Donnie Brasco (1997)

Still a legend in the halls of the FBI, the life of Joseph D. Pistone became the thing that legends are made of and is the basis for the 1997 film ‘Donnie Brasco’.
It is the mid-70’s and New York City is teeming with organised crime. Agent Pistone is assigned the dubious duty of infiltrating one the city’s most powerful crime families, the Bonannos.
Johnny Depp takes the lead role, with a wonderful supporting cast led by Al Pacino and Michael Madson.
Posing as a gemmologist, Brasco befriends Pacino’s character, Lefty and the two soon become ‘friends’. As time goes by, the film reveals the inner turmoil and conflicts that ‘Brasco’ begins to feel and his genuine concern in remaining on course with the FBI objectives, as he finds himself with feelings of friendship toward Lefty, as well as ’becoming’ his persona more and more. The lines of reality and fantasy begin to blur.
While the story is based on actual occurrences and does, for the most part, remain true to fact, there are a few historical inaccuracies. For example, FBI Agent Pistone never actually participated in any murders and as of 2007 Nicholas Santora was still alive and well and had not been murdered by Benjamin Ruggiero.
The movie opened in 1997 to rave reviews and grossed an impressive $41,909,762(US) at the box-office and a worldwide total of $124,909,763. Donnie Brasco is still a sure fire hit for any video night.