Word: mafiosi
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...PERSONAL level, The Godfather doesn't glorify Mafiosi. It shows them as the hotheaded hoods and wiser, mellower monsters that they are. They live in their own social and spiritual hierarchy: the men of the New York Five Families here depicted battle for position in an underworld pecking order, and keep their women and children secure with pasta and the Catholic Church and other more American delights. If Don Corleone, the Man himself, and Michael, his son and successor, come off looking better than any others, straight or crooked, it's because they play the game the best...
Actually, the Mafiosi in Sicily were not rebels against baronial power structures, but go-betweens for nobles and peasants. From the start of their history, they were directed to use every means of torture to extract fealties to their lords. When feudalism died, they did the job for themselves, maintaining an iron grip on the land they once just supervised. The Mafia has always been reactionary; it was no surprise that it helped kill Italian Communism...
...than ever, given the slum conditions most recruits lived in and the sweat they would have had to muster getting out of them via normal routes. But the nationalist image they projected was merely a good business front and organizing factor. Mafia means were ugly, its ties to home Mafiosi still insoluble, and its responsibility for widespread corruption--first through cathouses and clipjoints, then through drugs--unavoidable...
Does it give an accurate portrayal of the Ma fia? Perhaps not. Many real-life Mafiosi were reportedly amused and somewhat flattered by their portraits in the book, despite the protestations of Colombo's now discredited league. They may well be equally amused and flattered by the movie...
...good time, as Gay Talese reports, yukking it up over TV reruns of The Untouchables. They give high marks for verisimilitude and general elan to films like Bullitt, in which they admire Steve McQueen's resilient cool. Authors Puzo and Talese are esteemed for their portraits of Mafiosi as "men of respect" (although Mafiosi feel that Talese, especially, was taken in by his sources). The alltime Mafia favorite, however, is the movie The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Basil Rathbone, who plays the villainous Sir Guy Gisbourne, is hissed at every appearance. He is the totally corrupt and power...