Donnie Brasco (Special Edition) (1997)

"A killer gangster picture!  Gene Shalit, Today Show
"...may rightfully take its place beside the best films of this genre.  Pat Collins, WWOR-TV
"Two thumbs up! Johnny Depp and Al Pacino have terrific chemistry...  Siskel & Ebert
"...a bang-up job of deglamorizing the mob.  Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Editor's Note Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI mole who integrates himself into the Mafia pecking order by posing as "jewel man" Donnie Brasco. He finds his loyalties divided when Lefty Ruggiero, a jaded hit man, takes him on as a protégé and places real trust in him. The two men form a friendship--and a criminal partnership--that jeopardizes Brasco's mission and obscures the boundaries between the law and the underworld. The film is based on the autobiography DONNIE BRASCO, MY UNDERCOVER LIFE IN THE MAFIA by former undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone. Directed by Mike Newell (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) and also starring Bruno Kirby (THE FRESHMAN, THIS IS SPINAL TAP), Michael Madsen (RESERVOIR DOGS) and Anne Heche (WAG THE DOG).

	Al Pacino
	Anne Heche
	Bruno Kirby
	James Russo
	Johnny Depp
	Michael Madsen
	Joseph D. Pistone & Richard Woodley - Based on Book By
	Joseph D. Pistone, Richard Woodley - Based on Book By
	Mike Newell - Director
	Peter Sova - Director of Photography
	Jon Gregory - Editor
	Budd Carr - Executive Music Producer
	Allan Mason - Executive Music Producer
	Patrick McCormick - Executive Producer
	Alan Greenspan - Executive Producer
	Patrick Doyle - Musical Score
	Loius DiGiaimo - Producer
	Mark Johnson - Producer
	Barry Levinson - Producer
	Donald Graham Burt - Production Designed By
	Paul Attanasio - Screenplay
	Paul Attanasio - Writer

Al Pacino and Johnny Depp are terrific together in this excellent Mafia drama from director Mike Newell. Pacino, who played undercover cop Frank Serpico 25 years before, now becomes the hunted Mafia man whom undercover cop Johnny Depp is after. The film was coproduced by Barry Levinson and the screenplay was written by Paul Attanasio, two of the people responsible for the extraordinary television police drama HOMICIDE. USA Today
"...Downbeat, dark-humored and disturbing....[The film] delivers the somber flipside to CASINO's snazzy high rollers..." -- 4 out of 4 stars 02/28/1997 p.1D

New York Times
"...Crackling good....The best crime movie in a long while....It's full of life..." 02/28/1997 p.C4

Entertainment Weekly
"...A wonderfully dense, clever, and moving gangland thriller....[An] engrossing movie..." -- Rating: A- 03/07/1997 p.44-5

Los Angeles Times
"...An ambitious film with an effective and modulated performance by Al Pacino..." 02/28/1997 p.F1

Chicago Sun-Times
"...For Johnny Depp, DONNIE BRASCO breaks new ground; he seems a little older here, a little wearier, and he makes the transition from stoolie to friend one subtle step at a time..." 02/28/1997 p.37

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] thoughtful character study of male loyalty..." 07/01/2007 p.26

San Francisco Chronicle 9 of 10
The true soul of the New York mob is portrayed in Donnie Brasco, a first-class Mafia thriller that is also in its way a love story--perhaps director Mike Newell's best... The glitz and the clothes are synthetic, the smiles are fake, but the fears and the needs are real... - Mick LaSalle

The New York Times 8 of 10
... the crackling good Donnie Brasco, the best crime movie in a long while, is full of...surprises as it leads [Al] Pacino and Johnny Depp through a fine-tuned tale of deception.... In the end it's a sordid and deadly story. But along the way, it's full of life. - Janet Maslin