57/72: THE VALACHI PAPERS

 by Anthony King

Joe Valachi: The Original Henry Hill

Dino De Laurentiis and Roger Corman, in my mind, play in the same cinematic sandbox. Both producers made films fast and cheap. They each held their filmmakers to certain standards, like “If you can't make this film within these miniscule parameters then you won't work for me.” Their films felt dangerous, but in different ways. The biggest difference is that Corman films felt dangerous because safety standards felt extremely lax. De Laurentiis’ films felt dangerous because he was working with actual dangerous people. Like killers. I imagine working for either man was strenuous, to say the least.

Watching Terence Young's The Valachi Papers was exactly that: I knew I was watching a movie that had actual killers working in front of or behind the camera. Exciting! Young is an interesting choice to direct a decidedly Italian/American movie. Most well known for directing the first two and fourth James Bond films, Terence Young was clearly a genre director, but in my opinion very British. His Wait Until Dark (1967), while an American picture, feels very British to me. Young's filmography, though, shows that he was a filmmaker about the world. From the Far East to the Middle East to up and down Europe with a dip in North America, Young had international game. With Valachi being filmed mostly in Italy at De Laurentiis' studios, only one later career film of Young's was an American movie: The Klansman (1974) starring Lee Marvin. I only point this out to say that Valachi feels like a caricature of a mafia movie compared to those of Coppola or Scorsese, even though Valachi was produced by an actual Italian.

Valachi is the true story of Joe Valachi, a made man within the Italian mob who was the first member of the organization to admit in court to the existence of La Cosa Nostra. The film opens with Valachi (Charles Bronson) already in prison, begging for a meeting with Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura), head of the Genovese crime family, who is residing in the same prison. Valachi fears a price has been put on his head and mistakenly murders someone he assumed was after him in prison. Looking at a life sentence, Valachi decides to flip on his former boss and enters solitary confinement to be interviewed by a detective. Told in flashback, Valachi recounts his beginnings with the organization, crimes committed, and names others involved.

While entertaining, and starring Bronson, of whom I'm a fan, there's something I can't quite put my finger on about The Valachi Papers that feels... disjointed? Rushed? Cheap? It wasn't a cheap movie by any means with a budget of over $4 million. Maybe it's Bronson? He doesn't really feel like a mob guy to me. So often, and mostly later in his career, Bronson was a rogue. He worked alone. He was a dealer of vengeance. Here he's part of a family. Even when he decides to flip, he's now working for the opposing team (the feds). There are moments, though, where Bronson is able to convey fear, panic. Charles Bronson had terrific eyes, and when he wanted to he was able to act circles around his co-stars with just the orbs in his skull. And he does that quite often in this movie. And I certainly buy Bronson as a tough guy. But a tough guy in the mob is different from a tough guy who's out for revenge after his watermelon farm is destroyed.

I do appreciate the history lesson the film teaches about the beginnings of the five New York crime families. For instance, I didn't know there was a big meeting of Italian mobsters where Salvatore Maranzano stood up front and divided the group into five families and explained how each family would have bosses, underbosses, capos, soldiers, and associates. I didn't know that the Genovese crime family was originally founded by Lucky Luciano and known as the Luciano crime family. Like any straight, white, American man I still find this stuff fascinating, and in some ways think about how “cool” it would be to be part of a crime family. But then I snap back into reality and remember who I really am. I can be a very nervous and anxious person and being a part of a crime family is constantly living on the edge. I'd never get a full night's sleep; I'd either never be able to poop or have constant diarrhea; I already have high blood pressure and I don't think my doctor would be able to prescribe me a high enough dose. These are my biggest worries about being in the mafia. Clearly I would be a terrible member.

You could do worse than The Valachi Papers when it comes to mob movies; and much worse when it comes to crime movies. But in a year that gave us The Godfather, Prime Cut, and Across 110th Street, Valachi is often dropped by the wayside.