Mrs. Monetti -- Saint or Villain?

Overall, I've enjoyed this film very much. However, I have little sympathy for Mrs. Monetti (Esther Minciotti).

Gino Monetti's (Edward G. Robinson's) obsession with building his bank no doubt caused her some stress, but wasn't she kept busy most of the time rearing her children anyway?

When her husband signs the bank over to her to protect his assets from seizure during and after his criminal trial, she betrays him by turning the assets over to her sons Joe (Luther Adler), Tony (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and Pietro (Paul Valentine), leaving her husband without the bank he worked so hard to establish. Is it surprising then that Gino wanted Max (Richard Conte) to exact vengeance on his brothers? Of course not.

I can't believe that Gino doesn't express overt resentment over his wife's action. And Mrs. Monetti's punishing of Gino that way wasn't the key to a happy future with him. If Gino had lived longer, I suspect he would have taken her on a cruise and thrown her overboard in shark-infested waters.

As for Max, he was cut out completely by both parents. Because he was the favorite son and the most loyal to his father, it seems odd that Gino wasn't going to cut him in for a share of the bank at his death.

Also, I wasn't fully satisfied by the ending. I would like to have seen Pietro throw Joe over the railing, especially since Joe was the one who got Max into trouble for jury tampering (though because of the Production Code, Max had to be punished for his crime).

In the final analysis, Hollywood had to make Max look noble. If Joe had been killed, though, Max would still have been able to drive off with Irene (Susan Hayward) to have a happy life ever after.