The Don Is Dead

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source: The Don Is Dead

And also very faithful to Marvin Albert's work. I read it six times in my life, the first one when I was 16. this is of course influenced by GODFATHER, borrowing a couple of the actors of Corleone saga. This story could easily have given a mini series, because you have focus on many sub characters and plots. But the book was not that huge either. I I have always enjoyed this Dick Fleischer's feature. And watch out for the faces here. As were THE UNTOUCHABLES.

OK, so I took these user reviews seriously that said this is worth your time. It is not. This flick's a mess. Anthony Quinn is an old don who seduces the girl of another, much younger mafioso (played by Robert Forster who's not half bad). War ensues. The plot doesn't make much sense and it is trying hard to emulate The Godfather (especially the story line of the young mafioso, played by Frederick Forest, who is trying to leave the family business). It fails miserably. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open on this one. There are maybe two scenes that held my attention, and they were both execution scenes. They were staged pretty well, but they are two isolated scenes in a dull mess.

In his career, movie director Richard Fleischer made some very good movies, "Compulsion" and "The Narrow Margin" being just two of them. However, when he reached the 1970s, though he made a few more good movies ("The Spikes Gang", "Soylent Green") his talent started to decline, and before the decade was over he started to make an unbreakable string of stinkers up to the point he retired in the late 1980s. "The Don Is Dead" was the first sign that in the early 1970s that he was going past his prime. To be fair, it seems that he wasn't given a lavish budget for this movie. The movie is so obviously shot on phony- looking back lots and sets, giving the movie a made-for-TV feeling. (This shabby look may be why music composer Jerry Goldsmith wrote a very television-style musical score for the movie.) And the script is nothing to shout about, having a bunch of mobster-themed plot turns that we've seen many times before. Some of the acting isn't bad - the movie is filled with talented actors, not just Anthony Quinn. But you don't just go to a movie to see good acting, you want an engaging story and characters, which for the most part this movie simply does not have.

There had been films about the mafia long before "The Godfather" came along, both good and bad, and with the many rip offs of that 1972 Oscar Winning Best Picture, some which were bound to be decent, others rotten. This one's basically decent with a lot of great elements, a few unoriginal but nothing that I could call hideous to where it would not be worth watching. What is worth watching about it is the presence of Anthony Quinn, not quite saying sayonara to Marlon Brando, his co-star from that 1957 classic, but he basically takes on a similar role closer to what the youmger Al Pacino would do in the 1974 "Godfather" film sequel where they deal with issues in Las Vegas. So in that sense, this has some originality which would later be utilized in the Academy Award winning 1974 sequel. As one of the heads of several families doing my business in Las Vegas, Quinn finds himself involved in mob war that is manipulated by others outside his own family. This leads to violence when a young singer whom Quinn helps seduces him, and word gets back to her jealous boyfriend. She's badly beaten and left recovering in the hospital, and violence between the family erupts because of this and other factors. Like "The Godfather", when hits happen, they are sudden and without warning, and quite brutal. People surviving an explosion in a building are brutally gunned down, throats cut, and others beaten to get into before they are assassinated. I couldn't help but chuckle when Abe Vigoda showed up as one of the right hand menn on Quinn's team, not only because it was basically the same part but because of how he would spook this character years later on late night TV. Young Frederic Forrest has a major part, and is quite good, pretty much the adoptive heir to Quinn's legacy as he had no children. Unlike "The Godfather", this is not epic in scope and so it does not run for an extreme length. A good suppirting cast is made up of mostly obscure featured players so it's certainly not considered all-star, and aside of a few people like Vigota and Vic Tayback, which the viewer will not be distracted by that factor. I wouldn't rank this as a classic, but Quinn is obviously great enough to wear knockoffs of Don Corleone's shoes, and commands a satisfying walk back into familiar territory.

Charles Cioffi, the consigliere of a jailed Mafia chieftain decides to get a war started among the three Las Vegas crime families. Knowing that Angel Tompkins, singer girlfriend of the son of a recently deceased Mafia Don, is looking for a break, he arranges a meeting with Anthony Quinn, Godfather of the third Mafia family where nature takes its course. When former boyfriend Robert Forster returns to America and finds out it ain't long before the bullets start flying. When the film is over there are only a couple left standing and if you want to know who does pick up all the marbles than watch the film. Of course this film came out to take advantage of the enormous publicity reaped by The Godfather in the previous year. It's an average sort of gangster flick, it could have been done at Warner Brothers during the Thirties with their stable of gangster players. Al Lettieri and Abe Vigoda were both in The Godfather and their presence sort of lends an aura authenticity to the film. Lettieri was just coming into his own as a great portrayer of villains and assorted gangland types. His early death was a real loss to film. Anthony Quinn of course is always good and fans of his which are legion will want to catch The Don is Dead.

"The Don is Dead" - the title alone is worth the price of the purchase - is too often downgraded as a quick and inferior attempt to cash in on the tremendous success of Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather"; released the year before. Let me tell you, the problem doesn't lie with this perfectly enjoyable and competently made Mafia saga. The problem merely is that "The Godfather" is insanely popular and too many avid fans will bash and boycott everything that even remotely resembles their preciously favorite milestone. Popular cinematic ideas are reproduced and often even get blatantly copied, that is a fact. This doesn't mean, however, that nothing good comes out of the giant stream of imitations! Italian exploitation, for example, is my personal favorite type of cinema and that genre exists for 99% out of shameless knock-offs and stolen ideas. Regardless of what you mean read, "The Don is Dead" remains an excellent drama/thriller with an absorbing plot, splendid performances from a great cast and steady direction from the underrated Richard Fleisher. Following the death of a highly respected Don, representatives of three Mafiosi clans gather to re-divide the Las Vegas territory. The slimy Luigi Orlanda and his mistress see this as an opportunity to double-cross the others and raise a destructive gang war. They manipulate for the powerful Don Angelo DiMorra to fall in love with the girlfriend of his own protégé stepson Frank Regalbuto and things rapidly escalate into deceit, executions and mass-retaliation. The story is good, and Fleisher effortlessly finds the right balance between talky sequences and exciting action footage. There are some delightful execution-highlights, like set in a barbershop or a laundry salon. Anthony Quinn gives a fine performance, although clearly modeled after Marlon Brando - I admit, and "young" actors Frederic Forrest and Robert Forster are also very impressive.

I read the novel by Marvin Albert and though it was not Puzo material, it showed some grit and strength--A more realistic depiction of a real mob family. To be fair, Richard Fleischer did a very good job of directing, considering what he had to work with. Then, Trumbo and Butler--encouraged by Universal brass, no doubt-- just had to take it and monkey with it. The casting was inconsistent, with kudos to getting Anthony Quinn, Abe Vigoda and Al Lettieri as classic Mob paisani. Still good was the casting of Robert Forster but could have been better with James Farentino or Tony Lo Bianco as Frank Regalbuto. Then it gets worse, with Frederic Forrest as the quiet leader, the "answer to Al Pacino's Michael Corleone". Forster, in my honest opinion, should have been Tony Fargo instead. The book-to-film transition was highly sanitized, understandable given Universal's desire to stay mainstream and not rock the boat. It did lead to a bump in the road when Tony Fargo was unaccountably absent when Vince and Frank were going to a sit-down with the numbers boss Zutti. In the book, Tony was dallying with one of Marie Orlando's callgirls. All in all, an attempt by "The Factory" to throw the dice and see if they come up with an answer to The Godfather. Didn't happen.

"The Don is Dead" wins no points for originality. Obviously, it's attempting to ride on the coat-tails of "The Godfather". And it's not a classic that deserves to be remembered years from now. Its presentation is pretty matter-of-fact and of no real distinction. But it's still very engaging visceral entertainment, at least for fanatics of the mob movie genre. It benefits from good characters, fine performances, and the kind of in-your-face violence that has become standard for this type of thing. The prominent mafia don of Las Vegas has died, and a truce is currently existing between the three families in the city. But all of that is going to go to Hell pretty quickly, as one greedy and power-crazed individual gets the bright idea to have two of these families go to bloody war with each other - all with a simple letter addressed to Don Angelo DiMorra (Anthony Quinn). Among the leading players are ambitious young Frank (Robert Forster), the son of the deceased don, and the Fargo brothers, Tony (Frederic Forrest) and Vince (Al Lettieri). The makers of "The Don is Dead" do cast their movie well, from top to bottom. Angel Tompkins, Charles Cioffi, Louis Zorich, Ina Balin, Joe Santos, Frank DeKova, Abe Vigoda, Victor Argo, Val Bisoglio, Sid Haig, and Vic Tayback all put in appearances. (Lettieri and Vigoda, of course, were also in "The Godfather".) Forrest is particularly effective as Tony, who would rather leave the "life" behind but gets drawn back in when things start getting ugly. Scripted by Marvin H. Albert, from his novel, and directed by Richard Fleischer, this is compelling drama when taken on its own terms and not compared to anything else. Even if it's just on a visceral level, it *does* work. Seven out of 10.