FAVORITE mafia movie based on real life

Hey, all, I'm new here. Just joined and am A HUGE mafia fanatic. I'd like to consider myself a historian.

Just curious on everyone's favorite mafia movie based on real life.

Welcome, I am fairly new myself.

I liked Goodfellows, Casino, and Godfather for movies.
For TV series Sopranos.

Welcome!!

1. GoodFellas
2. Donnie Brasco
3. Casino
4. American Gangster (not about the mafia per se, but they're in it and the era was depicted brilliantly imo)
5. Gotti

Godfather is the best ever of course, but you asked about based on real life so I chose movies based on true events..

How about Bronx tale ??

That's a good one indeed, Top 5 worthy no doubt..

The movie is semi-autobiographical, it's based on Chazz Palminteri's childhood and adolescence, so it fits the real life category..

How realistic was the mafia portrayed in A Bronx Tale? Sonny and his crew seem a lot more milder than those portrayed in Goodfellas which is argued to be the most realistic.

Its a great movie though!

Goodfellas without a doubt..

My list would look like this:

1. Casino
2. Goodfellas
3. Gotti (even thought it's incredibly factually wrong
4. Wolf of Wallstreet (more OC than mafia)
5. Black Mass

My favorite movie has not been made yet.

I have a friend that is trying to write it for the last 30 years.

I am not interested to see how it ends up.

I rather see them when they were young kids. I think it would be more interesting that way.

It would be one of those three hour epics. First half them as young guys. Second half then to see where they end up at the end.

That would be a good movie.

Once upon a time in America remake??

The Bronx Tale, The French Connection and Casino

Once upon a time in America. No one will be eating Charlotte rouse in the one I am thinking of.

Once Upon A Time In America. Although nobody is specifically depicted in this masterpiece, it encapsulates the prohibition underworld and can leave you googleing Noodles and Max after watching it. Wolf of Wall st. was great the first time I watched it, but I couldnt watch it in its entirety the second time. OUATIA, shit, I can watch it over and over again. To me, it makes me feel that if I was alive back then, I would want to be a gangster. What a great fucking movie.

Witness To The Mob and Gotti are decent movies too.

And don't forget the incredible music from the maestro Ennio Morricone..

Sonny in Bronx Tale did seem to rag on his own crew a lot. The only guys that never got messed with were him, the guy that barges on to Lorenzo's bus to offer him the numbers job, and the other guy that always wore a suit, that Sonny would talk to on the sidewalk. The rest of those guys were like a peanut gallery that Sonny routinely abused. Maybe those 3 were made, the others just hangers on. Didn't Chaz Palminteri get sued for stealing this story from someone else? Also, I seemed to have read somewhere that the basis for Sonny and his crew were actually Boston guys, not the Bronx.

It is partially based on Chazz his life, his real name is also Calogero..

Goodfellas, Casino, The Valachi Papers, The Untouchables and The Sopranos for a t.v. series. I forget to mention Bugsy. Also even though it's not based on a true story there are many real life scenarios that mimic the movie Men of Respect. I like how they took Macbeth and turned it into a modern mob story.

Il Capo dei capi

Casino

Goodfellas

'Il Capo dei Capi' was great indeed, it was called 'Corleone' over here..

I love Italian series in general: Gomorrah, Romanzo Criminale, L'Ultimo Padrino etc. etc.

I'd add to the list:

"Honor Thy Father," a made-for-TV movie from the early Seventies, about Bill Bonanno's relationship with his father, Joe, during the "Banana War" of the Sixties. Superb cast: Joseph Bologna as Bill; Raf Vallone as Joe; Brenda Vaccaro as Bill's long-suffering wife Rosalie; and Richard Castellano as Bill's uncle and loyal supporter. First class.

"Mafioso," a 1962 Italian film starring Alberto Sordi as a Sicilian who immigrated to Milan, where he has a managerial job in the Fiat factory; a blond, North Italian wife, and two kids. He returns to his Sicilian village for a long-awaited visit with family, and is unwittingly trapped by the local gabboletto into carrying out a hit for him in NYC. It's a brilliant film, with some riotously funny scenes highlighting Sicilian culture, but it has a grim message. Unforgettable.

Thanks for the tip Turnbull, I didn't know there was another movie about the Bonannos. I saw Bonanno: a Godfather's story and heard of that one about the marriage of Bill and his wife..

I looked it up, it's on Youtube:

I just watched that the other night.

Some might not agree, but I thought Mob Justice was a decent flick. It was about Gus Farace(a low-level criminal with ties to the Bonanno Family), who gunned down a DEA agent in Staten Island.

Yeah, that's EXACTLY why I don't consider AG to be a gangster movie. It's a drug dealer/crime movie, to me, not a gangster movie.

Gotti was good, but, too factually incorrect for me.

Sorry it took so long for a resposne.

I should have been more specific and said anything after 1970. Next time I'll know.. Didn't even know there were any mafia movies made in the 60's.. I thought all the ones before the 70's were made in the 30s' or 40's.

Thanks.. I think I've seen this before, but, I'll check it out.