Yeah it was disturbing and sad to watch because the guy didn't do anything. Restaurants are such a fun place, and serve
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Donnie Brasco
doodwithbooks — 13 years ago(August 19, 2012 02:06 AM)
Yeah it was disturbing and sad to watch because the guy didn't do anything. Restaurants are such a fun place, and servers and hosts are great people. The guy barely talked back before they got hot-headed and kicked the beep out of him.
I think the point of these scene was to show these guys weren't real gangsters, they beat the beep out of a guy who was 1/2 their size who was not really threatening or disrespecting them in anyway, its a japanese restaurant, so you have to take off your shoes. It went with the whole tone of the movie that these guys were not glamorous mobsters in anyway, didn't make any real money, beat people up who did not deserve it at all, and so on. -
BoxOfficePoison — 13 years ago(August 26, 2012 09:50 AM)
No, they played them as completely real gangsters. There's nothing "glamorous" about mobsters; they really are a bunch of spoiled little cowards, morons, and losers who hide in their own little world because they're too weak, lazy, and stupid for the real one. So, excellent performances all around.
To my mind, the point of the scene was to show Pistone's/Brasco's basic conflict between being a normal guy and having to play a scumbag. After all, as others have pointed out, the maitre d' ultimately got beaten up because Pistone couldn't afford to get caught with the recorder. The follow-up scene explains this all pretty neatly, by showing both the recorder (so we understand why he couldn't take off his boots) and his anguish on listening to the recording. -
geoffrey-jackson — 13 years ago(September 16, 2012 04:01 AM)
I'm watching
Donnie Brasco
for the second time in a long time. I didn't realise I've seen the film before until the bashing scene. That is the only thing I remember from the first time I saw the film.
Yes, I found the scene disturbing because the poor guy didn't deserve the bashing and Donnie putting the boot in.
If people aren't affected by it then I suppose they see it only as a movie or don't care about someone copping a severe beating. -
geoffrey-jackson — 13 years ago(March 09, 2013 03:19 PM)
I saw
The Sopranos
and generally didn't mind it because of the main thrust of the story being a gangster having panic attacks. It was sort of like a blend of
Analyse This
and
The Godfather
.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I can't recall any scene in
The Sopranos
involving an undercover police officer being the cause of a brutal beating of an innocent citizen and then putting the boot in. That's what shocked me.
I suppose I would have done the same thing, except for the booting. He wasn't to know how it would end up. In the long run it proved worthwhile. It was just a bit of collateral damage. -
geoffrey-jackson — 13 years ago(March 10, 2013 12:50 AM)
Crims and coppers are just alike. They're both scraped off the bottom the barrel. They're like bitter and twisted mongrel dogs. Never turn your back on 'em.
I know a few coppers. One uncle was a sergeant, another was a motorcycle copper. A cousin is a detective last I heard.
I'm the white sheep in my family. I applied to be a copper but was deemed unable to cope with all the stress and violence. Then I applied to be a police radio operator. Got to the interview and when they asked me why I applied I said it was to just get a job. BZZZZ wrong answer - NEXT!
I suppose I'll just have to become a crim. I have to do something to feed myself don't I?
Getting back to the topic, it really got to Donnie Braso didn't it. His missus picked it up. He picked it up. It just spirals down and down. Look at
Serpico
and
Romeo is Bleeding
. -
geoffrey-jackson — 13 years ago(March 10, 2013 10:21 AM)
One uncle got depressed and drank himself do death. The other one wrecked his back on the bike, got a fat pay-out and is spending the rest of his miserable life as best he can. My cousin has crawled his way up to be area superintendent and is getting ready to retire on a fat pension.
I applied to be a security guard too but those jobs only go to the new immigrants. I suspect they look after their own kind. Society is just like the climate, it gets worse every day.
Perhaps I should set up some sort of covert surveillance service with maybe a bit of follow on work to take care of things for jilted clients. Sort of like Private Detective Visser in [/]Blood Simple. I was looking for someone to move into the spare room and help pay the rent. A sleazy character rang but didn't follow through. I rang his number and his wife picked up the phone. She proceeded to tell me all the gory details and then suspected that I was a buddy of her sleazy husband and just trying to wind her up. I convinced her that I wasn't. She then asked if I would get some photos of her husband as evidence for a divorce. I turned her down but later regretted doing so. It all seemed like an old film noir flick.
I tell you, if it wasn't for films I think I would turn into a mad axe wielding homicidal maniac. -
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PatrickGH91 — 12 years ago(February 17, 2014 06:18 PM)
Disturbed? No. I didn't buy it. I figure wiseguys have, or at least pretend to have, more class than that and, although they're capable of horrific things when necessary, wouldn't go to that extent to prove a point and defend the pride of an associate they've only known for a relatively short time. Seems to me in reality they'd sooner use force against Donnie for being petulant and embarrassing them in public than cause a scene with the innocent waiter in his place of business, which is generally bad manners and not worth their time.
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degree7 — 11 years ago(April 21, 2014 09:46 PM)
Don't forget, "wise guys" are just street thugs dressed in nice clothes. They have about as much class as an axe murderer.
Limit of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief: directly proportional to its awesomeness. -
manage-932-700755 — 11 years ago(June 03, 2014 02:08 PM)
Look, because of the Japs, Donnie had to grow up in a fuxxxckin orphanage. The Americans won the war that the Japs started. Why should Donnie or anyone else have to take of his or her shoes if they don't want to?
This scene reminded me of the somewhat similar scene involving an uppity Korean storekeeper in "Falling Down." Do you know how much money our country has given to these Asian countries?
The Jap in "Donnie Brasco" should have backed off. The customer is always right. And, as Donnie said, we won the war. And the U.S. has given the Japs a lot of money.