Boss of Bosses

Chazz puts up a good fight here, trying to rise above the script and some lousy supporting players. Not to mention the fact that he looks nothing, and I mean nothing, like the real Castellano. The screenplay trots out every mob cliche in the book, with characters blabbering about "this thing of ours" and telling the Don, "I'll do anything to prove my loyalty." Ditto the FBI guys. "Let's tighten the noose! I want him." Oy vey. Paging Robert Towne....

The story also glosses over many of the more sordid personal problems of the BOB. Still, I was never bored. Definitely better than most made for TV "movies."

"Boss of Bosses" tells of the rise, reign, and fall of mob boss Paul Castellano (Palminteri) with the emphasis on his reign as head of the Gambino crime family. "BofB" plays as a rather ordinary made-for-tv biopic centered on a marginally interesting crime figure with Palminteri seemingly helplessly in need of some quality direction. Passable stuff only for the terminally bored or those with an interest in organized crime.

I'm a big mafia movie fan.I'v seen them all. Boss of Bosses does a good job in depicting the the come up of young Paul Costellano and Carlo Gambino. This is not bad for a TV movie and i give them full credit.

Unfortunately I have some criticism to share. The story lacks action like other mafia flicks. Also, in my opinion I think they portrayed Paul Costellano as a nice caring guy, come on who are they trying to fool. Finally they put the Icing on the cake when they show John Gotti. I couldn't stop laughing, this guy is the worst Gotti ever, he looks nothing like him. He looked like a wimp.

I Don't mean to take cheap shots at the film, but I am a movie buff and I am not going to b.s. anybody.

Boss Of Bosses explores the life of Paul Castellano who for a few years the top of the heap in his chosen occupation. Chazz Palminteri gives us a good and interesting performance in the title role which follows Castellano from his boyhood on the Lower East Side to that fateful day outside Spark's Restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. An interesting irony all things considered.

It's an interesting phenomenon in that the more successful you are as a gangster the more you attract the attention of law enforcement. The seeds of your own destruction are built right into criminal activity. Castellano added a few more.

The phrase "a good earner" came into our language in the film Goodfellas. If that was the only criteria for success than Castellano may have been the most successful of all, save for Meyer Lansky who never got convicted for a major crime. Castellano when taking over the Gambino crime family thought first and foremost of earnings. He forbade drug dealing and tried to steer his crime family into the more lucrative profession of the building trades and he was making more money with much less risk.

But as he complained for what he was doing he needed a few guys from Harvard Business School. How do you explain it to guys who got into the business with their main qualifications the ability to bust a few heads? As he grew away from the rank and file Castellano set himself up for trouble.

This same story was told in films where John Gotti and Sammy Gravano were the lead characters. Now told from Castellano's point of view it has all the elements of a Greek tragedy. Palminteri is a most tragic figure indeed.

I did like the trio of FBI agents who went after Castellano. Headed by Daniel Benzali the rest of the trio included Clancy Brown and Jay Sanders. Their activities included bugging Castellano's home on Staten Island and no doubt got a few jollies from his love making to his young Hispanic mistress. Twas rumored Castellano practically went into a second childhood over her.

Paul Castellano's rise and fall are part of our gangland lore now and it's a story well told in Boss Of Bosses.

Pretty average for the type of film it is. Palminteri has his usual commanding performance, yet even he cannot get far beyond the mediocre dialog and the overly dramatic and stereotypical plot devices. In fact, he and the very good supporting cast is what pulls this up to a watchable level.

Big mistake to show the killing of Paul Castellano up front, then the rest as a sort of flashback. Most of us know he eventually dies anyway, but it's a completely pointless way of handling it. The maid/mistress is not that much of a sympathetic character as she gives in too easily to becoming a mistress, but that's probably what actually happened.

It's awfully tiring to see these mafioso thugs being constantly portrayed in a flattering manner, using the old excuse of poor upbringing and wrong friends as the reasons for their life of crime, and then of course they are always generous to the downtrodden. But these films never remind us that the downtrodden are the ones they use to gain their riches.

Recommended only for Palminteri fans and/or those who just have to see all gangster films ever made.