The Brotherhood on DVD

click here for "The Gambler"

Kirk Douglas proves there's honor among thieves - or at least murderers - in this Mafia story that predates the Mario Puzo/Francis Ford Copolla benchmark "Godfather."

Set in the 1960's (present day for when the film was made), Douglas is Frank Ginetta, a Mafia don having trouble moving with the times. The crime syndicate of which he's part wants to move heavily into electronics and corner the market, but Frank's afraid of the consequences of coming to the attention of the government.

Bill Gates should have watched this flick!

Anyway, this puts him more at odds with his partners than he had already been; they consider him an old stick in the mud and, when his hotshot brother Vinnie (Alex Cord) joins the family business, they start easing him in and easing Frank out.

Then Frank learns that 35 years ago his father and some forty other people were betrayed by one of his current syndicate partners - a man who's also the father in law of his brother. This calls for a settling of scores, but how do you do that to a man who's been your friend and partner for many years - and who now has a family connection with you?

Most of the movie unfolds in a long flashback, which is fine. The film opens with Frank and his wife, Ida (Irene Papas), living in Sicily, and Vinnie's arrival there ostensibly for a visit. But Ida doesn't buy the line about it being a friendly visit, saying that they both know someone would eventually come for Frank. At this point we don't know why, and the film does a nice dissolve from the "skyline" of the Sicilian village in which they're holed up to a pre-WTC Manhattan, and the main story's flashback begins.

The Brotherhood is a pretty good story, with believable characters and situations and excellent performances all around. The weakest link is Cord, who doesn't really come off as particularly Italian, but he isn't around that much anyway: this is Frank's story, and Kirk Douglas plays the role very well.

The New York locations provide excellent atmosphere and the supporting actors are all wonderfully cast. The parts combine into a whole that, while mostly forgotten since "The Godfather" eclipsed it, is an entertaining and relatively moving story.

The DVD is for the most part excellent, though sparse. The anamorphic widescreen picture (16x9 TV compatible) is for the most part excellent, with wonderful color and detail. There are some sections that are very grainy (the disc starts out grainy, which doesn't bode well; fortunately it gets much better quickly), but most of the movie has a wonderful look that's translated very well to DVD.

Audio is Dolby Digital mono and it isn't remarkable, though there's nothing really wrong with it. The problem, and this is common with older movies, is that the same emphasis wasn't put on the audio as it was on the picture. And you can't blame the DVD for that. They could probably have remastered it, but the sound isn't bad enough to warrant that - nor is the movie a major enough release.

There are no extras, unfortunately.

The Brotherhood, from Paramount Home Video
96 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital mono
Starring Kirk Douglas, Alex Cord, Irene Papas, Luther Adler, Susan Strasberg
Produced by Kirk Douglas
Written by Lewis John Carlino, Directed by Martin Ritt

The Gambler on DVD

James Caan is a college professor on a fast track to big trouble in this Karel Reisz film from 1974.

Caan, who is very good in the role, plays Axel Freed. He's good at his job, but there's something about him that can't pass up a wager. When the film opens he has just lost $44,000 and there are people waiting for that money who play in a much different league than the Ivy.

He convinces his mother to bail him out, but instead of paying off his debts he takes it to Las Vegas and gets on a major roll. Flush again, he comes back to make good on his bills, but that old devil gambling rears its ugly head again and he's back on the merry-go-round, fighting for his life.

It isn't a pretty sight, watching this likeable and respected man descend into a living hell - a hell he can get out of any time he wants, but which offers him a strange and compelling thrill he doesn't get from his "workday" life.

Caan is very believable as Axel, and sometimes you almost want to reach into the screen and slap some sense into him. An excellent supporting cast is along for the ride, to make Axel's life difficult: Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Burt Young, Vic Tayback, M. Emmet Walsh and a very young James Woods.

It's an interesting film, and Paramount has done a decent, though Spartan, job of transferring it to DVD. The picture is anamorphic widescreen (16x9 TV compatible) and though it's a bit grainy in places for the most part it's very good. Audio is Dolby Digital mono, and is about what you'd expect.

There are no extras on the disc.

The Gambler, from Paramount Home Video
110 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital mono
Starring James Caan, Lauren Hutton, Paul Sorvino,
Produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff,
Written by James Toback, Directed by Karel Reisz.

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