The nineties gave us a large number of organized crime movies. The Godfather series closed its final chapter with Part III, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas was widely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. It was good times for those of use who craved a well made mob flick. This set contains Donnie Brasco, Snatch, Bugsy and The American Gangster all of which except Snatch were released during the booming period of the genre.
Disc One – Donnie Brasco
Directed by:
Mike Newell
Starring:
Al Pacino ………. Benjamin ‘Lefty’ Ruggiero
Johnny Depp ………. Donnie Brasco/Joseph D. ‘Joe’ Pistone
Michael Madsen ………. Sonny Black
Bruno Kirby ………. Nicky
James Russo ………. Paulie
Anne Heche ………. Maggie Pistone
Zeljko Ivanek ………. Tim Curley
Gerry Becker ………. Dean Blandford
Robert Miano ………. Sonny Red
Brian Tarantina ………. Bruno
Rocco Sisto ………. Richard ‘Richie’ Gazzo
The Movie
It’s hard to believe watching this for review that it was nearly ten years ago when it was released in theaters. But the hardest thing to really get around is how the film has been pushed to the way side and gets very little notoriety that it so richly deserves. Donnie Brasco is among the best films of the 90’s and yet it rarely if ever gets mentioned along side the other classic mob or under cover cop films. When in fact it’s the most thruthful and honest in the way it depicts the Mafioso lifestyle and not the over glorified way in which many studios take.
Based on the real life story of FBI agent Joseph Pistone, Donnie Brasco is about the agent infiltrating the New York mafia ring and what he has to do in order to get closer to the upper guys. Going under the alias of ‘Donnie Brasco’ Joe first finds his way in by conning a low level made guy names Lefty, by giving him the assumption that he looks up to him and gives him the respect he’s never been able to receive from his peers. This new found attention has Left really interested in Donnie, little does he know that Joe has him eating out of the palm of his hand.
As the film progresses we see Pistone beings to find himself intrenched deeper than he imagined with his undercover job and starts to lose focus on what he’s there to do because he’s too busy making sure he doesn’t get pinched. But it isn’t in the sense that he’s a rogue agent, the stress and tension build up over the seven years he was under cover simply forced him to look at his job from a different perspective than his superior officers did. While they were telling how things should go by the books he was too busy making sure the real world scenario he was in stayed as safe as humanly possible. From his work 200 men were arrested and of those half were incarcerated.
Starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino in the leading roles it’s a match made in heaven. Pacino once again takes a promising up and comer and instead of overshadowing the young star he helps elevate him to that next level. Even after that he takes role drastically different from the one that made him famous in his beloved Godfather movies. Lefty is a made man who runs the streets who knows that there’s no going up in his future and Pacino’s performance makes to feel sympathetic for the character. Pacino really spread his wings in Donnie Brasco, even after he’s already established himself as one of the greatest of all-time.
Mike Newell who directed the movie really made a name for himself with Donnie Brasco he showed how he has very few limitations in his field of work. The pacing in the movie is perfect with things never getting bogged down, once things head south something pulls you right back in and connect with the characters. Donnie Brasco is one of if not the most underrated film that was released in the nineties.
Score: 10/10
Disc Two – Snatch
Directed by:
Guy Ritchie
Starring:
Jason Statham ………. Turkish
Stephen Graham ………. Tommy
Alan Ford ………. Brick Top Polford
Brad Pitt ………. Mickey O’Neil
Dennis Farina ………. Abraham ‘Cousin Avi’ Denovitz
Rade Serbedzija ………. Boris ‘The Blade’ Yurinov
Robbie Gee ………. Vincent
Lennie James ………. Sol
Vinnie Jones ………. Bullet Tooth Tony
Benicio Del Toro ………. Franky Four Fingers
The Movie
What happens when you get a group of around ten guys all chasing after the same eighty-six karat diamond the size of a fist? you get the hilarious Guy Ritchie film titled simply Snatch. Watching a Guy Ritchie film can be hard for some as they go for a more edgy style of film making. But Ritchie does things so uniquely with his style of both filming and storytelling that they click in a way where they both compliment each other.
Played out as a series of events loosely tied together because of the diamond, Snatch starts out with Franky Four Fingers stealing a diamond in Antwerp. With the diamond in hand he heads to New York to deliver it to Cousin Avi but before he gets there he takes a detour to London. That choice leads to us finding out just how he got the nick name Four-Fingers, he’s a betting man, just not a winning betting man. When he goes to the bookie to place a bet he’s kidnapped by two thugs hired by the Russian he just met up with to steal the brief case attached to his wrist. The bookie office the two guys try to rob and shoot up is owned by a notorious local mobster known as Brick Top.
Brick Top isn’t only in the bookie business, he’s also big in the underground circuit of illegal fighting, boxing, dog fights, anything involving pain and blood. one in particular is bare knuckle boxing. Which is where Turkish and Tommy come in, the two are small time promoters who find themselves being pushed by Brick Top to have one of their fighters take a dive. Which they realize is needed and inevitable, until the fighter who was suppose to take the dive is knocked out cold by a gypsy named Mickey who then takes the place of the incapacitated fighter.
A complicated plot on paper but watching it unfold before your eyes is a far different and much more enjoyable experience. Some may fault it for being similar to Ritchie’s first smash hit Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but it’s a much tighter and overall better product that’s more layered and complex. What really brings everything together with the movie is without question its cast. With no real marquee stars outside of Brad Pitt the movie still has a group of actors who have an enormous amount of talent that Guy Ritchie works with to showcase as best as he possibly could.
Score: 9/10
Disc Three – Bugsy
Directed by:
Barry Levinson
Starring:
Warren Beatty ………. Ben ‘Bugsy’ Siegel
Annette Bening ………. Virginia Hill
Harvey Keitel ………. Mickey Cohen
Ben Kingsley ………. Meyer Lansky
Elliott Gould ………. Harry Greenberg
Joe Mantegna ………. George Raft
Richard C. Sarafian ………. Jack Dragna
Bebe Neuwirth ………. Countess di Frasso
Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi ………. Count di Frasso
Wendy Phillips ………. Esta Siegel
Stefanie Mason ………. Millicent Siegel
Kimberly McCullough ………. Barbara Siegel
The Movie
Bugsy doesn’t go the regular bio pic route by showing the lead grow from adolescence to current day mafia big shot, instead it’s about the last years of his life and his journey to create the Flamingo hotel and casino. Benjamin “Bugsy” siegel was a man revered by many, he could walk in to a room filled with people shoot a man and walk away without a care in the world. That’s not the kind of fear you can buy, you earn that. His temper has no build up, it’s an on/off switch that he can flip at any moments. Which makes him so dangerous in the public eye.
After being sent out to California to fulfill a business meeting Ben decided to stay longer than expected, by seven years or so, and thought his life calling was on the West coast. Standing in the desert with no civilization in sight Siegel got a vision, a vision of booze, broads, sex and gambling, an oasis and the best part is that it’s all legal. He’s the godfather of sin city, Las Vegas, a genius before his time. Which lead to his ultimate demise. Bugsy Siegel was a visionary, when he was motivated by something nothing could get in his way of seeing it be finalized. Money was never what motivated him, it was the big picture that got his attention.
Ben met Virginia Hill on the set of his childhood friend George Raft’s movie set and from the first moment he saw her he was infatuated with her. They became lovers and blinded by that love Ben gave Virginia full control of the books for the casinos construction, she later embezzled over 2 million dollars from the project. Virginia’s greed and personal need to have everything she wanted lead to the eventual death of Siegel.
He has no care for monetary value or the cost of services, he likes to get the job done and done right. He has no personal care for money, but once somebody double crosses him over it he’s quick to go off the deep end and make his presence known. But with Virginia it was different, she had this odd control over his temper and even when he knew the things she did to betray him he couldn’t bring himself to physically harm her. In one scene he much rather hit a row of glasses than to lay a hand on her.
What started out as a one million dollar investment for the construction of the casino soon ballooned in to a 6 million dollar project. Now six times the original allotted budget the crew in New York hated the thought of having to lose Siegel over the casino but they knew something had to be done over the exceeding loan. When the casino opened it was a failure, but since it’s opening the casino has generated over 100 billion dollars in revenue. Not bad for a six million dollar investment, too bad Siegel never got to see it all unfold.
The only thing you can fault director Barry Levinson with is that there’s too much glitz and glamour given to the dark seedy underground life of the mafia of the 40’s. The cast from top to bottom is pack with talented stars who do a marvelous job in the film.
Score: 9.5/10
Disc Four – The American Gangster
Clocking in at roughly fourty-eight minutes this documentary directed by Ben Burtt chronicles the rise of organized crime in America. It’s made of vintage news reel footage and archived photos narrated by Dennis Farina and tells the tale of Charlie Luciano, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky who started off as immigrants in a street gang which evolved in to what is the current day mafia. The story of their rise and the way crime went from street to organized syndication is a very fascinating period in the countries history. Its only pitfall is that the doc is way too short and compacts a marvelous story too tightly.
Score: 7.5/10
The Video
Donnie Brasco is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the movie contains a fare amount of grain that is noticeable through some scene but aside from that the transfer still holds up as a good presentation. Snatch is the exact same DVD that was released almost five years ago, the only difference is it no longer comes with the second disc. It still has “disc one” labeled on the disc art even. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen the picture still has dirt on the print but goes well with the style of the film. Also available on the disc is a fullscreen version of the movie. Bugsy is screaming for a remastering because such a powerful movie deserves better image quality then is given here. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen the picture holds up the films age pretty well but is still an average transfer. The American Gangster is made up of old reel footage and photographs, the material used in it have been cleaned up very well nicely are with the exception of some grain is a great restoration. The documentary is presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen.
The Audio
Donnie Brasco sports a 5.0 dolby digital surround and 2.0 setup, not sure why there is no bass support but it goes unnoticed while watching. The real gem with the audio setup on the disc is Patrick Doyle’s score which is given its own isolated track and is breathtaking. Snatch is equipped with a 5.1 & 2.0 audio tracks both of which sound fantastic and do a great service to the unique audio style of the movie. Bugsy has a bland 2.0 surround sound audio track which does a great disservice to the vibrant and lively film (just like its video presentation). The American Gangster is narrated for the entire run time and has a 2.0 audio track which is suitable since all that really matters are the words that Dennise Franz reads, which he does very well.
The Extras
Donnie Brasco
Feature Length Commentary – director Mike Newell is alone on the track and keeps things moving at a lenient pace. At times he’ll give deep insight about the production and other times act as an inner monologue of the viewer. Usually with these one person commentaries the person involved begins to dig themselves in to a hole with no wing man to help them out, this one is different, Newell is very passionate about the movie and every minor detail about it.
Donnie Brasco: Out from the Shadows (23mins) – The real Joe Pistone is in the featurette and gives plenty of information about the book he wrote and about the film. The crew talk about the studio’s decision to put the film on the back burner due to the wide success of Goodfellas, which lead to a new director being hired along with a new lead. Mike Newell the new director delved deep in to the subject of crime life and hung out in bars where gangsters were and he met some and actually used them as a study for the movie. First set to star as Pistone in the movie was Tom Cruise but due to conflicting schedules he had to leave the project. The rest of the featurette has the writer, the producer, the director and Joe talk about each cast member and how they performed in their role. Joe says that Depp was right on the money with his performance.
Original Featurette (7mins) – What starts off as something that looks very entertaining with Pacino goofing around on set quickly turns in to something more like a standard studio produced “making of” piece. It even has a generic voice over actor describing the film and those behind it. The cast share their thoughts on the movie and the characters they play but it’s your standard cookie cutter “making of” featurette.
Deleted Scenes – There are five deleted scenes in all with a brief intro by the director explaining that with the optional director’s commentary he would explain their reasons for being left out of the movie. The video quality is bad with a large amount of dirt, scratches, grain and harsh black levels but they’re bearable for the short run time of the scenes. All the scenes have their pros and cons of why they ultimately got cut.
a Photo Gallery is included along with a Talent Files section.
Also included are trailers for Donnie Brasco, The Devil’s Son, The Professional, and The Juror.
Snatch
Feature Length Commentary – The commentary doesn’t play out as a normal track would, instead it’s director Guy Ritchie and Producer Matthew Vaughn (director of Layer Cake) and the two act like two good friends in a room watching a movie both love and had a ball working on. They joke around and rib each other at every chance they get while still maintaining professionalism (even if it’s semi-forced upon them by the suits outside the booth) and talk about the production and what it was like writing, casting and ultimately filming the movie. Ritchie is the dominant voice on the track with Vaughn simply chiming in when Guy asks him a question.
Stealing Stones – This is an enhanced branching mode which is basically exactly like the “follow the white rabbit” feature on the old Matrix DVD only replace Rabbit with Diamond. Periodically a diamond will pop up on the screen where you can press the select button on your remote and it will start a deleted scene relevant to the spot of the movie. The only complaint with this is that when someone wants to watch a movie they watch the movie, when they’re in the mood for special features they watch them separately. They don’t want to have to watch every minute of the film just to catch a diamond that pops on and off the screen in the blink of an eye to get a few deleted scenes.
Bugsy
Bugsy only recieves three trailers, the theatrical trailer for the movie and trailers for Dollars and Mickey One.
The American Gangster
None. The documentary is all that’s on the disc.
Scrapbook – Included with the DVDs is a 30 page booklet that includes photos from the 4 films along with quotes from numerous people regarding each movie.
Combined Average Score: 3/10
