The Don Is Dead (1973)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Marvin H. Albert (novel)
Christopher Trumbo (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

14 November 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Power built an empire. Passion destroyed it.

Plot:

After his mistress is murdered a Mafia leader goes after the killer with a bloody vengeance. Soon after the hunt begins, a gang war ensues. |

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Murder | Female Nudity | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Anthony Quinn	...	Don Angelo
Frederic Forrest	...	Tony
Robert Forster	...	Frank
Al Lettieri	...	Vince
Angel Tompkins	...	Ruby
Charles Cioffi	...	Orlando
Jo Anne Meredith	...	Marie
Barry Russo	...	Don Bernardo (as J. Duke Russo)
Louis Zorich	...	Mitch
Anthony Charnota	...	Johnny Tresca
Ina Balin	...	Nella
Joe Santos	...	Joe Lucci
Frank DeKova	...	Giunta (as Frank de Kova)
Abe Vigoda	...	Don Talusso
Victor Argo	...	Augie the Horse

Also Known As:

Beautiful But Deadly (USA) (TV title)
The Deadly Kiss

Runtime:

Germany:106 min | Netherlands:115 min | USA:115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | UK:18 (video rating)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Soundtrack:

Our Last Night

The best of men make mistakes, all we can do is correct them

**SPOILERS** With the terrible news of his father Mafia Don Poleiro Regalbuto sudden death young Frankie, Robert Foster, feels that the weight of the world was put on his shoulders and doesn't know if he could handle it. At a big Mafia conference in Las Vages the three mob families decide that all of the late Don Poleiro's operations should be put in the hands of his friend and fellow Mafia Kingpin Don Angelo Dimorra, Anthony Quinn, with Frankie being thought the ropes by him until he can do the job as a Mafia Don himself.

There's foul play and treachery afoot with the greedy and back-stabbing mob Cosiglieri, Luigi Orlando, Charles Cioff, planing to use his recruited out-of-state hit men to start a bloody mob war between the three Vages Mafia families. Then, after the dust settles,Luigi plans to take over the entire Mafia operations in the city that's worth well over a billion dollars.

Luigi get's his chance to get the war between the Mafia families started when he manipulated young Frankie into a feud with his new adopted father Don Angelo. Lugie starts a rumor that the fatherly Don was having an affair with Frankies girlfriend nightclub singer Ruby Dunne, Anglel Tompkins, this results in Ruby getting almost beaten to death by an outraged Frankie. Lugie's trickery also leads to Don Angelo sending out a hit team to knock off the love-crazed and unstable hood. The Don's brother and family Consiglieri Mitch, Louis Zorich, tries to talk his hot-headed brother out of it but not after the hit men gunned down Frankie's dad, the late Don Poleiro,Consigieri Vito Netherbourne, George Skaff.

With a full-scale mob war now about to explode Frankie get's help from the Fargo brothers hit men for hire Tony & Vince, Frederic Forrest & Al Letteri. This causes so much damage to Don Angelo's mob empire, including the murder of his brother Mitch, that it lands him in a wheel chair after suffering a heart-attack and near-fatal stroke.

The mob war really escalates when Don Angelo's boys trick Frankie and Vince into going to a meeting of the minds in a downtown Vages diner this results in a violent gun battle with Vince being gunned down. Tony then pulls out all stops and sends his men, the former Don Poleiro mob, out for blood that results in dozens of Don Angelo's men getting shot knifed slashed and, together with Don Angelo's legitimate business establishment, blown up.

Frankie escaping to Italy is later set up in a trap where he's blown away but his fellow mobsters for his insane actions. This resulted in almost the entire mobs lucrative operations in Las Vages being blown to hell. It's not until Don Bernardo, John Duke Russo, is prematurely released from prison that the truth about Liugi's perfidy came to light from non-other then his abused wife, and Bernardo's secret lover, Marie, Jo Anne Meredith. Luigi now exposed by both Tony Fargo and Don Bernardo as the rat-fink that he is finally, together with Marie, get's everything that coming to him. Tony Fargo who at first wanted out of the world of crime ends up together with Don Bernardo as the top two Mafia hoods who have complete control of the city of Las Vages with it's billions in it's annual take of legitimate gambling dollars.

Not that bad of a "Godfather" clone that was unfairly put down for trying to imitate "The Godfather" but is a pretty good film all by itself. Where some thirty years later it's almost forgotten and unknown to the movie-going public.