Witness to the Mob

This movie is based on the true story of "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, a self-confessed killer who helps prosecute Mafia boss John Gotti, in exchange for immunity. Yes, the acting is a bit wooden, and the script full of cliches, but it's an interesting study of a real life Mafia case - definitely worth a look, but certainly not a classic.

This is got to be Tom Sizemore's greatest acting performance. Sizemore as John Gotti was absolutely brilliant it couldn't be any more perfect than that. I was blown away by this film, but Tom Sizemore blew the doors off in this film he clearly stole the show.

And this movie was excellent. The acting, the plot, the story line was spot on. Loved it.

I saw this movie when I happened to catch it on CBS a few years back. I only saw part of it but I have always liked the subject since I was eight years old. I recently bought a copy and it has become one of my favorite films. The acting is good and they really did a magnificent job on casting, costumes, and locations. I thought Turturro's role was fantastic and Sizemore didn't do badly either though I think Assante was more realistic in Gotti. I would have liked to have seen Turturro as Gravano in Gotti it would have been a real treat to see him and Armand square off. This movie captures the backstabbing, badmouthing, lying, rip offs, and betrayal that goes on in the mob families just like Donnie Brasco did the only difference being that this was no "crazy messed up love story" as Depp put it. This is a movie that bluntly depicts the merciless killing of so called friends and the treacherous deceit that follows without any hint of feelings or "real" friendship as he would have you believe. Turturro's Gravano is a detached and pitiless killer who is as bad as the people he whacks and his rise like Gotti's is as meteoric as his fall. This film leaves you asking Gravano this question: If you killed cheaters, double crossers, dope heads, and people who broke the rules shouldn't you have been killed too? Witness to the mob gives you both sides of the story and lets you make the call.

All in all Witness to the Mob is superior to the HBO fairy tale called Gotti - but the former fails at what the latter did right: the portrayal of Sammy Gravano. Strangely, it seems that most filmmakers think they need a hero or at least a resemblance thereof. In HBO's Gotti it was Gotti, a charismatic, smart leader with comprehensible morals, whose downfall was the egoism of his underlings. In WttM, Sammy the Bull is portrayed as a misunderstood, dutiful voice of reason and overall goody two-shoes. Both portrayals are as far from the truth as it gets.

WttM shows Gotti the way he was: an egomaniacal braggart with delusions of grandeur. (I am at a loss as to how some folks can criticize Sizemore's take on Gotti which unlike Assante's is very close to the original.) A blend of these two movies would yield *the* authoritative adaptation of the subject. In direct comparison, though, WttM takes less liberties with the story, which is why I vastly prefer it over HBO's version.

On its own WttM is a very enjoyable LCN movie - even more so for those who are interested in the subject, provided they can generously overlook the factual inaccuracies.

All mafia films seem to be excellent. They just have that edge, tension and suspense to them which bulids up during the movie and then which is all released at the climax. Witness to the Mob is no exception. However what was unusual, being a mafia film, was that I cant remember any swear word said during the whole film nor was there hardly any blood. Most of the killings were done with quick, clean silencers. Violence was very limited. But it did not detract much from being a good well done movie which will keep the viewer's interest from start to finish. Tom Sizemore is the highlight and is just great, especially when he loses his temper, and is perfect for his role. I would defnitely recommend Witness to the Mob to all mafia film lovers. 8/10.