Some years ago I was in Canton, Ohio going to my hotel in a cab and when the driver learned I was from New York he asked me kind of hesitantly that being from the Big Apple had I ever run into John Gotti. I learned there and then what an impression Gotti had made with his Dapper Don public persona. So in this film Gotti I can easily understand that brief scene where the couple from Rochester gush over Armand Assante when they meet him in a restaurant. And Assante plays it to the hilt ordering champagne for the couple's table. You would have thought they met Cary Grant.The made for TV movie Gotti hits all the noted incidents in the Gotti legend. Based in part in the research and writings of Jerry Capeci who used to report on gangland activities in the Daily News the script gives us a three dimensional portrait of Gotti.It used to fascinate me that when Joey Gallo was killed and later Joe Columbo was shot and lived in a coma for about 7 years it would resonate once and for all that publicity seeking gangsters don't really make out in the end. It makes them a more visible target to shoot at. I like very much what William Forsythe did with the part of Sammy the Bull Gravano, Gotti's underboss and total opposite of him in personality. Forsythe who was Al Capone in the revived Untouchables series does the gangster persona very well.In fact this film also boasts the casting of a pair of old Hollywood oldtimers. Marc Lawrence did gangster parts in old Hollywood plays the aging Carlo Gambino and Anthony Quinn who did a few of those parts as well in his varied career plays Gotti patron Neil Dellacroce the Gambino underboss. Quinn has some great scenes with Assante trying to warn him of the error of his ways.This film should have gotten the theatrical release it was originally intended.

There was a period, about when this feature was made for television, when the good folks of the REAL mafia sat around together enjoying one mafia movie after another, chuckling, making critical comments, and arguing about who should play each of THEM in the next movie.There seemed to be a Victoria Falls of mafia movies. It was a genre unto itself -- not quite just another gangster movie, not a shoot-'em-up action thriller, and not a throwaway glance at human character and morality.You could almost get the impression that it was all a fictional universe, like the "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" franchises. But, though the movies were stretched a bit and some of them purported to be fiction, the organization, its norms and milieu, were real enough. There was a clam bar on Kenmore in New York's Little Italy we used to patronize regularly, Little Charlie's. One crowded night, there were no tables available and Uncle Flory inquired about those two empty tables in he back, already set for dinner. "Er, those tables are always empty so they'll be available in case any of the important, erm, 'businessmen' of the community happen to drop in." Who WOULDN'T kill for that kind of rispetto? John Gotti was known as the "Dapper Don". He wore million-dollar sharkskin suits you could see your reflection in, ten billion-dollar Rolex watches that were made of platinum inside and out -- all worn at the same time on the same wrist, and mahogany colored shoes made of unborn loggerhead turtle skin. His car was forty feet long, powered by the same engine that kept a Boeing 707 aloft, and made of tiled Kevlar painted international orange. The vanity license plate read GOTTI GOT IT, YOU AIN'T. His cigars were hand rolled by virgins in Bora Bora. And his twenty pinkie rings were REALLY expensive. He never avoided self display either, usually wearing a modest grin for the cameras. Just another fella.He rose pretty quickly to head the Gambino family in New York before his underboss, Sammy ("the moral nihilist") Gravano, ratted him out. Gotti went to prison for life and Gravano, a multi-murderer, after spending three years in the slams, went into the witness protection agency.Armand Assante does very well by the role of Gotti. The mannerisms are right, but sometimes he talks too fast. Sometimes he speaks more quickly than I can think. Really, there were little outbursts, imprecations, in which the phonemes swept past my apperceptive apparatus like a sudden gust of wind. He's a good actor, capable of carrying a dumb comedy as well as a drama or even the myth of Odysseus with conviction.Anthony Quinn, ancient and creaking, does his best, as does Marc Lawrence, who has been a gangster for many years, going back to "The Asphalt Jungle." I've always like William Forsythe, who has the eyes of some kind of reptilian chimera, but is a good solid reliable supporting player. He was my co-star in the inestimably poetic ex-con masterpiece, "Weeds." I took a liking to him and coached him through his more difficult scenes.You know, though, the MBAs who greenlight these projects may have a problem. What is there that is still unsaid about the Mafia? Next up: movies about the making of movies about the Mafia.

I have watched 'Gotti' over 100 times. If you like quotable dialog you will love this movie. It is one of my all time favorite movies of any genre. Armand Assante is awesome as John Gotti. If it wasn't an HBO movie I believe Assante would have been nominated for an academy award. Anthony Quinn is also excellent as Neil. The dialog is spoken in a hastened Queens/Brooklyn accent so turn the subtitles on so you don't miss any lines. This movie has become a cult favorite in my circle of movie fanatic friends. It is on par with Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Carlito's Way and the like. If you liked these films you should like 'Gotti' as well.

I've gotta' say this: "Armand Assante" plays "John Gotti" to a bona-fide "T". His portrayal of the late mobster has a sense of humor and a gritty toughness to it. Many TV movies are horrible and cheesy , if not completely ridiculous , but "Gotti" and several others have a redeemable quality to them. In this case, its the cast, the dialog, and the ambiance of "Goodfellas" with a violent family togetherness as the "Sopranos". "The profane wisecracks, the gun-play constantly reminds you that this is a mafia movie." What movie about the mob would be complete without them? My only gripe is the lack of detail especially when it comes to recreating the 1970's New York street scenes, that and I rather see more of Gotti's childhood to his early days in the Mafia. I like my films with a great attention to detail with a multi-generational flair from an analytical perspective. In the background you would see a 1990's Ford in the blurry background or a late 70's/early 80's Volvo in a scene that takes place in 1973. Things of that nature. Last word, this is not as convincing as "Carlito's Way, GoodFellas, or the Godfather" but this is a very good movie nonetheless