This one should have been great with director Martin Ritt, screenwriter Lewis John Carlino, and star Kirk Douglas. But instead it's just okay, a very talkie film with only hints of intrigue and not much to praise outside of a few of the performances, some nice location photography and a few sequences that show the potential. I loved the opening of Alex Cord arriving in Palermo to visit brother Douglas, showing him driving through the picturesque mountains with curvy roads and the sea just below the foot of these giant hills.
The intrigue of Cord's troubled relationship with brother Douglas is interesting too, but there's lengthy bits of nothingness between important scenes often makes the film seem interminable. Irene Papas and Susan Strasberg as the wives have one or two good scenes each, but the charscters feel underdeveloped. The plot revolves mainly around discussions of the past, mob family rivalries and innumerable discussions over possible mob hits, and whom Douglas believes is out to put a hit on gin.
The best scene surrounds another mob family leader, Luther Adoer, estranged from Douglas and his family, given an opportunity for reconciliation over a big meal. The viewer can tell through Douglas's friendly discussion over an ancient hit that Adler is being set up, and as the town car drives along the west side highway up to the George Washington Bridge, it's only a matter of when and how Adler gets his. So it's a letdown, no rival to "The Godfather", sadly because it could have been a contender.
The intrigue of Cord's troubled relationship with brother Douglas is interesting too, but there's lengthy bits of nothingness between important scenes often makes the film seem interminable. Irene Papas and Susan Strasberg as the wives have one or two good scenes each, but the charscters feel underdeveloped. The plot revolves mainly around discussions of the past, mob family rivalries and innumerable discussions over possible mob hits, and whom Douglas believes is out to put a hit on gin.
The best scene surrounds another mob family leader, Luther Adoer, estranged from Douglas and his family, given an opportunity for reconciliation over a big meal. The viewer can tell through Douglas's friendly discussion over an ancient hit that Adler is being set up, and as the town car drives along the west side highway up to the George Washington Bridge, it's only a matter of when and how Adler gets his. So it's a letdown, no rival to "The Godfather", sadly because it could have been a contender.