al Pacino?” And I said, “Well, yeah, of course. But if you’re trying to bait me in there to go read, please, it’s not gonna happen. I’d love to say ‘hi’ to Al, and I understand he would probably like to meet me, considering the material, but I’m not gonna read for you guys. It’s not gonna happen.” So they put me on a plane, they put me up at the St. Regis, and I went to meet Al. It was like meeting some kind of diplomat. I mean, he had guys with earplugs in and bodyguards walking up one hallway and down the other. It was a very secretive trail to get to Al. And then when I finally got in his office, he was just standing with his back to me, looking out the window. I came in and I closed the door, and I was just kind of standing there…And he didn’t even really turn around! So there was a bookshelf, and I figured maybe he was deep in thought about something, so I turned around and pulled a book off the shelf and started looking at it… and all of a sudden I hear that voice…“You like that book?” “What?” He goes, “You like that book?” And I’m, like, “Uh, well, uh…” I hadn’t even looked to see what book it was! But I said, “Yeah, it’s great.” And he goes, “So, you like the script?” And I go, “Yeah! Yeah, it’s a good script.” “Whaddaya like about it?” “Well, it’s a good story. It’s a good story.”
I wanted the birds, though. Because Sonny had birds that he kept up on the roof. He had pigeons, and I wanted to have the pigeons. And I asked Al, “How come the pigeons aren’t in the screenplay?” And he said, “Well, because if you have the birds, then your character will have too much sympathy. And nobody wants to have sympathy for Sonny Black, you understand? So you can’t have the birds.” And I said, “Okay, well, then, I guess I won’t have the freakin’ birds, but…” [Laughs.] And he goes, “Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Okay!” And I’m, like, “Is that it?” He goes, “That’s it.” I said, “All right.” So, you know, I was escorted out, I went back to the hotel, and I was pretty convinced that it was not gonna happen. And then they said, “Oh, Michael, geez, Al likes you. You’re in. You’re gonna do the film.” So I was very happy that I didn’t read. I was very happy that I kept my position, because it’s such an uncomfortable, horrible thing to do. But that’s one I didn’t read for, that I refused to read for…” (tv.avclub.com)
The Real Man Behind Donnie Brasco
“On July 26, 1981, he and his fellow wise guys learned that Donnie Brasco—who they knew as a small-time jewelry thief and burglar, who they thought was their partner and even their friend, who they were about to officially induct into the Bonnano crime family—was actually FBI Agent Joe Pistone. Pistone had fooled them all with a masterful acting job that had begun in 1976 and lasted six long years. He had appeared in “Little Italy” in New York City as a stranger and outsider, slowly meeting and making friends with a series of mobsters, gaining their trust, making it look like he was participating in their life of crime—all the while secretly gathering vital intelligence on the Mafia and its criminal ways. It wasn’t easy, to be sure. Pistone had to think, talk, and act like a crook (he spent two full weeks, for example, studying the jewelry industry). He had to know the rules of the Mafia game. He had to tell lies—lots of lies—convincingly, about who he was and what he was up to. He had to make friends with mobsters and criminals and be separated from family and friends for long stretches of time, even on holidays. It was incredibly dangerous work as well. While playing his part, Pistone could have been seen with the wrong person or been recognized by someone he knew. His various recording devices could have been exposed or gone haywire and given him away. He might have let a word slip. The slightest mistake or accident could have cost him his life. His mission was so secret that only a handful in the FBI knew about it.
The decision to put Pistone into this undercover role was made by our office in New York City, home of the five main Mafia families—Bonanno, Gambino, Colombo, Genovese, and Lucchese. In years past, we’d had some success in gathering intelligence on the mob, but typically only around the edges. The core—the leadership—was often untouchable because of the Mafia’s code of silence. Agents in our New York office decided to try out a longer-term undercover operation—one of the first of its kind. But even they had no idea that it would end up lasting so long and bearing so much fruit. And what an intelligence goldmine it was. The operation gave us a window into the inner workings of the Mafia generally and the Bonanno family specifically (and to a lesser degree, some of the other families), not only in New York, but in Florida, Michigan, and elsewhere. We learned firsthand who the players were, what kinds of rackets they were running, and what rules they played by. And it ultimately led to more than 100 federal convictions. The tool that Pistone and a small band of agents bravely pioneered in the ‘70s was used again and again with great effect over the next several decades, generating intelligence that helped us target and take down major criminal enterprises and deal a serious blow to the Mafia. And it became a staple of our intelligence tradecraft, a crucial arrow in the quiver we use to protect the American people.” (fbi.gov)
About Director Mike Newell
“Michael Newell was born on March 28, 1942 in St. Albans. While reading English at Cambridge he began directing student theatrical productions. After graduating in 1963 he joined Granada as a trainee director, moving from news and documentaries via serials to plays. In 1968 he turned to freelance production, collaborating with playwrights such as David Hare, John Osborne and Jack Rosenthal. Although his television film “The Man in the Iron Mask” (UK/US, 1977) received a limited theatrical release, Newell’s move away from television was gradual. In 1980 he directed “The Awakening,” a horror film based on Bram Stoker’s “The Jewel of the Seven Stars,” backed by EMI and Orion. It was followed by the grim New Zealand-set “Bad Blood,” made for the independent company TVS, and five films – “Dance with a Stranger” (1985), “The Good Father” (1987), “Soursweet” (1988), “Into the West” (Ireland/UK/US, 1992) and “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (1994) partly financed by Channel 4… In 1991 Newell directed “Enchanted April” for BBC television (1992), but released theatrically in the USA, where its whimsical Englishness proved highly popular. “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was even more of a success, breaking box-office records in Britain after its warm reception in America and going on to reap huge financial rewards internationally…His next film was the sourly realist “An Awfully Big Adventure” (Ireland/UK/France/US, 1995)… He then seized the opportunity to make a big-budget American film, but his chosen subject, “Donnie Brasco” (US, 1997)…Newell returned to comedy with “Pushing Tin” (US, 1999), starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton as rival air traffic controllers in New York; but “Mona Lisa Smile” (US, 2003), starring Julia Roberts as radical art teacher in a conservative American girls college once again returned him to women in the 1950s. He acted as executive producer on BBC Films’ “I Capture the Castle” (Tim Fywell, 2003)… (screenonline.org.uk) Newell’s other films include, “Love in the Time of Cholera” (2007), “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” (2010), “Great Expectations” (2012), “The Interestings” (2015), and “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” (2018).