TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

tieman64 A precursor to "The Godfather", "The Brotherhood" is a 1968 crime drama by director Martin Ritt.Another forgotten auteur of the 1960s, and at one time loosely affiliated with left-wing and communist groups, the majority of Ritt's films feature ideological clashes. His 1965 masterpiece, "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold", for example, features Russian "communists" and Western "capitalists" engaging in games of deception and infiltration. "The Molly Maguires" (1970), meanwhile, features union groups being infiltrated by strike busters, whilst "Norma Rae" (1979) does the opposite, with unionists and agitators covertly infiltrating a textile factory. Such themes infect the majority of Ritt's films. "The Front" (1976), for example, finds an unwitting communist sympathiser hounded during the Red Scare years, whilst his 1963 and 1967 masterpieces, "Hud" and "Hombre", revolve around very specific cultural clashes, unhinged greed winning in "Hud", altruism and self-sacrifice in "Hombre", both to disastrous effects. The rest of Ritt's films ("Sounder", "Conrack", "Great White Hope" etc) tend to focus on the victims of racism, sexism or early 20th century capitalism. In this way, Ritt resembles many of the iconoclastic auteurs of mid century American cinema (Altman, Ashby, Michael Ritchie etc).One of Ritt's lesser films, "The Brotherhood" stars Kirk Douglas as Frank Ginetta, a powerful mafia lord. Frank belongs to a "brotherhood" of gangsters, a collection of warlords who have their own codes, laws and shared interests. When this "brotherhood" attempts to diversify, expand and extend its reach in the search of new profits, Frank protests. Market expansion is fine, he says, but gangsters have their place. Encroach on the spheres and monopolies of the state and/or other "legitimate" businesses, and you'll draw unwanted attention. The other crime lords don't agree. They can make the transition, they insist. As he remains steadfast in his convictions, the "brotherhood" attempt to oust Frank; they hire Frank's brother Vince to assassinate him. In scenes which recall the many "undercover agents" which litter Ritt's filmography, Vince "infiltrates" Frank's island stronghold and plots the latter's demise. Vince then takes over his brother's business, his entire body now epitomising the objectivity and impersonality of the New Economic Order.At its best, "The Brotherhood" watches as a kind of nascent, tribal capitalism tries to sneak its way into the 21st century. All who oppose are killed, an act which echoes the fratricide of Ritt's "Hud" and genocides of Ritt's "Hombre". Caught in the middle of this "progress" is Ginetta, who embodies the kind of ideological confusion most Ritt leading men face. "Don't get confused which side you're on!" a character in Ritt's "The Molly Maguires" bluntly states.Whilst "The Brotherhood" is interesting in relation to Ritt's other films, as a standalone picture it's mostly weak. Lewis John Carlino's script is superficial and Douglas is wholly miscast.7.5/10 – Worth one viewing.

zardoz-13 You cannot truly enjoy Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino unless you've seen Martin Ritt's "The Brotherhood" with Kirk Douglas and Alex Cord. Ritt's saga about La Cosa Nostra lacks the scope and spectacle of "The Godfather," but it touches all the traditional bases for an Italian crime thriller. Kirk Douglas is an old-fashioned Mafioso named Frank Ginetta and he refuses to change with the times. Alex Cord plays Kirk's brother Vince who has survived a tour of Vietnam with the U.S. Army. Unlike Al Pacino ex-G.I., Vince knows he must get into the family business. He explains that he is too old and it's been too long since his college days. He wants into the business and Frank couldn't be happier. Initially, all Vince does is review business deals. Eventually, Frank finds out that the board that he is a part of plans to expand. Frank worries about this change. He worries about the repercussions of the deal and he fears the government. Frank is traditional and likes to hang out with the old mafia types. These types were the company that his father kept. Frank discovers that one of the board member is a canary. Earlier, in the first display of violence, Frank ordered the murder of a canary. Moreover, Frank learns that this canary was responsible for the death of his dad. Later, Vince questions Frank's decision about these new interests. As it turns out, Vince's father-in-law is a member of the board on which Frank serves with other business-minded people. When the feces hits the fan, everybody is into conflict, and blood isn't thicker than business.Despite several similarities, "The Brotherhood" differs. Whereas Brando refused to traffic in narcotics, Douglas doesn't want anything to do with electronics. Whereas Pacino didn't want to be in the business, Cord asks to be in the business. "The Godfather" cannot match the climax when brother turns on brother. Nevertheless, "The Godfather" boasts more violence and characters in a narrative that occurs over decades. "The Brotherhood" is really the last reel in "The Godfather." Vince commits an unpardonable crime against the board and flees to the safety of Sicily. Frank knows it is only a matter of time before the board dispatches somebody to ice him. When his brother Vince shows up in the old country to visit Frank, Frank welcomes him with open arms and assure everybody, including his suspicious wife that Vince isn't going to kill him. Kirk Douglas makes a convincing mafia don, and Alex Cord looks like he could be Douglas' kin. Director Martin Ritt takes the subject matter of Louis John Carlino's screenplay with sobriety. The body count of "The Brotherhood" amounts to three. The canary dies in an isolated field. Later, Douglas kills more out of revenge. Finally, his younger brother Vincent carries out an underworld rite of passage. Basically, "The Brotherhood" doesn't wallow in one bloodbath after another. Ritt puts his first-rate through the paces in 94 minutes without let-up, but half of the time nothing exciting happens. The dialogue is largely forgettable, but the situations are genre conventions. Unfortunately, too much talking takes place when more shooting should have rung out. Ritt treats the subject matter as if he were making a crime version of "Death of a Salesman." Lalo Schifrin contributes a fine orchestral score. Part of the action is told in flashback. "The Brotherhood" is a dignified crime drama without a surfeit of violence.

John T. Ryan PREDATING the Mario Puzo tale of Mafiosi in immediate Post World War II NYC by over four years, THE BROTHERHOOD (The Brotherhood Company/Paramount Pictures Company, 1968) was a great example of the underworld life, every bit bas good as THE GODFATHER (Paramount Pictures, 1972) It did not compare to the latter in respect to its stature and epic standards, but nonetheless it has the proper spirit and twisting storyline to make it ever so engaging.TOLD in flashback from the point of view of Frank Ginetta (Kirk Douglas), the elder and prominent Underworld Mob Boss and Vince Ginetta (Alex Cord) the younger and much less criminally involved of the family. Frank has returned to the land of his ancestors, being in Sicily in current times; being 1968, when the film was made.BOLDLY the scene returns to NYC several years earlier, where Frank Ginetta is celebrating at the Wedding of his younger brother, Vince. Shortly thereafter, he is confronted by a couple of old line Mafiosi or "Mustached Joes"; being Sicilian born, transplanted to the New World. The two men, Don Peppino (Eduardo Cianelli) and Pietro Rizzi (Joe DeSantis) have information about certain now High-Ranking Mafia Bosses had been instrumental in having many a Sicilian born mobster killed years earlier.* One of the victims was the Ginetta Boys Father.Further complicating matters is the revelation that the main informant was the now Mob Boss, Dominic Bertolo (Luther Adler), who's Daughter, Emma (Susan Strasberg) has just married Vince Ginetta (Alex Cord) in a sort of Royal Underworld Wedding and a securing a veritable political alliance at the same time.BEING a highly traditional type, Frank knows that it is his Sacred Duty to avenge this foul deed; so with Pietro Rizzi (Joe De Santis, again) acting as his chauffeur, Frank lures Dominic into a trap. Following an impromptu luncheon, Frank relates some amusing "war stories" from the "Old Days"; after which he confronted him with being the informer of those long days ago. With the help of Pietro Rizzi, he binds the hands of Bertolo and rig a neck to feet over the back rope, which slowly strangles the victim as his strength is ebbed away with his impossibly successful struggling.AS the doomed Bertolo lies struggling, unquestionably facing the eventual fate that Frank has decreed him, the elder Ginetta reads the names of the slain who the bound and gagged gangster-chieftain had condemned.MAKING the traditionalist Ginetta the obviously prime suspect is the fact that he uses so many of the old-line signs and symbols of intentional "hits"; such as his favourite of shoving a dead canary into the mouth of the "fink", leaving no doubt as to the reason for the murder.FLEEING to Sicily, among many relatives, Frank and Mrs. Ida Ginetta (Irene Pappas) are in a seemingly endless Mediterranean vacation, when Brother Vince suddenly shows up in Sicily. The revelation doesn't upset Frank any, but it obvious that there's some major event by the expression on Ida's countenance.MEETING the younger Brother and Junior Partner in their Construction Company at the Palermo Airport, Frank takes Vince to lodging among relatives and talks of tradition and its relevancy to today's world. Drinking Wine together and walking out into the Sicilian hills, Frank hands a Sicilian shotgun to his younger brother; imploring him to shoot, saying' "Go ahead, shoot! They got you by the throat!" THE 'they' referred to in Frank Ginetta's dying declaration were the modern day Crime Syndicate's Bosses, who demand that the Bertolo Slaying must be avenged by the younger Ginetta Brother.THE BROTHERHOOD in addition to being a work of fictional gangs and mobsters, is maybe the first to emphasize the multi-ethnic make-up of the modern American Underworld. Gangsters of Irish Ancestry such as Jim Egan (Murray Hamilton), Jewish like Jake Rotherman (Val Avery) and others are present and prominent from the earliest of scenes in the Picture; emphatically underscoring that the Italian Mobster is far from being alone in the Nation's Underworld.MAKING the one point crystal clear, that the make-up of the Crime Syndicate in modern days is far from being populated strictly with Italian hoods; but rather it is a sort of League of Nations. It is one that has a large number of ethnicities on its long list; being an ever growing roster of organized crime.NOTE: * This event of many multiple executions of the "old line" gangsters is referred to in Urban Legend as "the Night of the Sicilian Vespers." There are two sides to the argument, with both great numbers of believers and just as many detractors who believe that the Sicilian Vespers never occurred.POODLE SCHNITZ!!

bkoganbing The Brotherhood as a title has a double meaning. It's not just about that Italian fraternal order of criminals that so many films and books have been made and written about. It's about two brothers also, the Ginettas, Frank and Vince.Kirk Douglas is Frank Ginetta a made man, high up in the councils and his younger brother Vince played by Alex Cord who's just back from the Army like Michael Corleone was. But Michael married an outsider while Vince Ginetta is marrying the daughter of another Mafia capo, Luther Adler.Though he's younger than Adler, Douglas is a guy who likes to do things the old fashioned way, the way his dad who was a button man back in the day did them. He also loves hanging around with the ancient survivors of the old Mafia wars among them Eduardo Ciannelli. Adler and Douglas get to be at loggerheads over Cord and the role he should take in the business. The old guys learn something and give Douglas a contract that's going to cause him considerable problems, personal and organizational. What's a good Mafia guy to do when you get a contract. Then Alex Cord is given a contract to make his bones so to speak.The main difference between the Godfather films and this is that the Brotherhood is set in the present, whereas the Godfather films are rooted in the past. By 1968 organized crime at the highest levels was hardly an Italian only concern. You don't see hardly any non-Italians in the first Godfather film and in the second the alliance is pretty wary. The non-Italians dominate the high councils in New York, Val Avery, Alan Hewitt and Murray Hamilton together with Luther Adler outvote Douglas all the time.Martin Ritt shot a whole lot of this film in New York and many of the sites are recognizable to a native New Yorker. Still it's not one of his better films and it took Francis Ford Coppola to do the modern gangster film right.One thing though, Douglas certainly did NOT heed Vito Corleone's advice about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Not that the higher ups wouldn't have found out at some point anyway, but when you watch The Brotherhood you'll know that Douglas was the obvious suspect when he makes that fateful hit.