Customer Reviews

Gotti: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Mafia Don

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

For those who enjoy "mob movies" (as I do), this is one of the best. Armand Assante turns in an outstanding performance in the title role, supported by a superb cast, including Anthony Quinn as Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce, Gotti's mob mentor. It is well-scripted, beautifully acted, and highly entertaining. Don't miss it!

This movie was great. It's up there with "Goodfellas" and "Casino". Armand Assante becomes John Gotti right before your eyes. The acting was great, the story was great, the movie was great. A real 5 star movie. If you love mafia movies, this is one you should have in your collection.

The movie had its moments some of the dialogue was hard to understand but the acting was fine. Assante and Quinn both were very good in their roles. It's worth buying if your into mafia movies.

Based on the rise and fall of mob boss John Gotti, the movie highlights the series of events that took Gotti through the ranks to the top of the Gambino crime family to include the hit on Paul Castellano, his aquittal in several federal indictments, the flamboyant style that captured the attention of the media, and the eventual testimony of "Sammy the Bull" Gravano that brought it all down.
Armand Assanti plays a convincing role and is backed up by a familiar mob type cast (i.e. Goodfellas, Sopranos). Origionally an HBO made for TV movie, its not as commercially popular as Goodfellas or Casino are, but it's in depth look at the actual make up and lifestyle of probably the most notorious crime family make this one unique.

Armand Assante is effective, William Forsyth doesn't quite match the part physically but still entertains, Anthony Quinn is almost dead on as Neil Dellacroce, and Frank Vincent once again shines. The pace is crisp, the directing edgy and the production from a technical standpoint is done very well. If you're looking for an engaging mafia movie, you'll enjoy "Gotti" immensely.
But if you want a biopic of John Gotti, look elsewhere. This movie would best be described as "a movie inspired by the events of" or "based loosely on" the life of John Gotti.
Factual errors are too numerous to count. The murder of neighbor John Favara is pure fiction; so is Sammy Gravano's execution of his brother-in-law, the meeting between Gotti and Gravano, and the circumstances leading up to Angelo Ruggiero's death (Gotti never visited him in the hospital, much less fed him a cannoli by hand). Still, the characterizations were mostly on the mark. I was, though, profoundly disappointed with the choice for Bruce Cutler, and thought the Castellano actor was a bit too gruff for someone known as the businessman gangster.
If you can manage to put aside the details of the Gotti story and watch this movie for escapism, it's worth the time.

Yes, it's a low budget mafia movie...Okay...Okay...Maybe all mafia movies are low budget, but what I mean to say is that no big gunshot scenes, nothing like that goes on in this one. Nevertheless it's got a good storyline...and the fact that it's based on a true story definitely helps. If anything, Armand Assante carries this movie through, the other actors have done better in other movies, but I cant say I've seen Armand assante in a better role than this, he definitely made this whole movie watchable. Truth is that the more you see the movie the better your opinion of it will be. It's one of those that grows on you.

I am a huge mob fan (and being from BKLYN, know a bit about the real mob) and an even bigger John Gotti fan. Gotti is one of the best mob movies ever made. Although it is not 100% accurate (to say the least), it is an amazing movie with amazing actors. Many actors from current TV shows like the Sopranos & other movies make an appearance on this movie. IF YOU LIKE MOB MOVIES, THEN YOU WILL LOVE THIS MOVIE.

"Five, Ten years from now...they're gonna miss John Gotti."

gotti the movie is a concise,brilliantly put together if not altoghether historically correct adaptation of the dapper dons life.the scene that depicts sammy gravano killing favaro is totally incorrect.the acting is quite excellent,especially for a t.v moovie and the directing is top-drawer stuff.this movie can be watched repeatedly.

I give the movie 2 stars because I think Armande Aassante did a decent job portraying Gotti (although he wasn't ruthless enough, I'm sure he just did what he was told) the guy who played Sammy G was good too but his height was totally off (the real Sammy was shorter than Gotti). All that aside, the movie was complete fiction. Although this movie painted a favourable picture of Gotti, I think Gotti himself would have disliked it because it was so off. Major and minor facts in this movie are completely off. A few examples.. This movie shows Gotti meeting Sammy when Carlo Gambino was boss, and Gotti went to Carlo's apartment where he met Sammy and was ordered to do the hit in retaliation for Carlo's nephew's kidnapping. In reality, Sammy wasn't even associated with the Gambino family until after Carlo died.. before that, he was in the columbo family and he switched to the gambino family because of an internal dispute.. He was made under Paul Castellano, as was Gotti. Aside from that, it would be highly irregular for an unmade man to meet the Boss at all, let alone at his house.. Unmade men are required to communicate with the boss through the made guy that vouches for them. Also, Sammy had only met Carlo once, and that was just briefly at a party. Another major error was Gotti's relationship with Angie after Angie got caught on tape and brought major heat on his whole crew for the drug charges.. After that happened and Gotti gained power he wanted to whack Angie out, but people clsoe to Gotti strongly advised him against it. Gotti NEVER went to see Angie in the hospital when he had cancer, despite the fact that he'd known him since they were kids. Gotti took away all Angie's power, and Angie died alone and with no dignitiy. Gotti wouldn't have even gone to the funeral if other people in the family didn't drag him there to keep up appearances. I think the real Gotti would have been angry with the way they showed his relationship with Angie, he told everyone of his discontent with Angie after the tapes. There are many many major and minor fact and timeline glitches that make this movie frusterating to watch if you are familiar with the real events/timelines. I see NO reason at all for getting these details wrong, it could have been ever more of an interesting movie if they would have stuck to the facts and put in different aspects of the story. They could have shown more of the courtroom drama that led to his "Teflon Don" reputation. Some of the aspects of the trial Giacalone brought against him were really classic, and completely out there ... I could go on and on.. This movie is one case where hollywood has no justification for having their facts totally off.

First of all, let me begin by saying that I do realize that this movie is based on a true story before I say what I am about to say.

When it comes to mafia/ gangster movies, it's OK but not really great like Casino, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Bugsy, or the ultimate benchmark, The Godfather. I'll probably only watch this one a few times and then it will sit there occupying space on my shelf.

I have noticed that there is great overlap between Gotti's character and several characters in the Godfather movie... Joey Zaza (the flash mobster), Frank Pantangeli (the rat), and a few others... I think these characters are somewhat typical as they either really happened or seem expected in any gangster movie.

WARNING: The DVD box is so flimsy that mine broke while trying to unwrap the plastic! I wasn't very forceful, I noticed that the box was very light and had already read the other reviews about the box (it seems others have faced the same problem) and yet it still broke almost in half!