Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

punishmentpark Fargo, Fargo, Fargo, where have I heard that name before? Ah, yes, 'Fargo'... And didn't Steve Buscemi wear a brownish jacket with a burgundy red type of sweater underneath it in that one, too, just like Tony Fargo does here? I must be seeing things...Anyhoo, back to 'The Don Is Dead', a film that has quite a few interesting plot angles: the death of a Don (in a city of three families) to begin with, which puts the status quo under considerable pressure and causes a consigliere to think it's his time to seize power in a most cunning way, a female singer/songwriter perfectly willing and able to sleep her way to stardom (a role that could have been exploited much more), a Don who does not get hurt by the usual violence but suffers several heart attacks, and, finally, a high rank hit-man who wants to get out of the business but gets caught up in the mob's hubbub... I didn't see it coming that Tony would be the one taking over in the end, though; Robert Forster clearly has more charisma than Frederic Forrest, but in all fairness, when he beats up on the girl, his character is logically done for in every sense.For the rest of it, I expected more dramatically than just a long series of more or less mildly 'entertaining' back-and-forth trickeries and retaliations (I would think that Quentin Tarantino could have played wonderfully with time and thus the element of surprise). The actors try their best (lots of a familiar faces in early roles, except for Anthony Quinn, who plays a daring part ending up in a wheelchair and may at that point only nod or blink), but mostly do not have enough to work with, the scene wherein Fargo brother Vince gets killed being the absolute worst: imagine three piles of empty crates placed diagonally and a few meters away from each other in an alley, and while acting out that you are dying, you have to hit them áll! I can't help but wonder what Fleischer was thinking when he thought out that scene...All in all it wás worth seeing (nice and neat locations, costuming, camera work and such), but that doesn't make it a good film, unfortunately;5 out of 10.

zardoz-13 This abysmal mafiosi thriller about a war between the families in an anonymous city lacks anything in the way of flair, charisma, or momentum. During his prime, veteran director Richard Fleischer was a creative force to contend with, and he made his share of great movies, but "The Don Is Dead" is one of his least memorable epics. Clearly, this lackluster actioneer exemplifies the old studio system of making movies and the blame for its pedestrian quality must be traced back to its producer, the legendary Hal B. Wallis of "Casablanca" fame and his associate producer Paul Nathan. After Wallis left Warner Brothers in a dispute over "Casablanca" with Jack Warner, Wallis set up shop at Paramount, and he ruled with dozens of landmark films, among them "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" and "Becket" with Richard Burton. Once Wallis left Paramount and wrapped up his career at Universal, the quality of his craftsman went down. "The Don Is Dead" is a well-produced crime thriller, but it is as lifeless as the don in its title. The pacing of this 115 minute movie is leaden, and a number of fine actors are left to wander around aimlessly in the screenplay by Marvin H. Albert. Albert is best known for "Duel at Diablo," "Tony Rome," and "Rough Night in Jericho." Matters are not helped by the dire lack of realism. Virtually everything in "The Don Is Dead" was lensed on a Universal back lot, and it is clearly obvious from fade-in to fade-out what a numbing picture that this is. Surprisingly enough, the Motion Picture Association of America gave "The Don Is Dead" an R-rating. Mind you, there is no nudity, the violence is standard-issue, and that startling loud red blood that appeared in 1970s era films was sparingly put on display. None of the gunfights stand out for their distinctive flair. The only thing that does stand out is how the Robert Forester character avoids a hit in a crowded underground parking lot. He holds himself up on the bumpers of two cars so that the gunsels cannot see his feet. Fleischer helmed "The Don Is Dead" between the sci-fi thriller "Soylent Green" with Charlton Heston and western "The Spikes Gang" with Lee Marvin, two films that rise about the flat quality of "The Don Is Dead." This is the kind of movie that only completist in the Mafia genre will want to watch. Anthony Quinn looks terrible and he has no fire in his performance. Robert Forster is pretty good as a temperamental young man and Frederic Forrest is the man to watch.

jago1244 OK, so i saw maybe only half an hour of it in the middle, and after the first five minutes, most of that was like staring at a train wreck. a ripoff that took advantage of the godfather fever back in 70's and probably took 10 days to make. even the guy who played 'salazzo' in the G-F cashed in on this one. i didn't see any abe vigoda scenes thankfully. the acting was so bad i don't even think they took more than one take in any scene. the characters were wooden , the accents were laughable, the dialog hopeless, and i think the sets were borrowed from 'chico and the man'. movies like these are why people make fun of the 70's.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** With the terrible news of his father Mafia Don Poleiro Regalbuto sudden death young Frankie, Robert Foster, feels that the weight of the world was put on his shoulders and doesn't know if he could handle it. At a big Mafia conference in Las Vages the three mob families decide that all of the late Don Poleiro's operations should be put in the hands of his friend and fellow Mafia Kingpin Don Angelo Dimorra, Anthony Quinn, with Frankie being thought the ropes by him until he can do the job as a Mafia Don himself.There's foul play and treachery afoot with the greedy and back-stabbing mob Cosiglieri, Luigi Orlando, Charles Cioff, planing to use his recruited out-of-state hit men to start a bloody mob war between the three Vages Mafia families. Then, after the dust settles,Luigi plans to take over the entire Mafia operations in the city that's worth well over a billion dollars.Luigi get's his chance to get the war between the Mafia families started when he manipulated young Frankie into a feud with his new adopted father Don Angelo. Lugie starts a rumor that the fatherly Don was having an affair with Frankies girlfriend nightclub singer Ruby Dunne, Anglel Tompkins, this results in Ruby getting almost beaten to death by an outraged Frankie. Lugie's trickery also leads to Don Angelo sending out a hit team to knock off the love-crazed and unstable hood. The Don's brother and family Consiglieri Mitch, Louis Zorich, tries to talk his hot-headed brother out of it but not after the hit men gunned down Frankie's dad, the late Don Poleiro,Consigieri Vito Netherbourne, George Skaff.With a full-scale mob war now about to explode Frankie get's help from the Fargo brothers hit men for hire Tony & Vince, Frederic Forrest & Al Letteri. This causes so much damage to Don Angelo's mob empire, including the murder of his brother Mitch, that it lands him in a wheel chair after suffering a heart-attack and near-fatal stroke. The mob war really escalates when Don Angelo's boys trick Frankie and Vince into going to a meeting of the minds in a downtown Vages diner this results in a violent gun battle with Vince being gunned down. Tony then pulls out all stops and sends his men, the former Don Poleiro mob, out for blood that results in dozens of Don Angelo's men getting shot knifed slashed and, together with Don Angelo's legitimate business establishment, blown up.Frankie escaping to Italy is later set up in a trap where he's blown away but his fellow mobsters for his insane actions. This resulted in almost the entire mobs lucrative operations in Las Vages being blown to hell. It's not until Don Bernardo, John Duke Russo, is prematurely released from prison that the truth about Liugi's perfidy came to light from non-other then his abused wife, and Bernardo's secret lover, Marie, Jo Anne Meredith. Luigi now exposed by both Tony Fargo and Don Bernardo as the rat-fink that he is finally, together with Marie, get's everything that coming to him. Tony Fargo who at first wanted out of the world of crime ends up together with Don Bernardo as the top two Mafia hoods who have complete control of the city of Las Vages with it's billions in it's annual take of legitimate gambling dollars. Not that bad of a "Godfather" clone that was unfairly put down for trying to imitate "The Godfather" but is a pretty good film all by itself. Where some thirty years later it's almost forgotten and unknown to the movie-going public.