The Last Don

As a mini-series, this production is *far* better than average. Presented as a movie it is only average. To be fair I rated "The Last Don" 6/10, but it should be noted that there are so many high quality gangster movies (Goodfellas, Scarface, Casino, The Godfather, to name a few) that "The Last Don" has some truly formidable competition.

Anyway, I was entertained, and watching the excellent cast at work was very enjoyable. Sure, we've seen it all before, but if that was the criteria to judge a film by I'd have to become a serious pessimist. This was a very fine production.

Out of all the mafia movies I have seen (I have seen a lot) this one was the very worst of them all, it had all what it takes to make a bad movie: bad actors, boring story and everything-but-a-mafia-person personality. The crazy kid with the stupid hat says enough about this movie. I don't recommend this movie to anybody, it gives all the other mafia movies a bad name.

Maybe not as good as the Godfather, but a great movie nonetheless. The only negative I have to say is that it was sooooo long. I guess that's why it was a mini-series on TV instead of in theaters. I'm looking forward to checking out the sequel this weekend.

I thought this mini-series was very well done. Of course, it had it's slow and unbelieving moments but overall I enjoyed it immensely. The acting, overall, was good (kd lang and even the Don's reaction to things were a little off). I thought Kirstie Alley blew the other actors out of the water (then again, she had a lot more background to work with...and also, what a thing to go through, i am not surprised she went a little crazy). I think her acting was superb in this! I am looking forward to seeing the second part in the mini-series (whenever i can find the time to spare 4 hours...ha) But alas, it was a great mini-series and i recommend it. Besides you can buy both for around 6 or 7 bucks each (so it's worth buying over renting and then you don't have to sit for 4 hours at a time)!

As a fan of The Godfather movies, it was inevitable that I would have to view The Last Don someday. I must be honest I actually thought it was pretty compelling. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the Godfather. But however it is in my opinion much better than Godfather Part III. Which I guess is not saying much but there you have it. I am a big fan of Joe Mantegna which probably makes me somewhat biased. Danny Aiello makes a great Don. Jason Gedrick is at least very likeable in his role as Cross. It has some of the elements of the Godfather films, which helps it out a lot. Emotional things, entanglements, killings, trials, acquittals even though there were 300 witnesses to the murder. ;)

It is somewhat gripping. And I must say I think it's worth buying on VHS if you want another Godfather story. I will say this again it's nowhere near as good as Godfather or Godfather part II, but it's very compelling and interesting as a look into a lifetime of a mafia family.