Good concept, poorly executed.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

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.

I read the novel by Marvin Albert and though it was not Puzo material, it showed some grit and strength--A more realistic depiction of a real mob family. To be fair, Richard Fleischer did a very good job of directing, considering what he had to work with. Then, Trumbo and Butler--encouraged by Universal brass, no doubt-- just had to take it and monkey with it. The casting was inconsistent, with kudos to getting Anthony Quinn, Abe Vigoda and Al Lettieri as classic Mob paisani. Still good was the casting of Robert Forster but could have been better with James Farentino or Tony Lo Bianco as Frank Regalbuto. Then it gets worse, with Frederic Forrest as the quiet leader, the "answer to Al Pacino's Michael Corleone". Forster, in my honest opinion, should have been Tony Fargo instead. The book-to-film transition was highly sanitized, understandable given Universal's desire to stay mainstream and not rock the boat. It did lead to a bump in the road when Tony Fargo was unaccountably absent when Vince and Frank were going to a sit-down with the numbers boss Zutti. In the book, Tony was dallying with one of Marie Orlando's callgirls. All in all, an attempt by "The Factory" to throw the dice and see if they come up with an answer to The Godfather. Didn't happen.

The main selling point of this film is probably the odd-ball assemblage of a cast ranging from B-movie stars (Robert Forster and Sid Haig) to A-listers (Anthony Quinn) and recognizable character actors (Frederic Forrest and Al Lettieri) all thrust together as Italian mob members operating in a never-mentioned-by-name American city! Though Forster and Forrest are completely miscast as Italians, they add a lot of fun bringing their unusual personas to a genre which usually doesn't get their sort of energy.Forster plays against type as a young hothead suddenly in charge of a small portion of his father's empire (his father was the titular character). Another rising star on the mob scene wants to take over, so he stages a deliberately outlandish and unlikely scheme to get Forster and Quinn (the most powerful mob boss in town) to wage war. Honestly, the plot is beyond ridiculous but it's fairly original and adds to the fun. What isn't original is the execution, which is GODFATHER all the way.Case in point: the shootout scene in which *SPOILER* Al Lettieri's character is fatally wounded. He runs through an alley tossing over boxes of oranges as though he's as desperate to die like Brando as he is to stay on his feet! The action scenes are otherwise fairly pedestrian with reliable if unremarkable cinematography, editing, and music. There are a few highlights though: 1) The stunt-man who plays the assassin who blocks Lettieri's escape in the aforementioned shootout. He does an excellent job taking a shotgun blast to the chest, then clamoring up to his feet only to get fatally shot by Lettieri and plummet to the ground. He really eats the pavement on that fall! One of the best stunt-deaths yet captured on screen.2) A nice touch when Forster's character realizes his girlfriend has been running around on him. He breaks into her apartment while she's gone and starts punching the closet door. The next scene has her entering her apartment to find everything completely trashed and Forster's just sitting there staring at her! In a baffling bit of character decision-making, she continues in and actually eggs him on even further! What happens next I'm sure you can guess, but it's a surreal example of good directing making up for shoddy writing.In summary, a typical 70's crime movie which isn't going to do much for people who aren't already fans of the genre. However, THE DON IS DEAD is not entirely dismissible either and fine entertainment for a rainy afternoon.

**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.