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Home , Abe Vigoda, Alex Rocco, Al Lettieri, America America, Assassination Tango, Badge 373

19, 2010 (XXI:8) Francis Ford , (1972, 175 min)

Directed by Based on the novel by Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola Produced by Albert S. Ruddy Original Music by Cinematography by Editing by William Reynolds and Production Design by Michael Chapman....camera operator ....post-production consultant Conductor…Carlo Savina Composer: additional music, mall wedding sequence…

Marlon Brando...Don Vito ... ...Santino 'Sonny' Corleone Richard S. Castellano...Peter Clemenza ...Don Tommasino ... ...Calo ...Capt. McCluskey Saro Urzì...Vitelli John Marley...Jack Woltz Carmine Coppola...Piano Player in Montage Richard Conte...Don Emilio Barzini Gian-Carlo Coppola...Baptism Observer Al Lettieri...Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo ...Boy on Street Who Attended Funeral ...Kay Adams ...Michael Francis Rizzi ...Sal Tessio ...Connie Corleone Rizzi for Best Picture, Best Screenplay Based on Gianni Russo...Carlo Rizzi Material from Another Medium, Best Actor (Brando). ...Fredo Corleone (1990) Rudy Bond...Don Carmine Cuneo ...Johnny Fontane FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (7 April 1939, , ) has ...Mama Corleone directed 31 , among them * 2009, *Youth Without Youth ... 2007, * 1997, Jack 1996, 1992, The John Martino...Paulie Gatto Godfather: Part III 1990, * 1989, Tucker: The Man Salvatore Corsitto...Bonasera and His Dream 1988, 1987, ...Al Neri 1986, *The Cotton Club 1984, * 1983, ... 1983, * 1982, * 1979, *The Tony Giorgio...Bruno Tattaglia Conversation 1974, *The Godfather 1972, * 1969, Vito Scotti...Nazorine Finian's Rainbow 1968, You're a Big Boy Now 1966, *Dementia 13 Tere Livrano...Theresa Hagen 1963, The Terror 1963, * 1962, *The Bellboy and the Victor Rendina...Don Philip Tattaglia Playgirls 1962, and 1960. He also wrote the ...Apollonia Vitelli Corleone script for 25 films, including The Great Gatsby 1974, Patton 1970, Is Angelo Infanti...Fabrizio Coppola—THE GODFATHER —2

Paris Burning? 1966, This Property Is Condemned 1966, The Haunted gattopardo 1963, 8½ 1963, Boccaccio '70 1962, The Brigand / Il Palace 1963, as well as the films asterisked earlier in this paragraph.. brigante 1961, Rocco and His Brothers / Rocco e i suoi fratelli 1960, Purple Noon / Plein soleil 1960, 1960, The Law Is the MARIO PUZO (15 October 1920, , New York – 2 July Law / La legge è legge 1958, El Alamein / Tanks of El Alamein 1958, 1999, Bay Shore, Long Island, New York) wrote 11 novels, some of Città di notte 1958, Le notti bianche / Le notti di Cabiria 1957, Nights which were The Dark Arena 1955, The Godfather 1969, Fools Die of Cabiria 1957, War and Peace 1956, The Swindle / Il bidone 1955, A 1978, 1984, and Omerta 2000. He also wrote or co-wrote Hero of Our Times / Un eroe dei nostri tempi 1955, Modern Virgin / a number of screenplays, among them the screenplays for all three Vergine moderna 1954, Mambo 1954, La strada 1954, Godfather films, and I and II. He was nominated for 14 Appassionatamente 1954, The Ship of Condemned Women / La nave Oscars and won 5: best director, best picture and best screenplay for delle donne maledette 1954, Star of India 1954, I vitelloni 1953, The Godfather II, best screenplay for The Godfather, best screenplay for Assassin / Venetian Bird 1952, The White Sheik / Lo sceicco bianco Patton. 1952, The Queen of Sheba / La regina di Saba 1952, The Small Miracle 1951, Valley GORDON WILLIS (28 May 1931, of the Eagles 1951, His Last Twelve Hours / , New York) was È più facile che un cammello... 1950, I pirati cinematographer on 37 films, some of di Capri 1949, The Glass Mountain 1949, which are: The Devil's Own 1997, Fuga in Francia 1948, How I Lost the War / Malice 1993, Presumed Innocent 1990, Come persi la guerra 1947, The Mountain Bright Lights, Big City 1988, The Money Woman / La donna della montagna 1944, Pit 1986, The Purple Rose of Cairo 1985, Giorno di nozze 1942, and Treno popolare Danny Rose 1984, Zelig 1983, 1933. He was nominated for best original A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy 1982, dramatic score for The Godfather and The Pennies from Heaven 1981, Stardust Godfather: Part II; he won the second time Memories 1980, Windows 1980, out. 1979, Comes a Horseman 1978, Interiors 1978, 1977, All the President's Men 1976, WILLIAM REYNOLDS (14 June1910, Elmira, New York – 16 The Drowning Pool 1975, The Godfather: Part II 1974, The Parallax July1997, South Pasadena, ) edited 69 films, some of which View 1974, The Paper Chase 1973, the Sandbox 1972, Bad were Carpool 1996, Ishtar 1987, Pirates 1986, The Little Drummer Company 1972, The Godfather 1972, Klute 1971, Little Murders Girl 1984, The Lonely Guy 1984, Yellowbeard 1983, Author! Author! 1971, Loving 1970, and End of the Road 1970. He received Oscar 1982, Heaven's Gate 1980, Nijinsky 1980, The Turning Point 1977, nominations for Godfather III and Zelig; he won an honorary Oscar “The Entertainer” 1976, The Great Waldo Pepper 1975, The Sting in 2009. 1973, The Godfather 1972, The Great White Hope 1970, Hello, Dolly! 1969, Star! 1968, The Sand Pebbles 1966, Our Man Flint 1966, The MICHAEL CHAPMAN (21 November 1935, New York City, New Sound of Music 1965, Ensign Pulver 1964, Taras Bulba 1962, Tender York) was cinematographer for 45 films, among them Bridge to Is the Night 1962, Fanny 1961, Wild River 1960, Beloved Infidel 1959, Terabithia 2007, : Number Ones 2003, Six Days Compulsion 1959, Bus Stop 1956, Carousel 1956, Love Is a Many- Seven Nights 1998, Primal Fear 1996, The Fugitive 1993, Rising Sun Splendored Thing 1955, Daddy Long Legs 1955, Desirée 1954, Three 1993, Kindergarten Cop 1990, Quick Change 1990, II Coins in the Fountain 1954, The Outcasts of Poker Flat 1952, The Day 1989, Bad 1987, The Lost Boys 1987, The Man with Two Brains 1983, the Earth Stood Still 1951, Halls of Montezuma 1950, The Big Lift Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid 1982, Personal Best 1982, 1950, The Street with No Name 1948, Give My Regards to Broadway 1980, The Wanderers 1979, Hardcore 1979, Invasion of the Body 1948, Algiers 1938, and 52nd Street 1937. He was nominated for 7 Snatchers 1978, The Last Waltz 1978, Fingers 1978, The Next Man Oscars and won 2: The Sting and The Sound of Music. 1976, The Front 1976, 1976,The White Dawn 1974, and 1973. PETER ZINNER (24 July 1919, Vienna, Austria –13 November 2007, Santa Monica) edited 39 theatrical and made-for-tv films, some of NINO ROTA (3 December 1911, , Lombardy, –10 April which are: Running with Arnold 2006, “10,000 Black Men Named 1979, , Italy) composed scores for 168 films, some of which George” 2002, “Conspiracy” 2001, A Gun, a Car, a Blonde 1997, are: Hurricane 1979, Death on the Nile 1978, Fellini's Casanova / Il “The Enemy Within” 1994, “Citizen Cohn” 1992, Gladiator 1992, Casanova di 1976, “E il Casanova di Fellini?” 1975, Gengis Khan 1992, “Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture” 1990, The Godfather: Part II 1974, 1973, Love and Anarchy / Eternity 1989, Saving Grace 1986, War and Love 1985, Running Brave Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero 'stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori 1983, "The Winds of War" 1983, An Officer and a Gentleman 1982, nella nota casa di tolleranza... 1973, Sunset, Sunrise / Hi wa shizumi, 1978, A Star Is Born 1976, Mahogany 1975, The hi wa noboru 1973, The Godfather 1972, Fellini's Roma 1972, Godfather: Part II 1974, Crazy Joe 1974, The Godfather 1972, Darling Waterloo 1970/I, “The Clowns” / “I clowns” 1970, A Quiet Place to Lili 1970, The Tent 1969, Changes 1969, In Cold Blood 1967, The Kill / Paranoia 1970, Fellini Satyricon 1969, Spirits of the Dead / Professionals 1966, and Wild Harvest 1962. He was nominated for Histoires extraordinaires 1968, Romeo and Juliet 1968/I, The Taming three best editing Oscars and won one: The Deer Hunter. of the Shrew 1967, “Much Ado About Nothing” 1967, Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand / Spara forte, più forte, non capisco 1966, DEAN TAVOULARIS (18 May 1932, Lowell, Massachusetts) had been Juliet of the Spirits / Giulietta degli spiriti 1965, The Leopard / Il production designer for 30 films, including all of Coppola’s films Coppola—THE GODFATHER —3 since The Godfather. Some of his other films are Angel Eyes / Ojos de Eye 1967, A Countess from Hong Kong 1967, The Appaloosa 1966, The ángel 2001, The Ninth Gate 1999, The Parent Trap 1998, Bulworth Chase 1966, The Ugly American 1963, Mutiny on the Bounty 1962, 1998, Jack 1996, Rising Sun 1993, Final Analysis 1992, The One-Eyed Jacks 1961, The Fugitive Kind 1960, The Young Lions 1958, Godfather: Part III 1990, New York Stories 1989, Tucker: The Man Sayonara 1957, The Teahouse of the August Moon 1956, Guys and and His Dream 1988, Gardens of Stone 1987, Peggy Sue Got Married Dolls 1955/I, Desirée 1954, 1954, The Wild One 1986, Rumble Fish 1983, The Outsiders 1983, Hammett 1982, The 1953, Julius Caesar 1953, Viva Zapata! 1952, A Streetcar Named Escape Artist 1982, One from the Heart 1982, Apocalypse Now 1979, Desire 1951, and The Men 1950. The Brink's Job 1978, Farewell, My Lovely 1975, The Godfather: Part II 1974, 1974, The Godfather 1972, Little Big Man AL PACINO (25 April 1940, New York City, New York) has 1970, Zabriskie Point 1970, and Candy 1968. He was nominated for appeared in 46 theatrical and made-for-tv films, among them The five Oscars and won one: The Godfather: Part II. Son of No One 2011, “You Don't Know Jack” 2010, Ocean's Thirteen 2007, The Merchant of Venice 2004, "Angels in America" 2003, WALTER MURCH (12 July 1943, New York City, New York) Insomnia 2002/I, Any Given Sunday 1999, The Devil's Advocate 1997, invented the idea of films having a sound designer. He has done Donnie Brasco 1997, City Hall 1996, Heat 1995, Carlito's Way 1993, sound for 24 films, among them Tetro 2009, Youth Without Youth Scent of a Woman 1992, Glengarry Glen Ross 1992, The Godfather: 2007, Cold Mountain 2003, K-19: The Widowmaker 2002, The Part III 1990, Dick Tracy 1990, Scarface 1983, Cruising 1980, ...And Talented Mr. Ripley 1999, Touch of Evil 1958 (sound re-recordist, Justice for All. 1979, Bobby Deerfield 1977, 1975, 1998 restoration), The English Patient 1996, Crumb 1994, Romeo Is The Godfather: Part II 1974, Serpico 1973, Scarecrow 1973, The Bleeding 1993, The Godfather: Part III 1990, Ghost 1990, Apocalypse Godfather 1972, 1971, and Me, Natalie Now 1979, The Godfather: Part II 1974, The Conversation 1974, 1969. 1973, THX 1138 1971, Gimme Shelter 1970, and The Rain People 1969. He has also edited 22 films, some of which are JAMES CAAN (26 March 1940, The Bronx, New York) has been in The Wolfman 2010, Tetro 2009, Youth Without Youth 2007, Jarhead 102 films and tv series, among them Minkow 2010, Henry's Crime 2005, Cold Mountain 2010, Cloudy with a 2003, K-19: The Chance of Meatballs Widowmaker 2002, 2009, New York, I Love The Talented Mr. You 2009, Ripley 1999, Touch of 2008, “Wisegal” 2008, Evil 1958 (1998 re- "Las Vegas" 2003-7, This edit), The English Thing of Ours 2003, Patient 1996, Romeo Is Dogville 2003, The Way of Bleeding 1993, House of the Gun 2000, Mickey Cards 1993, The Blue Eyes 1999, Godfather: Part III Bulletproof 1996, Eraser 1990, The Unbearable 1996, Bottle Rocket 1996, Lightness of Being 1988, Misery 1990, Dick Tracy Apocalypse Now 1979, 1990, Alien Nation 1988, and Julia 1977. He has Gardens of Stone 1987, been nominated for Kiss Me Goodbye 1982, nine Oscars and won Thief 1981, Hide in Plain three: Apocalypse Now Sight 1980, Chapter Two (sound), The English 1979, 1941 1979, Comes a Patient (sound and Horseman 1978, A Bridge film editing). He is the Too Far 1977, Harry and author of two excellent Walter Go to New York books on film editing, 1976, The Killer Elite In the Blink of An Eye 1975, Rollerball 1975, 2nd ed., 2001, and The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Funny Lady 1975, The Godfather: Part II 1974, Editing Film (with Michael Ondaatje) 2004. 1974, The Gambler 1974, Cinderella Liberty 1973, Slither 1973, The Godfather 1972, “Brian's Song” 1971, Rabbit, Run 1970, The Rain (3 April 1924, Omaha, Nebraska—1 July 2004, People 1969, "Get Smart" 1969, Submarine X-1 1968, "Wagon Train" , California) appeared in 42 films, some of which were 1965, "The Hour" 1964, Lady in a Cage 1964, Irma The Score 2001, The Island of Dr. Moreau 1996, DeMarco la Douce 1963, and "Naked City" 1961. 1994, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery 1992, The Freshman 1990, A Dry White Season 1989, The Formula 1980, Apocalypse Now RICHARD S. CASTELLANO (4 September 1933, The Bronx, New 1979, "Roots: The Next Generations" 1979, Superman 1978, The York—10 December 1988, North Bergen, ) appeared in Missouri Breaks 1976, Ultimo a Parigi / Last Tango in Paris 18 films and tv series, some of which were Dear Mr. Wonderful 1982, 1972, The Godfather 1972, The Nightcomers 1971, Burn! 1969, The "The Gangster Chronicles" 1981, Gangster Wars 1981, Night of the Night of the Following Day 1968, Candy 1968, Reflections in a Golden Juggler 1980, "Joe and Sons" 1975-1976, “Honor Thy Father” 1973, Coppola—THE GODFATHER —4

“Incident on a Dark Street” 1973, "The Super" 1972, The Godfather RICHARD CONTE (24 March 1910, Jersey City, New Jersey—15 1972, "N.Y.P.D." 1968-1969, and "Naked City" 1962-1963. April 1975, Los Angeles, California) acted in 91 films and shows, among them The Return of the Exorcist / Un urlo nelle tenebre 1975, ROBERT DUVALL (5 January 1931, San Diego, California) has been Violent City / Roma violenta 1975, Shoot First, Die Later / Il poliziotto in 134 films and TV series or programs, the most recent of which is è marcio 1974, No Way Out / Tony Arzenta 1973, The Godfather Crazy Heart 2009. Some of the others are Get Low 2009, The Road 1972, Lady in Cement 1968, Tony Rome 1967, Hotel 1967, Synanon 2009, Thank You for Smoking 2005, 2002, A Civil 1965, The Greatest Story Ever Told 1965, "77 Sunset Strip" 1963, "The Action 1998, 1997, “The Man Who Captured Eichmann” Untouchables" 1961-1962, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" 1961, Ocean's 1996, Sling Blade 1996, The Scarlet Letter 1995, Geronimo: An Eleven 1960, They Came to Cordura 1959, The Brothers Rico 1957, I'll American Legend 1993, Falling Down 1993, “Stalin” 1992, Convicts Cry Tomorrow 1955, New York Confidential 1955, Whirlpool 1949, 1991, The Handmaid's Tale 1990, "Lonesome Dove" 1989, Colors Thieves' Highway 1949, 1949, 1988, Let's Get Harry 1986, Belizaire the Cajun 1986, The Natural 1948, 1947, A Walk in the Sun 1945, A Bell for 1984, Tender Mercies 1983, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper 1981, True Adano 1945, 1944, Guadalcanal Diary 1943, and Confessions 1981, The Great Santini 1979, Apocalypse Now 1979, Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence 1939. Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978, The Betsy 1978, The Eagle Has Landed 1976, Network 1976, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution 1976, The DIANE KEATON (5 January 1946, Los Angeles, California) appeared Killer Elite 1975, The Godfather: Part II 1974, The Conversation in 56 films and shows, some of which are Morning Glory 2010, 1974, The Outfit 1973, Badge 373 1973, Lady Ice 1973, Joe Kidd 1972, Smother 2008/II, Stone 2005, Something's Gotta Give The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid 1972, The Godfather 1972, 2003, Town & Country 2001, Marvin's Room 1996, The First Wives THX 1138 1971, MASH 1970, "The F.B.I." 1965-1969, The Rain Club 1996, Manhattan Murder Mystery 1993, Father of the Bride People 1969, True Grit 1969, The Detective 1968, "The Wild Wild 1991, The Godfather: Part III 1990, The Lemon Sisters 1989, Radio West" 1967, "The Defenders" 1961-1965, "The Fugitive" 1963-1965, Days 1987, Crimes of the Heart 1986, Mrs. Soffel 1984, The Little "The Outer Limits" 1964, Captain Drummer Girl 1984, Shoot the Newman, M.D. 1963, To Kill a Moon 1982, Reds 1981, The Wizard Mockingbird 1962, "Naked City" of Malta 1981, Manhattan 1979, 1962, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Interiors 1978, Looking for Mr. 1962, "Armstrong Circle Theatre" Goodbar 1977, Annie Hall 1977, 1959-1960, and "" Harry and Walter Go to New York 1960. 1976, I Will, I Will... for Now 1976, Love and Death 1975, The STERLING HAYDEN (26 March Godfather: Part II 1974, Sleeper 1916, Upper Montclair, New 1973, Play It Again, Sam 1972, The Jersey—23 May 1986, Sausalito, Godfather 1972, "Mannix" 1971, California) appeared in 70 films "The F.B.I." 1971, "Love, American and TV series, among them, "The Style" 1970, and Lovers and Other Blue and the Gray" 1982, Venom Strangers 1970. 1981, Gas 1981, Nine to Five 1980, Winter Kills 1979, King of the ABE VIGODA (24 February 1921, Gypsies 1978, 1900 1976, The Long Goodbye 1973, The Godfather New York City, New York) appeared in 93 films and shows, some of 1972, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love which are Frankie the Squirrel 2007, Tea Cakes or Cannoli 2000, the Bomb 1964, "The DuPont Show of the Month" 1960, "Goodyear Farticus 1997, "Law & Order" 1996, "Murder, She Wrote" 1991, Joe Theatre" 1958, "Playhouse 90" 1957-1958, Five Steps to Danger 1957, Versus the Volcano 1990, Look Who's Talking 1989, Cannonball Run The Killing 1956, Top Gun 1955, The Last Command 1955, Naked II 1984, "" 1979, "The Love Boat" 1979, "The Rockford Alibi 1954, Johnny Guitar 1954, Valiant 1954, Flat Top 1952, Files" 1974-1978, The Cheap Detective 1978, "Fish" 1977-1978, The Flaming Feather 1952, The Asphalt Jungle 1950, Blaze of Noon 1947, Godfather: Part II 1974, "Hawaii Five-O" 1974, The Don Is Dead and Virginia 1947. 1973, The Godfather 1972, and "Suspense" 1949.

JOHN MARLEY (17 October 1907, New York City, New York—22 TALIA SHIRE (25 April 1946, Lake Success, Long Island, New York) May 1984, Los Angeles, California) appeared 155 films and TV is Francis Ford Coppola’s sister. She has appeared in 63 films and series, among them On the Edge 1986, “The Glitter Dome” 1984, The shows, some of which are Pizza with Bullets 2010, Minkow 2010, The Amateur 1981, "The Incredible Hulk" 1979, "Hawaii Five-O" 1969- Return of Joe Rich 2010, The Deported 2009, Dim Sum Funeral 2008, 1978, The Greatest 1977, "Baretta" 1975, "Cannon" 1972-1973, The Homo Erectus 2007, I Heart Huckabees 2004, The Landlady 1998, Bed Godfather 1972, "The Show" 1971, Love Story 1970, Faces & Breakfast 1991, The Godfather: Part III 1990, Rocky V 1990, New 1968/I, "" 1968, "" 1965, 1965, "The York Stories 1989, "" 1987, Rocky IV 1985, Rocky Alfred Hitchcock Hour" 1963-1964, America, America 1963, III 1982, Prophecy 1979, Rocky II 1979, Rocky 1976, "Rich Man, Poor "Twilight Zone" 1962-1963, "The Untouchables" 1960-1961, I Want Man" 1976, "Doctors' Hospital" 1976, The Godfather: Part II 1974, to Live! 1958, My Six Convicts 1952, The Mob 1951, and Native Land The Godfather 1972, Maxie 1970, and The Wild Racers 1968. 1942.

Coppola—THE GODFATHER —5

JOHN CAZALE (12 August 1935, , Massachusetts—12 March Talent in the family was not confined to the father. 1978, New York City) appeared in only six films and one TV series: Coppola’s mother, the former Italia Penino, at one time acted in The Deer Hunter 1978, Dog Day Afternoon 1975, The Godfather: Part films. His older brother August is a writer and a professor of II 1974, The Conversation 1974, The Godfather 1972, "N.Y.P.D." literature. His younger sister Talia Shire, who appears in both 1968, and The American Way 1962. Godfather films, has become well known for her performances in Rocky and Old Boyfriends, and his nephew, Nicholas Cage, has ALEX ROCCO (29 February 1936, Boston, Massachusetts) acted in starred in several recent films, Coppola’s Rumblefish and Peggy Sue 149 films and shows, some of which are And They're Off 2011, Now Got Married among them. As a small boy Francis Ford Coppola (he Here 2010, "" 2004, "Walker, Texas Ranger" 2000, dropped his middle name in 1977) seemed the least promising "" 1990-1997, Get Shorty 1995, Wired 1989, "Murder, member of this ambitious family, “funny-looking, not good at She Wrote" 1985-1986, "The Love Boat" 1983-1984, school, nearsighted.” A polio attack when he was nine kept him in 1980, "Starsky and Hutch" 1977, "" 1977, "Police bed for a year—a miserable period in which he played with puppets, Story" 1975-1977, The Friends of Eddie Coyle 1973, Slither 1973, The devoured television, and “got immersed in a fantasy world.” Coppola Godfather 1972, Blood Mania 1970, The Boston Strangler 1968, The attributes to this testing childhood the fact that he is a worrier who St. Valentine's Day Massacre 1967, and Motor Psycho 1965 nevertheless courts trouble: “My wife tells me I put myself in these tight spots to justify my anxiety.” SOFIA COPPOLA (14 May 1971, New York City, New York), who Coppola made his first movies at the age of ten with his plays the infant Michael being baptized in the church scene, has father’s 8mm camera and tape recorder. In high school his interests acted in 16 films, many of them directed by her father, Francis. Some broadened to include writing, music, cinema, and the theatre. About of those films are: CQ 2001, : Episode I - The Phantom the time he graduated from Great Neck High School, Long Island, Menace 1999, The Godfather: Part III 1990, Peggy Sue Got Married he discovered the films of Eisenstein. Coppola became so ardent a 1986, Frankenweenie 1984, The Cotton Club 1984, Rumble Fish 1983, disciple that, though he was “really dying to make a film,” he chose The Outsiders 1983, The Godfather: Part II 1974, and The Godfather to seek a rounded theatrical education first “because Eisenstein had 1972. She is better known as a director. She has directed seven films, started like that.” In 1956 he entered Hofstra College (now the most recent of which is Somewhere 2010. The others are Marie University) on a drama scholarship and almost immediately made a Antoinette 2006, VOID: Video Overview in Deceleration 2005, Lost in stir with an anti-administration story in a student magazine. In this Translation 2003, 1999, 1998, and and later student pieces his biographer Robert K. Johnson finds early Bed, Bath and Beyond 1996. Like her father, she is also a evidence of Coppola’s predilection for “fast-paced, episodic screenwriter. She has done seven structure,”his interest in technology, films thus far: Somewhere 2010, his fascination with determined 2006, Lost in women, and his natural Translation 2003, "Platinum" 2003, rebelliousness.” The Virgin Suicides 1999, Lick the At Hofstra, eager to master Star 1998, and New York Stories every aspect of the theatre, Coppola 1989. She was nominated for three acted in student productions, Oscars, all for Lost in Translation: worked on lighting and stage crews, screenplay, director and picture. wrote dialogue and lyrics. He won She won the first. the Dan H. Lawrence Award for his direction for O’Neill’s The Rope and Francis Ford Coppola, from sealed his reputation by conceiving, World Film Directors V. II. Ed. producing, and directing Inertia, the John Wakeman. H.H. Wilson first play ever written and staged Co. NY 1988 entirely by Hofstra students. He also founded a cinema workshop at the American director, college, sold his car to buy a 16mm scenarist and producer, born in camera, and worked on a movie that Detroit, Michigan, second of the three children of Italian-American he never finished. parents. His father, Carmine, is a flutist who in the course of his In 1960 Coppola went on to the UCLA . He was career has played in several orchestras including Toscanini’s NBC a graduate student but younger than most of the others, and he was Symphone Orchestra, which Coppola often conducted on tour. He lonely and disappointed. No one at UCLA seemed to share his has also worked as a musical arranger and for years struggled interest in the dramatic bases of the cinema except the veteran unsuccessfully to establish himself as a composer. Francis Coppola director , one of his teachers. Desperate to “fool grew up in Queens, New York. He remembers his childhood as around with a camera and cut a film,” he shocked the other students “very warm, very tempestuous, full of controversy and a lot of by hiring himself out as a director of porno films, then appalled them passion and shouting. My father, who is an enormously talented by going to work for . man, was the focus of all our lives. . . Our lives centered on what we Corman was in those days despised as a cheapskate all felt was the tragedy of his career.” (That tragedy has now been manufacturer of exploitation movies, though even then it was clear resolved by Francis Coppola himself, who used his father’s music in he was prepared to take chances on talented young filmmakers. The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, and the restored Napoleon.) Coppola’s first job for him was to dub and reedit a rather Coppola—THE GODFATHER —6 sentimental Russian science-fiction film, turning it into a sex-and- Boy Now is perhaps the most likable of Coppola’s films—funny, fast- violence monster movie called Battle Beyond the Sun (1962). Corman paced, and often perceptive and original in its characterization. It paid him $200 for six months’ work but gave him his first screen was much discussed and warmly praised by many critics as the debut credit (as “Thomas Colchart”). Often working all night (and making of a new director of great talent and promise—the first such sure that Corman noticed), Coppola created a place for himself as produced by a university film school—but it was overwhelmed at the dialogue director, sound man, and “all-purpose guy.” box office by a slicker movie on a similar theme, ’ The He got his first directorial assignment by exploiting Graduate. Corman’s notorious stinginess, Filming in Ireland in 1962, he Offering You’re a Big Boy Now as his thesis, Coppola left pointed out that it was a pity to bring a crew so far for a single movie, UCLA with a master’s degree in 1967. It was at about this time that and sold Corman on an idea of his own on the strength of a single he made his much-quoted statement about patterning his life on ghoulish scene. Shooting began soon afterwards on a script that Hitler’s, later explaining that “the way to come to power is not Coppola had written in three days, and he invited some of his always to merely challenge the Establishment, but first make a place American friends over to Ireland to join in. One of them was his set in it and then challenge, and double-cross, the Establishment.” director Eleanor Neil, whom he married the same year. Dementia 13 Guided by this philosophy, Coppola agreed to direct a screen version was made for forty thousand dollars. It is a grisly confection of no for Warner Brothers-Seven Arts of the 1940s Broadway musical great distinction about inheritances and ax murders, but it seem to Finian’s Rainbow, a dated and improbably whimsy about Coppola now “the only film I ever enjoyed working on.” leprechauns and racial integration. He was out of his depth and Before 1962 was over Coppola, still enrolled at UCLA, won “faking it” much of the time but—until the picture bombed on the award for a scenario and on that account was release—Warners were delighted and blew the film up from 35mm hired as a scriptwriter by Seven Arts (later Warner Brothers-Seven to 70mm (thus chopping off its principal asset, ’s feet). Arts). He made adaptations —later much rewritten by others—of Finian’s Rainbow introduced Coppola to , a Carson McCullers’ Reflections young film school graduate who in a Golden Eye and Tennessee served as production assistant Williams’ This Property is on Coppola’s next film and Condemned, and in brought in his friend Walter collaboration with Gore Vidal Murch to handle sound. The wrote Is Paris Burning? Rain People, written and Frustrated by his inability to directed by Coppola, was get a film made in his own way, financed by him too until his he personally bought the rights money ran out (when Warner to David Benedictus’ novel Brothers-Seven Arts chipped You’re a Big Boy Now, fusing it in). It stars Shirley Knight as a in his adaptation with a story Long Island housewife who idea of his own. He made the feels that she is losing her picture “on hope and credit,” identity in marriage. Finding with some backing from Seven herself pregnant and fearing Arts plus the fifty thousand total engulfment, she leaves her dollars he had earned as co- husband and drives off across author of Patton (a script that brought him an Oscar when it was America in search of herself. James Caan plays the brain-damaged eventually released in 1970.) football player who becomes her surrogate child, and Robert Duvall Coppola mustered a notable cast for You’re a Big Boy Now. the cop who seems to offer her sexual freedom. Traveling west with a Peter Krastner plays Bernard, a naive young man working in the small crew in a remodeled bus, Coppola wrote the script as he went. New York Public Library. He is dominated by his parents (Geraldine “We just drove,” he says, and when they found a likely setting it was Page and ), jealously guarded by his landlady (Julie Harris), written into the picture. The result was sloppy in construction but and pursued into impotence by a deviant actress (Elizabeth rich in unstereotypical character studies; an American travelogue Hartman), who preserves as a trophy the artificial leg of her first and a feminist film ahead of its time (but one, as its director admits, seducer. In the end. after fearful travails, Bernard becomes a man in with “a deus ex machina and a very emotional plea to have a family”). the arms of a sexy librarian (). It was Coppola’s first In 1969 Coppola established in a San “personal” film, and he only had twenty-nine shooting days. It was Francisco warehouse. Financed by Warners, it is a small but Coppola’s first “personal” film, and he had only twenty-nine splendidly equipped studio for editing, mixing, and sound recording, shooting days. He rehearsed his actors as if for a play and actually and Coppola has continued to use it for these purposes. But in the staged a public performance, videotaping it to check which moves beginning it was conceived as something very much more—a base and lines worked best. The uncertainty revealed by this “market from which to launch a revolution in the American film industry. research” is characteristic of Coppola and is revealed in the movie According to Lucas, Zoetrope’s vice president, they hoped to make itself, which rather uneasily combines several different modes of seven or eight films a year, some of them “safe and reasonable” to humor. There is grotesque social satire, parody (of certain plays and pay for others that would be “really off-the-wall productions. It was a films), and manic visual humor in the manner of Richard Lester— way to give first-time directors a break and do what studios fast motion, jump cuts, captions, and charming absurdities like a girl ordinarily would not do.” glimpsed reading in a fountain. Structurally weak as it is, You’re a Big Coppola—THE GODFATHER —7

American Zoetrope in its original manifestation collapsed Corleones (as many contended that he had). There was some after a year or so. But not before Coppola had begun what has been disagreement also about Brando’s Oscar-winning performance as the seen as a “Hollywood Renaissance.” Thousands of young filmmakers Don—a masterpiece in the opinion of the majority, but a matter of wrote to Zoetrope or visited or sent their films. Unfortunately, many “studied but easy effects” in Stanley Kauffmann’s judgment. exploited the place, stealing or breaking the equipment. The high The Godfather won an Academy Award as the best picture hopes faded as the money ran out, and Coppola’s own reputation of 1972, and Coppola received an additional Oscar as coauthor (with suffered when both Finian’s Rainbow and The Rain People failed on Puzo) of the best script based on material from another medium. release. Zoetrope’s first film—Lucas’ THX-1138—was also its last. Financially the film was staggeringly successful—at that time the Warners, who were to distribute the Zoetrope products, disliked the most profitable movie in history, making more than a million dollars picture and asked for their money back. At thirty, Coppola was three a day in profit for months after it was released. It recouped all of hundred thousand dollars in debt and apparently finished as a Coppola’s losses and made him rich. For a time after it was finished filmmaker. he involved himself in less strenuous projects, including two stage At that low point, Coppola was invited by Paramount to productions in —Noel Coward’s Private Lives and direct a major film based on Mario Puzo’s bestselling Mafia novel Gottfried von Einem’s opera The Visit of the Old Lady. It was at this The Godfather. It was not an easy picture. The crew at first had little time that Coppola joined with and Peter faith in Coppola, who also had to fight hard to persuade Paramount Bogdanovich to form the Directors Company, a Paramount-backed to accept the stars he wanted and to make the film “in period.” There consortium that in the end turned out only two movies— was bitter opposition from the Italian-American Civil Rights League Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon and Coppola’s The Conversation. (whose president, an alleged Coppola’s fascination mobster, was at a Columbus with technology is at the center of Day rally during the filming). And The Conversation, which he wrote, Coppola had his usual difficulty in directed, and coproduced. It is a deciding how to end the film. study of a professional It is a study of a powerful eavesdropper, Harry Caul, who is Mafia family at the end of World splendidly portrayed by Gene War II, opening at the home of the Hackman. One day, using a rifle- patriarch, Don shot microphone, he records a (Marlon Brando), on his daughter’s conversation between two young wedding day. The family’s tame people that he cannot at first politicians and judges send their decipher, though he knows that it apologies for absence, and we concerns murder. He eventually encounter Vito’s son Michael (Al clarifies the significant phrase but, Pacino), a college-educated war because he knows more about hero who so far has disdained to technology than most people, he take part in the family “business.” misinterprets it. An obsessively The film follows the gradual private man, he nevertheless transfer of power from the Don to intervenes, and he is destroyed. Michael, who is blooded in Influenced by Hitchcock, Clouzot, avenging an attack on his father. and Antonioni’s Blow-up, the film The old man dies peacefully, and owed much to Walter Murch, who the Corleones, led by Michael, wipe out their rivals in a bloodbath handles both sound and editing and, according to some accounts, is that coincides with the christening of Michael’s godson: “The gold primarily responsible for the brilliant interlacing of sound and image and pomp of the Church,” as one critic wrote, “against the brutish, that gives the picture its unique quality. It won the Golden Palm as bloody machinations of the family”—a recurrent device in the film. best film at Cannes in 1974. Michael assures his troubled wife that he had nothing to do with the The Godfather Part II carries the story both backward and slaughter, but before the door closes and the screen goes dark, she forward in time. It begins in 1901 in , where a young boy is sees the mafiosi trooping in to swear fealty to the new Don. orphaned by vendetta. He is Vito Andolini (soon to be Corleone) The Godfather is immensely dramatic and exciting—a and he emigrates to America; we see him (now played by Robert De “dynastic romance” told with “a marvelously operatic use of pomp Niro) finding his feet in New York, battling the Black Hand, and and violence,” It opens the door on the mores and rituals of an exotic emerging as a power in the neighborhood. The film ends with his subculture, and it is one of the great gangster films. Robert K. “respectable” son Michael in a position of unassailable power but Johnson suggests that “no other film has so imaginatively presented without a wife, brothers, friends, or any vestige of common murder in such a variety of visually vivid ways,” and Jay Cocks humanity. Coppola was anxious to correct the impression that he thought it “a mass entertainment that is also great movie art.” admired the Corleones and to some extent he succeeds—if Vito as a Serious claims have been made for it as an indictment of American young man has something of the Robin Hood in him, his son at the capitalism, and Coppola encouraged this view by saying that the end is wholly-corrupted and cold-hearted. Indeed, the darkness that Mafia “is no different from any other big, greedy, profit-making surrounds Michael at the end of the film is a measure of his corporation in America.” His opponents replied that if he had achievement: he is lord of the underworld, and king of the dead and intended this sort of criticism, he should not have glamorized the the damned. A more analytic film than its predecessor, greatly Coppola—THE GODFATHER —8 admired for the loving recreation of old New York in the early “terrifying, beautiful, exciting, funny and disgusting, almost scenes, The Godfather Part II won Oscars for best picture, best simultaneously.” director, best script (Coppola and Puzo), best supporting actor (De What happens when Willard reaches Kurtz’s empire of Niro), and best original score (Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola). ancient temples and dangling bodies seemed to most reviewers an Coppola’s position in the movie industry now seemed anticlimax—we meet not the embodiment of evil but “an eccentric assured. He put more money into the technical resources of actor who has been given lines that are unthinkable but not, American Zoetrope, invested in real estate, and bought a New York unfortunately unspeakable.” About the film as a whole, opinions film distribution company. He also bought eighty percent of City, a differed radically. David Robinson called it a “catastrophe...a San Francisco news weekly that reportedly lost him one-and-a-half majestic, failed enterprise,” while Philip French thought it “a million dollars before it folded. And by late 1975 he was at work on towering achievement, one of the major pictures of the past few another movie, Apocalypse Now—a version of Conrad’s Heart of years.” Vincent Canby (one of the many who praised Vittorio Darkness updated to the . had written the Storaro’s photography) concluded that “individual scenes and original script under Coppola’s sponsorship years before, when images have tumultuous life but the end effect of the film is of George Lucas was to have directed it. Now Coppola took the project something borrowed and not yet understood.” over. It tells the story of Captain Willard (), an Army At the box office the film was a major success, and Coppola officer with CIA connections, who is rose once more from the ashes, his sent upriver from Saigon to much-discussed plans for a quieter “terminate” a certain life apparently forgotten. He was (Marlon Brando), a brilliant officer soon gearing up a variety of projects who has gone off the rails and for friends and protegés, starting with established a private kingdom in a script about the flamboyant car- . maker , and making Shooting began in the notes for “a more personal, more Philippines in March 1976 and theatrical film”—a love story set in continued on and off for sixteen Japan and America and based on months, hindered by every Goethe’s . Late in conceivable kind of problem. Coppola 1979 he was negotiating for the replaced his leading actor, with great Hollywood General production lot in difficulty, after filming had begun. Los Angeles and Zoetrope, Typhoon Olga destroyed the sets. reestablishing this time as “a little Martin Sheen had a heart attack. Before the film was finished, factory, like a Republic or an RKO, making one movie a month in Coppola had mortgaged everything he owned to cover personally the old style and at an intelligent price. But I believe we’ll be the first some sixteen million dollars of the thirty million it cost. Nor was the all-electric movie studio in the world. . .It just takes the wisdom and price only financial. , who went to the Philippines to the guts to invest in the future.” make a documentary about the filming, has written a book about the The same year Zoetrope brought our The Black Stallion ordeal and the strains it placed on the directed by , with marriage. In March 1977 she wrote Coppola executive producing, but of Coppola in her diary: “I guess he despite that film’s broad critical has had a sort of nervous breakdown. success, the studio was by no means . . .The film he is making is a financially equipped for Coppola’s metaphor for a journey into self. He next directorial effort, One From the has made that journey and is still Heart (1982). When foreign making it.” investors suddenly withdrew support Editing continued in the midst of production, Coppola throughout 1978, with Coppola mortgaged everything he owned— unable to decide how to end the film: including Zoetrope and his own “Working on the ending is like trying homes—to complete the ambitious to crawl up glass by your fingernails.” undertaking. ...Though the sets He even arranged previews of the [designed by Dean Tavoularis], as picture as “a work in progress,” hoping to learn from audience well as the music by , received praise, the film as a whole reactions how best to complete it. Apocalypse Now had its world was a critical and box-office flop.... premiere in May 1979 at the , where it was joint The artistically adventurous features that Zoetrope winner of the Golden Palm, and was released in the a produced or co-produced in the early ‘80s (Hammett, The Escape few months later. There was something like universal praise for the Artist and among them, with Kurosawa’s way Coppola handles Willard’s journey up the river—notably his perhaps Coppola’s pet project) did little to help the studio’s flagging encounter with an air cavalry colonel (Robert Duvall) who loves “the financial resources, and in 1982 Coppola was forced to sell Zoetrope. smell of napalm in the morning” and whose helicopters attack to He did not, however, declare bankruptcy but instead undertook to “The Ride of the Valkyries.” Richard Roud called this passage repay the debts he had incurred with One From the Heart. Ripe for projects with more popular appeal, Coppola took on the task of Coppola—THE GODFATHER —9 filming The Outsiders, a novel for teenagers by S.E. Hinton. Coppola “Coppola, seemingly tormented by his inability to fulfill his own had been “selected” by a group of high school students as the ideal ideas and talents, took refuge in unsubtle stylistics.” director for a film version about rich and poor adolescents in ...The emphasis on huge, state-of-the-art production Oklahoma, and upon reading the book, Coppola agreed with them. methods that contributed to the expense and difficulty of making He immediately began filming with in the lead, and tried The Cotton Club nonetheless engaged Coppola more and more. In to cultivate a genuine rift between the young actors playing 1985 he made his first work for television, a dramatization of “Rip underprivileged “greasers” and those playing wealthy “socs” to effect Van Winkle” for cable television. Coppola crafted many of the realistic confrontations on the screen. Coppola was so pleased with fantastic scenes in the fairy tale with computer imaging systems that his progress that he decided in the middle of making The Outsiders allow for the exact imposition of many separately filmed images. He to use the same crew and some of the same actors to make a second found the video medium very much to his liking, and hired Eiko Hinton adaptation from her novel Rumble Fish. This dreamy black- Ishioku, who had done surrealistic sets for ’s Mishima, and-white film depicts the darker side of the gang dynamics seen in a 1985 film about Japanese author Yukio Mishima that Coppola The Outsiders, and pursues the theme of competition between helped produce, to design the sets for “.” Though the brothers that Coppola has returned to repeatedly. Dillon again director’s reliance on technology was faulted in The Outsiders and starred, with and in supporting One From the Heart for distancing him from his work, Coppola roles; the film was dedicated to Coppola’s older brother August. insists that “film is already like the horseless carriage. Film is At first dismissed as exploitation pictures, these two films beautiful, but it is dead, it is not any longer relevant. The new have intrigued later critics, who have medium, video, is so incredibly flexible and discerned here an inventive and unabashed immediate and economical and can be as romanticism at play in the confines of beautiful that it’s bound to take over.” In . Coppola worked closely with Hinton 1985 Coppola was able to indulge all his during the filming and achieved an unusual high-tech excitement in making Captain Eo, degree of creative control, especially over a 12-minute space fantasy starring (and with Rumble Fish, which is one of his own songs by) Michael Jackson, produced by favorites. But as Richard Jameson George Lucas and with camerawork by remarked, a picture designed as “an . The film will be shown for teenagers” ran the risk of bewildering only at Disneyland and Disney World, on its intended audience, who lack “a lexicon huge Imax screens that emanate fog and for its arty codes.” laser beams…. Faced with such discouraging responses and still owing an enormous sum Coppola swings between epic, of money, Coppola felt “the key is to keep high-tech behemoths and intimate studies working....It’s annoying to have to work so and his uneven success rate are much to pay for thing that happened in the characteristic of many directors of his past. But I’m tougher for it. I think I’ll come generation, according to David Sterritt, who out all right.” Though Zoetrope was maintains that Cimino, Scorsese, Spielberg honored with a retrospective at the 1983 and Coppola face “the difficulty of joining Santa Fe Film Festival, and Coppola personal expression with big money and himself received the Commander of the flashy show-biz traditions.” But despite his Order of Arts and Letters from in track record, the film industry has treated 1984, he could not have found backing for Coppola with unusual lenience, perhaps his independent projects at this time, and so responded positively to because, as producer Irwin Jablans has said, “he’s the last, or maybe ’ plea for help with a “sick child”: The Cotton Club. just the latest, of the great old larger-than-life American directors. Evans had originally intended to direct the film about the His failures are more interesting than many other directors’ hits.” famous Harlem nightclub himself, but when it became mired in financial and legal problems he brought in Coppola to placate the “Castro-bearded and restless,” immensely knowledgeable film’s investors. Coppola wrote almost forty versions of the script, about every aspect of filmmaking, Coppola has been described as working at first with Mario Puzo and then with novelist William “still something of the enthusiastic schoolboy egghead.” ...[His] Kennedy, finally coming up with a plot that blended classic second son was killed in a boating accident in 1986. “You know what Hollywood gangster and musical genres.... it’s like to be a director?” he said once. “It’s like running in front of a Coppola directed portions of the film from an elaborately locomotive. If you stop, if you trip, if you make a mistake, you get equipped electronics van parked outside each location. ...Because the killed.” Coppola’s own career bears this out, but he has always $47-million film was so technically complex and was repeatedly refused to stay dead, and he has breathed life into those around him. interrupted by litigation (following one series of lawsuits Evans lost “He subsidized us all,” John Milius says. “George Lucas and me. ownership of the film; in a contract dispute, Coppola temporarily and Gloria Katz, who wrote American Graffiti, Hal withdrew from the project) Coppola never achieved the creative Barwood, Matt Robbins...He is responsible for a whole generation; control he sought, probably fulfilling his own dictum that “more indirectly he is responsible for Scorsese and De Palma. You cannot money means less freedom.” wrote that in Cotton Club overemphasize the importance he had. If this generation is to change American cinema, he is to be given the credit, or the discredit.” Coppola—THE GODFATHER —10

from The Great Movies. . Broadway Books, NY, A writer who didn’t want to write it. 2002. “The Godfather” Mario Puzo was broke and needed to pen something commercial in The Godfather (1972) is told entirely within a closed world. That’s order to write the kind of books he really cared about. why we sympathize with characters who are essentially evil. The A studio that didn’t want to produce it. story by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola is a brilliant The box-office failure of previous gangster movies made Paramount conjuring act, inviting us to consider the Mafia entirely on its own Pictures reluctant to pick up their option, but with the novel a terms. DonVito Corleone (Marlon Brando) emerges as a sympathetic runaway success, and other studios showing interest, they couldn’t and even admirable character; during the entire film, this lifelong let it slip away. professional criminal does nothing that, in context, we can really A film no director would touch. disapprove of. We see not a single actual civilian victim of organized Twelve directors turned it down, including, at first, Francis Ford crime. No women trapped into prostitution.No lives wrecked by Coppola. But Coppola, too, was broke, and needed a job directing a gambling. No victims of theft, fraud, or protection rackets. The only Hollywood production in order to make the kind of personal films police officer with a significant speaking role is corrupt. he really cared about. The story views the Mafia from the inside. That is its secret, A cast of unknowns. its charm, its spell; in a way it has shaped the public perception of the Except for one renowned actor, Marlon Brando, who was considered the Mafia ever since. The real box office poison by studio world is replaced by an executives. authoritarian patriarchy where A community against it. power and justice flow from the Before filing even began, Italian- Godfather, and the only villains are American groups protested what traitors. There is one they perceived was to be the commandment, spoken by Michael movie’s characterization of their (Al Pacino): “Don’t ever take sides culture, and amassed a war chest to against the family.” stop the production. It is significant that the first shot us inside a dark, And yet, The Godfather shuttered room. It is the wedding succeeded beyond anyones wildest day of Vito Corleone’s daughter, imagination, to become one of the and on such a day a Sicilian must greatest cinematic masterpieces in grant any reasonable request. A history—a film that continues to man has come to ask for captivate decades after its release. punishment for his daughter’s The Godfather is a unique rapist. Don Vito asks why he did film in that it bridges many not come to him immediately. audiences, appealing to both erudite film buffs and TV couch “I went to , like a good American,” the man says. potatoes alike. As film critic Kenneth Turan says, it is irresistible: The Godfather’s reply will underpin the entire movie: “Why did you “Like one of those potato , you can’t have only one of it. It is a go to the police? Why didn’t you come to me first? What have I ever film that once started or stumbled upon on TV, demands to be seen done to make you treat me so disrepectfully? If you’d come to me in all the way to the end. It is that well-constructed, that hypnotic, friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be simply that good.” Even Al Pacino admits that when he’s flipping the suffering this very day. And, if my chance an honest man like you channels and comes across The Godfather, he can’t help but keep should make enemies...then they would become my enemies. And watching. then they would fear you.” But why is the film still so compelling today? Certainly the As the day continues, there are two more séances in the thrill of looking inside the particular subculture that The Godfather Godfather’s darkened study, intercut with scenes from the wedding explores. in conjunction with the movie’s intense action and drama, outside. By the end of the wedding sequence, most of the main is endlessly entertaining. There are two other central reasons to love characters will have been introduced, and we will know essential the film. The first is in the details. With each new viewing, a things about their personalities. It is a virtuoso stretch of different, distinct detail reveals itself: the jarring crunch of gravel filmmaking: Coppola brings his large cast onstage so artfully that we under Michael’s feet after Carlo is murdered; the blustery are drawn at once into the Godfather’s world. performance of Sterling Hayden; the exquisite marriage of Nino Rota’s haunting score with the dazzling Sicilian landscape. The The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay. Jenny M. details are no accident. In addition to Coppola’s dogged efforts to Jones. Black Dog & Levanthal, NY, 2007. infuse the film with the flavor and intricacies of his own Italian- “What are they getting so excited about? It’s only another gangster American experiences, he assembled an incredible collection of picture.” Marlon Brando, 1971. talent to create the film. From the cinematographer to the production designer, from the makeup artist to the special-effects Looking back thirty-five years after the release of The Godfather, one wizard, from the costume designer to the casting director, from can’t help but marvel how the film ever got made, when every Brando to Pacino—only today can the wonder of such a gifted conceivable obstacle stood in its way. group, working together on one movie set, be fully appreciated…. Coppola—THE GODFATHER —11

The screenplay of the 1972 film featured herein because Jews made them, not . So they sought an Italian- incorporates much of Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo’s own American director, a commodity in short supply. Bart thought of wording from their final, pre-production draft or shooting script twenty-nine-year-old he had met when he had written a piece for (officially titled “Third Draft,” completed on March 29, 1971. This on a young wannabe director who paid his way look back at the monumental film also traces the development of the through college by making “nudies,” otherwise known as skin screenplay and explores the evolution of several subsequent versions flicks….Peter Bart first approached Coppola to direct The Godfather and re-edits of the film that appeared after 1972. Among those in the spring of 1970. Coppola tried to read the book but found it different versions are The Godfather Saga, a four-part miniseries sleazy. His father advised him that commercial work could fund the broadcast on NBC in 1977, which combined The Godfather and its artistic pictures he wanted to make. His business partner, George sequel, The Godfather: Part II, in mostly chronological order, with Lucas, begged him to find something in the book he liked. He went some restored scenes that did not appear in the original theatrical to the library to research the Mafia, and became fascinated by the release; The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic (a.k.a. Mario families that had divided NewYork and run it like a business. Puzo’s The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television), a video Coppola reread the novel and came to see a central theme of a boxed set released in 1981 in the same format as Saga but with fewer family—a father and his three sons—that was in its own way a Greek restored scene; and The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980, a re-editing of or Shakespearean tragedy. He viewed the growth of the 1940s all three Godfathers in mostly chronological order, with even ore as a metaphor for capitalism in America. He took additional footage, released in 1992. the job.

...When Paramount gave The Godfather the green light, Gene Phillips, in The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia. Ed. finding a director turned out to be a difficult task. Twelve directors . Visible Ink, Detroit 1998: turned down the job many, including Peter Yates (Bullitt) and In 1990 he made his third Godfather film. This trilogy of (In Cold Blood), because they didn’t want to movies, taken together, represents one of the supreme achievements romanticize the Mafia. (Bonnie and Clyde, Little Big of the cinematic art. Man) was too busy. Costa-Gavras (Z) thought it too American. Robert Evans, Paramount’s head of production, sat down Michael Chapman said: “Stills and movies, philosophically, are with Peter Bart, his creative second in command, to determine why completely different. One is about stopping time, the other about previous films hadn’t worked, and decided it was going through time.”

NOSFERATU AT ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL St. Paul's Cathedral, in conjunction with a grant from Trinity Wall Street, invites you to the first annual screening of the 1922 German Expressionist black-and-white movie classic Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens on All Hallow's Eve: Sunday, October 31, 7:00 pm. This silent movie will be accompanied by Ivan Docenko at the Cathedral Organ. Please join us in the comfort of the Cathedral to watch this earliest screen adaptation of 's classic novel Dracula on the big screen. All are welcome to this family-friendly, free event.

COMING UP IN THE FALL 2010 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXI: October 26 The Last Detail 1973 November 2 Bruce Beresford Tender Mercies 1983 November 9 Wings of Desire 1987 November 16 Charles Crichton A Fish Called Wanda 1988 November 23 Joel & Ethan Coen The Big Lebowski 1998 November 30 Chan-wook Park Oldboy 2003 December 7 Deepa Mehta Water 2005

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The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the Market Arcade Film & Arts Center and State University of New York at Buffalo with support from the Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation and the Buffalo News