Movie review: ‘The Valachi Papers’

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Organized crime. The mob. The Mafia. The Organization. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to know that crime pays for Hollywood. Gangsters have been a staple of American cinema since the beginning. Some stories are contrived; others are factual; and some just plain silly. “The Valachi Papers” with Charles Bronson is based on arguably the biggest turncoat gangster of them all: Joseph “Joe” Valachi, who was the man who spilled all the beans on “La Cosa Nostra” and became the most recognized “rat” in mob history. However, the film is based on a biography about Valachi and it doesn’t do justice to either history or cinema because it is so terrible. Watch it at your own risk.

‘The Valachi Papers’
(1972; 125 minutes; rated R; directed by Terrance Young and starring Charles Bronson, Leno Ventura and Jill Ireland)

SOME FILMS STINK, THIS ONE REEKS

It’s amazing how three crime-focused films starring Charles Bronson from the early to mid-1970s could be so different. First, take “The Mechanic” (click here to read my review) and “Death Wish” (click here to read my review). Both are sensational, well-acted films. Then we come to “The Valachi Papers,” which is simply awful from the opening scene to the last. I just don’t understand how such a chasm in filmmaking could happen with the same headliner.

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The first two mentioned films have cinematic structure, solid performances from just about all the actors and wonderful direction. “The Valachi Papers?” You won’t find a single cinematic virtue in the film. Even the production values stink and “The Valachi Papers” was released the same year as “The Mechanic” in 1972 and “Death Wish” arrived two years later. Possibly the worst sin was committed by the film’s studio with an ad asking if it is as good as “The Godfather” and then, “The answer is … no it is better.” OMG! Everyone knows that advertising lies, but that is just ridiculous, even at the time of the film’s release in the same year as “The Godfather’s” premiere.

Ah, well. Now, let’s take a look at “The Valachi Papers” …

Valachi was a gangster who was embroiled in organized crime from an early age. He rose through the criminal ranks at the time when groups began to be organized into what you still see today, with the Italian gangs and gang bosses being at the top of the heap.

Valachi is there during not just the formative years of the mob, as an Italian, he’s officially inducted into the “Cosa Nostra” and becomes a “made man.” Valachi knows from experience what happened inside the mob through the 1950s. He was convicted and sentenced to prison and he killed another inmate because he thought the man was going to kill him on orders from mob boss Vito Genovese.

Facing a bleak future after a literal “kiss of death” from Genovese, Valachi decided to turn informant and became the earliest mob turncoat. He was able to tell federal agents about the mob, its customs and structure. He knew because he was there when it happened. He even testified before Congress and is credited with introducing the name “Cosa Nostra” to the world.

“The Valachi Papers” is a story taken from a federal agent’s notes taken from the extensive interviews with Valachi about the mob. The movie uses mobsters’ real names, unlike “The Godfather,” and you’ll be familiar with many of them, but not necessarily the actors playing the parts.

Here’s a look at some of the cast (I put the real names of the actors’ mob characters into quote marks as if they were just characters and not real people) …

  • A Primetime Emmy nominee, Bronson tries to project Valachi’s persona in the film, but just comes off as wooden. However, he is OK in trying to convey Valachi’s ongoing conflict with his honor and being a gangster. Overall, this isn’t his worst (save that for “The Evil That Men Do”), but it isn’t a real winner. Bronson was famous for films such as the World War II classics “The Great Escape” (click here for my review), “Battle of the Bulge” (click here for my review) and “The Dirty Dozen” as well as being a master assassin in “The Mechanic.” He was also in “ Majestyk” as well as the classic “The Magnificent Seven.” He got his Emmy nomination for his work in a single episode of “General Electric Theater” in 1961 hosted by Ronald Reagan. Bronson died in 2003 at 81 of a variety of ailments.
  • Bronson’s wife in real life, Jill Ireland, plays “Maria Reina Valachi” and she’s the daughter of Bronson’s initial “boss” and he meets her while hiding out in the family’s house. It’s unfortunate, but here is a character that wasn’t allowed to develop in any way and, sorry to say, she wouldn’t have had the acting chops to do so even if the chance was at hand. Ireland was in 18 films with Bronson, including “Hard Times,” “Love and Bullets” and one of the execrable “Death Wish” sequels. She also had TV experience with such varied programs such as the original “Star Trek” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” with former husband David McCallum. “Assassination” with Bronson and one other film in 1987 were Ireland’s last of 54 acting credits since the first in 1955. She died of breast cancer at 54 in 1990.
  • Gerald O’Loughlin (he’d later add a middle initial of “S”) portrays a federal agent named “Ryan” and is the main interviewer in prison of Valachi. It is the film’s biggest waste of a chance of some competence in the scenes between O’Loughlin and Bronson, as the conflicted chemistry between the two was an opportunity for acting talent to show itself. It wasn’t to be. O’Loughlin is just as wooden as anyone else in the film. He was a character actor who had more than 100 credits in a career stretching over six decades since the first in 1952. He was on many TV episodes and was in “Ice Station Zebra” (click here to read my review) with Rock Hudson. I liked him in the little-remembered “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” with Burt Lancaster. O’Loughlin died in 2015 at 93.
  • Lino Ventura plays mob boss “Vito Genovese” and the only thing you can say about his performance outside of the word “wooden” is that he tries to come off as being menacing, but just manages to look constipated. I would hope that he had much more competent work in his career, but I cannot remember his work, although he was in the OK TV flick “The Sword of Gideon.” A native of Italy, Ventura was a noted character actor in French cinema and he died at 68 of a heart attack in 1987 in France.
  • Walter Chiari plays “Dominick ‘The Gap’ Petrilli” and meets an untimely end because he sleeps with Genovese’s wife and Guido Leontini plays Mafia capo “Anthony ‘Tony Bender’ Strollo,” who has a long, uneven relationship with Valachi. Both actors, who worked primarily in Italy, give wooden, dull performances, but Chiari’s character is a little more volatile and has a bigger part in the film. Chiari, who notched 117 acting credits in a career that spanned six decades from the first in 1947, died at 67 in 1991 of a heart attack. Leontini had 33 credits in his career and he died in 1996 at 69 at home in his birth town in Sicily.

Filmmakers used a number of actors who were not household names in the United States, so I’m not going to try to evaluate their work in this one. Let’s just say that the supporting cast was perfect for this film: All gave wooden, uninspired efforts that contributed to this film being such a waste of time.

Just as it is amazing how bad “The Valachi Papers” is compared to “The Mechanic” and “Death Wish,” it is also amazing that director Terrance Young, who should have been banned from ever directing a film again after this one, was truly gifted. He directed three “James Bond” films and two of them, “Dr. No” (click here to read my review) and “Thunderball” (click here to read my review) are considered “007” classics, while the third, “From Russia With Love,” is an understated “Bond” classic in its own right.

Young also directed “Wait Until Dark” and Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar in that 1967 effort. Young died at 79 in 1994 of a heart attack.

So, there you have it. “The Valachi Papers” stinks; the acting stinks; and the direction stinks. Add it up, but you still might want to watch it if nothing else for it being a flick starring Bronson.

Oh, and just for the record … unlike informers who came later, Valachi was never released for his being an informer. He died in a federal prison in Texas of a heart attack in 1971 at the age of 66. Valachi was given protection while in prison, but there was no release into what would become known as the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, which began operations in 1970 (the year before Valachi’s death).

“The Valachi Papers” was the 12th ranked film at U.S. theaters in 1972 with $17.2 million in ticket sales, according to The Numbers website. Of course, the No. 1 film was “The Godfather” with $86.3 million; at No. 2 was “The Poseidon Adventure” with $42 million; and third was “What’s Up Doc?” with $28 million. Here are the films from 1972 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • The film was the seventh of 18 films which featured Bronson and Ireland.
  • Some convicts at Sing Sing prison were used as extras and background actors in shooting at the facility.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “The film shows a 1930s night street scene, 27 minutes into the film, in which numerous 1960s model cars are parked and drive by. In another scene depicted as occurring in the early 1930s, Valachi, eluding police pursuit, drives a car into the East River just north of the Brooklyn Bridge, where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are clearly visible against the dawn sky; the Towers were only recently completed when the film was released in 1972.”
  • The casting call for the film reportedly lasted five months and more than 4,000 people were interviewed.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Source novelist Peter Maas once said of this movie that it was ‘one of the worst films ever made.’” Oh, and the post from IMDb.com is wrong: The book is a non-fiction biography, not a novel. See how much you can trust the internet?

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