Mafioso

I just had the opportunity to see this film in a newly restored print of the Italian original. The story concerns a manager of an auto plant (played to perfection by Italian screen idol,Alberto Sordi) in Milan who takes his family to Sicily to meet his family & his old friends, when he finds himself involved in the local Mafia Don & his ner do well cronies. The screenplay was written by it's director (Alberto Lattuada), Raphel Alzcona & Marco Ferreri (some years before he raised eyebrows with his films 'The Grand Bufet' & 'The Last Woman'). Although the films use of black & white was quite striking, I kind of wished it had been shot in Technicolor (for the panoramic shots of Sicily & it's beautiful coastline). An overlooked gem that's well worth seeking out, if it's being screened in a proper cinema,but it won't lose much on DVD either.

Albert Sordi is virtually unknown here in the United States. He's been called the Italian Peter Sellars but I think that should be reversed, Sellers was the British Sordi. Just one look at his performance in this film should cement that fact that Sordi was by far a better dramatic actor then anything I've seen Sellars do.

I had the pleasure of seeing this film twice and it really improves the second time. The loud behavior is a little off-putting the first time but the second viewing revealed all the incredible subtleties in the film and the performances.

The direction is extremely good. Director Lattuada is unknown here despite his extensive resume. I could see a definite influence on Sergio Leone in the camera placement and attention to detail. And the music is exceptional as well. The switch to serious drama is what makes this a great film. A lesser production would have made the mafia into clowns.

If the film comes into town make a point to see it. It's better then most of the stuff being made today.

Mafia ties run deep in this film about a middle level manager in an auto plant in Milan who takes his family to his native Sicily for a summer vacation. Admired by his old childhood friends who can't take their eyes off of his attractive wife, he's the local boy who makes good in the big city. But "Mafioso" presents the deep ties that connect him into his ancestral village, portraying a system that runs deep in this Sicilian setting of an ancient village in which his family's connections intertwine with local Cosa Nostra. The director and the lead actor both make this a film in which one can savor just about every scene. Alberto Sordi connects the comedy with the drama, the good humored happy family man obligated into the "brotherhood" by Don Vicenzo and his right hand man to do his part, keeping him literally in the dark.

Mafioso was filmed in 1961 with the Barber Shop, in which Alberto Sordi shot his target who was sitting in the barber chair of the Embassy Barber Shop which was in Guttenberg, Hudson County, NJ. My certainty is my Dad owned the barber shop and both he and I were in the movie. Just wanted to set the record straight. I have the original VHS tape of the movie. It was first released in the United States in a theater in Union City about 1 or 2 years later. I did see it, of course. The movie followed me for over 20 years giving me wonderful memories. My father's wish before he died was see the movie once more before he died. I was able to have friends who owned an Italian store locate a copy that a store in the Bronx, NY would sell. I bought it and had a private showing for my Dad.

Italian cultural icon and cinematic great Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) was in peak form when he starred as Antonio Badalamenti, a Sicilian who's become a successful FIAT executive and efficiency expert in Milan and goes on a two-week vacation to his hometown of Catanao in Sicily with blonde northern wife and two little blonde daughters. Laughs and thrills happen when they're welcomed back into Antonio's family – and the good graces of Mafia boss Don Vincenzo. It turns out Antonio not only owes the Don a favor for getting him the job up north, but is regarded by the local Cosa Nostra as a piciotto d'onore, a kid who distinguished himself in the ranks (maybe you could loosely translate the phrase "good old boy") and he also happens to be the best marksman the town has ever known. What starts out as a broad comedy and a warm social satire on the Italian south turns more serious and intense as the hero fits right in and his initially standoffish wife starts liking the family and bonding with one female member whose beauty she's able to bring out.

Fine writing, direction, and use of locations add up to a seamless film. You're never bored for a minute and most of the time you're hugely entertained, so it makes sense that Mafioso is going to have a revival release in the United States. It's unseen here, not on DVD and would be worth seeing not only for the fun it provides but for the display of Alberto Sordi's range and fluency as an actor. Sordi starred in Fellini's early pair, The White Sheik and I Vitelloni. Andrew Sarris has said Lattuada is "a grossly under-appreciated directorial talent." Il Mafioso shows the writing skills of Marco Ferreri and Rafael Azcona, working with the team known as Age & Scarpelli (Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli). Their screenplay may be tongue-in-cheek, but it nonetheless provides insight into the Mafia, and the film's picture of Sicilian town life (in wonderfully rich grainy black and white, high style for the time) is vivid and authentic-looking and -feeling. Music by Piero Piccioni, another mainstay of Italian cinema (Il bel Antonio, Salvatore Giuliano, Una vita violenta). Produced by Dino De Laurentis with Antonio Cervi; this can also be seen as a product that reflects the energy and spirit of Italy's postwar "economic miracle" period when so much was exciting culturally in the country – cinema, literature, design.

Shown in a handsome new print as part of the 2006 New York Film Festival. I would give this a 9 out of ten but the overall plot somehow seems too incongruous.