Les Frères siciliens

I do not rate Martin Ritt one of the great American directors, but I cannot deny that he is responsible for some great films, including HUD, NORMA RAE and THE LONG HOT SUMMER.

THE BROTHERHOOD is nothing like any of those films. Set in Sicily, it stars a then 52 years old Kirk Douglas, who lived to nearly double that age and still looked quite lithe and young, playing Frank Ginetta, a Mafia man about to become godfather who is given a most unenviable task, that of icing his brother Axel's father in law for blabbing, thereby ensuring the deaths of 41 Mafia members.

I feel that the film's first half carries too much unnecessary talk, despite helping to situate relations - especially the love between Frank and his wife Ida, well played by Irene Pappas.

The film carries an obvious but highly moral lesson: if you are involved in crime you end up a criminal and sooner or later there is a price to pay. Usually your life. In this case, Frank's father passed his knowledge to his son who now wants to bring his brother into the fold - all stays in the family, but nothing is wholesome.

In many ways, THE BROTHERHOOD is a forerunner to THE GODFATHER, which would come out three years later and would become one of the greatest films in cinema history.

Thus, it is definitely worth watching. 7/10.

The Brotherhood as a title has a double meaning. It's not just about that Italian fraternal order of criminals that so many films and books have been made and written about. It's about two brothers also, the Ginettas, Frank and Vince.

Kirk Douglas is Frank Ginetta a made man, high up in the councils and his younger brother Vince played by Alex Cord who's just back from the Army like Michael Corleone was. But Michael married an outsider while Vince Ginetta is marrying the daughter of another Mafia capo, Luther Adler.

Though he's younger than Adler, Douglas is a guy who likes to do things the old fashioned way, the way his dad who was a button man back in the day did them. He also loves hanging around with the ancient survivors of the old Mafia wars among them Eduardo Ciannelli. Adler and Douglas get to be at loggerheads over Cord and the role he should take in the business.

The old guys learn something and give Douglas a contract that's going to cause him considerable problems, personal and organizational. What's a good Mafia guy to do when you get a contract. Then Alex Cord is given a contract to make his bones so to speak.

The main difference between the Godfather films and this is that the Brotherhood is set in the present, whereas the Godfather films are rooted in the past. By 1968 organized crime at the highest levels was hardly an Italian only concern. You don't see hardly any non-Italians in the first Godfather film and in the second the alliance is pretty wary. The non-Italians dominate the high councils in New York, Val Avery, Alan Hewitt and Murray Hamilton together with Luther Adler outvote Douglas all the time.

Martin Ritt shot a whole lot of this film in New York and many of the sites are recognizable to a native New Yorker. Still it's not one of his better films and it took Francis Ford Coppola to do the modern gangster film right.

One thing though, Douglas certainly did NOT heed Vito Corleone's advice about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Not that the higher ups wouldn't have found out at some point anyway, but when you watch The Brotherhood you'll know that Douglas was the obvious suspect when he makes that fateful hit.

This Martin Ritt work,which is not among his best (Hombre,Hud,etc) ,features a prologue and an epilogue,which take place in Sicily(but a studio Sicily as the final cast and credits says);two short bits which frame an endless flashback which explains(?) why Vince (Cord) must(!) kill brother Kirk.This long hour features the de rigueur mafioso -the good(?) and the bad ones-,the obligatory wedding scene ,proud family chronicles ,etc etc etc:plus ça change..

It's too bad Ritt did not focus his story on Sicily ,a Sicily he should have filmed on location instead .The only good scenes are the final ones ,and Irene Papas could have added a Greek tragedy touch ,hadn't her part been so underwritten.

Some will find here roots of "the godfather" ,but I would go as far as saying that it questions the hitherto excellence of the Coppola movie.Its eternal triumph (with an obnoxious subject) leaves me with a bitter taste in the mouth.

As for Martin Ritt,there are plenty of estimable works to choose.Avoid this.

I found it fascinating that ethnicity was seen here as an obstacle to progress. Four years later, after ROOTS and GODFATHER, the tone had changed drastically. Seeing this in 2002, I was struck by how carefully the feeling of an ethnic enclave was portrayed. The story goes over many of the themes that are now cliches, but were not at all in 1968.

The son of a powerful Organized Crime -Mafia- don comes home from his army service in Vietnam and wishes to lead his own life. This is a young man called Vince Ginetta (Alex Cord) that his older brother Frank Ginetta (Kirk Douglas) raised with selfless devotion, following the family tradition. As intrigues and powerplays involving his older brother dictate otherwise, and he finds himself being slowly drawn back into that world. But Frank Ginetta is a veteran member of the mafia who refuses to accept the new principles of his brother Vince. Things go wrong when the Mafia high council (Luther Adler, Val Avery, Alan Hewitt and Murray Hamilton) in New York, together with outvote Frank Ginetta all the time. And Vince executes orders of the council, while Frank refusal to follow the higher dictates, it leads both to a confrontation, emulating Cain and Abel, resulting in sad consequences. Honor, Loyalty, Betrayal !.

The central theme of the film is the confrontation between two hot-headed brothers from a Mafia syndicate, who clash over old and new methods and the changing of the guard in the Family. In this film, Kirk Douglas, dressed up with a drooping mustache and dyed hair, excels in his role as a New York syndicate board member who has nostalgic memories of how much better things were done in the old Mafia days. Not surprisingly, he turns on the syndicate and runs off to retire to Sicily. The picture is passable and acceptable enough, but not remarkable. Martin Ritt can't do much with the chest-beating that accompanies this tale of brotherly love, self-sacrifice and providing a far-fetched as well as failed notion of believably portraying the physical aesthetic and singular temperament of Sicilians. So he slowly and stolidly makes his way through the bitter and the new, stopping for a few interesting and exciting scenes. Kirk Douglas gives the best performance with his usually over-the-top style allowing him to liven things up; far below is newcomer Alex Cord, who gives an inferior and weak interpretation compared to that of the Hollywood towering Kirk Douglas. Much of the movie's failure was attributed to lack of chemistry between Kirk Douglas and Alex Cord. While normally fine Greek actress Irene Papas is really wasted and Luther Adler briefly steals the show as a plump, greasy, rather likeable snitch who becomes respectable. Joining these superior actors are a host of well-known supporting actors, such as: Susan Strasberg, Murray Hamilton, Eduardo Ciannelli, Joe De Santis, Connie Scott, Val Avery, Alan Hewitt, Barry Primus, and look for very brief appearances from Hal Holbrook, and even Paul Reubens.

In the film there is also a historical remark when the role played by the old mafia boss Eduardo Ciannelli explains that it is necessary to carry out a bloody revenge for some events of the past, thus he refers to notorious kingpin Lucky Luciano and about the person to be killed, a stool pigeon who told Lucky the people to murder. Luciano was one of the bosses of the Mafia and leader of Cosa Nostra or Mafia, and soon became a chief in the Reina Family during the height of the Castellammarese War. Subsequently, taking place a Mafian War between Salvatore Maranzano, who eventually defeated the faction headed by rival Joseph Masseria . After Masseria's murder , this position was short-lived, as Maranzano himself was murdered in 1931. Then , the family is headed by Charles "Lucky" Luciano , eventually known as the Genovese Family. He orders the slaughter of 40 other responsible , a famous massacre nicknamed Sicilian Vespers, therefore becoming the only boss.

The motion picture was professional but unevenly directed by Martin Ritt and it did not do very well at the box office. As a result, studios were reluctant to do more Mafia stories, that's why it almost convinced Paramount not to make The Godfather (1972). ¨Edge of the city¨(1957) resulted to be Martin Ritt's first directing assignment after being blacklisted in the 1950s and he went on to direct 25 more films, including some classics. Ritt was an expert on dramas such as ¨Stanley and Iris¨ , ¨Nut¨ , ¨Norma Rae¨ , ¨The front¨, ¨The Sound and the Fury¨ , ¨Black orchid¨ , though also directed films of all kind of genres such as : ¨The Spy Who Came in from the Cold¨ , ¨The Great White Hope¨ , and ¨Molly McGuire¨ . Martin Ritt worked with Paul Newman in two Westerns : ¨Hombre¨ and ¨Outrage¨ and two dramas : ¨Hud¨, ¨Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man ¨. ¨Mafia¨ rating : 6/10, a decent family thriller . It will appeal to drama enthusiasts and Kirk Douglas fans. Well worth watching, it's considered to be an adequate precedent to ¨The Godfather¨, although it is not one of Martin Ritt's best films.