'Sicilian mobster films don't play,' Evans reiterated. When television much later got in on the same compelling act, with the unsurpassable HBO drama The Sopranos, the debt was made crystal clear, with characters referring simply to 'One' (meaning Coppola's 1972 film), and 'Two' (meaning his equally brilliant 1974 sequel, The Godfather Part II).ĭespite the book's gigantic success, Paramount still didn't want to make the movie. There had been a multitude of books and films about the Mob, but never one that delved into their personal lives like The Godfather did, first in Puzo's novel and subsequently in Coppola's screen trilogy. Puzo finished writing his book, changed the title to The Godfather, and it became a publishing sensation, shooting to the top of bestseller lists all over the world. That there are conflicting versions of that tale indicates the magnitude of what happened next.
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But feeling sorry for a guy clearly down on his luck, he offered Puzo $12,500 for the movie rights, assuming he'd never see him again. Evans wasn't interested in making another. Paramount had just made a picture about organised crime, The Brotherhood, which had been a flop even with Kirk Douglas as the lead. Mario Puzo was a writer up to his neck in debt, with five children and a destructive gambling habit when, in March 1968, he managed to get an audience with Robert Evans, the head of production at Paramount, a film studio also on its uppers.Įvans badly needed a hit - not that he thought there was even a sniff of one in the 60 pages of an unfinished novel Puzo brought with him, which he titled Mafia. It also rescued Paramount Pictures from ruin, and changed film-making for ever.īut before it was a film, it was a book. Indeed, it ignited a war between two of the most powerful forces in 1970s America: the titans of Hollywood and the Italian-American overlords of organised crime. And one of the most remarkable things about Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece about a Mob family in 1940s New York, and their battle for supremacy with the Mob's other leading families, is that it was every bit as eventful off screen as on. More discerning judges, dare I say, choose the Orson Welles classic Citizen Kane, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, or David Lean's Lawrence Of Arabia.īut those of us who think it's The Godfather, know it's The Godfather. Of course, there are plenty of other contenders for the title of greatest movie ever made. The greatest movie ever made is getting a 50th anniversary re-release, and if you've never seen The Godfather on the big screen, then make a note of Friday, February 25. From how his parents and brother were murdered by a Don in their home town of Corleone in Sicily, to his escaping, as a boy, to New York, his adult life and his rise to Don Corleone.Film-lovers have a treat in store in 2022. In a story interwoven with the present day, we see the backstory to Vito Corleone. Michael and Hyman Roth fly to Cuba to finalise some business deals there. Michael investigates who is trying to kill him, and suspects that there is a traitor in his family. An attempted assassination attempt is then carried out on Michael's life, in his own home. However, the Rosatos are backed by Hyman Roth, a business partner of Michael's and a long- time ally of Michael's father, Vito Corleone, and Michael refuses. Frank Pentageli, the man who runs Michael's interests in New York, comes to Michael, asking if he can take out the Rosato Brothers as they are infringing on Pentageli's turf and business interests. The move to Nevada went smoothly and Michael Corleone controls several hotels and casinos in the state. With the murders of the heads of the other four New York / New Jersey families, the Corleone family has unassailable control in New York. Regarding the ongoing Michael Corleone story, it is about seven years since the events that concluded The Godfather. The continuation of the Godfather saga with two focuses: the ongoing story of the Corleone family, and Michael in particular, and Vito Corleone's (Michael's father) backstory.