Throughout his three and a half decade long career, Johnny Depp has excelled at playing strange, offbeat characters. From an iconic swashbuckler and Rango, to Hunter S. Thompson and a plethora of uniquely bizarre Tim Burton collaborations, one thing Johnny Depp has strayed away from is playing straight up normal characters- well, almost.
The closest Johnny Depp ever came to playing your leading man-good guy beats bad guy-good guy gets the girl in the end came in 1997’s “Donnie Brasco.” For a guy who made a living off of taking what most other actors would consider a “stretch,” Donnie Brasco was the biggest “stretch” Depp encountered to date. To put this in perspective, his preceding film was Don Juan DeMarco and he followed “Donnie Brasco” with “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
“Donnie Brasco” exceeds at projecting a real-life grit through its quick pace and the fact that well, it’s based on a true story. The movie flows so well due in large part to the duality of Depp’s title character’s undercover infiltration of organized crime as well as the toll it takes on his personal life and family. You almost don’t know what is more stressful. Depp flexed a lot of acting chops not usually seen from him but man, he showed that the depth of his ability and undeniable leading-man charisma.
Depp may take center stage but the true magic of the film comes from Al Pacino. No stranger to mafia movies himself, his portrayel of Lefty sat more akin to Fredo Corleone than the character that made his career, Michael Corleone. Pacino portrays a sympathetic old-timer; almost pathetic in his desire to impress Depp’s Brasco.
It’s hard to say that Pacino’s work in this film is among the best of his career. But that’s more of an acknowledgement of his insanely powerful and iconic career and less of a slight towards his performance here. Pacino is like pizza. It’s always good but when it’s great, it’s amazing. Pacino is amazing here even if Lefty probably won’t be on his Mount Rushmore of character. Also, shout out to Michael Madsen; a non-stop bad ass who never came across a movie he didn’t elevate his with presence.
“Donnie Brasco” proved a commercial and critical hit. You could say its a tired story. You could make the argument cinema- especially from the ’70s on has been dominated with stories like this. But “Donnie Brasco” is unique. It’s not easy to successfully take Hollywood’s greatest character actor and help morph him into a role like this. In the hands of lesser talents, this could have been a disaster. The fact that it is not is the true success of this film.
“Donnie Brasco” proved that Johnny Depp deserved a seat at the powerhouse acting table of the 90’s with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks. Depp’s career has seen a lot of ups and down in the following years; certainly over the last ten years. But Donnie Brasco defined Depp’s ultimate chameleon-like talent. It took him from quirky actor to one of Hollywood’s top draws at the end of the twentieth century.
-by Joe Hughes
