I walk down a residential street and hear “Speak Softly, Love,” the love theme from “The Godfather” original movie. It is such a haunting melody. I walk for three or four blocks listening to the lovely music until I reach an ordinary-looking ranch house. The music seems to be coming from the back yard. In these days of pandemic lockdowns, we do whatever we can to lift our spirits. I can see why this family chose the Godfather theme to lift theirs. It is a beautifully written piece of music, and it makes me think about the year 1972 when it was released. That was the year I graduated from college and moved 345 miles away to start my first job. It was a scary and exciting time, probably a lot like being a part of the Corleone family. I was on my own for the first time; I had passed all the tests and was now a certifiable adult. No one but me was now responsible for providing my meals, cleaning my apartment and paying my bills. The melancholy melody makes me brood over that transition, but it also gives me comfort knowing that I survived. I became a woman just as Michael Corleone became a man — just with a lot less blood and death. Let’s find out more about his transition and relationship with his family.
According to Wikipedia, “The Godfather” is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same name. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacine, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton. It is the first installment in “The Godfather” trilogy. The story, spanning from 1945 to 1955, chronicles the Corleone family under patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando), focusing on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.
Paramount Pictures obtained the rights to the novel for the price of $80,000, before it gained popularity. Studio executives had trouble finding a director; their first few candidates turned down the position before Coppola signed on to direct the film. They and Coppola disagreed over the casting of several characters, in particular Vito and Michael. Filming took place primarily on location around New York City and in Sicily and was completed ahead of schedule. The musical score was composed principally by Nino Rota, with additional pieces by Carmine Coppola.
“The Godfather” premiered at the Loew’s State Theatre on March 14, 1972 and was widely released in the United States on March 24, 1972. It was the highest-grossing film of 1972 and was for a time the highest-grossing film ever made, earning between $246 and $287 million at the box office. The film received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for the performances, particularly those of Brando and Pacino, the directing, screenplay, cinematography, editing, score, and portrayal of the mafia. “The Godfather” acted as a catalyst for the successful careers of Coppola, Pacino and other relative newcomers in the cast and crew. Additionally, the film revitalized Brando's career which had declined in the 1960s, and he went on to star in films such as “Last Tango in Paris,” “Superman” and “Apocalypse Now.”
At the 45th Academy Awards, the film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor for Brando and Best Adapted Screenplay for Puzo and Coppola. In addition, the seven other Oscar nominations included Pacino, Caan and Duvall for Best Supporting Actor, along with Coppola for Best Director. Since its release, “The Godfather” has been widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, especially in the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990, being deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and is ranked the second-greatest film in American cinema behind “Citizen Kane” by the American Film Institute. It was followed by sequels “The Godfather Part II” in 1974 and “The Godfather Part III” in 1990.
Development
The film is based on Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” crime novel, which remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 67 weeks and sold over nine million copies in two years. Published in 1969, it became the best-selling published work in history for several years. Paramunt Pictures originally found out about Puzo's novel in 1967 when a literary scout for the company contacted then Paramount Vice President of Production Peter Bart about Puzo's unfinished sixty-page manuscript. Bart believed the work was "much beyond a Mafia story" and offered Puzo a $12,500 option for the work, with an option for $80,000 if the finished work were made into a film. Despite Puzo's agent telling him to turn down the offer, Puzo was desperate for money and accepted the deal. Paramount's Robert Evans relates that, when they met in early 1968, he offered Puzo the $12,500 deal for the 60-page manuscript titled “Mafia” after the author confided in him that he urgently needed $10,000 to pay off gambling debts.
In March 1967, Paramount announced that they backed Puzo's upcoming work in the hopes of making a film. In 1969, Paramount confirmed their intentions to make a film out of the novel for the price of $80,000, with aims to have the film released on Christmas Day in 1971. On March 23, 1970, Albert S. Ruddy was officially announced as the film's producer, in part because studio executives were impressed with his interview and because he was known for bringing his films in under budget.
Direction
Francis Ford Coppola was not Paramount’s first choice to direct the movie; Italian director Sergio Leone was initially offered the job but declined in order to direct his own gangster opus, “Once Upon a Time in America.” Peter Bogdanovich was then approached, but he also declined the offer and made “What’s Up, Doc?” instead; Bogdanovich has often said that he would have cast Edward G. Robinson in the lead had he accepted the film. In addition, Peter Yates, Richard Brooks, Arthur Penn, Costa-Gavras and Otto Preminger were all offered the position and declined. Robert Evas, head of Paramount Pictures at the time, specifically wanted an Italian American to direct the film because his research had shown that previous films about the mafia that were directed by non-Italians had fared dismally at the box office. He also wanted to, in his own words, "smell the spaghetti." Evans' chief assistant Peter Bart suggested Francis Ford Coppola, as a director of Italian ancestry who would work for a low sum and budget after the poor reception of his latest film “The Rain People.” Coppola also did not initially want to direct the film because he feared it would glorify the mafia and violence and thus reflect poorly on his Sicilian and Italian heritage. However, when he hit upon the idea of making the film a metaphor for American capitalism, he eagerly agreed to take the helm. Coppola was officially announced as director of the film on September 28, 1970. Paramount had offered twelve other directors the job with “The Godfather” before Coppola agreed. Coppola agreed to receive $125,000 and six percent of the gross rentals.
There was disagreement between Paramount and Coppola on the issue of casting; Coppola stuck to his plan of casting Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, though Paramount wanted either Ernest Borgnine or Danny Thomas. At one point, Coppola was told by the then-president of Paramount that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture." After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less money than his previous films, perform a screen test and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production as he had done on previous film sets. Brando ended up earning $1.6 million from a net participation deal. Coppola chose Brando over Ernest Borgnine on the basis of Brando's screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership. For the screen test, Brando stuck cotton balls in his cheeks, put shoe polish in his hair to darken it and rolled his collar. Brando later won an Academy Award for his portrayal, which he refused to accept. Coppola would later recollect:
“The Godfather” was a very unappreciated movie when we were making it. They were very unhappy with it. They didn't like the cast. They didn't like the way I was shooting it. I was always on the verge of getting fired. So, it was an extremely nightmarish experience. I had two little kids, and the third one was born during that. We lived in a little apartment, and I was basically frightened that they didn't like it. They had as much as said that, so when it was all over, I wasn't at all confident that it was going to be successful, and that I'd ever get another job.
Coppola and Paramount
Before “The Godfather” was in production, Paramount had been going through an unsuccessful period. In addition to the failure of “The Brotherhood,” other recent films that were produced or co-produced by Paramount had greatly exceeded their budgets: “Darling Lili,” “Paint Your Wagon” and “Waterloo.” The budget for the film was originally $2.5 million, but as the book grew in popularity Coppola argued for and, ultimately, received a larger budget. Paramount executives wanted the movie to be set in contemporary Kansas City and shot in the studio backlot in order to cut down on costs. Coppola objected and wanted to set the movie in the same time period as the novel, the 1940s and 1950s; Coppola's reasons included: Michael Corleone's Marine Corps stint, the emergence of corporate America and America in the years after World War II. The novel was becoming increasingly successful, and so Coppola's wishes were eventually agreed to. The studio heads subsequently let Coppola film on location in New York City and Sicily.
Gulf+Western executive Charles Bluhdorn was frustrated with Coppola over the number of screen tests he had performed without finding a person to play the various roles. Production quickly fell behind because of Coppola's indecisiveness and conflicts with Paramount, which led to costs being around $40,000 per day. With the rising costs, Paramount had then Vice President Jack Ballard keep a close eye on production costs. While filming, Coppola stated that he felt he could be fired at any point as he knew Paramount executives were not happy with many of the decisions he had made. Coppola was aware that Evans had asked Elia Kazan to take over directing the film because he feared that Coppola was too inexperienced to cope with the increased size of the production. Coppola was also convinced that the film editor, Aram Avakian, and the assistant director, Steve Kestner, were conspiring to get him fired. Avakian complained to Evans that he could not edit the scenes correctly because Coppola was not shooting enough footage. Evans was satisfied with the footage being sent to the west coast and authorized Coppola to fire them both. Coppola later explained: "Like the godfather, I fired people as a preemptory strike. The people who were angling the most to have me fired, I had fired." Brando threatened to quit if Coppola was fired.
Paramount wanted “The Godfather” to appeal to a wide audience and threatened Coppola with a "violence coach" to make the film more exciting. Coppola added a few more violent scenes to keep the studio happy. The scene in which Connie smashes crockery after finding out Carlo has been cheating was added for this reason.
Writing
On April 14, 1970, it was revealed that Puzo was hired by Paramount for $100,000, along with a percentage of the film's profits, to work on the screenplay for the film. Working from the book, Coppola wanted to have the themes of culture, character, power and family at the forefront of the film, whereas Puzo wanted to retain aspects from his novel, and his initial draft of 150 pages was finished on August 10, 1970. After Coppola was hired as director, both Puzo and Coppola worked on the screenplay, but separately. Puzo worked on his draft in Los Angeles, while Coppola wrote his version in San Francisco. Coppola created a book where he tore pages out of Puzo's book and pasted them into his book. There, he made notes about each of the book's 50 scenes, which related to major themes prevalent in the scene, whether the scene should be included in the film, along with ideas and concepts that could be used when filming to make the film true to Italian culture. The two remained in contact while they wrote their respective screenplays and made decisions on what to include and what to remove for the final version. A second draft was completed on March 1, 1971, and was 173 pages long. The final screenplay was finished on March 29, 1971, and wound up being 163 pages long, 40 pages over what Paramount had asked for. When filming, Coppola referred to the notebook he had created over the final draft of the screenplay. Screenwriter Robert Towne did uncredited work on the script, particularly on the Pacino-Brando garden scene. Despite finishing the third draft, some scenes in the film were still not written yet and were written during production.
The Italian American Civil Rights League, led by mobster Joseph Colombo, wanted all uses of the words "mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" to be removed from the script, in addition to feeling that the film emphasized stereotypes about Italian-Americans. The league also requested that all the money earned from the premiere be donated to the league's fund to build a new hospital. Coppola claimed that Puzo's screenplay only contained two instances of the word "mafia" being used, while "Cosa Nostra" was not used at all. Those two uses were removed and replaced with other terms, which Coppola felt did not change the story at all. The league eventually gave its support for the script.
Casting
From the start of production, Coppola wanted Robert Duvall to play the part of Tom Hagen. After screen testing several other actors, Coppola eventually got his wish, and Duvall was awarded the part. Al Martino, a then famed singer in nightclubs, was notified of the character Johnny Fontane by a friend who read the eponymous novel and felt Martino represented the character of Johnny Fontane. Martino then contacted producer Albert S. Ruddy, who gave him the part. However, Martino was stripped of the part after Coppola became director and then awarded the role to singer Vic Damone. According to Martino, after being stripped of the role, he went to Russell Bufalino, his godfather and a crime boss, who then orchestrated the publication of various news articles that claimed Coppola was unaware of Ruddy giving Martino the part. Damone eventually dropped the role because he did not want to provoke the mob, in addition to being paid too little. Ultimately, the part of Johnny Fontane was given to Martino.
Robert De Niro originally was given the part of Paulie Gatto. A spot in “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” opened up after Al Pacino quit the project in favor of “The Godfather,” which led De Niro to audition for the role and leave “The Godfather” after receiving the part. After De Niro quit, Johnny Martino was given the role of Gatto. Coppola cast Diane Keaton for the role of Kay Adams due to her reputation for being eccentric. John Cazale was given the part of Fredo Corleone after Coppola saw him perform in an off-Broadway production. Gianni Russo was given the role of Carlo Rizzi after he was asked to perform a screen test in which he acted out the fight between Rizzi and Connie.
Nearing the start of filming on March 29, Michael Corleone had yet to be cast. Paramount executives wanted a popular actor, either Warren Beatty or Robert Redford. Producer Robert Evans wanted Ryan O’Neal to receive the role in part due to his recent success in “Love Story.” Pacino was Coppola's favorite for the role as he could picture him roaming the Sicilian countryside and wanted an unknown actor who looked like an Italian American. However, Paramount executives found Pacino to be too short to play Michael. Dustin Hoffman, Martin Sheen and James Caan also auditioned. Caan was well received by the Paramount executives and was given the part of Michael initially, while the role of Sonny Corleone was awarded to Carmine Caridi. Coppola still pushed for Pacino to play Michael after the fact and Evans eventually conceded, allowing Pacino to have the role of Michael as long as Caan played Sonny. Evans preferred Caan over Caridi because Caan was seven inches shorter than Caridi, which was much closer to Pacino's height. Despite agreeing to play Michael Corleone, Pacino was contracted to star in MGM's “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” but the two studios agreed on a settlement and Pacino was signed by Paramount three weeks before shooting began.
Coppola gave several roles in the film to family members. He gave his sister, Talia Shire, the role of Connie Corleone. His daughter Sofia played Michael Francis Rizzi, Connie's and Carlo's newborn son. Carmie Coppola, his father, appeared in the film as an extra playing a piano during a scene. Coppola's wife, mother and two sons all appeared as extras in the picture.
Several smaller roles, like Luca Brasi, were cast after the filming had started.
Filming
Before the filming began, the cast received a two-week period for rehearsal, which included a dinner where each actor and actress had to assume character for its duration. Filming was scheduled to begin on March 29, 1971, with the scene between Michael Corleone and Kay Adams as they leave Best & Co. in New York City after shopping for Christmas gifts. The weather on March 23 predicted snow flurries, which caused Ruddy to move the filming date forward; snow did not materialize and a snow machine was used. Principal filming in New York continued until July 2, 1971. Coppola asked for a three-week break before heading overseas to film in Sicily. Following the crew's departure for Sicily, Paramount announced that the release date would be moved to spring 1972.
Cinematographer Gordon Willis initially turned down the opportunity to film “The Godfather” because the production seemed "chaotic" to him. After Willis later accepted the offer, he and Coppola agreed to not use any modern filming devices, helicopters or zoom lenses. Willis and Coppola chose to use a "tableau format" of filming to make it seem if it was viewed like a painting. He made use of shadows and low light levels throughout the film to showcase psychological developments. Willis and Coppola agreed to interplay light and dark scenes throughout the film. Willis underexposed the film in order to create a "yellow tone." The scenes in Sicily were shot to display the countryside and "display a more romantic land," giving these scenes a "softer, more romantic" feel than the New York scenes.
One of the film's most shocking moments involved an actual, severed, horse's head. Coppola received some criticism for the scene, although the head was obtained from a dog-food company from a horse that was to be killed regardless of the film. On June 22, the scene where Sonny is killed was shot on a runway at Mitchel Field in Mineola, where three tollbooths were built, along with guard rails and billboards, to set the scene. Sonny's car was a 1941 Lincoln Continental with holes drilled in it to resemble bullet holes. The scene took three days to film and cost over $100,000.
Coppola's request to film on location was observed; approximately 90 percent was shot in New York City and its surrounding suburbs, using over 120 distinct locations. Several scenes were filmed at Filmways in East Harlem. The remaining portions were filmed in California or on-site in Sicily. The scenes set in Las Vegas were not shot on location because there were insufficient funds. Savoca and Forza D’Agrò were the Sicilian towns featured in the film. The opening wedding scene was shot in a Staten Island neighborhood using almost 750 locals as extras. The house used as the Corleone household and the wedding location was at 110 Longfellow Avenue in the Todt Hill neighborhood of Staten Island. The wall around the Corleone compound was made from Styrofoam. Scenes set in and around the Corleone olive oil business were filmed on Mott Street.
After filming had ended on August 7, post-production efforts were focused on trimming the film to a manageable length. In addition, producers and director were still including and removing different scenes from the end product, along with trimming certain sequences. In September, the first rough cut of the film was viewed. Many of the scenes removed from the film were centered around Sonny, which did not advance the plot. By November, Coppola and Ruddy finished the semifinal cut. Debates over personnel involved with the final editing remained even 25 years after the release of the film. The film was shown to Paramount staff and exhibitors in late December 1971 and January 1972.
Music
Coppola hired Italian composer Nino Rota to create the underscore for the film, including the main theme, "Speak Softly, Love". For the score, Rota was to relate to the situations and characters in the film. Rota synthesized new music for the film and took some parts from his “Fortunella” score, in order to create an Italian feel and evoke the tragedy within the film. Paramount executive Evans found the score to be too "highbrow" and did not want to use it; however, it was used after Coppola managed to get Evans to agree. Coppola believed that Rota's musical piece gave the film even more of an Italian feel. Coppola's father, Carmine, created some additional music for the film, particularly the music played by the band during the opening wedding scene.
Incidental music includes "C’è la luna mezzo mare" and Cherubino's aria, "Non so più cosa son" from “Le Nozze di Figaro.” There was a soundtrack released for the film in 1972 in vinyl form by Paramount Records, on CD in 1991 by Geffen Records and digitally by Geffen on August 18, 2005. The album contains over 31 minutes of music coming from the film, with most being composed by Rota, along with a song from Coppola and one by Johnny Farrow and Marty Symes. AllMusic gave the album five out of five stars, with editor Zach Curd saying it is a "dark, looming and elegant soundtrack." An editor for Filmtracks believed that Rota was successful in relating the music to the film's core aspects.
Cultural influence
Although many films about gangsters preceded “The Godfather,” Coppola steeped his film in Italian immigrant culture and his portrayal of mobsters as persons of considerable psychological depth and complexity was unprecedented. Coppola took it further with “The Godfather Part II,” and the success of those two films, critically, artistically and financially, was a catalyst for the production of numerous other depictions of Italian Americans as mobsters, including films such as Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” and TV series such as David Chase’s “The Sopranos.” A comprehensive study of Italian-American culture on film, conducted from 1996 to 2001 by the Italic Institute of America, showed that nearly 300 movies featuring Italian Americans as mobsters — mostly fictional — have been produced since “The Godfather,” an average of nine per year.
“The Godfather” epic, encompassing the original trilogy and the additional footage that Coppola incorporated later, has been thoroughly integrated into American life. Together with a succession of mob-theme imitators, it has resulted in a stereotyped concept of Italian American culture biased toward the criminal networks. The first film had the largest effect. Unlike any film before it, its portrayal of the many poor Italians who immigrated to the United States in the early decades of the 20th century is perhaps attributable to Coppola and expresses his understanding of their experience. The films explore the integration of fictional Italian American criminals into American society. Though set in the period of mass Italian immigration to the U.S., the film explores the specific family of the Corleones, who live outside the law. Although some critics have considered the Corleone story to portray some universal elements of immigration, other critics have suggested that it resulted in viewers overly associating organized crime with Italian American culture. Produced in a period of intense national cynicism and self-criticism, the film struck a chord about the dual identities felt by many descendants of immigrants. “The Godfather” increased Hollywood's negative portrayals of immigrant Italians in the aftermath of the film and was a recruiting tool for organized crime.
The concept of a mafia "godfather" was a creation of Mario Puzo, and the film resulted in this term being added to the common language. Don Vito Corleone's line, "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" was voted the second-most memorable line in cinema history in “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes” by the American Film Institute in 2014. The concept was not unique to the film. French writer Honoré de Balzac, in his novel “Le Père Goriot” in 1835, wrote that Vautrin told Eugene: "In that case I will make you an offer that no one would decline." An almost identical line was used in the John Wayne western “Riders of Destiny” in 1933, where Forrest Taylor states, "I've made Denton an offer he can't refuse." In 2014, the film also was selected as the greatest film by 2,120 industry professionals in a Hollywood survey undertaken by “The Hollywood Reporter.”
Gangsters reportedly responded enthusiastically to the film. Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, the former underboss in the Gambino crime family, said: "I left the movie stunned ... I mean I floated out of the theater. Maybe it was fiction, but for me, then, that was our life. It was incredible. I remember talking to a multitude of guys, made guys [fully initiated members of the mafia], who felt exactly the same way." According to Anthony Fiato, after seeing the film, Patriarca crime family members Paulie Intiso and Nicky Giso altered their speech patterns to imitate that of Vito Corleone. Intiso was known to swear frequently and use poor grammar; but after seeing the movie, he began to improve his speech and philosophize more.
And . . . another home run! Thanks!