|
Kiss Of Death (mafia)
The kiss of death (Italian: ''Il bacio della morte'') is the sign given by a mafioso boss or ''caporegime'' that signifies that a member of the crime family has been marked for death, usually as a result of some perceived betrayal. It is unclear how much is based on fact and how much on the imagination of authors, but it remains a cultural meme and appears in literature and films. Illustrative is the scene in the film '' The Valachi Papers'' when Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura) gives the kiss of death to Joe Valachi (Charles Bronson) to inform him that his betrayal of "the family" is known, and that he will be executed. The "kiss" has also been used as a terror tactic to aid in extortion or debt collection by reducing ''victims'' to a state of panic where they will commit to anything to save their lives. Origin The exact origin is unknown, but an Italian source identifies the ''bacio della morte'' as the kiss given to the assassin delegated to "execute" a death sentence, as if ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Language
Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is spoken by about 68 million people, including 64 million native speakers as of 2024. Italian is an official language in Languages of Italy, Italy, Languages of San Marino, San Marino, Languages of Switzerland, Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons), and Languages of Vatican City, Vatican City; it has official Minority language, minority status in Minority languages of Croatia, Croatia, Slovene Istria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the municipalities of Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Santa Tereza, Encantado, Rio Grande do Sul, Encantado, and Venda Nova do Imigrante in Languages of Brazil#Language co-officialization, Brazil. Italian is also spoken by large Italian diaspora, immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Austral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Western (genre), Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films. Background Henry Hathaway was born Henri Léopold de Fiennes, in Sacramento, California. Hathaway's father, Rhody Hathaway, carried the title of nobility. Rhody became a theatrical manager and married Hathaway's mother, a Hungarian, who acted under the name Jean Hathaway (some citations claim Hathaway was her maiden name). His title of Marquess, Marquis was inherited from his paternal great grandfather J.B. de Fiennes, a Belgian nobleman and barrister in service to King Leopold I of Belgium. When his great grandfather failed in his commission to secure the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) for Belgium, the disgraced elder Marquis self-exiled to San Francisco in 1850. There he established a law practice and married. Early career Juvenil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbet Schroeder
Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors of the French New Wave such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. Schroeder started his career producing such films as '' The Bakery Girl of Monceau'' (1962), '' Six in Paris'' (1965), and '' Celine and Julie Go Boating'' (1974). He then transitioned into directing films such as '' More'' (1969), '' La Vallée'' (1972) and ''Barfly'' (1987), the last of which was nominated for the Palme d'Or. He also gained recognition for directing the documentary '' Koko: A Talking Gorilla'' (1978). He directed what he labeled, "The Trilogy of Evil", which includes the films, '' General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait'' (1974), '' Terror's Advocate'' (2007) and '' The Venerable W.'' (2016). He directed the drama '' Reversal of Fortune'' (1990) and earned a nomination for Academy Award for Best Director. He then di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiss Of Death (1995 Film)
''Kiss of Death'' is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed and produced by Barbet Schroeder, and starring David Caruso, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage, Helen Hunt, Ving Rhames and Stanley Tucci. The film is a remake of the 1947 film noir classic of the same name that starred Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, and Richard Widmark. It was screened out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Like the original ''Kiss of Death'', the film was released by 20th Century Fox. Plot Jimmy Kilmartin is a reformed ex-convict living in Astoria, Queens, New York City, with his wife Bev and their daughter. Both Jimmy and Bev are recovering alcoholics. One day, Bev leaves Jimmy alone to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. During her absence, Jimmy's cousin Ronnie, who is in trouble, urgently seeks his help in moving stolen cars. Knowing the risks involved, Jimmy initially refuses but eventually agrees out of concern for Ronnie's safety. Ronnie reveals that a dangerous asthma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Tornatore
Giuseppe Tornatore (born 27 May 1956) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the directors who brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.Katz, Ephraim, "Italy," ''The Film Encyclopedia'' (New York: HarperResource, 2001), pp. 682-685. In a career spanning over 30 years he is best known for directing and writing drama films such as ''Everybody's Fine (1990 film), Everybody's Fine'', ''The Legend of 1900'', ''Malèna (film), Malèna'', ''Baarìa (film), Baarìa'' and ''The Best Offer''. His most noted film is ''Cinema Paradiso'', for which Tornatore won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has also directed several advertising campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana. Tornatore is also known for his long-standing association with composer Ennio Morricone, who composed music for thirteen Tornatore feature films since 1988. Life and career Born in Bagheria, near Palermo, Tornatore developed an interest in acting and the theatre from at leas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Professor (1986 Film)
''The Professor'' (Italian: ''Il camorrista'') is a 1986 Italian noir-crime drama directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. His film debut, it is based on the true story of the Italian crime boss Raffaele Cutolo, and adapted from the novel by Giuseppe Marrazzo. The international version is shorter than the original Italian release. Plot In 1963, the young man Franco, kills a boy who had harassed his sister Rosaria, and ends up in prison. Over the space of 10 years in Poggioreale prison in Naples, he becomes known as Oh Professor 'e Vesuviano'' (Raffaele Cutolo in real life), a powerful, feared and respected figure. With his friends Alfredo Canale and Pasquale Zara "the animal", he creates the criminal organization "Camorra Riformata". All run of the Professor prison cell, the organization grows and spreads until in the 70s it clashes with the old families of the Camorra, starting the War of the Camorra that will bleed all of South Italy in the 1970s and 1980s. ;The earth trembles In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fredo Corleone
Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather''. Fredo is portrayed by American actor John Cazale in the Francis Ford Coppola 1972 film adaptation and in the 1974 sequel, ''The Godfather Part II''. Fredo is the second son of the Mafia don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro). Fredo is the younger brother of Sonny ( James Caan) and the elder brother to Michael ( Al Pacino) and sister, Connie (Talia Shire). Corleone family '' consigliere'' Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) is his informally adopted brother. The character of Fredo is more indecisive and lacks the determination of his brothers, and as a result has little power or status within the Corleone crime family. In the novel, Fredo's primary weakness is his womanizing, a habit he develops after moving to Las Vegas and which earns his father's disfavor. In the films, Fredo's feelings of personal inadequacy and his inability to act effectively on his own behalf are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather''. In the The Godfather (film series), three ''Godfather'' films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael was portrayed by Al Pacino, for which he was twice-nominated for Academy Awards. Michael is the youngest son of Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire. Upon his father's death, Michael succeeds him as the Crime boss, don of the Corleone family, Corleone crime family. In June 2003, Michael Corleone was recognized as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains, 11th most iconic villain in film history by the American Film Institute, although some critics consider him to be a tragic hero. The British film magazine ''Empire (film magazine), Empire'' selected Michael Corleone as the 11th greatest movie character, with Pacino's performance as Michael Corleone widely regarded as one of the greatest performances in cinematic histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppola, Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Palme d'Or, Palmes d'Or, in addition to nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Coppola was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 2010, the Kennedy Center Honors, Kennedy Center Honors in 2024, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2025. Coppola started his career directing ''The Rain People'' (1969) and co-writing ''Patton (film), Patton'' (1970), the latter of which earned him and Edmund H. North the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Coppola's reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of ''The Godfather'' (1972) and ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974) which bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mario Puzo
Mario Francis Puzo (; ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author and screenwriter. He wrote crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' (1969), which he later co-adapted into a The Godfather (film series), film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Godfather, the first film in 1972 and for ''The Godfather Part II, Part II'' in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 ''Superman (1978 film), Superman'' film and its 1980 Superman II, sequel. His final novel, ''The Family (Puzo novel), The Family'', was released posthumously in 2001. Personal life Puzo was born in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen section of New York City to Italian immigrants from the Province of Avellino; his father was from Pietradefusi and his mother from Ariano Irpino. When Puzo was 12, his father, who worked as a trackm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Godfather Part II
''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic film, epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. It is both a sequel and a prequel to the 1972 film ''The Godfather'', presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the new Crime boss, Don of the Corleone family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life; the other covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Morgana King, John Cazale, Marianna Hill and Lee Strasberg. Following the first film's success, Paramount Pictures began developing a follow-up, with many of the cast and crew returning. Coppola, who was given more creative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Young (director)
Stewart Terence Herbert Young (20 June 1915 – 7 September 1994) was a British film director and screenwriter who worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and Hollywood. He is best known for directing three List of James Bond films, James Bond films: the first two films in the series, ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'' (1962) and ''From Russia with Love (film), From Russia with Love'' (1963), and ''Thunderball (film), Thunderball'' (1965). His other films include the Audrey Hepburn thrillers ''Wait Until Dark (film), Wait Until Dark'' (1967) and ''Bloodline (1979 film), Bloodline'' (1979), the historical drama ''Mayerling (1968 film), Mayerling'' (1968), the infamous Korean War epic ''Inchon (film), Inchon'' (1981), and the Charles Bronson films ''Cold Sweat (1970 film), Cold Sweat'' (1970), ''Red Sun'' (1971), and ''The Valachi Papers (film), The Valachi Papers'' (1972). Early life and education Young was born in the Shanghai International Settlement, International Settlement, of Shangh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
