La mafia

This 1960 crime drama was directed by Richard Wilson, who had just made a highly successful film on the life of Al Capone the previous year, and does another fine job with this one, set in New York's Little Italy in the early twentieth century. Ernest Borgnine is the hero, a policeman who takes on the dreaded "Black Hand" that was terrorizing shopkeepers and various other innocent, law-abiding people by forcing them to pay "protection money" (or else). It's the usual cops and robbers story, but with more heart than most, and with an unusual setting, stunningly realized by set designer Darrell Silvera. That the story happens to be based on fact gives the movie gravitas. Although it's filmed as melodrama the film is in many respects a semi-documentary of tenement life, much of it sadly true. There's nothing romantic about the Mafia depicted in this movie. They're presented as the brutal thugs they really are, without a trace of sentimentality. The sympathy here is all for the poor people of the streets, and for the man who was their champion.

Great historical mafia movie. Terrific depiction of the early infiltration of the "Black Hand" in America. From its earliest beginning, to its deepest & darkest connections back to its Italian roots, the film delivers an in-depth incite into the powers and horrors of organized crime. The storyline and depiction could easily have been a inspiration for the "Godfather". This is a great film in which the cinematography, the acting, the art direction, and the script all coming together to create a seamless masterpiece. Ernest Borgnine as police Lt. Petrosino delivers an inspiring performance. This film is a lost classic that needs to be released in DVD.

This is a fine old film about the beginnings of the mafia in America. Their nemesis was the Italian squad of the NYPD of which my grandfather was a part and whose notes and case books were used in the making of the film. The mafia at the time was called the black hand and was made up in this country of cheap hoods who mostly ran protection rackets on the small business owners of little Italy. They were backed by the dons in Sicily and the Italian squad's task was to shut the rackets down. They tried hard but the squad was pretty much broken up after the death of Lt. Petrosino in Sicily. This film shows the good and bad guys of the time and what my grandfather called, very un-pc,"one guinea killing another".

Pay Or Die is the story of Police Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino and his struggle against the infamous Black Hand who has moved over from the old country in Sicily and is terrorizing the new Italian immigrants just trying to make it in a new country. The Black Hand is sad to say an unhappy reminder of what they left.

During the course of the film at one point Ernest Borgnine and Zohra Lampert as Mrs. Petrosino drink a toast to President Theodore Roosevelt. It's not just an idle toast. Not told in the film is the fact that as Police Commissioner, Roosevelt recognized the talent in Petrosino and made him a personal protégé and started his climb up the NYPD promotion ladder.

What attracted TR to Petrosino is the no nonsense way he dealt with criminals. Petrosino was not a guy who believed in civil liberties and rights for criminals. He'd be lost in a world of Miranda. But he was as he saw it representing the forces of law and order against a completely ruthless enemy. Just the guy you need to fight a war on terror.

His life and tragic death are dealt with in a way that makes Petrosino terribly human. Zohra Lampert's character who marries Petrosino survived him by decades, dying in 1957. She and Borgnine make a perfect couple on screen. In the supporting cast Robert Ellenstein stands out as an Italian shyster lawyer who gets a really tragic comeuppance.

Pay Or Die is a well constructed albeit B picture without any frills. It holds up well for today and should be in the ranks of great gangster films.

To me Pay or die was one of the greatest pictures of all time, I am very sorry it hasn't been shown much since 1969. Ernest Borgnine is one my favorite actors, and this picture really describes what really went on in the early 1900's on the Lower East Side of NYC.

It's a picture that should be shown more often and available on DVD everywhere, and also one you can rent from your video store.

I would like to see this picture shown more often on TV especially on the fox movie channel or Turner Classic movies or even if PBs shows it.

This movie was the best movie pre-Godfather, and Ernest Borgnine gave a great performance as Lt.Joseph Petrocino