The Last Don

I am currently reading The Last Don and enjoying it too. But I watched the movie on tv earlier this year and I thought it was pretty bad. At that time I thought that the story line was just weak, but now after beginning the novel I see that not to be the case. So what do you people think made the movie bad or even good if you happened to have liked it?

Sorry i've never seen or read the story but i think you can nearly make the same point with The Sicilian and about every other book ever written that has been made into a movie. Its true the book is always better.

I have read the last don and thought that it was a great book, i really loved it.
I have not seen the movie yet, is it worth seeing?

I really didn't like the movie very much at all. But maybe after reading the book I might understand it a little better, and therefore appreciate it more. But if I were you, I would watch definitely watch it. You might like it.

Always? Is The Godfather better than the film? That's a tough one...!

JG

I have to agree with Geoff there. I think that the movie is definitely as good, if not better. Actually, I think I prefer the movie.

I still stand by the book

I, too, am currently reading The Last Don and am enjoying it immensely. With that said, does anybody else feel that the story drags at times with so many background stories? I wish sometimes that the plot would just move on. How many stories do we need describing Athena rise to stardom or all the different people Cross's sister is sleeping with?

Hey, the movie, even thought it is the greatest movie is, in my eyes not as good as the book. I can say for sure that i enjoyed the movie better once i had read the book, also seeing the movie before the reading the bbok helped me to visualise certain scenes which enhanced the reading of the book.
What i'm trying to say is that they compliment eachother very well (perhaps this can only apply to one and two, as three contradicts the book in parts)

The Last Don is the first Puzo book I read and I love it. Tha said, the movie was comparatively lame, not only in its casting, but in the fact that it basically gave away the "surprise" ending in the FIRST 10 MINUTES! Infamita!

I watched The Godfather before reading the book and it was good. Then I read the book. It was great. Then I watched The Godfather again. It was great. The book hightens the spectacle of the movie.

I just finished watching 'The Last Don' and it wasn't all too bad. What they did wrong was they took the part that the book was built around and up to(Satadio War) and just told the story right away. As for the actors, some were cast well. Sure, Dante should have been shorter, but it fit, and Cross was good. Darryl Hannah as Athena? Ok, it wasn't too bad. Petey and Vincent were bad for there was no uniqueness. You didn't know which was which, they didn't take the time to show. Sure, they were small in the book too, but you knew there qualities. Some of the changes were ok, some were just pointless. Overall, it was an ok movie. I watched the complete miniseries version so maybe the edited shorter version was better or worse. Still, you can't go truly wrong with Puzo.

The Last Don movie is a classic case of 'spare no expense' ignorance. The cast was great in my opinion. After watching the movie and reading the book I could see that the director and producers made good choices in their casting. Jason Gedrick played an excellent Cross, and Joe Magtenga played an excellent Pippi. However the story was pretty weak, it lacked the power that the novel had. With The Godfather you could see that there was a great deal of detail, from story to movie. With the novel it was as if they were tracing a picture (putting a blank sheet of paper over a picture and copying the picture underneath. Afterwards you get a somewhat good copy, but still crappy)

They should have taken carefull consideration with the script and direction. If they had done so then the movie could have shared in the same spotlight as The Godfather, that of course is my humble opinion.

Roland

In short - Book good, film bad.