This is a great movie..and i noticed there was no actual thread dedicated to this great film..so here it is... post every thing DB in here from thoughts and opinions to questions etc...

I liked this movie, Depp was amazing!

yeah he looked a bit funny with his moustache and everything but his acting is superb(surpoib)....of course you gotta love pacino as lefty..great film

Yea Pacino was really good. He IMO its the last good film he's been in.

yeah i agrre with you 100% his last few wernt that good which has dissapointed me what the f%4k is up with him being in that gigli movie...the devils advocate i love..did that come out after or before donnie brasco

A few months afterwards, I havent seen Devils Advocate but I'm going to buy it, I saw it in the shop for £5, is that a good price?

yeah definently...if you dont mind keanu reeves although he does well in this film..you'll love the movie..its def the last good film hes been in then..if it came out after db...def worth owning..classic pacino acting...love it 4/5

You can use the search function to find many many posts about the Donnie Brasco movie. It's been discussed extensively many times on here.



Don Cardi

yeah i thought it might have but when i searched for it in the other mob films/books/tv section there were only two threads with just a few questions asked..but yeah fair enough i shouldeve known..lol great movie non the less

One of fav films,great cast.Have you read the Book,as they say the books are always beter..

nah ive never read the book...i will though

You should,lots missed out of the film as there always is..

I read the book a few years ago, after watching the movie many many times (Such a great movie). A few things in the book, made me wonder. Joseph D. Pistone, is in movie getting more and more into the mob, and seems to have a hard time getting out. In the book, or should i say in real life, he never lost the sense of rigth and wrong, and could always keep controlled.

He just came out with another book titled "Unfinished Business" and supposedly he reveals a lot more than he did in his previous two books.


Don Cardi

Yes, the movie, while quite entertaining and well acted, took a lot of liberties with the story, which is why the book is so much better. Also, the movie completely excluded two important parts of Pistone's experience in the Mob--Tony Mirra (a "very scary guy") and a long interlude in Milwaukee involving Frank Balistrieri, the local Mafia Don. Both should have been in the film.

I totally agree TB. In my opinion, those two parts were an integral part of the story. How about all the secret back and forth traveling he had to do when he was in Milwalkee? I don't undersatnd why they decided to leave those parts out of the movie.



Don Cardi

They also left out his time spent with Jilly and the Colombos in Brooklyn.

Although Jilly's character made a cameo in the barbershop scene, I think they should have spent more time with Donny's initial contact with the mob as an undercover, which was not with Lefty, but with Jilly and then Tony Mirra.

That's the problem with adapting true life stories to the big screen, there's never enough time.

His spending time with Jilly and the Columbos is what pulls you into the book. It lays the foundation of how he began his infiltration into the mob, built up his reputation and began to get recognized. Yes, they should have included at least some of that in the movie. No reason that the movie couldn't have been a 3 hour movie. The story is definitely interesting enough to hold the viewer's attention.


Don Cardi

I agree.

If the viewer didn't know it was a true story, it would be very hard to believe that an undercover agent, in 1975, could just walk into a social club on Mulberry Street and have a guy like Lefty approach him about fencing diamonds.

Had they invested some screen time with Jilly and his crew, the average viewer would then find out that a made guy (Jilly) had vouched for "Donnie" BEFORE he did any actual business with Lefty.

I agree with both of you. I think Martin Scorsese would have been able to really do justice to the book.

EXACTLY who I had in mind when I made that post!



Don Cardi

That would have been something TB.

If you remember, DONNIE BRASCO was initially set to go into production in 1989, with Tom Cruise in the title role. It was then put on the back burner, so it wouldn't be in direct competition with THE GODFATHER PART III and GOODFELLAS, both released in late 1990.

All of that being said, it was still an entertaining movie. Thank God they came to their senses and re-cast Johnny Depp as "Donnie". I don't think Cruise could have pulled it off, whereas, script deficiencies aside, Depp did a fine job.

Ok PB, I got both books in the mail today ( The Hoods and Unfinished business).

Did you get yours yet?

Which one should we read first?



Don Cardi

I'm in the middle of MOB COPS by Greg B. Smith, but I already read UNFINISHED BUSINESS, so start with that.

This way, we can start THE HOODS at the same time and discuss it here.

Donnie Brasco? Forget about it...

What does fuggettaboutit mean?


Don Cardi

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 mingia 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.

Don Cardi doesn't read THE HOODS, fuckin' fugghetaboutit !

This is one of my all time favourites.

Thank you longneck! I was actually quoting a line from Donnie Brasco when his fellow FBI agents ask him that question.



Don Cardi