The Godfather (1972)

This is one of those movies where everyone went to see it when it came out.

Summary
-The reluctant war hero son of an aging mob boss is unexpectedly handed the control of his father's mob dynasty

Cast
-Marlon Brandon: Don Vito Corleone
-Robert Duvall: Tom Hagen
-Al Pacino: Michael Corleone
-James Caan: Sonny Corleone
-Richard S. Castellano: Clemenza
-Sterling Hayden: Captain McCluskey
-John Marley: Jack Woltz
-Richard Conte: Barzini
-Al Lettieri: Sollozzo
-Diane Keaton: Kay Adams
-Abe Vigoda: Tessio
-Talia Shire: Connie Corleone
-Gianni Russo: Carlo
-John Cazale: Fredo Corleone
-Rudy Bond: Cuneo
-Al Martino: Johnny Fontane
-Morgana King: Mama Corleone
-Lenny Montana: Luca Brasi
-John Martino: Paulie Gatto
-Salvatore Corsitto: Bonasere
-Alex Rocco: Moe Green

Did You Know?
-Marlon Brando had pulled a prank on some of the actors in the scene where they are carrying him up the stairs. He had put weights under himself to make it harder for them to carry him up the stairs
-Oranges seem to play a big part in this movie, telling of an imminent death or near death to a Corleone family member

-In the scene where Michael pledges himself to his father, the tears in Marlon Brando's eyes were real, according to Al Pacino, who played Michael

-Marlon Brando had based his low spoken, raspy voice on real life mobster Frank Costello.
-For the scenes where Michael was in exile in Italy, the town of Savoca, outside of Taormina in Sicily, were used. The only reason that Corleone, Sicily was not used is because the town was too developed, even by 1970s standards, to look like something from the 1940s

-Ironically, Al Pacino's grandparents had emigrated from Corleone, Sicily to America just as Don Vito had

-During the scene in the restaurant where Michael meets Sollozzo, subtitles couldn't be used because Sollozzo speaks Sicilian too quickly. What he says is "I am sorry. What happened to your father was business. I have much respect for your father. But your father, his thinking is old-fashioned. You must understand why I had to do that. Now let's work through where we go from here." When Michael returns from the bathroom, he continues in Sicilian with, "Everything all right? I respect myself, understand, and cannot allow another man to hold me back. What happened was unavoidable. I had the unspoken support of the other family dons. If your father were in better health, without his eldest son running things, no disrespect intended, we wouldn't have this nonsense. We will stop fighting until your father is well and can resume bargaining. No vengeance will be taken. We will have peace. But your family should interfere no longer."

-The movie was originally going to be titled The Godfather, but Francis Ford Coppola thought that Mario Puzo, who wrote the novel, deserved credit. So he retitled the movie Mario Puzo's The Godfather

-Mobster Moe Greene was modeled after Jewish mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Even though Siegel never wore glasses. Both people were shot through the eye and the glasses worn by Greene made it easier to capture that effect


Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel

-Initially, Francis Ford Coppola did not want to hire his sister Talia Shire for the movie. It's because he did not want to be accused of nepotism. He felt she was too pretty for the role of Connie Corleone. She only got to audition for the role at Mario Puzo's request

-The reason why Michael's son is named Anthony is because in real life, the three year old playing him is Anthony Gournaris, responded best when called by his name

-Sylvester Stallone, who at this point had just started acting, auditioned for the roles of Paulie Gatto and Carlo Rizzi, but did not get either role. Instead he tried his hand at writing a movie and did so with the successful The Lords of Flatbush. Ironically, Talia Shire would later go to fame as Adrian in the Rocky series

-When Michael is in exile in Sicily, you see him wiping his nose with a handkerchief. The novel explains that when police chief McCluskey punched him, it damaged his sinuses

-To make his face look bruised, Al Pacino wore a latex piece on his cheek to simulate the effect of being punched

-When James Caan uses the phrase "bada-bing", he got it from his acquaintance, real life mobster Carmine Persico, known as "The Snake" and he used it in the film


Carmine "The Snake" Persico

-Ironically, Jewish actors Abe Vigoda and James Caan played Italian characters Salvatore Tessio and Sonny Corleone while Italian actor Alex Rocco played a Jewish character named Moe Greene

-During the scene where Michael is confronted by Captain McCluskey, the officer who remarks at arresting Michael is NYPD detective Sonny Grosso, who was involved with the famous "French Connection" case

-Mario Puzo, who wrote the novel the movie is based on, had based Don Vito's personality on his own mother's while the character of Don Vito was based on New York mob bosses Joe Profaci and Vito Genovese. In the novel, many of the incidents are based on real life occurrences that happened to Profaci and Genovese


Joe Profaci

Vito Genovese

-During the scene where Carlo is beating Connie and she is destroying the ceramics, she lost a shoe. Rather than stop and search for it, she continued, at the risk of cutting her foot

-In the scene where Michael speaks to Apollonia's father about asking her out on a date, his dialogue was supposed to be in Sicilian, like in the novel. Unfortunately, Al Pacino did not speak Sicilian fluently and could not learn to speak the dialogue in the language so quickly. Instead, it was changed to where he had Fabrizio translate what Michael said into Sicilian

-In order to better understand his character and the underworld lifestyle, James Caan hung around mobsters and other criminals

-Several Italian words are used throughout the movie. Paulie says "sfortunato", which translates into "unlucky guy". Michael says that Tom is a "consigliere" or "consultant, advisor". Vito calls Johnny Fontaine a "finocchio", which is an offensive term for a homosexual. Sonny refers to Paulie as "stronzo", which translates into "a--hole", Carlo and Connie both say "vaffanculo" or "f--- you", Don Zaluchi describes the sale of drugs to children as "infamia" or "infamy" and both Don Corleones refer to "big shot" or ".90 caliber" as being "pezzo novanta"

-Jack Woltz, the Hollywood director in the movie, is based on Warner Bros. chief Jack L. Warner. His personality, however, was based on MGM head Louis B. Mayer. Mayer was a notorious racing aficiando with his own racing stable and prize horse. He quit horse racing after finding out his son in law, William Goetz, got caught up with the mob and fixed races

-Ardell Sheridan, the actress who plays Mrs. Clemenza, did not reveal until 1985 that Gambino mob boss Paul Castellano had visited the set and spoken with Richard S. Castellano, who played Clemenza. Of course, after Paul Castellano was killed in 1985, Richard revealed that the man was her uncle.

-When Sonny is shot to death, one of the killers kicks him in the face. This is a strong clue that it was Connie's husband Carlo who set it up because when Sonny beat up Carlo, he kicked Carlo in the face

-In addition to the source novel, many of the characters in the film are based on members of Francis Ford Coppola's family

-During the scene where Sonny is with Lucy, the actress who plays her, Eleanor Coppola, went into labor. Francis Ford Coppola went to the hospital after the scene was done to meet his new daughter Sofia

-In the scene where Tom meets up with Sollozzo in the abandoned diner, the snowstorm raging outside when they leave is real

-Francis Ford Coppola's wife Eleanor was the inspiration for Diane Keaton's character Kay Adams

-After the scene where Michael was punched in the face, Al Pacino had his jaw wired shut for a short time

-Out of all the cast members, some share birthdays. Al Pacino and Talia Shire were born on April 25. Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall were born on January 5. James Caan and Sterling Hayden were born on March 26. Abe Vigoda, Saro Urzi, Al Lettieri were born on February 24. Dominic Chianese, who appeared in The Godfather: Part II, was also born on February 24.

-Simonetta Stefanelli, who plays Michael's Sicilian wife Apollonia, was only 16 at the time the movie was filmed.

-Some people thought James Caan was miscast because he did not have what some would consider to be Italian features