The Mafia Movie Business

We often note how Mafia movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and Casino seem to run on cable television in a continuous loop.  At times, you can watch any of these movies any day of the week.  Without actual statistics, I’ll bet that other popular rebroadcasts like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Gone with the Wind, Jurassic Park, The Shawshank Redemption, My Cousin Vinny, and Back to the Future, come in second to the Mafia movie line-up—you can add The Untouchables, and Donny Brasco to the genre.  (Although My Cousin Vinny has nothing to do with the Mafia, the usual film summary describes Vinny as “a wise guy.”)

Sure enough, on Thanksgiving, AMC ran Godfather I and II all day.  On Black Friday, it was the Sundance Channel’s turn.  Both networks are owned by the Dolan Family.  This Irish American clan founded Cablevision and HBO (home of The Sopranos).  They also own Newsday (Long Island’s regional daily), Madison Square Garden—as well as the Rangers and Knicks—Radio City Music Hall, and BBC America (the British network is also addicted to Mafia movies).  Estimated wealth is now well beyond $5.2 Billion.

Clearly, American viewers can’t get enough of De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, and the goombahs.  But it’s a win-win-lose arrangement.  The Dolans get a good market share which means advertising income; the film owners and cast get lifetime residuals, and Italian Americans get the shaft.

What are residuals?  Every time a film is licensed to a cable network and shown, the film studio, directors, actors, and producers get a piece of the action.  In the case of The Godfather, now deceased actor James Caan, who played hothead Sonny Corleone, earned $1 million in residuals in 2015, four decades after the film was made! His estate is probably still receiving checks.  Director Francis Coppola and the rest of the gang easily make ‘F-you’ money every year as Italian American culture gets a cinematic colonoscopy.

When NIAF honored De Niro at a gala in 2002, did he buy a table?  Actually, he could have bought the whole ballroom with his residuals that year!  Other Hollywood stars receive phenomenal residuals for reruns:  Ray Romano around $18 million per year, Jerry Seinfeld $100-$500 million, the Friends cast $20 million each.  If an angel gets his wings every time a bell rings, Mob-stars ring up a sale every time they ‘hit the mattresses’ on TV.

So where are the non-Mafia movies that actually celebrate the Italian heritage?  I’m not talking about Moonstruck or Rocky but serious drama.  Unbroken, the true story of WW II’s Louis Zamperini is rarely broadcast.

The other day by chance, I found a 1992 DVD titled Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. Never knew about it, yet it was written by Mario Puzo (of all people!) and starred Marlon Brando, Tom Selleck, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Seems that the producers of Superman, which Puzo also scripted, latched on to the 500th anniversary of 1492.  That same anniversary lured in another studio that produced 1492: The Conquest of Paradise, which starred French actor Gérard Depardieu.  Add to these films on Columbus the 1985 Italian production of a TV series starring Gabriel Brynes and Sigourney Weaver as well as the old 1949 movie Columbus starring Frederick March.  That film was written by Raphael Sabatini, famous for Captain Blood and all the swashbucklers of the 1930s and 40s. Good luck finding any of these on TV, even on Columbus Day.

Clearly, the producers and stars of these Columbus movies aren’t banking any residuals.  To view these movies, you need to buy a DVD. (The one I bought was from Korea, in English but with German subtitles.) Some stars only make a penny on such sales.

So, in the foreseeable future, count on Mafia movies racking up the residuals. -JLM