Alicia I love this movie so much

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Turtle Heart Propaganda from the Mafia, in this sense it might be viewed as a dark comedy. It gets countless details wrong, especially every scene where the Sicilians are drinking coffee, incorrectly. One can forgive the mixed cast, it is after all, an acting exercise. However, that this gangster, this author could present such lies, denial, and drama as a substitute for truth is in fact a moral crime, an extension of the guilty mind making dirty lies. Who can even believe this story? Edward Almos is always a pleasure to watch, so there is that. Otherwise, to whatever extent this is in fact a "true" story, it is pathetic. And, I live in Sicily. Sicily does not even have a "j" in their alphabet. I have never, and you never will meet a Sicilian named Joe. The facts, props, names, history and reality have been changed, I would assume, to protect the otherwise empty nonsense of this film.

B.T The made for TV movie "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story" from 1999 tells the fascinating story of true life Italian-American Mafia boss Giuseppe "Joseph" Bonanno, perhaps more known as "Joe Bananas". We get to follow Bonanno through his very long life, born in 1905 he was still alive when the TV movie was made (he died in 2002). The TV movie is listed on the IMDb as 170 minutes long, but the version I saw on Hallmark Television was divided in four episodes and about 360 minutes long. The first two episodes gives a realistic and insightful description of the conditions of many Italian-Americans in New York during the first decades of the 20th century, the last two episodes concentrates instead on the intrigues and the power struggle in the US Mafia from WWII until the late 1960s. It is very well done and entertaining throughout, even though it is made in an almost semi documentary fashion. By following Bonanno's fascinating life and crime career we also get to meet other interesting protagonists of the US Mafia such as Salvatore Maranzano, Joe "the Boss" Masseria, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Buffalo's Stefano Maggadino, Chicago's Al Capone and Sam Giancana, New Orlean's Carlos Marcello and Tampa's Santo Trafficante Jr. We also get to learn more about the mob's support of Politicians such as Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and NYC mayor Robert F Wagner. The actors are all very good, particularly Tony Nardi who plays Bonanno for most of the third and fourth part. Edward James Olmos is also quite good as Don Maranzano. You notice that a great part of the cast is Canadians of Italian origin, since their Italian pronunciation is superior to most US actors of Italian origin. Among the negative parts of the TV movie is the glorification of the protagonist, which is however common to most films dealing with the US Mafia. Here is it even more evident, perhaps because the movie is produced by Bonanno's son Bill. It is for example heavily underlined that Bonanno is an anti-fascist, that he supports the US Democrats by ideological reasons, that he opposes Cuba's Batista and that he reflects thoroughly before ordering any murders. We must however remember that he committed a lot of criminal acts and like most mobsters was against Mussolini not because of democratic beliefs, but because the Fascists clamped down on crime. Neither has it been proved that the Mafia, as suggested in the movie, was involved in the murders of journalist Carlo Tresca in 1943 and JFK in 1963. You shouldn't compare this TV movie with Coppola's "The Godfather" which is fictional, but partly based on the true events described in Bonanno's story. Mostly however the TV movie is a great deal more faithful to real events than similar products and it is greatly recommended to anyone interested in the history of New York's Italian-American Mafia. As a mini series made for Television I would give it an "above average" rating.

IRISHBOY7574 its about joseph bonanno a smart sicilian boy who escapes the sicilian army and comes to america for a new life but ends up being a bum in america until he becomes a made man and eventually the don. its a great movie to buy it, its worth the money

dewey22 Very well done acting and directing. This is a cross between "The Last Don" and " Godfather 2".One large plus for this production is that it is claimed to be a true story of Joseph Bonanno. With a better music score to create mood, it could have been a rival for both Godfather movies.