MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Tss5078 Boss of Bosses told us the story of Paul Castalano, Gotti profiled the Dapper Don, and finally Witness To The Mob is the story of mob enforcer, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. Unlike the other two films, for some inexplicable reason, Witness To The Mob was made for network television. While the film turned out to be very accurate, it was also twice as long as the other two and lacked the typical violence associated with a mafia movie. Sammy Gravano was John Gotti's second in charge, an enforcer, who eventually turned states evidence and testified against the Mob. He was an interesting guy, but should his bio film really be longer and more in depth than that of John Gotti's? NYPD Blue's Nicholas Turturro stars and while his performance didn't blow me away, he wasn't nearly as bad as I thought he would be. The story is further given credibility by it's supporting cast, which is the same people you've seen in every mafia movie since the late 80s. There were actually seven members of the Sopranos cast, who had some type of part in this film. It's not surprising, as some guys just have the right look and do mafia type films almost exclusively. Witness To The Mob is very accurate and has the typical large cast associated with these films, but being over three hours long and made for TV, really hurts a film like this. You can make the case that the language and violence aren't really necessary to the story, but I really felt like it took a lot of credibility away from the film. How believable is a gangster that constantly says "freaking?" It was interesting to see things from The Bull's point of view, but the producers of this film really should have held out for a cable or direct to video deal, in order to make this type of film what it should be, raw and emotional.

Bart van Engelen This movie is tragically miscasted. And though many reviewers claim that this movie is closer to the truth than HBO's Gotti was, it is inferior in every way.It all starts with Turturro. Someone here claims he looks the part of Gravano, but that just ain't true. He's far too dark skinned, and though he has Italian ancestors he has always looked more Mexican to me. It also has to do with his role in NYPD Blue. Turturro doesn't play the part of a made mafia man. He always looks timid, shy and a bit anxious (same for his role in NYPD Blue). The supporting cast is full with the usual suspects you see in mafia films, and most have got their known roles in the Sopranos. But that also makes it a problem, a supporting cast that clearly overshadows the lead role just doesn't work. I don't know about Tom Sizemore, I love the actor, and he does a decent job. But Assante was better, he really embodied Gotti.It all doesn't work. And the story may be closer to the truth. But remember that 'truth' is a strange concept in this context. The truth is based on a single testimony and some investigative work. In my opinion movie makers have some freedom in interpreting such truths for their work. HBO's Gotti just works much better.

DonDiego1973 All in all Witness to the Mob is superior to the HBO fairy tale called Gotti - but the former fails at what the latter did right: the portrayal of Sammy Gravano. Strangely, it seems that most filmmakers think they need a hero or at least a resemblance thereof. In HBO's Gotti it was Gotti, a charismatic, smart leader with comprehensible morals, whose downfall was the egoism of his underlings. In WttM, Sammy the Bull is portrayed as a misunderstood, dutiful voice of reason and overall goody two-shoes. Both portrayals are as far from the truth as it gets.WttM shows Gotti the way he was: an egomaniacal braggart with delusions of grandeur. (I am at a loss as to how some folks can criticize Sizemore's take on Gotti which unlike Assante's is very close to the original.) A blend of these two movies would yield *the* authoritative adaptation of the subject. In direct comparison, though, WttM takes less liberties with the story, which is why I vastly prefer it over HBO's version.On its own WttM is a very enjoyable LCN movie - even more so for those who are interested in the subject, provided they can generously overlook the factual inaccuracies.

arthurclay I saw this movie when I happened to catch it on CBS a few years back. I only saw part of it but I have always liked the subject since I was eight years old. I recently bought a copy and it has become one of my favorite films. The acting is good and they really did a magnificent job on casting, costumes, and locations. I thought Turturro's role was fantastic and Sizemore didn't do badly either though I think Assante was more realistic in Gotti. I would have liked to have seen Turturro as Gravano in Gotti it would have been a real treat to see him and Armand square off. This movie captures the backstabbing, badmouthing, lying, rip offs, and betrayal that goes on in the mob families just like Donnie Brasco did the only difference being that this was no "crazy messed up love story" as Depp put it. This is a movie that bluntly depicts the merciless killing of so called friends and the treacherous deceit that follows without any hint of feelings or "real" friendship as he would have you believe. Turturro's Gravano is a detached and pitiless killer who is as bad as the people he whacks and his rise like Gotti's is as meteoric as his fall. This film leaves you asking Gravano this question: If you killed cheaters, double crossers, dope heads, and people who broke the rules shouldn't you have been killed too? Witness to the mob gives you both sides of the story and lets you make the call.