As part of the All Ernie Borgnine Day on SUTS on TCM yesterday, I was glad to see Pay or Die (1960) being shown after considerable time on the shelf for this rarely seen movie. The film was rooted in historical fact centering on the extortion and murders conducted by largely Italian gangs in the early years of the 20th century in NYC--and the filmmakers do not attempt to glamorize the Mafioso in any way. The role gave Borgnine one of his best opportunities to play a realistic and quite heroic person, New York Police Lt. Joseph Petrosino, whose immigrant background and sharp detective skills enabled him to infiltrate the gangs feeding on Little Italy and the city at large. He was able to alert the public and the Congress about Mafioso who were emigrating to this country on false papers to perpetuate their crimes while eluding justice. Interestingly, this was not the first time that Lt. Petrosino had been depicted on film. A silent, The Adventures of Lt. Petrosino, made in 1912, also attempted to tell his story, as did the Gene Kelly dramatic turn in The Black Hand (1950), which featured an excellent, restrained performance by J. Carrol Naish as the police lieutenant. However, this film is by far the best of the biopics devoted to this individual, thanks in no small part to Borgnine, whose characterization honors the work ethic, kindness and generosity of spirit exhibited by the vast majority of Italian-Americans in everyday life.
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| Above: The real life Lt. Joseph Petrosino and Ernest Borgnine in a more expressive portrayal of this individual. |
Having seen this movie as a child, it certainly left a mark on my psyche, particularly the opening sequence when a girl playing an angel in a street festival becomes a pawn in an extortion scheme. Since this was one of those movies sometimes run five times a week on Million Dollar Movie on WOR Channel 9 in New York, this movie made a generation of kids in big Catholic families a little leery about processions and festivals from then on...but I digress.
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| Above: This particular opening set piece with the littlest angels in jeopardy signaled the beginning of a different kind of gangster movie than audiences were accustomed to in 1960. |
The 23-year-old Lampert, playing a turn-of-the-century baker's daughter seeking an education, had been hired for her role as Adelina Saulino by the director after a phone call convinced him that she was right for the part. A screen test and a long term contract with Allied Artists reportedly followed. While the dark, sensitive, velvet-voiced talent of Lampert was obvious to most people, her rise as an actress was not quite as smooth as hoped, perhaps in part due to her deep commitment to her art. With the director's guidance, Lampert had prepared for her role by working at Sarno's Bakery in Los Angeles (which is still there in the Los Feliz section). Every day for a week she worked to learn how to knead and roll dough, to utilize a baker's peel (the long-handled shovel used to insert dough into a bread oven) and to tote firewood on her back by means of a forehead strap. "That Wilson," the actress commented at the time, "When he says 'realism,' he means it!"
When it came time to rehearse her scenes for Pay or Die on the set however, "Zohra wouldn't," explained Wilson. "She'd play the scene for real every time. I took her aside and said, 'Look, this will exhaust you. Relax.'" The daughter of Russian-German immigrants, Lampert realized that her inability to temper her spontaneity and restrain her character's emotions apparently made it difficult for her to play a scene the same way twice. As Wilson realized, "this was the nature of her gift. She could not pretend [and] it drove some of the other actors, not to mention the crew, mad."
Ultimately, the director noticed that Lampert's lack of artifice was "such a challenge" to her fellow actors that she "kept everyone on their toes." Wilson concluded that "...I never felt so sorry for anyone in my life. I was afraid she'd break down. But she never did. I've never seen more courage on the set." Fortunately for those of us who have enjoyed seeing this actress over the years, she persisted despite what sounds like a rocky start, and has had a very long career, giving distinctive performances in whatever venue she appeared over time.
In the context of the film, the personal life of the policeman was in marked contrast to the dramatically depicted, real life threats posed by the Mafia against simple working people and even famed individuals such as Enrico Caruso (they blew up his car outside the Met to make him pay for protection). The burgeoning activities of the gangs, including the harming of children, persisted, prompting Petrosino to cast aside personal happiness in the face of such endemic violence--even on his wedding day--when all the gifts were doused in a bathtub in search of a suspected bomb (there was one there, but fortunately it did not explode thanks to his precautions).
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| Above: Ernest Borgnine & Zohra Lampert in Pay or Die (1960). |
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| Above: Zohra Lampert being threatened by members of The Black Hand in Pay or Die (1960). |
The insidious nature of The Black Hand's influence on the Italian community was subtly portrayed, as the film showed how "pillars of the Italian community" were sometimes in cahoots with the gangsters, and actively making Petrosino's work more dangerous and difficult. Nor does the movie ignore the rampant ignorance and prejudice of Americans about the recently arrived Italian immigrants, with even fellow policeman casually using terms such as "dago" and "wop" to describe the people they were supposed to be serving. Even as Petrosino created an "Italian Squad" within the department made up of Ilalian-Americans who knew the problems faced by their community first hand, the commitment of the powerful to helping him achieve something concrete remained quite tentative, reflecting some of the suspicion and skepticism of many at that time toward Italian immigrants in general. The film also emphasizes how Petrosino used pioneering scientific techniques such as material analysis, his keen observational skills of individual and crowd behavior, along with a dogged, logical pursuit of the facts to build his case against the parasitical mobsters, which ultimately led him to Sicily.
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| Above: A typical extortion note sent to victims in Pay or Die (1960). |
While I suppose that this was a B picture when it was released, and may have been inspired in part by the controversial success of The Untouchables series on television, the period details in Pay or Die were very well done, with the set design and costuming looking noticeably lived in and Lucien Ballard's excellent black and white cinematography enhancing every scene. Best of all, the movie shows the personal struggles of the Borgnine character as he strives to advance his career in order to gain the respect of his community and to build a family life with the girl he loves, despite his own limitations and his fears about the future. Most poignantly, the end of the film has a tragic quality, but the script, by blacklisted writer Richard Collins (Song of Russia, Thousands Cheer) and a scenarist noted for his contributions to the best of the Basil Rathbone Holmes series, Bertram Millhauser (The Suspect, The Web), emphasizes the nobility and dignity of one man's life.
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| Above: Borgnine, cinematographer Lucien Ballard, and director Richard Wilson on the set of Pay or Die (1960). |
If you are interested, Ernest Borgnine was interviewed below about this movie by Alan K. Rode at The Palm Springs Film Noir Festival in 2010. At age 93, Ernie's lively comments are revealing about his own background as well as funny and discerning about the making of this movie.
Borgnine, Ernest, Ernie: The Autobiography, (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2009).
Johnson, Erskine, Girl Meets Hollywood: It's the Mark of Zohra, Ocala Star-Banner, Feb. 16, 1960.
Maeder, Jay, Big Town, Big Time: A New York Epic : 1898-1998, (Sports Publishing, 1999).
The Milwaukee Sentinel, Lovely But Lonely Star, Feb. 28, 1960
University of Michigan Library Archives, Wright, Richard, The Orson Welles Papers 1930-2000, Special Collection.
[Photos & Screen Caps: Courtesy of DVD Beaver, A Certain Cinema, and Heritage Auctions]
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