Gangster Movies: (ca. 1972) When Joe Valachi (Charles Bronson) has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura), he must take desperate measures to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge, and he does the unthinkable, when he becomes a Rat breaks the sacred code of “Omerta”.

The Valachi Papers was shot at a time when common wisdom had it that gangster pictures were box-office poison, so the very American tale of Charles Bronson’s Cosa Nostra soldier spilling the beans on his life in the mob in return for protection by the Feds ended up being shot at Dinocitta in Italy with French money and an English director (Terence Young, reunited with Dr. No villains Joseph Wiseman and Anthony Dawson) only to end up being discounted as a Godfather ripoff when Coppola’s film became a surprise monster hit. Based on Joe Valachi’s congressional committee testimony that lifted the veil off the Mafia’s inner workings after years of denial of its very existence by J. Edgar Hoover.

During the chase scene which takes place during the 1920s in New York, a car goes into the river and in the background the twin towers of the World Trade Center under construction can be clearly seen.

During a car chase scene, the cameras back out too far from the antique cars, and you can see modern (circa late 60′s – early 70′s)cars in the street with them.

As Valachi drives during his first job in 1930, a 1960s Ford is in the left lane next to him.