Witness to the Mob does have that "made for TV" look and feel to it simply because of the movie's length (approximately 3 hours) and because it is presented as more of an autobiography/history of the New York mafia in the 1980's and early 1990's. than as a fictional action movie. I was impressed with both Nicholas Turturro's portrayal of Sammy the Bull Gravano and with Tom Sizemore's portrayal of John Gotti. When you consider the murder and mayhem caused by these two criminals over the 20 year period that they were involved with organized crime, then one would expect that consolidating the historical events of the 19 murders associated with Sammy the Bull Gravano would be filtered several times over.
Even with the limited time (3 hours or so) provided by the screening of Witness to the Mob the movie was quite impressive with factually presenting the life and times of Sammy the Bull Gravano. Debi Mazar played Sammy's faithful and loving wife and Michael Imperioli played Sammy's child hood friend. Through time and sequence of events we get to understand why Sammy eventually needs to silence forever both his childhood friend and also his own brother in law.
We do see the distinct contrast between John Gotti's flamboyant lifestyle and Sammy's more disciplined belief in the Costa Nostra and his loyalty and devotion to his mafia family comes before his own family.
All in all, kudos to the director Thaddeus O'Sullivan for drawing out the characters lifestyles and historical events of the New York mafia for a television audience. I give full marks to Nicholas Turturro and Tom Sizemore for their great performances as two of the most cruel and vicious criminals who eventually turn on one another to save their own skin. The movie provides good insight in to the personality of Sammy the Bull and why he did turn on his mafia family, because he eventually realized that Paul Castellano the boss of bosses, and John Gotti who took Paul out to become the new mob boss, there is no real honor and/or family within the mafia, only power and greed.
This is a good history of the New York mafia "that you should not refuse watching" for a made for TV movie.
Even with the limited time (3 hours or so) provided by the screening of Witness to the Mob the movie was quite impressive with factually presenting the life and times of Sammy the Bull Gravano. Debi Mazar played Sammy's faithful and loving wife and Michael Imperioli played Sammy's child hood friend. Through time and sequence of events we get to understand why Sammy eventually needs to silence forever both his childhood friend and also his own brother in law.
We do see the distinct contrast between John Gotti's flamboyant lifestyle and Sammy's more disciplined belief in the Costa Nostra and his loyalty and devotion to his mafia family comes before his own family.
All in all, kudos to the director Thaddeus O'Sullivan for drawing out the characters lifestyles and historical events of the New York mafia for a television audience. I give full marks to Nicholas Turturro and Tom Sizemore for their great performances as two of the most cruel and vicious criminals who eventually turn on one another to save their own skin. The movie provides good insight in to the personality of Sammy the Bull and why he did turn on his mafia family, because he eventually realized that Paul Castellano the boss of bosses, and John Gotti who took Paul out to become the new mob boss, there is no real honor and/or family within the mafia, only power and greed.
This is a good history of the New York mafia "that you should not refuse watching" for a made for TV movie.