Product Details

• Actors: Danny Aiello, Joe Mantegna, Daryl Hannah, Deno Frangopoulos, Jason Gedrick
• Directors: Graeme Clifford
• Writers: Joyce Eliason, Mario Puzo
• Producers: Frank Konigsberg, James T. Davis, Joyce Eliason, Larry Sanitsky, Scot J. Kelly
• Format: Dolby, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: December 22, 1998
• Run Time: 258 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305214530
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,951 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mario Puzo's The Last Don" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you have an appetite for Sicilian soapers, then you're like all those other people who made Mario Puzo's The Last Don the highest Nielsen-rated show for the week in mid-May 1997 when it originally aired. And who could blame you, since the story line of this TV miniseries is chock-full of all the familiar elements that make up a bestseller--power, money, sex, murder, gambling, madness, fame, Hollywood, loyalties made and broken. The story proper begins with a little Romeo and Juliet when Rose Marie, daughter of Don Domenico Clericuzio (Danny Aiello), falls for the youngest son of the warring Santadio family. On their wedding night, Rose Marie's new husband and the entire Santadio family are slaughtered by the Clericuzios to avoid further conflict between the two families, and Rose Marie goes completely insane and grows up to be Kirstie Alley. But not before she gives birth to another Santadio, Dante (so named because he has to live in Hell), in whom she invests all her hatred for her own family. So he grows up to be a psychotic hitman, played with sly and sadistic ingenuity by Rory Cochrane. The Clericuzios' chief executioner, Pippi (played with smooth aplomb by Joe Mantegna), is responsible for killing Rose Marie's husband, and wants his own son, metaphorically overburdened with the name "Cross," to follow in his footsteps. The sins of the fathers are visiting all over the sons in this picture, and naturally the two kids will have to resolve this inheritance. The acting is the main attraction here. Aiello in particular invests The Don with a stately grace that is just right. --Jim Gay

Product Description

If you have an appetite for Sicilian soapers, then you're like all those other people who made "Mario Puzo's The Last Don" the highest Nielsen-rated show for the week in mid-May 1997 when it originally aired. And who could blame you, since the story line of this TV miniseries is chock-full of all the familiar elements that make up a bestseller--power, money, sex, murder, gambling, madness, fame, Hollywood, loyalties made and broken. The story proper begins with a little "Romeo and Juliet" when Rose Marie, daughter of Don Domenico Clericuzio (Danny Aiello), falls for the youngest son of the warring Santadio family. On their wedding night, Rose Marie's new husband and the entire Santadio family are slaughtered by the Clericuzios to avoid further conflict between the two families, and Rose Marie goes completely insane and grows up to be Kirstie Alley. But not before she gives birth to another Santadio, Dante (so named because he has to live in Hell), in whom she invests all her hatred for her own family. So he grows up to be a psychotic hitman, played with sly and sadistic ingenuity by Rory Cochrane. The Clericuzios' chief executioner, Pippi (played with smooth aplomb by Joe Mantegna), is responsible for killing Rose Marie's husband, and wants his own son, metaphorically overburdened with the name "Cross," to follow in his footsteps. The sins of the fathers are visiting all over the sons in this picture, and naturally the two kids will have to resolve this inheritance. The acting is the main attraction here. Aiello in particular invests The Don with a stately grace that is just right. "--Jim Gay"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one of mario puzo's finest., July 29, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (smithfield,nc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Don [VHS] (VHS Tape)

this is a great mob story,it shows almost every angle and position in a mafia-"family".danny aiello was terrific and jason gedric did very well and should be considered in some future mob movies with most experienced mob actors getting older.i appreciated how it told story of a full decade.(also,the book is well worth reading)R.I.P. MARIO PUZO

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Movie as good as the book, October 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mario Puzo's The Last Don (DVD)

After reading the book, I was very impressed with the movie. Never is the movie like the book....but not in this case. The movie followed the book very accurately. Everything that happens in the book are exactly what happens in the movie. So if you read the book already, you will not be disappointed with the movie, I promise. The movie was well done and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Puzo or not.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mafia book that gives "The Godfather" a run for its money!, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mario Puzo's The Last Don (DVD)

"The last Don" is a movie mini-series that is on par with "The Godfather". Characters such as Croccifixio DeLena (who is the son of the Clericuzio Families number one hammer Pippi DeLena), and Lia Vazzi (an imported Sicilian hit man) make this series unforgettable. Puzo is a master storyteller who does not dissapoint. He leads you through twists and turns in a maze of enjoyable narrarating in an ending that decides the fate of the Clericuzio family and their retreat into "legitimate society".