I'm sure that when The Last Don premiered on television given that it was a creation of Mario Puzo of the legendary Godfather fame a lot was expected from
it. If this is not The Godfather it sure bears some resemblance to same and can
stand on its own merits. Puzo probably felt like David O. Selznick who was forever trying to top Gone With The Wind couldn't do it, but made a few good films in the
process.
There's a bit of The Corsican Brothers thrown into this tale. Godfather Danny Aiello who narrates this in flashback has his son killed by the rival Satedi family, even as his daughter is going to marry their son. He pulls off then a massacre like the Colonna clan did to the Franchis in that novel. The pregnant but as unknown daughter is spared by the assassins, but Kirstie Alley as the daughter is sent to the old country to give birth to the child who grows up to be Rory Cochrane.
The guy who led the killers who did the dirty deed is Aiello's nephew Joe Mantegna who does this kind of work for the family. He marries and has a son who grows up to be Jason Gedrick. But it's Cochrane who inherits the bloodlust. With Mantegna it's a business, but Cochrane really gets his jollies as well.
The young cousins Gedrick and Cochrane take over the story then and their rivalry is on the order of the Ewing brothers and cousins from both versions of Dallas. Only a lot more murderous.
I have to confess I enjoyed seeing Christopher Meloni as the psychotic stalking husband of film star Daryl Hannah who Gedrick gets involved with. Just the kind of guy SVU detective Elliott Stabler would track down and arrest. The Clericuzio clan does go into the film business on a much bigger scale than leaving a horse's head for intimidation in a studio boss's bed.
Gedrick and Cochrane are an interesting pair of rivals. Aiello's narration holds the story together. People who like these mob sagas won't be disappointed with The Last Don.
There's a bit of The Corsican Brothers thrown into this tale. Godfather Danny Aiello who narrates this in flashback has his son killed by the rival Satedi family, even as his daughter is going to marry their son. He pulls off then a massacre like the Colonna clan did to the Franchis in that novel. The pregnant but as unknown daughter is spared by the assassins, but Kirstie Alley as the daughter is sent to the old country to give birth to the child who grows up to be Rory Cochrane.
The guy who led the killers who did the dirty deed is Aiello's nephew Joe Mantegna who does this kind of work for the family. He marries and has a son who grows up to be Jason Gedrick. But it's Cochrane who inherits the bloodlust. With Mantegna it's a business, but Cochrane really gets his jollies as well.
The young cousins Gedrick and Cochrane take over the story then and their rivalry is on the order of the Ewing brothers and cousins from both versions of Dallas. Only a lot more murderous.
I have to confess I enjoyed seeing Christopher Meloni as the psychotic stalking husband of film star Daryl Hannah who Gedrick gets involved with. Just the kind of guy SVU detective Elliott Stabler would track down and arrest. The Clericuzio clan does go into the film business on a much bigger scale than leaving a horse's head for intimidation in a studio boss's bed.
Gedrick and Cochrane are an interesting pair of rivals. Aiello's narration holds the story together. People who like these mob sagas won't be disappointed with The Last Don.