Saturday, February 10, 2018

The Brotherhood (1968)

Director: Martin Ritt

Writer: Lewis John Carlino

Composer: Lalo Schifrin

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Alex Cord, Irene Papas, Luther Adler, Susan Strasberg, Murray Hamilton, Eduardo Ciannelli, Joe De Santis, Connie Scott, Val Avery, Val Bisoglio, Alan Hewitt, Barry Primus, Michele Cimarosa, Luis Badolati

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Honor. Loyalty. Betrayal.

Plot: The son of a powerful Mafia don comes home from his army service in Vietnam and wants to lead his own life, but family tradition, intrigues and powerplays involving his older brother dictate otherwise, and he finds himself being slowly drawn back into that world.



My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

No one ever says it's the Mafia but we all know what's going on.  There are hints at what's to come with THE GODFATHER (1972).  The IMDb trivia says that Paramount was reluctant to do THE GODFATHER because this picture failed at the box office.  Fans of Mafia pictures are going to need to see this.  The performances are strong, Schifrin's score works very well and if you've seen a lot of Mafia pictures from the last fifty years then you'll see a lot that's familiar in this one and the ending doesn't disappoint.  There's not much action but it doesn't claim to have any but it's a good Mafioso crime drama that feels like a nice companion piece to the film that redefined the genre just four years later.




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