The Worst Film Ever

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

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

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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.

I hate the 1970s, and anybody sane must ! This is a movie with a stuff that I'm trying to imagine who could be attracted by?! The direction is TV-ish, with the bad meanings of the term; in other words there is no creativeness or craftsmanship. It's tragic that this is directed by Richard Fleischer; the same man who made once upon a time The Vikings (1958), The Boston Strangler (1968), and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Now here's a new characteristic for the 1970s, it makes even the good directors do BAD! Forget about the music, originally I thought there was none, asking myself is it the 1970s realism ?!! But after a while I discovered that (Jerry Goldsmith) himself composed the music to it (I feel no need to repeat the characteristic I just said earlier !). The sets are poor. The drama is a joke; being just a dumb war over a chick (Troy? Even if, this is the weakest of them all !). It goes on boringly because it's nothing but a meaningless thriller, with pure killings and no thrill. The script itself is arithmetical; kill so-and-so, then a response by killing else so-and-so yet from the other side, then kill another so-and-so, to have another so-and-so killed, and so on with the killer killed so-and-sos ! The characters are trivially written; compared to them Donald Duck got interesting psychological dimensions! Everyone was moving like dummies, and talking like robots. (Robert Forster) looks handsome with cool jackets; that's all the good things that I can tell about him here! After notable and so energetic career that includes 3 and 4 films a year, except for his role in (The Marseille Contract), (Anthony Quinn) would be out of job for the next 3 years. Hence (TDID), the only movie he did in 1973, says a lot about how he was having such a big problem working in real movies during the 1970s. No doubt it's one of his worst, if not The Worst ! The effect of (The Godfather) is more than perceptible (2 mob generations, a conflict over power, assassinations' sequences…). However, it's part of the exploitation's wave. Well, the lousy exploitation's wave to be precise. And with having catchy names (like Quinn, Goldsmith and Fleischer) then it is disappointing, deepening the deplorable irony between Hollywood's golden age and its tin one! Save the chilly explosion at the garage, nothing is distinguished, or rather watchable. From a long experience of miserable devoted viewer; in the 1970s all what it took to make a gangster movie was enough guns, fires, blood, added to zero direction, terrible actors, and female nudity. The thing is; after 40 years they still do the same, but as straight-to-video; namely, they became more truthful and explicit. According to the TV quality, the Italian characters, the set in which Forster's character Frank was hiding; this is not a movie, this is Kojack : the lost episode (and it's a low-grade one too). Otherwise, it's long lame massacre of a movie ! I give it just 2 stars; one for (Quinn)'s suits, and the other is for the girl's orange bikini. Finally, my title is just a way to express some anger, since the real idiot wasn't the don; it's ME for wasting nearly 2 hours of my life watching him. Simply, the don is dead, so this movie too !

OK, so i saw maybe only half an hour of it in the middle, and after the first five minutes, most of that was like staring at a train wreck. a ripoff that took advantage of the godfather fever back in 70's and probably took 10 days to make. even the guy who played 'salazzo' in the G-F cashed in on this one. i didn't see any abe vigoda scenes thankfully. the acting was so bad i don't even think they took more than one take in any scene. the characters were wooden , the accents were laughable, the dialog hopeless, and i think the sets were borrowed from 'chico and the man'. movies like these are why people make fun of the 70's.