The Valachi Papers
Short description
Joe Valachi has spent decades as a loyal soldier in the New York mafia, rising from a small-time street criminal to a trusted position close to the organization's leadership. When boss Vito Genovese orders a bounty on his head, Valachi finds himself trapped in prison and marked for death. After an attempt on his life fails, he chooses to break the mafia's code of silence and begins to reveal what he knows about the inner workings of the criminal organization, becoming a witness against the men he once served.
The film is a crime drama directed by Terence Young, who had already made his name with several films before this one, including Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. Charles Bronson plays Joe Valachi, with Lino Ventura as Vito Genovese, Jill Ireland as Maria Reina Valachi, Walter Chiari as Dominick Petrilli, Joseph Wiseman as Salvatore Maranzano and Gerald S. O'Loughlin as federal agent Ryan. Stephen Geller wrote the screenplay, and Dino De Laurentiis and Roger Duchet produced.
Released in 1972 and running 125 minutes, the film holds a rating of 6.5 out of 10 on TMDB from around 120 votes. It came to the screen ten years after Young's first James Bond film and sits between Red Sun and The Klansman in his directing career.
What's left behind the scenes
- By agreement with the administration of Sing Sing prison, approximately 100 inmates participated in the film (mostly playing bit parts). In payment for their services, the filmmakers made a large donation to the prison's leisure activities fund.
- According to the film's producer, Dino De Laurentiis, during the third week of filming in New York, a letter from the Italo-American Civil Rights League signed by Anthony Colombo arrived at his hotel. There was no end in sight to the filming in New York, but by the evening of that same day, the crew began preparations to move to Rome.
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