Today is the 70th anniversary of the Rocky Marciano-Archie Moore fight of 1955. It was Rocky Marciano’s last bout and final knock-out of an opponent. He retired the following year with a 49-0 record, 43 of which were knock-outs. He’s the only boxer to retire undefeated. Sadly, he died in a plane crash at age 46 in 1969.
Such a career should be rife for the silver screen, but Marciano’s back story was too hum-drum for Hollywood. However, the champ’s short life did make it to television in 1979 starring Tony LoBianco and again in 1999 starring Jon Favreau.
What Hollywood and the Big Screen really wanted was Italian guttersnipes. Instead of gentleman Rocky Marciano, the moguls chose to do a biopic of middleweight Rocky Graziano, a juvenile delinquent and Army deserter, who made for better drama. (Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman 1956). In 1980, the down-and-dirty life of middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta was introduced to American audiences. Robert DeNiro started down his cinematic road of unsavory Italian Americans as the misogynistic, violent, and crooked LaMotta.
But the real Rocky inspired wannabe screenwriter Sylvester Stallone to reimagine the champ as a punch-drunk mob enforcer who rises to boxing glory as the “Italian Stallion.” That the character has a Hispanic surname may still escape Sly as well as fans of the Rocky series. Nevertheless, it is this fictional Rocky that fronts our sports image to new generations. (If you want the real story of Rocky Marciano, look for Rocky Marciano: A Life Story on YouTube, narrated by Robert Loggia.)
House of Strangers
Hollywood thrives on flawed Italian Americans, usually painting us as curiosities or just plain evil. Al Capone, Don Corleone, and Tony Soprano are now America’s top crooks real or imaginary. Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever), Joey Tribbiani (Friends), and cousin Vinny Gambini (My Cousin Vinny) are America’s all-time loveable characters. (For the kids there are Mario and Luigi.) Then, there are positive characters like Lt. Columbo who are eccentric but represent our public service—a Jewish actor made the role a success.
Many of us enjoy these movies and TV shows even though we sometimes wished the embarrassing characters had different ethnicities. I recall my excitement when Rocky came out. The Italian Stallion swelled my pride because I knew he represented scores of Italian American boxers who helped propel us to assimilation and success.
But Hollywood rarely deviates from the fictionized side of us. The man who founded Bank of America, established branch banking, and funded Walt Disney as well as the Golden Gate Bridge never inspired a major biopic. Instead, Hollywood fictionized A.P. Giannini as a small-time shady banker with murderous sons in House of Strangers (1949) right down to cafone spaghetti dinners.
American war heroes Sgt. John Basilone (Medal of Honor and Navy Cross) and Capt. Don Gentile (“a one-man Air Force”- Gen. Eisenhower) never overcame Hollywood’s Italian criterion. Nor did they inspire Coppola, Scorsese or Chase to honor them. Rather, it was Steven Spielberg who acknowledged Basilone in three episodes of HBO’s The Pacific.
The side they hide includes federal investigator Ferdinand Pecora who exposed Wall Street shenanigans in the 1930s that led to the SEC and the financial guardrails that protect investors today. His name is a footnote while Charles Ponzi’s is immortal. Ponzi’s scam was an estimated $250 million in today’s money. Bernie Madoff defrauded $68 billion worth. Nevertheless, with two cable movies that quickly went to the stacks, Madoff’s infamy won’t outlive Ponzi’s or Capone’s.
Interestingly, DeNiro played both Capone and Madoff but the actor’s bad guy magic wasn’t able to rocket Bernie into the Italo-sphere. –JLM
Mr. Mancini: Your comments are always informative. I once sent one of my books to Garry Marshall (Italian Amrican) hoping he would produce something far from the mob. He was a gentleman, returning my book, saying he had a program with his son. He encouraged me. He passed away. (I didn’t kill him, I swear.) I sent the book to his sister,Penny Marshall. She never acknowledged. I assume she very busy. Oh, well, that’s the way it is.
You are right, there are many forgotten Italian American heroes that should be brought to light. Two that come to mind are Joseph Petrosino and Ferdinand Pecora. Joseph Petrosino a NYPD detective whose story is told in The Italian Squad by Paul Moris. Ferdinand Pecora story is told in the book The Hellhound of Wallstreet by Machael Perino. Despite the prejudice they encountered they rose to prominence and were dedicated to family and country. If anyone has any clout with the media, these two individuals should be promoted.
Leonardo DiCaprio has allegedly been keen to do something on Lt. Petrosino. Yes, another mob movie; however, the focus will be (and should be) on Petrosino’s hatred of Italian criminals. He considered them, rightly, as both cheap thugs and a total disgrace to the Italian American community.
This is a far cry from today’s attitude toward “the mob” in America, who are seen as “colorful” (!!).
So far, this project remains a dream. But if DiCaprio follows through and takes the right attitude toward it, such a film will undercut tons of ignorance.