The Brotherhood (1968)

Quite good proto-Godfather offering. Kirk Douglas helms the film and carries it, his characters interesting enough to hang with for an hour and forty minutes. Douglas's father had been a mobster and now he's one too, part of a powerful syndicate but still fostering deep sentimental ties to the old school Mafiosos who have been pushed aside. He welcomes his brother (Alex Cord) into the outfit after the young man's marriage, Douglas is a family man and loves having him around. He is also a cautious man and when his compatriots decide they want to get involved in a scheme to skim money from the federal government, Douglas decides its too risky and repeatedly vetoes the measure (the syndicate operates as a kind of council that requires unanimous consent from its leaders). Frustrated his fellow mobsters decide that if Douglas doesn't play along they will  have him eliminated, they enlist his younger brother to try and talk some sense into him. Douglas won't listen, then he discovers that one of his fellow board members was responsible for the death of his beloved father, he must settle this (kill the guy) and then flee to Sicily. The syndicate later sends the brother out to off him, and the story ends in an interesting way.  Good, solid, satisfying, Douglas's character a multi-fascinated one and his performance makes the film. Worthy. Directed by Martin Ritt.

Good