How 'Donnie Brasco' paved the way for 'The Sopranos'

When Donnie Brasco first premiered 25 years ago, it was clear that the public’s fascination with the cosa nostra was waning post-Goodfellas.

Despite the acclaim bestowed upon the likes of Carlito’s Way and Casino, depictions of the Mafia as slick-haired kingpins in tailored suits became as worn out as the Western during the ‘90s. A fresh perspective on the mob movie was sorely needed, and this was before The Sopranos graced our screens with its grounded, day-to-day portrayals of wise guys in various echelons.

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It’s at the midway point of Mike Newell’s grungy gangster saga Donnie Brasco where the director’s soft spot for offbeat comedy shines brightest.

After Johnny Depp’s titular character convinces his new crew to head to Florida, we’re treated to a frivolous montage filled with the hi-jinks of low-level mobsters sporting loud polyesters.

From having tear-ups on a tennis court to shoving sand inside a sleeping Al Pacino’s pockets on the beach, it’s a rowdy sequence that punctuates the bubbling paranoia that Brasco will soon be exposed as an undercover FBI agent.

The small-time spirit that gives Donnie Brasco its distinctive flavour is down to the nomadic Newell’s propensity for playing genre roulette, allowing him to extract humour from swathes of unorthodox characters.

Eyebrows raised when the Four Weddings and a Funeral and Enchanted April filmmaker opted to delve into mob territory, but his realistic take on the often tacky American gangster movie made it work. Much like The Sopranos which followed it only a couple of years later, Donnie Brasco is a character-driven masterpiece pierced with bouts of levity that sets it apart from its glitzier peers.

Set during the tail end of the ‘70s (and based on a true story), Donnie Brasco follows special agent Joseph Pistone’s attempts to infiltrate the Bonnano family. Under the guise of local jewel expert Donnie Brasco (Depp), he gets in by befriending Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero (Al Pacino), an over-the-hill hitman who longs for the glory days and laments his lack of progression within the Brooklyn syndicate.

As their bond deepens, we see Donnie becoming more conflicted. He gradually shifts from Pistone, the honest lawman sent to help take down the mob, to Donnie, Lefty’s hardened right-hand willing to dish out beatings to anyone that stood in their way.

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“I got my hooks in the guy”, he once boasted to his FBI colleagues, but it’s really the other way around, with Donnie growing fonder of the paternal Lefty and his irresistible charm.

Despite Donnie’s constant fear of having his cover blown, it’s Lefty’s story which is at the heart of Donnie Brasco. In another standout performance, Pacino plays the past-it gunman with enough pathos to make us truly sympathetic for the veteran who’s gotten no respect after 30 long years.

We’re not used to seeing Pacino’s characters trying to pry open coin-filled parking metres with a claw hammer, nor standing dutifully in the New York chill alongside a bunch of mooks jostling to get a glimpse of their capos. Unlike his many powerful predecessors in pinstripe suits, the weathered Lefty is an average schmuck in mismatched gear, scratching and clawing for a seat on the table.

Coupled with screenwriter Paul Attanasio’s artful dialogue, it’s another testament to Newell’s vision of eschewing on-screen stereotypes with a raw illustration of mob life. Up until Donnie Brasco, the American gangster film was one of the purest male fantasies by being the anti-establishment antithesis of the hard-working average Joe.

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However, Newell avoids extravagant tropes by exploring the futility of it all, with the right amount of Seinfeldian wisecracks that don’t typically come with movies about wise guys. It’s a template which David Chase formed the basis of The Sopranos on, presented as a multi-layered account of the dying embers of the American Dream with Tony Soprano at the series’ core.

In my mind, Donnie Brasco wouldn’t have worked with someone with extensive knowhow of the Mafia genre like Martin Scorsese at the helm. Similar to how Pistone had to play his part as Brasco, a story like his required an outsider to document the dog-eat-dog psyche of working-class mobsters, willing to betray each other for dreams that will never be fully realised for them.

Mike Newell’s first foray into mob cinema did that with enough aplomb for it to rank alongside some of the genre’s greatest works. It didn’t glamorise the value of brotherhood like Goodfellas, nor romanticised the code of honour in the way that The Godfather did, but instead delivered a cold, hard dose of reality into proceedings.

Donnie Brasco may not have been the gangster film we wanted at the time, but looking back, it’s most certainly the gangster film we needed.

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