Gotti (1996)

Just perfect...

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A classic in its own right. Yes it wasn't 100% factual (if you have ever seen a COMPLETELY true movie from Hollywood please let me know what it is) but it is truly mesmerizing. I still have difficulty believing this was an HBO movie but they do surprise me sometimes. Armand Assante hit the nail squarely on the head with his depiction of Gotti. Its like looking into a portal of the past. He has the talk down, the walk down, and the character down pat. My favorite Gotti depiction of all time. Forsythe, Quinn, Vincent, and Pastore all turned in memorable performances. And this movie doesn't make you fond of the FBI contrary to another review mentioned beforehand. They do things in this film that would make a decent man sick and want to support the other side; the underdog that doesn't have a chance against the Department of Justice and the "B". Gotti was indeed remarkable and is a great buy. A window into the workings of the mob and a cautionary tale about excessive greed and ambition. It's something you'll watch regularly and will be praised by future generations in the years to come.

My friend recommended this movie to me and said this one of the best Mafia movies I would ever see, its no Godfather now but he told me to give it a shot. So I did. I seen the movie and I was in wow. Considering the fact this guy was like the President. He got away with everything and the people loved him and every part of the movie was true about him made this movie a favorite.9/10

Having seen half a dozen documentaries on John Gotti, I found this movie to be very good overall. Armand Assante is pretty convincing as Gotti and seems to capture his legendary temper effectively. Anthony Quinn manages to LOOK similar to Neil Dellacroce, Gotti's "mentor." The only thing that seems to suffer is that he is (potential spoiler) hamstrung by a lot of "prose-like" dialogue that would never have come out of the mouth of the real Mr. Neil. By all accounts, even the toughest of street thugs were terrified of this man in real life.The "lectures" he gives on mob policy come off a bit stagey for somebody who was a truly scary tough-guy. The guy who plays "Big Paul" is totally miscast. Big Paul was tall and tried to be refined, at least in public. He was not 400 pounds!!! (Potential Spoilers within) The movie starts out fairly true to all accounts of the story of Gotti, but has some mistakes as far as the rankings and duties of some of the key players within the Gambino family. It also suffers from the task of having to condense nearly 25 years worth of stuff into two hours. With all of these quibbles, you might be inclined to think I did not enjoy the film. On the contrary, I think it is VERY watchable and quite entertaining. There are many high points to GOTTI, even if they came at the expense of "bending the facts" a bit. If you haven't done your homework, this story is pretty convincing.Rating: 8 out of 10

For a TV movie this is very good. Why Mr. Assante doesn't get more good parts is amazing to me. He nails this part and if you have ever read anything about Gotti you have to believe that the two met. The movie has some great scenes. The best are when the mob guys are just hanging around. The creators of "Sopranos" have used this very well because while wiseguys are not always wise they are sure colorful.