The Valachi Papers (film)

The Valachi Papers
French film poster
Directed byTerence Young
Screenplay byStephen Geller
Based onThe Valachi Papers
by Peter Maas
Produced byDino De Laurentiis
Roger Duchet
StarringCharles Bronson
Lino Ventura
Joseph Wiseman
Jill Ireland
Walter Chiari
Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Amedeo Nazzari
CinematographyAldo Tonti
Edited byJohnny Dwyre
Monica Finzi
Music byRiz Ortolani
Armando Trovajoli
Production
companies
Distributed byCineriz (Italy)
S.N. Prodis (France)
Cinema International Corporation (international)
Release dates
  • 21 July 1972 (1972-07-21) (Ireland)
  • 9 December 1972 (1972-12-09) (France)
  • 13 December 1972 (1972-12-13) (Italy)
Running time
125 minutes
CountriesItaly
France
LanguagesEnglish
Italian
Budget$4.2 million
Box office$17,106,087

The Valachi Papers is a 1972 biographical crime film directed by Terence Young, which tells the story of Joseph Valachi, an American Mafia informant in the early 1960s who was the first ever mafioso to acknowledge the organization's existence. The film stars Charles Bronson as Valachi and Lino Ventura as Vito Genovese, along with Jill Ireland, Walter Chiari, Joseph Wiseman, and Gerald S. O'Loughlin. It is an adaptation of the 1968 non-fiction book by Peter Maas, with a screenplay by Stephen Geller.

The film was an international co-production between Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis and French company Euro-France Films. It premiered on July 21, 1972 in Ireland. The Valachi Papers was a commercial success, but received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, many of whom negatively compared it to The Godfather.