Boss of Bosses (1999)

The powerful and unexpectedly moving true story of the rise and fall of the infamous crime boss Paul Castellano. Castellano's visionary plans to evolve the Cosa Nostra into a legitimate business ultimately lead to his assassination by members of the family, who lived and died by the mob's unwavering dedication to tradition.

Boss of Bosses...inaccurate

Very inaccurate story, "Gotti" the movie is way better and more accurate. Chaz Palminteri was good, almost too good to be Paul Castellano. I was disappointed about the use of old film from the 30's to represent the past. It had Carlo Gambino working for Vito Genevese, which is totally untrue! Plus Gotti's character was wac. Its an ok movie if ur that bored, but I should've known better than to buy it...I know one thing, I'll never trust u people and ur reviews again cause ur all crazy!! June 26, 2008

A lot of historical and educational aspects

BOSS OF BOSSES (2001)is a valuable movie, above all for its
historical and educational aspects, in portraying the underworld in
America.

Admittedly, the plot is somewhat superficial, and in some ways
implausible. For exmaple, much attention and time is spent
detailing the intimate relationship between Paul Castellano (PC) and
the cleaning lady of his large home. The director's goal surely was
to make the movie more interesting, and the protagonist more human,
less one-dimensional, yet it seems contrived, with other personal
details unfortunately, few and far between.

Among the best talent is Chazz Palminteri playing PC, of the
Gambino family, having inherited the title after the natural death
of the founder; coupled with Mark Margolis and Richard Foronjy as
consiglieri or caporegimes. William DeMeo (who seems to specialize
in mobster movies) makes an appearance as does the interesting
Patricia Mauceri playing PC's wife.

The theory of the movie, is that a bunch of childhood pals who grew
up together in the neighboorhood during the Great Depression, were
naturally inclined towards the rackets of gambling, prostitution,
smuggling, extortion, loansharking and the collecting of bad debts
for monetary and power reasons, in an under-policed underworld of
NYC. The usual baseball bat aggressions, territory defending, etc is
present.

A controversial strategy of this picture, is to sanitize completely,
PC. FIrst, that PC was the "honest", "gentle hearted" and
"accountant/ intellectual" of the Gambinos. That over time, he was
exposed only to a limited extent to the Machevellian tactics that
were used over 50 years for fear, mind-control and authority among
the population in general, and over the grassroot soldiers in
general, to be maintained. He is shown preventing his own kids from
getting involved and following in his foot steps, and to be
remorseful of past excesses.

Another theory, is that Castello was a corporate, white collar -
minded man, who wanted to run the organization low profile,
low-risk, in legitimate businesses, expecting the grassroots people
to be like minded, with unlimited discipline, patience, intellectual
capacity, as he did. Oh, Oh. Thus, a recognized skill, of the
top man, was diversifying investments among legitimate businesses,
yet controlling the unions, since it allowed the influencing of the
outcome of awarding construction contracts.

Another theory, is the suggestion that Gotti legitimately dealt a
death blow to PC, because Gotti decided to kill rather than be
killed, for violating the rule prohibiting cocaine trafficking.

The visual quality of the picture, although adequate and clear for
TV, is not suitable for theatres and feels diluted when seen in a
DVD release.

The soundtrack is adequate, if not, repetitive, lacking imagination,
and stereotypical. More could have been done in the humor
department, also.

An aspect that is important, and accurate were the changed times,
of 1980 as compared to 1933. The technology allowed audio and video
surveillance from a distance, wireless bugs, and cameras equipped
with powerful zooms, phone taps easy to carry out, by contacting
telcom companies and hooking into their phone switches, coupled with
double agents, such as Donnie Brasco, that is referenced. The FBI is
shows as being as as skilled, if not more so, than the bad guys, at
picking locks, etc.

Consequently, with PC at the reigns of power, a number of
questionable decisions are made at the top that impoverishes the
prestige and image of the godfather, the fear and respect that his
predecessor had imposed on the members, resulting in a frailed
leadership based on a keeness for running the family as a
corporation. February 15, 2008

TRUE, ALL TRUE

THIS MOVIE IS BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF THE GAMBINO FAMILY. ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUSE MAFIA FAMILIES OF ALL TIME. JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IN THE MOVIE IS TRUE, IT REALY HAPPEND. HOW PAUL CASTILLANO BECAME HEAD BOSS, AND HOW JOHN GOTTI SHOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED BUT GOT A FREE PASS TO LIVE. THEY EVEN TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE DONNIE BRASCO THING. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE TRUTH THIS MOVIE IS FOR YOU. CHAZZ PLAYS PAUL CASTILLANO, HE DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB. November 1, 2007

Crime Movie

This is a very good movie if you are into crime movies. I love crime movies and all mob and true crime type movies and Chazz Palminteri plays an excellent part. September 2, 2007

BOSS OF BOSSES IS BOSS

The restraint with which Chazz Palminteri plays his character, amidst all of the orchestrated insanity that accompanies violent crime, is incredible. Couple this with marvelous cinematography, and a terrific music score, and you have a winner of a film. The casting is flawless.
See it.
TONY HOROWITZ August 23, 2007

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