Al Pacino’s Lefty Ruggiero has given his life to an organization that keeps handing him less. When he meets Johnny Depp’s Donnie Brasco, a jewel thief from Vero Beach, Florida, he sees a way to matter again. That is the engine of Donnie Brasco, Mike Newell’s 1997 adaptation of Joseph D. Pistone’s memoir. The FBI agent at the center is the title character. The tragedy belongs to the man who vouches for him.
Trailer, via HD Retro Trailers.
Lefty and Donnie
The setup is a model of patience. In 1978 New York City, Donnie insists a diamond Lefty got from strip club owner Pandar is fake. The two confront Pandar; Donnie beats him and takes his car as repayment. Lefty teaches Donnie the rules and brings him around the crew: Sonny Black, Nicky Santora, Paulie, rival captain Sonny Red.
- Donnie Brasco / Joe Pistone — Johnny Depp
- Lefty Ruggiero — Al Pacino
- Sonny Black — Michael Madsen
- Nicky Santora — Bruno Kirby
- Maggie Pistone — Anne Heche
Two Rackets, Two Loyalties
The film’s best trick is structural. Every shakedown Donnie helps run is also a wiretap for the FBI, and Paul Attanasio’s script never lets one side cancel the other. The two operations sit side by side:
| Operation | Run by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Lefty’s crew shakedowns | Bonanno family | Money and standing |
| Tavern gambling racket | Donnie and Richie Gazzo | FBI cover and information |
When the Bonanno boss is killed, Sonny Black takes the crew. Lefty, who believes his years deserve the promotion, seethes. Then Sonny Black undercuts Lefty’s play for Santo Trafficante Jr. by taking Donnie under his own wing. Lefty reads it as betrayal and cuts ties — until his son Tommy nearly dies of an overdose and Donnie is the only one who shows up.
What the Film Refuses
Donnie Brasco runs 127 minutes and never hurries toward the shootout the genre owes you. Newell keeps the camera on faces: Lefty’s debt, his family trouble, his sense of being underappreciated. Depp plays the split quietly, and the cost lands on Anne Heche’s Maggie, who carries the marriage half of a story that mostly belongs to the men.
The film premiered in Century City on February 24, 1997, opened February 28 through Sony Pictures Releasing, and earned $124.9 million against a $35 million budget. It was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 70th Academy Awards.
Pacino’s Late-Career Peak
The Mob movie canon rewards volume — the rise, the fall, the rat. Donnie Brasco is quieter and, in the end, sadder, because it knows the informant survives and the friend does not. The film’s one real flaw is that it sometimes mistakes restraint for distance; whole stretches pass without a scene that bites. But the Lefty material is the argument, and Pacino’s work makes it. This is a crime film about a man who is only ever useful to the people using him. That it never says so out loud is the point.
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