AllMovie

This obvious cash-in on the success of The Godfather is a competent but uninspired affair. Marvin Albert's screenplay is pro-forma at best, trotting out the usual collection of shootouts and back room mobster meetings but forgetting to include the colorful details and twists that would redeem its mundane plotting. Richard Fleischer's direction is polished but distant, content to let the proceedings role by in a slick but styleless fashion. This overall lack of inspiration ensures that The Don Is Dead feels like little more than a slightly raunched-up t.v. movie. The film's one real attribute is its cast: Anthony Quinn uses his movie star charm to flesh out an underwritten role and Al Lettieri and Frederic Forrest give sympathetic, nicely underplayed performances as a pair of brothers caught in the middle of the mob war. Cult movie fans will also be delighted with the supporting cast, which is studded with plenty of familiar faces like Abe Vigoda, Vic Tayback and Sid Haig. However, a likable cast can't make up for lackluster storytelling and The Don Is Dead is best left to mob movie completists.