Bonanno: A Godfather's Story

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.

The made for TV movie "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story" from 1999 tells the fascinating story of true life Italian-American Mafia boss Giuseppe "Joseph" Bonanno, perhaps more known as "Joe Bananas". We get to follow Bonanno through his very long life, born in 1905 he was still alive when the TV movie was made (he died in 2002). The TV movie is listed on the IMDb as 170 minutes long, but the version I saw on Hallmark Television was divided in four episodes and about 360 minutes long. The first two episodes gives a realistic and insightful description of the conditions of many Italian-Americans in New York during the first decades of the 20th century, the last two episodes concentrates instead on the intrigues and the power struggle in the US Mafia from WWII until the late 1960s. It is very well done and entertaining throughout, even though it is made in an almost semi documentary fashion. By following Bonanno's fascinating life and crime career we also get to meet other interesting protagonists of the US Mafia such as Salvatore Maranzano, Joe "the Boss" Masseria, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Buffalo's Stefano Maggadino, Chicago's Al Capone and Sam Giancana, New Orlean's Carlos Marcello and Tampa's Santo Trafficante Jr. We also get to learn more about the mob's support of Politicians such as Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and NYC mayor Robert F Wagner. The actors are all very good, particularly Tony Nardi who plays Bonanno for most of the third and fourth part. Edward James Olmos is also quite good as Don Maranzano. You notice that a great part of the cast is Canadians of Italian origin, since their Italian pronunciation is superior to most US actors of Italian origin. Among the negative parts of the TV movie is the glorification of the protagonist, which is however common to most films dealing with the US Mafia. Here is it even more evident, perhaps because the movie is produced by Bonanno's son Bill. It is for example heavily underlined that Bonanno is an anti-fascist, that he supports the US Democrats by ideological reasons, that he opposes Cuba's Batista and that he reflects thoroughly before ordering any murders. We must however remember that he committed a lot of criminal acts and like most mobsters was against Mussolini not because of democratic beliefs, but because the Fascists clamped down on crime. Neither has it been proved that the Mafia, as suggested in the movie, was involved in the murders of journalist Carlo Tresca in 1943 and JFK in 1963. You shouldn't compare this TV movie with Coppola's "The Godfather" which is fictional, but partly based on the true events described in Bonanno's story. Mostly however the TV movie is a great deal more faithful to real events than similar products and it is greatly recommended to anyone interested in the history of New York's Italian-American Mafia. As a mini series made for Television I would give it an "above average" rating.

This film is the best and most important mafia movie ever made that was based on a true story, because it is not just a really amazing film, but also because of the amount of details and facts it gives, and the accuracy and truth of them. Most mafia films that are a taken from true events are just loosely based on them, or inspired by them, and the film makers will take so many creative liberties that they greatly misinform the viewers about what really happened. This film may not be the great directorial work of art of the Godfather or Goodfellas, but it is the true story that The Godfather is actually inspired by...and in Goodfellas they even changed the names of the mobsters so the actors could make it their own characters. And other mafia films that are about the 5 families like Mobsters have very little truth to them because they have been so adapted.

If you are looking to learn about the real story of the history of the 5 families of the new york mafia in the 1900's this is the movie for you. Because this movie is based on the autobiography of the life of the longest reigning Godfather (Mafia Don) who was head of one of the 5 families for over 40 years! It starts in Sicily where the Italian-American Mafia (La Cosa Nostra) originated with the actual Italian Mafia there and shows you what growing up in the Mafia town of Castelamare Sicily and being a part of Mafia family who was at war with another family there was like, and then shows how it was brought to America, and then details the Castellamarese war of the early 1900's, the murder of the 2 first big Mafia bosses in America, the forming of the 5 families of NY and "The Commission", what the Mafia initiation ceremonies were like, the Mafia's involvement in WWII, the Mafia's involvement in the Cuban Revolution, the Mafia's involvement in the election and assassination of JFK, and so much more! This movie contains more mafia history than all other mafia movies combined! No exaggeration! So if you are a mafia movie fan this movie is an absolute must see! I highly recommend trying to find "The Complete Saga", as it was originally a series of 4 movies which I feel are much better to watch separately one day at a time rather than try to sit through 2 hours and 45 minutes of highlights edited together. But either way, just make sure you see it!

So many people have seen Mario Puzo's the 'Godfather' and Terence Young's 'The Valachi Papers ' that the famous families of all the gangland characters of the 1920s' and 30's are very familiar household names to audiences everywhere. Thus this serious film directed by Michel Poulette, called " Bonanno: A Godfather's story " should come as no surprise to anyone watching the movie. The story is a multi-generational tale as recalled by Joseph and William Bonanno. They were the Father (Martin Landau and Costas Mandylor) and son heads of the Bonanno crime family in New York. Beginning with his birth in Italy, emigrating to America and later ruling as one of the Five Families in New York, Joseph relates his life as part of the Rise and Fall of the Cosa Nostra. Audiences are towed along on a historical ride as the two relate their ties with all the well known bosses, and key family heads like Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano, Joe Masseria, Don Ciccio Joe Profaci, Albert Anastasia and Joe Valachi. Other notable figures also surprise audiences like Joe Sr., John and Robert Kennedy. Through four hours of vivid narration, we see how a single life touched so many during the heyday of the gangster, adding key elements to historical assassinations and murders. It's a great film, albeit, a tad long, nevertheless, Martin Landau is a superb choice for the centerpiece of this Classic movie. ****

its about joseph bonanno a smart sicilian boy who escapes the sicilian army and comes to america for a new life but ends up being a bum in america until he becomes a made man and eventually the don. its a great movie to buy it, its worth the money