Mark Turner
When I heard that Twilight Time was going to release THE VALACHI PAPERS I was ecstatic. As a fan of Charles Bronson it was one of the few films of his I hadn't seen in some time. Not only that if you wanted to see it you had to pay an arm and a leg for a copy of the film since it was out of print. Before this release I'd seen copies going for around $50 online! To start with the odds are pretty good that a number of viewers aren't even aware of who Joseph Valachi was. In the sixties Attorney General Robert Kennedy was aiming at taking on organized crime. The problem was most members of the organization kept quiet. Until Joe Valachi, after an attempt was made on his life in prison, came forward willing to tell all. It changed history as it presented the structure used by the organization and helped create a data base for law enforcement. His story was then told in book for by author Peter Maas who also wrote Frank Serpico's autobiography.With this in mind the story was ripe to make into a film. The movie opens with an older Valachi in prison where he is given the "kiss of death" by mob boss Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura). When he fears he is being attacked, Valachi defends himself only to discover the man he killed was not part of the mob. Sentenced to life with no hope of parole and fearing another attempt on his life, Valachi agrees to inform on the mob and contacts federal agent Ryan (Gerald O'Loughlin) to tell his tale.The movie progresses in flashbacks to the early days of Valachi as a young man on the streets committing crimes like burglary. When it becomes apparent he's willing to do what it takes to make his bosses happy, he is recruited to become a member of the mafia. But it is also around this time that things are changing and a mob war is going on with two different factions wanting to take control. He survives this battle but comes out of it in the bad side of his boss, Tony Bender.The film shows various crimes Valachi was involved in, his romance and marriage to the daughter of his boss (played by Bronson's real life wife Jill Ireland) and how things in the mob itself changed over time. It's never a deep rooted film based so much in facts and figures as it is the story of one man and the things seen through his eyes. Low budgeted and filled with a number of Italian actors since this was a film made in Italy, the movie is more of a glossed over slice of history rather than a dead on depiction.That doesn't mean it isn't an entertaining film with plenty of story to tell. Bronson shines here, allowed to not only play the aging gangster but to play him in all parts of his life. This was something he rarely had the opportunity to do and one of the main reasons he agreed to play the part. There is enough action and bloodshed to keep people happy but Bronson has a chance to act rather than just be the tough guy here. The movie is interesting and moves at a steady pace that holds your interest from start to finish.Twilight Time has done a solid job, as always, of offering a well-made presentation of this movie. The picture quality is fine and presents the movie in the best possible quality. The extras are limited to a single item, a partial isolated score track. The odds are that nothing was made to help promote the film when it was originally released making anything else non-existent. As with all Twilight Time releases this one is limited to only 3,000 so if you want this one at an affordable price then by all means pick one up immediately before they're all gone. If you're goal is to collect all movies starring Charles Bronson act fast.
John Connell
One problem is that it's episodic in structure, more like a chronologically depicted documentary than a movie.It is also ruined (at least, for me) by overdubbed dialogue. It sounds like a movie made in Italy in Italian and English, and then RE-dubbed over the English speakers very own English. Are you following this? The resulting, dry-sounding dialogue leaves you with half of an actor's performance. It can never match the original utterances. Otherwise, the character actors are wonderful. So many great mugs with evil dispositions. And Bronson is great. Probably his best role. A real shame about the audio. Hard to believe so many films are so badly dubbed.
ma-cortes
This picture is plenty of mayhem , strong stuff , drama and amount of gangland violence . A biography heavily influenced by Valachi memoirs and by interviews was written by journalist Peter Maas and published in 1968 as The Valachi Papers, forming the basis for this film . The flick deals with tough Joe Valachi (Charles Bronson) , he has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura) who is in prison and from there, he still runs his criminal empire . An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to die . Valachi must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. Because of the bounty on his head from his own, a federal agent named Ryan (Gerald O'Loughlin) convinces Valachi really to be a mob informant in return for safety inside . Valachi tells a story that starts in 1929, when he was first imprisoned in Sing Sing . Valachi's criminal career began with a small gang known as "The Minutemen," so-called for carrying out smash and grab burglaries and escaping within a minute and subsequently as a chauffeur.I n the early 1930s, through mob contact Dominick "The Gap" Petrilli (Walter Chiari) , Valachi was introduced to the Cosa Nostra or Mafia, and soon became a soldier in the Reina Family (now known as the Lucchese Family) during the height of the Castellammarese War. Valachi fought on the side of Salvatore Maranzano, who eventually defeated the faction headed by rival Joseph Masseria (Sperli) . After Masseria's murder, Valachi became a bodyguard for Maranzano. However, this position was short-lived, as Maranzano (Joseph Wiseman) himself was murdered in 1931. Valachi then became a soldier in the family headed by Charles "Lucky" Luciano (eventually known as the Genovese Family), in the crew headed by Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo (Leontini) .This landmark gangster movie is strong stuff , being dominated by the tenacious acting of Charles Bronson as the gangster of the title who follows his way venomously since a simple gangster , chauffeur until his prison as he breaks the sacred code of silence , the Omertá . Bronson captures the special excitement or mood of paranoia on Valachi role . Director Yerence Young's body-strewn look at the feud between Maranzano , Genovese , Masseria , Gaetano Reina , Lucky Luciano and other famous mobsters , but especially concerns about the informer Joe Valachi . This is a violence-ridden story full of action, drama, thriller , drama but being overlong . The notorious gangster Vito Genovese being splendidly played by Lino Ventura who makes a good character study of one of the most colorful mobsters of the history .In the film appears famous gangsters such as Salvatore Maranzano played by Joseph Wiseman , Gaetano Reina acted by Amedeo Nazzari , Albert Anastasia by Fausto Tozzi , Letizia Reina played by Pupella Maggio and Lucky Luciano performed by Angelo Infanti . Jill Ireland , Bronson's real wife , makes an appealing heroine , providing an elegant touch amid the 'macho'machine gun mayhem of the rest of the film . The motion picture is based on the book ¨Joe Valachi papers¨ and on real events , these are the following : ¨In October 1963, Valachi had testified before Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations that the Mafia did exist.Although Valachi's disclosures never led directly to the prosecution of many Mafia leaders, he was able to provide many details of its history, operations and rituals, aiding in the solution of several uncleared murders, as well as naming many members and the major crime families. His testimony, which was broadcast on radio and television and published in newspapers, was devastating for the mob, still reeling from the November 14, 1957 Apalachin Meeting, where state police had accidentally discovered several Mafia bosses from all over the United States meeting at the Apalachin home of mobster Joseph Barbara. Following Valachi's testimony, the mob was no longer invisible to the public. He was the son-in-law of Gaetano Reina, having married Reina's oldest daughter Mildred over the objections of her mother, brother, and uncles. Valachi's motivations for becoming an informer have been the subject of some debate. Valachi claimed to be testifying as a public service and to expose a powerful criminal organization that he blamed for ruining his life, but it is also possible he was hoping for government protection as part of a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment, avoiding the death penalty for a murder he committed in prison on June 22, 1962. While in prison, Valachi feared that mob boss Vito Genovese had ordered his death as a traitor. Using a pipe left near some construction work, he bludgeoned to death an inmate whom he mistook for Joseph DiPalermo, a Mafia member he believed was commissioned to kill him. (Valachi and Genovese were both serving sentences for heroin trafficking. After time with FBI handlers, Valachi came forward with a story of Genovese giving him a kiss on the cheek, which he took as a "kiss of death". In 1966, Valachi attempted to hang himself in his prison cell, using an electrical extension cord. On April 3, 1971, Valachi died of a heart attack at Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna in Texas, having outlived Vito Genovese by two years. The $100,000 bounty, placed on Valachi by Genovese, went uncollected.¨
