Why have your morning coffee at a chain? When you can have a
"taste of the mob" at Caffe Palermo. Housed in a building
formerly owned by Al Capone, the Chicago mob boss himself. You
will find posters of "Blackstone", the Vito Brancato PBS film
about the original plan to assassinate JFK in Chicago. A plan
originated by Sam Giancana, retribution for the Kennedy
administration's stance on organized crime. Chicago natives
Vito Brancato and producing partner J. Kenneth Ezra have a big
stake in this little mob coffee shop. Why? Because it's
authentic. In these modern times of computers, internet, and
plastic surgery what a breath of fresh air to walk into a Coffee
Shop where former owner Al Capone kept a business. With a cute
Italian momma's homemade cannoli's and fresh espresso it's tucked
away in the notoriously mob influenced cities of Cicero and
Berwyn, Illinois. If you're lucky, you'll have your order
prepared by the filmmaker himself, when he's not filming.
But it goes further than that; these producers seek authenticity
in their film ventures as well. "Blackstone" was a short film
produced to basically put the "street rumor" into reality. Once
some media outlets heard about it, they insisted showing it "as
is" on PBS. J. Kenneth Ezra producer says his pride wasn't
broken when asked to release it. "Ok, we make this short film,
it's based on a lot of research and some uncorroborated first
hand accounts close to the action. But we insisted that this is
just a short. Plus Brancato is a perfectionist and would rather
have the full length feature film to show" Nonetheless, PBS loved
the realism and obvious truth in the characters, even if we will
never know if Giancana really put the hit into action. However,
information to confirm such findings is surfacing. In her
upcoming book, JFK and Sam: The Connection between the Giancana
and Kennedy Assassinations, Antoinette Giancana claims her
father, the late Chicago mafia boss, ordered President John F.
Kennedy's assassination. Can you get closer than that to the
story? Then how did Vito Brancato and J. Kenneth Ezra get this
information. Ezra uses his hands to explain, "Being in Chicago,
you are around a lot of people that know a lot of people that
heard from a lot a people some things." Other than those
"people" recently released information may corroborate the story.
Brancato calls Blackstone "historical fiction" - real characters
and events woven with fictional ones to give his story an eerie
sense of possibility. For even more "realism" Brancato intercut
archive footage of Kennedy at the Blackstone Hotel in the fall of
'62 during the film's climactic scene. "I can remember growing
up on the north side of Chicago, my grandfather and his old
Italian buddies in their black pants and white dress shirts,
sitting in front of the corner store trading stories from the old
country," recalls Brancato.
Why the coffee? Well, Ken has combined coffee and movies also.
Ken is so committed to authentic films he played the part of
groom and volunteered to work the craft-service table on the set
of "After Freedom", winner of the Pasadena Film Festival audience
award. Director Vahe Babian's beautiful real story about
Armenians adjusting to life in Los Angeles. "If it's true, real
and authentic, I want to part of it. Even if I have to literally
serve coffee to everyone on the set. Being part of Brancato's
film continues my journey of authenticity"
Blackstone will be Brancato's third feature. It is a "fictional"
tale of a botched assassination attempt on JFK in Chicago prior
to that fateful day in Texas. Brancato hopes to parlay the
potential success of Blackstone into King of the Bandits, which
he labels "a legitimate epic, a cross between "The Godfather" and
"Braveheart". Bandit is the incredible true story of Sicilian
freedom fighter Salvatore Giuliano who rose to national
prominence and influenced Italian and American politics following
World War II.
J. Kenneth Ezra has worked his way up to producing a package of
10 movies. In the remake of the independent "The Right thing"
(see trailer at www.razorfilms.com), his partnership with
director and writer Brancato gives us an authentic modern
viewpoint in the Chicago mob scene. Blackstone gives us a
historical viewpoint into the Chicago mob influence. And King
of the Bandits an old country authenticity.
Good luck guys,
How do you say it authentically fellas? Ciao!
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