"The Valachi Papers" tells, through flashback, the true-life story of mafia driver Joseph Valachi, who became a government informant and was the first to reveal the secrets of the cosa nostra and crime syndicate to the outside world. It is a great premise for a film, rich with possibilities of "Godfather"-like drama and excitement, but is directed so poorly and lifelessly that it fails on almost every level.
Charles Bronson is Joe Valachi, and he is farthest here from his tough-guy persona than in any other of his movies. It's clear that he's actually playing a Character here, an actual person, but we never quite learn what makes Joe special or different from the high-powered crime bosses above him or the everyday joe like you and me. He spends most of the movie in old-age make-up, grumbling to his Federal contact who's trying to pump him for as much information as possible, and he comes off like a dull old man sending back his soup at a diner. The flashbacks are the heart of the film, but they reduce even the most outrageous and violent episodes- like an adulterous mafioso who gets castrated for sleeping with a boss' wife- into pre-digested afterthoughts without highs, lows or impact. The real-life assassination of a mafia don at an Italian restaurant- which is brilliantly featured in "The Godfather"- is told here with all the dramatics of an afternoon stroll: the don's dinner companions excuse themselves to the bathroom and he is showered in bullets by a pair of hit-men. Yawn.
This was an Italian-made film, and seems to have been made with a homogenized eye for an international release, but that's no excuse for director Terence Young's passionless and flat execution. Even the sequence in which Joe is initiated into the brotherhood of the mafia- a scene that scandalously exposed the mob's most sacred rites- is filmed like a home-video of a Cub Scout earning his Webelos merit badge. Bronson may be stretching the limits of his acting range, but his performance would have been passable if the direction was competent.
"The Valachi Papers" actually beat "The Godfather" to the theaters by a matter of months, but otherwise the two films don't belong in the same sentence. What should have and could have blown the lid off the most powerful crime organization on the planet has about as much impact as two hours of C-SPAN. This is a sloppy, slapdash assemblage of stories without any insight or meaning. Terence Young doesn't know why any of this is important, so why should we care? "The Valachi Papers" is just flushable filler, and not even recommended for Bronson die-hards.
GRADE: D
Charles Bronson is Joe Valachi, and he is farthest here from his tough-guy persona than in any other of his movies. It's clear that he's actually playing a Character here, an actual person, but we never quite learn what makes Joe special or different from the high-powered crime bosses above him or the everyday joe like you and me. He spends most of the movie in old-age make-up, grumbling to his Federal contact who's trying to pump him for as much information as possible, and he comes off like a dull old man sending back his soup at a diner. The flashbacks are the heart of the film, but they reduce even the most outrageous and violent episodes- like an adulterous mafioso who gets castrated for sleeping with a boss' wife- into pre-digested afterthoughts without highs, lows or impact. The real-life assassination of a mafia don at an Italian restaurant- which is brilliantly featured in "The Godfather"- is told here with all the dramatics of an afternoon stroll: the don's dinner companions excuse themselves to the bathroom and he is showered in bullets by a pair of hit-men. Yawn.
This was an Italian-made film, and seems to have been made with a homogenized eye for an international release, but that's no excuse for director Terence Young's passionless and flat execution. Even the sequence in which Joe is initiated into the brotherhood of the mafia- a scene that scandalously exposed the mob's most sacred rites- is filmed like a home-video of a Cub Scout earning his Webelos merit badge. Bronson may be stretching the limits of his acting range, but his performance would have been passable if the direction was competent.
"The Valachi Papers" actually beat "The Godfather" to the theaters by a matter of months, but otherwise the two films don't belong in the same sentence. What should have and could have blown the lid off the most powerful crime organization on the planet has about as much impact as two hours of C-SPAN. This is a sloppy, slapdash assemblage of stories without any insight or meaning. Terence Young doesn't know why any of this is important, so why should we care? "The Valachi Papers" is just flushable filler, and not even recommended for Bronson die-hards.
GRADE: D