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Donnie Brasco

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Donnie Brasco

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1997 film by Mike Newell

OverviewAI-generated

Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and written by Paul Attanasio. Produced by Mark Johnson and Barry Levinson, the movie stars Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, and Bruno Kirby. The narrative follows an FBI undercover agent who infiltrates the mafia, a story based on the work of Joseph D. Pistone. Patrick Doyle composed the score, and Donald Graham Burt served as production designer.

The film is set in the 1970s, with narrative locations in Florida, New York City, and Miami. Filming took place in New York City, New Jersey, Florida, and Miami. It was distributed by iTunes in video on demand format. The runtime is 127 minutes, and the production budget was $35,000,000.

Donnie Brasco received several accolades, including nominations for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, and the European Film Award for Best Non-European Film. It holds a review score of 7.8/10, 88%, and 77/100. The film is rated R and was assessed against the Bechdel test.

Synthesized by Vinony from 45 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Film · TMDB

7.5

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

Released: 1997-02-27127 minDir: Mike NewellCrime, Drama, ThrillerBudget: $35.0MBox office: $125M

Cast

  • Johnny Depp as Donnie Brasco / Joseph D. 'Joe' Pistone
  • Al Pacino as Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero
  • Michael Madsen as Dominick 'Sonny Black' Napolitano
  • Bruno Kirby as Nicholas 'Nicky' Santora
  • James Russo as Paulie
  • Anne Heche as Maggie Pistone

Themes

  • florida
  • new york city
  • undercover
  • gangster
  • 1970s
  • based on true story
  • mobster
  • mafia
  • dirty cop
  • informant

This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

Ratings

IMDb

7.7/10

352,285 votes

Rotten Tomatoes

88%

Metacritic

77/100

Year
1997
Runtime
127 min
Genres
Biography, Crime, Drama
Rated
R
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 16 nominations total

via OMDb · IMDb

Key facts

Directed by
Mike Newell
Screenplay by
Paul Attanasio
Based on
Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia , by Joseph D. Pistone , Richard Woodley
Produced by
Mark Johnson Barry Levinson Louis DiGiaimo Gail Mutrux
Starring
Al Pacino Johnny Depp Michael Madsen Bruno Kirby James Russo Anne Heche
Cinematography
Peter Sova
Edited by
Jon Gregory
Music by
Patrick Doyle
Production companies
TriStar Pictures Mandalay Entertainment Baltimore Pictures Mark Johnson Productions
Distributed by
Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates
February 24, 1997 ( 1997-02-24 ) ( Century City, California ) February 28, 1997 ( 1997-02-28 ) (United States)
Running time
126 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$35 million
Box office
$124.9 million

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
film
Country of origin
United States
Original language
English language
Main subject
Joseph D. Pistone
Director
Mike Newell
Screenwriter
Paul Attanasio
Producer
Mark Johnson
Narrative location
Miami
Filming location
Miami
Duration
123
FilmAffinity ID
648751
Distribution format
video on demand
Show 10 more facts
publication date
1997-01-01
film editor
Jon Gregory
title
Donnie Brasco
distributed by
iTunes
after a work by
Joseph D. Pistone
production designer
Donald Graham Burt
assessment
Bechdel test
review score
77/100
set in period
1970s
Sources (15)

via Wikidata · CC0

~11 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche also feature in supporting roles. The film, written by Paul Attanasio, is based on the 1988 nonfiction book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley.

The film is based on the true story of Pistone (Depp), an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias Donnie Brasco, a jewel thief from Vero Beach, Florida. Brasco maneuvers his way into the confidence of an aging Mafia hitman, Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino), who vouches for him. As Donnie moves deeper into the Mafia, he realizes that not only is he crossing the line between federal agent and criminal, but also leading his friend Lefty to an almost certain death.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Donnie Brasco” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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