Getting Gotti

I feel bad for Lorraine Bracco, she goes from a memorable performance in Goodfellas to this crap! As soon as it started I knew it was gonna be bad.

Although one does not have to know the entire history of the mafia and its godfathers to enjoy this film, it portrays a quasi-fictional episode in the life of one of its leaders, John Gotti, played by Anthony John Denison. I thought he was quite good, and styled to resemble the man effectively. The supporting characters, (many who have taken on roles in television's long- running blockbuster, "The Sopranos"), all lend credence to the episodic pursuit by one female prosecutor, Diane Giacalone,(Lorraine Bracco). It builds on many well-known criminal figures, particularly, Sammy, "The Bull", Gravano's turncoat testimony. This is not a documentary, per se, but an outsider's view of what the real female prosecutor, Diane Giacalone, must have experienced in her quest. There are updates in the closing credits, but none late enough to eulogize Gott's final demise from cancer, while incarcerated.

Lorraine Bracco spends about twenty years of her prosecutorial career trying to take down the Gambino crime family, and John Gotti, who dominates her neighborhood of Ozone Park.

I have a friend who grew lived as a child in Ozone Park in the 1970s and 1980s, and everyone knew what was going on, but could do nothing about it. This 'view from the top' movie shows Miss Bracco in conference with dozens of old, fat government men, and finally at trial. The production tries to keep a cold tone, despite occasionally swooping camera shots in the court room and dark organ music, but the result is that it looks like a superficial effort, concentrating more on showing Miss Bracco as tightly wound than on anything that seems to bear on the actual issues. There is no effort made to make clear the impact of these crimes; a man who runs a fruit store complains of paying protection; a thief who comes to Tony Denison, who plays Gotti, with a cut that's not large enough, is beaten; but there's no overt showing of harm to the public, just an impassioned speech by Miss Bracco in which she complains that people think of Gotti when it comes to Italians, and not Verdi.

It was pretty kewl. Saw it back in the day watching again.

The biggest problem I saw with this made for television movie about John Gotti, is that Anthony John Denison looks nothing like him. I saw a guy on a Tropicana commercial who looked more like Gotti, than he did. If you're going to make any movie about a high profile figure, please, choose an actor who looks the part, not just has a big name. For example, if you were to choose between John Vernon, and Luke Perry for the role of Herrmann Goering,...isn't the choice obvious?