Organized crime is the most susceptible world for Hollywood glamorization, not just because of its illicit, hush-hush status, but because our culture has imbued the mafia with a mythological treatment. While films are heavily responsible for the apocryphal interpretation of the mafia thanks to The Godfather, the milieu, in all its curiosity and innate draw for human interest, often prints the legend as fact. The most iconic mafia movies, including The Godfather and Goodfellas, pride themselves on their verisimilitude, deploying first-hand sources and casting real former mafiosos, but there’s no denying that creative liberties are prevalent.
One of the more unsung mob-related films, Donnie Brasco, featuring Godfather alum Al Pacino, is perhaps the most accurate portrayal of organized crime to date, according to a former “friend of ours.” Although the story seems implausible — something conceived by an ill-informed screenwriter — a New York family truly did believe an FBI agent was a credible wiseguy.
Michael Franzese Digs Into ‘Donnie Brasco’s Accuracy and Al Pacino’s Performance

Image via Sony Pictures

While not as highly-regarded or remembered as the films by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, Donnie Brasco, released in 1997, features many of the hallmarks necessary for a solid mob movie while examining the subject through a modern skeptical lens. Starring Al Pacino during his strong post-Oscar run in the 1990s and Johnny Depp on the cusp of superstardom, the Mike Newell-directed film is based on the unbelievably true story of Joseph D. Pistone (Depp), an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family under the titular alias. Brasco, who climbs up the chain of command, befriends an aging enforcer, Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino), who senses that his demise is lurking at the corner.
For your source for fact-checking mob depictions in media, look no further than Michael Franzese, a former boss of the Colombo crime family, who, after departing from the criminal life, shared his experiences as a writer and speaker. Franzese, who is name-dropped during Henry Hill’s (Ray Liotta) rapid-fire introduction of his colleagues in Goodfellas, can be found on YouTube scrutinizing the historical accuracy of the totemic mob stories in pop culture.

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Franzese certainly has the credentials to judge the historical accuracy and authenticity of Donnie Brasco, as he explained on The Megyn Kelly Show that he befriended Joe Pistone later in life. Despite being a double agent during his stint in the mafia, Franzese, like a rival athlete, tipped his cap to Pistone for excelling at his job as an informant. A mob family vouching for Brasco, an outsider, selling fake diamonds on the streets, and bringing him into the inner circle seems to test the limits of Hollywood credulity, but according to Franzese, his former co-criminals were prone to let their guard down with the temptation of earning quick cash, something Brasco provided them. He was also familiar with Lefty Ruggiero and praised Al Pacino’s performance as the weathered mobster who meets a tragic fate. “He just nailed that character so well,” Franzese said, calling it one of the actor’s best performances. In an episode of Mob Movie Monday, he celebrated Donnie Brasco as “one of the most authentic” portraits of the criminal gangland.
‘Donnie Brasco’ Is a Character-Focused Look at the Perils of Organized Crime

It tracks that Donnie Brasco features minimal embellishment and liberties about its subject, as the Mike Newell film takes a grounded, intimate approach to the often grandiose mafia world. Newell, the English director best known for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, brought a level of understated sensitivity missing in the average mob-set films. Being an unconventional choice to direct a crime thriller, Newell delivers on all the tried and true components of the genre. We have the wise, senior mobster in Lefty, the aggressive go-getter in Donnie, the Joe Pesci-like motormouth hothead in Bruno Kirby, and the alienated spouse on the homefront in Anne Heche.

Donnie Brasco appears to be pedestrian on the surface, but Newell pays great attention to the central dynamic in the heartfelt relationship between Donnie and Lefty. Watching Pistone’s soul corrode as he evolves into a more believably ruthless mobster becomes even more poignant when it signals that Lefty’s time is running out. For Pistone, this life is just a performance, but for Lefty, it is his natural self. Eventually, Pistone’s affection for the man who took him under his wing, protecting him from any grave suspicion from the other mobsters, outweighs his duties as a federal officer, which causes his superiors to wonder if he’s gone to the dark side.
Although it depicts its fair share of visceral bursts of violence and indulgence of excess, Donnie Brasco does not present the mafia as a roller-coaster life of debauchery like in Goodfellas. With its jobs that mirror mundane labor, the film, to quote Henry Hill’s immoral words, would not want to make you dream of being a gangster. Naturally, as life is never as exciting as it is on the big screen, Donnie Brasco is the most authentic re-creation of the mafia.

Donnie Brasco

Release Date

February 28, 1997

Runtime

127 minutes

Writers

Joseph D. Pistone, Richard Woodley, Paul Attanasio