One of the great mob movies!

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2018)

Donnie Brasco is a mob movie based on the true story of FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone, played by Johnny Depp, and the New York mafia group he infiltrated in the late 1970's. This isn't your typical gangster film. Donnie Brasco has a softer touch and the emotional undercurrent that is sparse in its predecessors is what makes this movie one of the best 90's dramas. Joe Pistone poses as Donnie Brasco, an orphan jeweller that's been taken under the wing of Benjamin 'lefty' Ruggiero, a down on his luck street hustler with "26 hits under my belt" who has become disillusioned with the mafia institution he's given his life too. This is a raw look at the gritty working class life of a mob crew that scrap and fight for every cent they can muster. There's very little glitz and glamour within this mob and the daily hustle of making a buck wears thin on the gang and even more so on Donnie and his over the hill mentor Lefty. As impressive as Johnny Depp is, this is Al Pacino's film, the master bringing a lifetime of experience and wisdom to his role. Director Mike Newell's mafia entry is very respectable, he manages to hold his own against the likes of Coppola, Scorsese and De Palma as directors who have mastered this genre before him. Donnie Brasco gives the audience a glimpse of blue collar crime within the mob that's rarely been seen in a movie before or since.