This movie wanted to compete with The Godfather, but it copies it so much that no one remembers it.

There’s no Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, or Robert De Niro in this movie, trying to capitalize on the success of the first Godfather movie and say more or less the same thing with a little less means, but a lot more desire. This gives us Don Angelo Dead, Richard Fleischer with Anthony Quinn.

Let’s put it bluntly: The Godfather and Don Angelo are dead scenarios are close. In the first, halfway through the film, the godfather is shot and a son is taken in his place, which he did not ask for. In another, the godfather is killed early in the film, his son is called upon to replace him, but is seen as too inexperienced to be sidelined in favor of Don Angelo, who is more established in the Mafia.

The two feature films end the same way: those who least expect it end up at the head of Cosa Nostra. In the cast we also meet two actors from The Godfather: Abe Vigoda (Salvatore Tessio) and Al Lettieri (Solozzo, aka Turk).

Other than that, Don Angelo is Dead is a very decent film, mainly due to Richard Fleischer’s talent for portraying human relationships and shootings. The dramaturgy and its hero are complex. It also reunites Anthony Quinn, who he brilliantly directed in Barabas.

And if Don Angelo is at fault, it is his supposed closeness – he adapts the novel, A crown for Don, signed by Marvin H. Albert, which builds entirely on the success of The Godfather and takes most of its elements. By offering a more unique storyline, the film could definitely have gone a little higher. Curiously, it remains one of the last good films of his director.