A groundbreaking mob drama that helped usher in a new era of gangster films, THE BROTHERHOOD is a moving portrait of a mob family in transition. Kirk Douglas stars as Frank Ginetta, a second generation Italian-American who occupies a seat on the board of a New York syndicate. Dedicated to the old way of doing business, Frank is a stark contrast to the younger generations of the Mafia represented by his brother Vince, a college-educated businessman. An adept money launderer with ambitions of taking over his brother's position as head of the family, Vince soon finds favor with Frank's associates. But when he realizes that Frank is resistant to his ideas for the syndicate, Vince begins to plot against his brother and he is told that in order to prove his loyalty to the family, he must make his first "hit": his brother Frank.

Anticipating Francis Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER, director Martin Ritt explores the two different yet inseparable worlds that mobsters inhabit as they try to be both family men and businessmen. A dark, violent, and moving affair that puts as much emphasis on its human relationships as on its action, THE BROTHERHOOD ranks among the best mob dramas of the 1960s.