Donato and Daughter (1993 TV Movie) User Reviews

"Like father, like daughter"

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 2 March 2013]

Bronson copped it by the critics during the 80s for his work with cannon, but his fans stuck with him and while I wouldn't call them masterpieces they were still entertaining. Then into the nineties he was mainly involved in TV productions, but again these were a lot better than I expected. And I mean a lot. For a standard made-for-TV presentation; "Relative Danger" was an engrossingly glum crime drama, even with the routine scenarios and blaring stereotypes. This can be attributed to Charles Bronson's steadfast performance, along with his convincing chemistry alongside a hearty Dana Delany (playing his on- screen daughter).

In Los Angeles nuns are being brutally raped and murdered. This sees the pairing up of father and daughter, Mike and Dina Donato. Meaning they must work pass their past differences and frosty relationship, as they plan to tempt the killer out of hiding and into an elaborate trap they've set. However this killer goes about trying to twist it back onto the detectives, while getting somewhat personal.

Adapted off the novel of Jack Early, the script is heavy on family drama (giving it much needed weight) while at the same time balancing the disquieting serial killer framework with the investigative groundwork. What makes it work is because everything is kept grounded and the toying cat-and-mouse element between the Donatos and the serial killer (a perfectly neurotic Xander Berkeley) thrillingly punches away. You do get to see Bronson hand out some psychical punishment… vintage Bronson too. Rod Holcomb is competent in his direction letting the action and drama smoothly unfold with some sweeping camera-work capping it off. There's quite solid cast in support; Jenette Goldstein, Marc Alaimo, Tom Verica, Robert Gossett, Michael Cavanaugh and Bonnie Bartlett.

"Where was her god when this happened?!"

AN EXCELLENT BRONSON COP THRILLER

[lukem-52760 · 7/10 · 4 September 2018]

Another excellent Bronson cop thriller & yes it may be a t.v movie but IT'S still an exciting crime thriller!!! Bronson is always great & he's one of my favourite actors & i love most of his movies especially the excellent Death Wish franchise. Here the great screen presence of Bronson is in t.v production & later he did the Excellent family of cops trilogy all t.v flicks but it doesn't take away from the quality & feel of the movie & Donato and daughter is a quality suspense cop thriller with another excellent performance by Bronson as a tough old timer cop who gets tangled up working with his daughter who is also a cop played excellently by Dana Delany she's a really good actress works perfectly With Bronson!!! There is a very sick killer committing horrendous crimes even to nuns & basically it's father & daughter team of cops to track this evil killer down,so it's basic cop thriller territory but done really well with a creepy atmosphere & a really good music score & that is so important in a detective Thriller to score the mood right & create an atmosphere & this excellent little cop film does that perfectly. I really enjoyed this film it was edgy & dark without showing all the gore,it had the mood & fear factor just right & the family drama was done really well with the donato's & you actually care about these characters & really want the sick killer caught or executed!!! So yes another great Bronson film, a great cop thriller & an excellent performance by the legendary Bronson.

Okay for Bronson fans.

[BCoLiberty · 6/10 · 30 September 2019]

Okay, the start was awkward, stilted, bad dialogue, bad directing and bad acting(which may have not been the actors faults). I have always like Dana Delany, but it was a difficult watch in the beginning. However, it does get better and a good watch by the end. If you choose to watch this, IMO, this is what to watch for during the movie. Xander Berkeley is very good. Bonnie Bartlett is great. Richard Kuss is very good in his small role. And Jullianna McCarthy gives a wonderful performance as the psychopath's mother. The other actors is their lesser roles are also very good. And that helps if you plan on watching this movie. The end scene was what you might expect for a made for TV movie.

Entertaining If You're a Bronson Fan

[Michael_Elliott · 11 August 2015]

Donato and Daughter (1993)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sgt. Mike Donato (Charles Bronson) and Lt. Dena Donato (Dana Delany), father and daughter, must put their differences to the side and deal with a serial killer stalking L.A. and mutilating and raping nuns.

This film was released shortly before the fifth DEATH WISH movie and a series of A FAMILY OF COPS so it's easy to see why it escaped so many Bronson fans. The film was made-for-TV but released straight to video in most locations but since it has yet to receive a DVD or Blu-ray release very few have actually seen it. The film itself certainly isn't a masterpiece or even a good movie but it's at least entertaining if you're a fan of the actor.

The film mixes elements of 10 TO MIDNIGHT as well as BAD LIETINENT but obviously the end results aren't anywhere near those two films. I think what works best is the relationship between Bronson and Delany. There's no question that the screenplay is rather routine and doesn't try to do anything too difficult but the actors manage to turn in fine performances and they work off one another extremely well. Xander Berkeley is also effective as the serial killer and there's no question that the film picks up once the back-and-forth between him and the Donato's come into play.

The biggest problem with the film is the fact that it simply doesn't try to do anything more than be a cable movie. The film is a bit more violent and contains a darker subject matter than you'd expect to see but there's really no style to be found and the story itself is full of clichés including the big secret that Bronson is hiding, which has caused his character to be distant from his daughter. DONATO AND DAUGHTER will appeal to Bronson fans but it certainly can't compare to his best work.

I believe were dealing with a psychopath!

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 12 January 2015]

****SPOILERS**** In one of his last movies the 72 year old and puffy faced Charles Bronson plays tough L.A detective Sgt.Mike Donato who's assigned with his daughter, also a member of the LAPD, Dena- Dana Dena what's the difference- played by Dana Deleny to track down a serial killer, dubbed the "Fingers Man",who's been murdering catholic nuns and cutting off their ring fingers as a souvenir.

There's also a side plot here about Sgt. Donato's son Tommy, also a member of the LAPD, who was killed under very bizarre circumstances that he's been keeping from Dena that has her feel that he may have been responsible for his death! As it soon turns out, no big surprise here, that the "Fingers Killer" has been involved in a string of murders of women, mostly catholic nuns, in three different states for over some 15 years that he skillfully covered up from the local police. It's here in L.A that he gets a bit careless in his obsession with Let.Dena Donato whom he, in how pretty she is besides being catholic, developed the hots for.

****SPOILERS*** Even though age slowed him down and he shows early signs of Alzheimer's Disease, which in fact killed him ten years later, Bronson dose a fairly good job as the tough and no holds bar L.A detective Mike Donato. It's just in the close ups and in his speech pattern, that at times seems slurred, that Bronson shows his age. With his daughter ending up getting kidnapped by the killer Sgt. Donato has no choice but to give into her kidnappers demand. Only to have the helicopter that's supposed to take him out of the country with Dena as his hostage going up instead of down, that startled him, to take or fly him out of harms way. Thus finally giving the frustrated Sgt. Donato a window of opportunity to blast him!

If I Take A Dive, She Goes With Me!

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 5 October 2013]

There's something alluring about Dana Delaney in this and some of her other work. She's really beautiful. But not in a striking way like Elizabeth Taylor, or ethereally like Gene Tierney. Something about her slight chin, dark eyes, dimples, and the way her lower lip folds under its upper counterpart suggests that, though she might be provoked into anger, she would never be spiteful or vicious. This hard-to-define quality is an odd blend of sensuality and nurturance. Any normal man, if distraught, would be tempted to lay his head on her bosom and let himself be comforted and, if things worked out, have her babies.

Bronson, at 72, is still Bronson, doing his best to act, apparently having a little trouble slinging bodies downstairs and kicking in doors, but that's okay with me. He should get an award for being able to lift his foot as high as the doorknob.

Xander Berkeley as the disdainful nun rapist and murderer is fine. He has the appearance and demeanor of a wealthy and self-satisfied upper-middle-class snob.

That may be the chief weakness of the story. It's a routine serial killer movie -- told almost exclusively from the point of view of the father/daughter team of Bronson and Delaney. It was filmed in Los Angeles and, like the city itself, it looks like the ordinary, soulless, uninspired, smog-ridden spiritual void that it is.

There is virtually no local color, even granted that it's hard to find in the first place. It was reassuring, though, to see the Bradley Building put to use as a location once again. The first time I remember seeing it was in "Double Indemnity" (1943).

But none of the character seem to be FROM anyplace. Bronson is a Lithuanian from some small coal-mining town in Pennsylvania, but you wouldn't know it. Neither would you guess that Xander Berkeley was born in Brooklyn or that Dana Delaney, born in New York City, attended Philips Andover or had any history at all. The characters are "blanks", like the body that King Donovan finds on his pool table in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." It makes one long for The Dead End Kids, almost.

'When I get older I wanna be a cop, not a...piano player!'

[darth76 · 3/10 · 22 June 2001]

The title of my comments is a phrase that I have heard in the movie, coming from the mouth of little Cal. And I think that is an awful phrase to come from a little kid... It reflects perfectly the quality of the present movie, which can not decide if it wants to be a police adventure or a family drama. The fact is that it does not work as either of them. I have not read the book, but the script is really terrible, full of stereotypes and vacuums. In my opinion Charles Bronson's movies are getting worse and worse as he gets older.

The Beginning of the End for Bronson

[MikaelBenBaruch · 3/10 · 28 December 2023]

Most would be forgiven to not have known about this one off Bronson made for TV movie because originally it was a TV pilot, but it was not picked up as a series after it aired, and was shelved very quickly to be forgotten. Its IMDB rating of 5.7 is generous as there was good reason why it wasn't picked up. This would be the first of Bronson's LAST 5 movies made as his health we failing and he would die in 2003.

A typical TV series of the day but unfortunately an ageing 72 year old Bronson (3 years out from the death of his wife Jill Ireland from breast Cancer, and 6 years out from his last movie & 10 years out from his death)) looked very tired, sluggish, and more like a robot going through the motions and an actor on his last legs.

Dana Delany taking a quick pickup gig between Wild Palms and Tombstone roles played the feminist (a masculine role) of the Lieutenant in charge of the investigation.

This was Delany's worst rated roll in years and it showed. The audience never liked her role nor her relationship with Bronson. It would have been way better to just have Bronson as the main character and call the TV series Donato. Adding Delany as the Feminist Daughter Lieutenant was the mistake that got this TV series CANNED and put on the shelf forever.

This was NOT vintage Bronson as we had all come to love and know. It was sloppy, sluggish, poorly written and didn't do any of the two main actors any justice at all. Many times the lines and edits just didn't make any sense. The story line was common and well worn through many other TV series so there was nothing ORIGINAL.

Bronson would go on the following year to make his final Death Wish: The face of Fear movie, which was by far the worst of the series and an utter flop!

A year after that he would try and repeat the same failed pairing from Donato, this time with Angela Featherstone, of a father and doughtier in the "Family of Cops" trilogy, which were just as bad as this one and would be his last hurrah.

The personal drama ends up being more powerful than the crime drama.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 17 April 2023]

Yes, the serial murder of nuns based in Los Angeles is a pretty disgusting crime (considering that it also involves rape), and it made me wonder why the writer chose nuns to be the victims. For veteran detective Charles Bronson and rookie daughter Dana Delaney, the case becomes their biggest ever, but it puts them often at conflict due to differing methods and causes problems in his marriage to devoted wife Bonnie Bartlett who finds the case a bit obsessive as well as dangerous, especially after they receive some bizarre packages in the mail. When one nun is found dead, they harass the tenants in the building she lived in, making some rather homophobic comments about one of them before moving onto the next.

Good performances can't hide the fact that thiscis rather exploitive in nature, and the killer is revealed to the audience all too fast. I'm certain that father and daughter break a few laws while investigating. I wouldn't call this a bad film, but there have been a lot better action dramas like this, and even some of Bronson's most critically reviled films of the 80's had much faster pacing. Xander Berkekey (who got his start in a brief appearance as Christopher Crawford in "Mommie Dearest") is a chilling killer, with Juliana McCarthy ("The Young and the Restless's" Liz Foster's, Jill's mother) a standout as his embittered mother. Bartlett has some great moments expressing disillusionment over the state of her marriage, basically walking off with the film which thanks to good writing at least for her makes her much more memorable than Bronson (basically repeating his "Death Wish" role) and Delaney.

Hey Charlie's still got it.

[loulou1992 · 10/10 · 24 February 2003]

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!! Does Bronson pack a punch in this. Throwing that guy down the stairs, i don't know how any one can say he can't act. Morons who say that don't know he was once the post important action and film star in the world at the same time as Clint. Highest paid star, and even in the 80's he's film was still making money, books and magazines i see from the 80's still have his name on them. Well anyway Bronson really shows he can act in this one, at the end is cool. He comes slamming down the door with that great action tone he as, Pointing the gun at the mad man who as he's daughter. "Hey, take it easy no, don't do anything stupid". It's just great, this should have been a proper film, but who cares it still work for me. Well the story line is about a cop (Mike Donato, Bronson, the father) and daughter (Dana Delana) not getting along since he's son died. Because he doesn't want her to end up dead. Put she don't care what he thinks. So when they have to team together to stop a nun murderer, yeah i know nuns. This is especially why i like it when Bronson nails him, Taking things out on nuns. Saw anyway Bronson and his daughter look for clues get into some action, and go to a mans apartment room where he decides to run,(Idiot). He kills one of the cop woman, and Bronson cathes him and shucks him all the way down the steps. After this they go to the right aprtment getting closer to the Murderer, they even meet him as a suspect but not sure if it's him, but the murderer takes a liking to Bronson's daughter. Then after this she starts getting horrible calls from the murderer and Bronson's getting worried for her safety,(This is where u'd think he'll take to law into his own hands. Wrong). He goes by the books, things are happening, He's daughter want to know what really happened to her brother and towards the end he finely tells her the punk he pulled in after he's death is becuse this punk was selling his son drugs, whicj killed him. And Bronson didn't just want him in jail. so he rearanged he's face. After all this they get close together and then back together as a team on the case honding the man they suspect as the killer. The killer goes home fnding he's wife looking at his gear he used to kill the nuns with. So he killers her. Bronson's daughter comes round trying to pretend they have catched the killer, so he the idiot tries to come on the her while he just stabbed his wife, then she hears his wife scream, pulls out a gun. But he put a knife to her throat. This is where Bronson come in slamming the door down. Things go up stairs on top of the roof, Bronson goes to he's wife and calls for back up,(This woman that's laying the floor at the end is Bronson real life wife.) but always say "Here's what i want you to do". He goes on top the roof with he's gun facing the floor. Then as he gets up he's sees he's daughter with a knife to her throat. Face to face they are looking at each other as he's daughter and the murderer are close to the edge Bronson as that look on he's face. Then suddenly an helicopter comes up, she's wacks him in the stomach and he's knifes her arm and bronson just shoots him, "With a BANG BANG look on he's face". He's runs to he's daughter and always well ends well. As they walk the credits just come roaling on. This was an absulutely great film for me as i am an absolute Bronson fan.

10/10

Great

[madams2010 · 9/10 · 20 February 2019]

I think this is just a TV movie (for cable) but it has very good quality. The cast is great with Charles Bronson in a very good dramatic role that actually has some real feeling to it, not just the tough guy shooting spree type movie he's more famous for, though this movie has that too. It's a good story with good acting, well worth watching.