Mafia was portrayed in romantic terms, with Mafiosi depicted as criminals who lived by a strict code of honor which reflected a peculiarly Sicilian version of machismo. In late 1940s-1950s, Mafiosi were portrayed as a sort of an Italian version of the "noble savage" as tough, but fundamentally warmhearted men who owing to Sicily's isolation and predominately rural character had kept certain honorable and manly qualities that men in the rest of Italy had lost. 1960s In the 1960s, the Mafia became the subject of several Italian comedies directed by Giorgio Simonelli and starring Franco and Ciccio such as I due mafiosi , Due Mafiosi nel Far West and Due Mafiosi contro Goldfinger (1965) which reflected the stereotypes on the mainland of Italy about Sicilians being backward and rustic. In all of these comedies the Mafia was portrayed as the "folkloric expression" of a certain quaint if slightly disreputable Sicilian institution, which was in part made possible by widespread ignorance on the mainland of the more malign aspects of Mafia influence in Sicily. The favorable portrayal of the Mafia in many Italian films was also in part due to the perception that the Mafia was a benign institution that together with the ruling center-right Christian Democratic Party and Catholic Church upheld the social order against the revolutionary challenge of the Italian Communist Party. It was after a spate of high-profile Mafia crimes such as the Sack of Palermo that it became unfashionable to portray Mafia favorably. In the black comedy Mafioso (1962) by Alberto Lattuada, the Mafia was depicted as a sinister organisation that entraps an honest and good man in a life of crime, as the film's hero is forced against his will to become a Mafia assassin. In other films such as Salvatore Giuliano (1961) by Francesco Rosi, Il giorno della civetta (1968) by Damiano Damiani, and The Brotherhood (1968) by Martin Ritt, the Mafia was depicted as a cruel, oppressive organisation, which was both a result of Sicily's backwardness and its cause. 1970s In the 1970s there was a revival of mob films, notably with The Godfather (1972), based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. It was followed by two sequels: The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). It also inspired other mob films such as The Valachi Papers, starring Charles Bronson. The Godfather films depicted a dichotomy