Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999) (TV)

Director:

Michel Poulette

Writers (WGA):

Bill Bonanno (book)
Joseph Bonanno (book) ...

Release Date:

25 July 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Inside the heart and mind of the Mafia.

Plot:

The true life story of mafia boss Joesph Bonanno. The story spans from Bonanno's early beginings in Italy, to his conquests in America. |

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Crime Boss | Based On Book | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Martin Landau	...	Joseph Bonanno, age 94
Guido Grasso Jr.	...	Peter Maggadino
Bruce Ramsay	...	Joseph Bonanno (Ages 17-27)
Tony Nardi	...	Joseph Bonanno (Ages 35-61)
Costas Mandylor	...	Salvatore Bonanno
Edward James Olmos	...	Salvatore Maranzano
Vito DeFilippo	...	Gaspar DiGregario (Young)
Domenico Fiore	...	Gaspar DiGregario (Older) (as Dom Fiore)
Zachary Bennett	...	Bill Bonanno
Aldo Tirelli	...	Bastiano Buster Domingo
Jessica Welch	...	Fanny Labruzzo (Young)
Claudia Ferri	...	Fanny Labruzzo (Older)
Antonio Maltese	...	Italian Naval Cadet
Vito Rezza	...	Uncle Frank Labruzzo
Vince Corazza	...	Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano (as Vincent Corazza)

Also Known As:

Bonanno: The Youngest Godfather (UK) (DVD title)
Family: The Life and Times of Joseph Bonanno (USA) (working title)
The Family (USA) (working title)
The Youngest Godfather (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

170 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Netherlands:12 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Armeda Ltd.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In a scene where Bonanno is reading a newspaper announcing Germany and Italy's declaration of war on the US (December 11, 1941), the back page of the paper announces the results of a Brooklyn Dodgers double-header, and the Yankees, Indians and Tigers wins. The baseball season in 1941 ended on October 6th at Ebbets Field, in the very first "Subway Series", when the Yanks beat the Dodgers 4 games to 1.

Quotes:

Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano: You can't make money with a gun in your hand.

Solid entertainment that needed less cheap thrills and more narrative polish.

Hollywood has turned the Mafia in to a production line of output ranging from the banal to the excellent and despite some good acting and a reasonable script (much of which is - for a change - true!) this "home entertainment" effort has to fall slap bang in the middle.

The script is not only obvious (all of the checklist boxes end up being ticked), but spends a lot of time trying to create a pastiche of the best of other people's work. The Godfather being the most obvious, but there are other references too. I won't bother naming them. Nevertheless it is a good taste borrower! The producer seems to set a quota for gunshots and murder (one at least every twenty minutes?) and the ending is weak and "so what?" I am told there are various versions of this production so that maybe that is just the version I have seen.

Gangsters don't make money they take money. Usually by fear. Some seem more in to the murder and mayhem side of the business than making money. They were the ones that were the first to go (in real life and here). "You can't make money with a gun in your hand" says Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano at one stage. One of the smarter gangsters, although all things are relative. He was a skilled white slave trader and a drug dealer before being bundled home to Italy.

The old school "moustached Pete's" were picked off by the new bloods who wanted the power and the money for themselves and to break free of the straight jacket of Italian/Sicilian power (rarely doing business outside themselves). The young Turk knew they needed to be allied with other groups (most notably "the Jews" who knew how to launder money) and this is at least referenced and acknowledged. What isn't made so clear is that most immigrant groups had their own Mafia's - but most of them made their money and went legit. And why not? Who wants to die in jail?

Joseph Bonanno was a ruthless man prepared to kill if needs be , but not an unfair or stupid one. His story was tragic in that he could have made money in the over ground world and he showed a special skill in avoiding getting killed. With a little bit of luck attached, naturally.

Despite the range of respectable names and three actors in the title role (Bruce Ramsay, Martin Landau and Tony Nardi) there isn't the charisma or the talent to bring us in and feel anything. We are - merely - passive observers in a life we are glad not to have lead. The people shown here were born in to a cruel world but their only mark was to make it crueler.

If you can't get enough of the gangster genre that will be better than watching Godfather 1 & 2 for the tenth time and it is even better -- as basic entertainment -- than the horrible misfire that was Godfather 3.