Witness to the Mob (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Writer (WGA):

Stanley Weiser (written by)

Release Date:

10 May 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano was mafiosi. He started out as a soldier, but his talent for murder, including the slayings of his best friends...

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Celebrity Criminal | Based On True Story

Cast

Nicholas Turturro	...	Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano
Tom Sizemore	...	John Gotti
Debi Mazar	...	Deborah Gravano
Abe Vigoda	...	Paul Castellano
Philip Baker Hall	...	Toddo Aurello
Adam J. Roth	...	The sign painter
Frank Vincent	...	Frankie DeCicco
Lenny Venito	...	Sal DiMaggio
Johnny Williams	...	Angelo Ruggiero
Frankie Valli	...	Frank LoCascio
Michael Imperioli	...	Louie Milito
Vincent Pastore	...	Mikey De Batt
Michael Ryan Segal	...	Nicky Cowboy
Richard Bright	...	Joe (Old Man) Paruta
Chris Cenatiempo	...	Jimmy Falcona

Also Known As:

The Mob (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Brazil:124 min | USA:240 min (with commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

NBC Studios

The best Gotti portrayal yet

All in all Witness to the Mob is superior to the HBO fairy tale called Gotti - but the former fails at what the latter did right: the portrayal of Sammy Gravano. Strangely, it seems that most filmmakers think they need a hero or at least a resemblance thereof. In HBO's Gotti it was Gotti, a charismatic, smart leader with comprehensible morals, whose downfall was the egoism of his underlings. In WttM, Sammy the Bull is portrayed as a misunderstood, dutiful voice of reason and overall goody two-shoes. Both portrayals are as far from the truth as it gets.

WttM shows Gotti the way he was: an egomaniacal braggart with delusions of grandeur. (I am at a loss as to how some folks can criticize Sizemore's take on Gotti which unlike Assante's is very close to the original.) A blend of these two movies would yield *the* authoritative adaptation of the subject. In direct comparison, though, WttM takes less liberties with the story, which is why I vastly prefer it over HBO's version.

On its own WttM is a very enjoyable LCN movie - even more so for those who are interested in the subject, provided they can generously overlook the factual inaccuracies.