The producers of the CBS miniseries "Mario Puzo's The Last Don" seem to be living somewhere outside of reality.
They are, believe it or not, hoping that viewers (and critics) won't compare this tale of a Mafia family to Puzo's earlier novel, "The Godfather," and the movies that were based on that book.Yeah, right.
"I think telling the story on television and telling it in a miniseries format is a way of, hopefully, breaking out of that `Godfather' thing," said executive producer Larry Sanitsky in a recent interview with TV critics. "Because I think it's unfair to the book, it's unfair to the miniseries and it's unfair to the actors to constantly sort of draw comparisons to `The Godfather.' "
Just moments later, Sanitsky himself unwittingly proved just how impossible it is to separate "The Last Don" from "The Godfather." Asked how Kirstie Alley got involved in the project, he replied, "We made her an offer she couldn't refuse."
Shades of Don Corleone.
There's one very good reason that Sanitsky and his partner, Frank Konigsberg, don't want their miniseries (which airs Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 2) compared to the Oscar-winning films "The Godfather" and "The Godfather, Part II" - "The Last Don" is nowhere near as good as the movies.
But that isn't entirely the fault of anyone involved in producing the miniseries. Puzo's book "The Last Don" pales in comparison to his earlier work, "The Godfather."
Judged solely on its own merits - as difficult as that is to do - "The Last Don" is a pretty good three-part, six-hour miniseries. The story is intriguing, the cast is good (for the most part) and - if you have a strong stomache for violence and blood - it's relatively involving entertainment.
And to turn comparison in favor of "The Last Don," if you put it up against other miniseries the networks have (or will) feature during the May sweeps - productions like "Robin Cook's Invasion" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" - it shines like a television classic.
The miniseries follows a Mafia family completely different from the one featured in "The Godfather." Danny Aiello stars as Don Domenico Clericuzio, the most power mobster in America who does indeed plan to be "The Last Don" - he's plotting to take his family (and all their ill-gotten wealth) into the legitimate business world.
But he's not above ruthlessness when it's required. When his youngest son is murdered by the rival Santario family, the Don surprises everyone by allowing his only daughter, Rose Marie (played as an older adult by Alley) to marry the oldest of his greatest enemies.
(Why the rival family's name has been changed from Santadio in the book to Santario in the miniseries is a mystery.)
It's all part of a plot in which the Clericuzio family, led by chief hit man Pippi De Lena (Joe Mantegna), wipes out the Santarios - including Rose Marie's husband - on her wedding night. And that sows the seeds of future betrayal and tragedy when Pippi's son, Cross (Jason Gedrick) and Rose Marie's son, Dante (Rory Cochrane) come of age.
The miniseries revolves around that rivalry, which sees both Cross and Dante grow up and enter the family business - although only Dante takes a sociopathic delight in his job.
The characters include various members of the Don's family; Pippi's wife (Penelope Ann Miller), a brainy Las Vegas show girl; and the Oscar-winning actress Cross falls in love with (Daryl Hannah).
The miniseries covers three decades - from the '60s to the '90s - and branches out into the worlds of Las Vegas and Hollywood.
Joyce Eliason's script is functional if uninspired. She captures the important parts of Puzo's novel, but whereas that novel - as well as both the novel and script of "The Godfather, Part II" - tell their tales through a narrative interwoven with flashbacks, Elia-son's teleplay is straight, linear narrative.
And the miniseries suffers for that. Whereas the tale of the war between the two Mafia families remains an intriguing mystery until nearly the end of the novel, it's the first act in the miniseries adaptation of "The Last Don."
The performances vary widely. Aiello, Mantegna, Miller, Gedrick and Alley are all great. On the other hand, k.d. lang demonstrates no acting ability whatsoever in a small role as a film director, and Hannah is overmatched by a role that calls for her to play not only the world's most beautiful woman but the world's greatest actress.
The storyline of "The Last Don" includes plots within plots, double-crosses and plenty of bloody deaths. (Parents should take the TV-14 rating seriously.)
And the fact is that even the good guys in "The Last Don" are criminals. Many of them are paid assassins.
The Don himself expresses regret that his own daughter was spared in his war with the rival mob family.
"But it is Shakespearean in that he wants to root out this evil that this rival family represents to him - the bad forces of the underworld," explained Konigsberg, who emphasized that "I'm not justifying it."
"There's something very Shakespearean about all that too," Mantegna said. "There's something very operatic about it. I almost feel that Puzo also got very Shakespearean in the machinations within the characters - families against families, within the families, things like revenge and murder. And things that are somewhat shocking . . . but yet are based in some degree of reality. . . . That what makes it interesting."
Sanitsky went so far as to say that the Mafiosos display "in an odd way, very strong old-fashioned values. They believe in family. They believe in loyalty. I think a lot of the values that we all sort of hunger for in a non-murderous life are in this kind of a piece."
So, "The Last Don" represents family values?
"In a perverted way," said Konigsberg.
Well, at any rate, the miniseries is still relatively entertaining.
QUOTABLE: Joe Mantegna, who generally works in theatrical films and not in television, explained his reasons for accepting a role in "The Last Don" miniseries:
"To me, a miniseries is kind of a unique thing," he said. "It's the only venue where you have something like six hours to, as an actor, explore a character. Unless you're doing `Days of Our Lives,' I suppose, or `All My Children,' where you have 30 years to explore a character."