On G List of Movie Reviews
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Gotti (1996)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
7/16, 10/19
7/16:
Gotti seems consistent when it comes to chronicling the major points of John Gotti's rise and fall, but it's
mostly fictional.
The truth is it was John Gotti's big mouth and flamboyance, which were the antithesis of the code of silence, that got him
into trouble. Hence, he became the worst Don ever. Luckily, it marked the beginning of the end of the Mafia which would never
again reach the same heights, thanks to G. Robert Blakey's RICO Act.
Solid acting, well-written if incomprehensible script, and brisk pace are among the highlights of Gotti. Armand Assante,
Anthony Quinn, and William Forsythe are enjoyable to watch.
All in all, Gotti, although somewhat technical at times, is not too bad for a Mafia picture despite the historical
inaccuracies.
10/19:
I'm not sure what the public fascination is with John Gotti and the Mafia but...okay.
A good book to read about the history of the Mafia is
Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires by Selwyn Raab. Once done,
I think you'll find Gotti to be remarkably consistent with historical details. Yeah, there's so much to get into,
but that's why I mentioned the book.
There are a few important things that need to be mentioned. G. Robert Blakey is the chief architect of the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. For many years, the FBI didn't want to apply it to the Mafia because the
act was so new and unproven that they couldn't be sure if it would work at the risk of double jeopardy given their extensive
work and manpower to build the cases.
Rudy Giuliani, then a federal prosecutor, finally used the now-tested RICO to take on the eleven Mafia leaders, including the
heads of the so-called five families, in 1985 and put all away for life in what's known as the Mafia Commission Trial.
It would mark the beginning of the end of Cosa Nostra with virtually all leaders sent to prison by the end of the 20th century.
How RICO works is that if anyone commits "at least two acts of racketeering activity" under the flag of an enterprise within the
ten-year period, everybody in that enterprise is guilty. That being said, John Gotti would have been sent to prison, no matter
what. RICO continues to be used today and is a powerful weapon against gangs, police departments, sport organizations, wall
street firms, corporations, etc.
Meanwhile, the performances are fine; nobody stands out from the pack. Everybody but Armand Assante bears an uncanny
resemblance to the characters they play. Unfortunately, the most boring part is listening to Assante's talk, and when his
character predicted that, in five to ten years, everybody will miss John Gotti, I was like, "Yeah, um...okay." Because of the
telefilm's smash success, HBO decided to make an original series, and it's called The Sopranos which would become a
runaway hit.
All in all, although the dialogue is nonsensical, Gotti captures the major events pretty well and gets some of
the little details correct.