Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

At last, the story about New York's underworld. The real-life drama of notorious Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno and his heir apparent, son Salvatore (known as Bill).This film suffers from a sloppy, shaking camera, which is probably present in the original aired version. It also happens to be blurry, making it hard to see faces. But that is probably from the transfer, and if an original negative exists, a decent DVD could be released.The film does a very straightforward telling of the Bill Bonanno story, as it has been told by Gay Talese and by Bonanno himself. Exactly how true any of it is, well... that is a matter of opinion. The Bonanno family (both father and son) have spun a lot of baloney about their lives, and who knows how much is accurate. Amazingly, an objective biography has yet to be written.

I last saw this flick in the 70's, after having read the book it was based on. It didn't take long into the film to realize why it is not on many lists of great ( or good, or for that matter, even fair) gangster flicks. Joe Bologna as Bill Bonnano, Joe's son, is such a whiny character that is hard to see why anyone would pick him to lead a crime family, even if he is the boss' son. Not only is he constantly whining, he also doesn't have a clue as to what anyone is up to. Castellano basically reprises his role as Clemenza from the GF, although he does add hacking out his lungs to show a bit of difference in the two characters. Early in the film, when Joe Bonanno is hiding out to avoid subpoenas, he is shown staying in about the cheapest, flea bag motel that they could find ( which must have been all they could afford on the budget they had for this film). To think that a boss of one of NYC's 5 families would stay at some $20 a night dump is beyond comprehension, although he does manage to stay nattily attired in full suit while sitting in the room. Other discrepancies involve cars that don't fit the time frame, hair styles from the 70's being used in the early 60's, and other inappropriate mix-ups. The most idiotic part is the attempted hit on Bill, when the street is absolutely empty of any people or traffic ( in NYC no less), while Bill and his entourage park quite a distance away in order to walk down the street, where numerous gunman shoot at them with never emptying revolvers from multiple locations, yet never hit anyone. The film also has the older actors talk in a weird, stilted way that somehow Hollywood screenwriters and directors think make mafioso sound wise , unlike the way real street mafioso speak.

I first saw this movie as part of a collection entitled "Great Mafia Movies" and they were right about this one it is great. This film is one of the very few movies that accurately and unromantically portrays real life in the Mafia and the inherent danger that is present in it(the others being Goodfellas and WTTM). Right off the bat you are thrown into the violent and not so secretive world of the Bonnano family as the public and police know as much or even more than the mobsters. You can literally feel the danger and impending doom that hangs around each member especially Bill and Joe Bonnano. They are fighting for their lives in every frame of the picture. You feel bad when their friends are killed and that they have to struggle just to survive each day. This movie is pro-Bonnano but in my mind that is not such a bad thing since its being told from the son's perspective just as Gotti is told from John's perspective. Even if Joe Bonnano was wrong and at fault for what happened in real life its hard to muster any compassion or sympathy for his enemies as treacherous and vicious as they are. I loved the scene with the commission I would have liked to see Carlo Gambino have a bigger role but that wasn't central to the plot. My only problem with this movie is that it really doesn't end with a definite sense of finality like it's like there's a whole other saga waiting to be told but given the circumstances I don't suppose it could have ended any other way. In any case Honor Thy Father is a goldmine of information on the mob and a real treat to view as well.

I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It is a powerful antidote against dramatized, romanticized gangster sagas like The Godfather or Goodfellas. Apparently based on actual facts, the movie is the story of a New York Mafia boss's son. He tries to help his father because he thinks it is his filial duty.There is a gang war on. Gangsters go into hiding. They are constantly in limbo. The father is in hiding. The son goes into hiding, in a different place. He is accompanied by an old, seasoned hit man - a magnificent performance by Richard S. Castellano of Godfather fame. As the two men just sit and wait - but wait for what? - in a shabby downtown apartment, the hit man passes the time reading Sartre's Being and Nothingness!There is a fine sense of the absurd throughout this movie. The son hasn't got a clue what he is supposed to do. He just stands around asking everybody: What is going on? He never finds out. (Probably a chicken stolen somewhere in Sicily a hundred years ago, he suggests). Joe Bologna gives a wonderful portrait of Salvatore Bonanno. He plays a basically good natured, normal guy who can't cope with the circumstances that direct his life. It is wonderful how Bologna always has this strained expression on his face as Salvatore Bonanno tries to listen well and to understand. He has a wife and kids, and he wants to procure a respectable family life for them. His wife is scared and angry; she does not want to put up with a bunch of snoring, farting mobsters in her living room night after night!Joe Bologna is paired with legendary italian actor Raf Vallone who plays Joe Bonanno, the father. And they really are a minor dream team! There is a model case of two people who can not communicate, although they really love each other. This is best shown in the final parting scene, when the son has to go to jail. They don't know what so say, they just stand, looking at each other. Finally the father shows the son his school report from Sicily he accidentally found while clearing out a desk. "Ninety in maths. Not bad, eh?" These are the father's cryptical final words. The son as usual doesn't know what to answer.I guess the famous TV series The Sopranos owes more to this movie than to any of Coppola's or Scorsese's pictures.