The Godfather (1972) is the story of The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty, who transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
The movie is directed by Francis Ford Coppola and stars Marlon Brandon and Al Pacino. The Godfather (1972) is a Masterpiece indeed. It ranks at spot #2 on IMDb Top 250Movies of all
time.
The movie won 3 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor (Marlon Brandon).
Let’s look at some of the mindblowing and interesting facts about this Legendary movie.
41. Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) was so nervous about working with Marlon Brando that, in the first take of their scene together, he flubbed some lines. Francis Ford Coppola liked the genuine nervousness and used it in the final cut. The scenes of Brasi practicing his speech were added later.
40. During an early shot of the scene where Vito Corleone returns home and his people carry him up the stairs, Marlon Brando put weights under his body on the bed as a prank, to make it harder to lift him
39. Marlon Brando wanted to make Don Corleone “look “like a bulldog,” so he stuffed his cheeks with cotton wool for the audition. For actual filming, he wore a mouthpiece made by a dentist; this appliance is on display in the American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York.
38. Al Pacino boycotted the Academy Awards ceremony, angry that he was nominated for the Academy Award Supporting Actor, noting that his character had more screen time than his costar, Best Lead Actor nominee (and winner)Marlon Brando.
37. During filming, James Caan and Gianni Russo did not get along and were frequently at loggerheads. During filming Sonny’s beating on Carlo, Caan nearly hit Russo with the stick he threw at him, and actually broke two of Russo’s ribs and chipped his elbow.
36. For the scene where Clemenza is cooking, Francis Ford Coppola originally wrote in the script, “Clemenza browns some sausage”. Upon seeing this, Mario Puzo crossed out “browns” and replaced it with “fries”, writing in the margin, “Gangsters don’t brown.”
35. Although there are many claims of real Mafiosi as cast members Francis Ford Coppola stated in a May 2009 interview with Howard Stern that no organized crime members were cast or used as consultants. Coppola went on to explain there are expectations of reciprocity once one is provided a “favor” by an organized crime member or otherwise involved in a business action with the same. He specifically denied the connection of Gianni Russo to organized crime. The closest Coppola claims to have come to a real gangster during production, at least to his knowledge, was an interaction with Lenny Montana, who played Luca Brasi. Coppola said when he asked if Montana knew how to spin the cylinder of the revolver Montana replied “You kiddin’?”.
34. Marlon Brando did not memorize most of his lines and read from cue cards during most of the film.
33. The early buzz on the film was so positive that a sequel was planned before the film was finished filming.
32. A young Sylvester Stallone auditioned for the roles of Paulie Gatto and Carlo Rizzi, but was not cast for either. Stallone instead decided to try his hand at writing, first completing the screenplay for the modestly successful The Lord’s of Flatbush (1974). He would later get his break in Rocky (1976), alongside Talia Shire, who portrays Connie Corleone in this film.
31. In 1974, The Godfather (1972) premiered on NBC over 2 nights – Saturday November 16th, and Monday November 18th, from 9-11pm. Both nights, at 11pm, New York City’s Municipal Water Authorities had some overflow problems from all the toilets flushing around the same time.
30. George Lucas put together the “Mattress Sequence” (the montage of crime scene photos and headlines about the war between the five families) as a favor to Francis Ford Coppola for helping him fund American Graffiti (1973). He asked not to be credited.
29. There was intense friction between Francis Ford Coppola and Paramount who frequently tried to have him replaced, citing his inability to stay on schedule, unnecessary expenses and production and casting errors. (Coppola actually completed the film ahead of schedule and budget.)
28. Gordon Willis insisted that every shot represent a point of view, usually setting his camera about four feet off the ground, keeping the angle flat and even. Francis Ford Coppolamanaged to get him to do one aerial shot in the scene when Don Vito Corleone is gunned down, telling Willis that the overhead shot represented God’s point of view.
27. Gianni Russo used his organized crime connections to secure the role of Carlo Rizzi, going so far as to get a camera crew to film his own audition and send it to the producers. However, Marlon Brando was initially against having Russo, who had never acted before, in the film; this made Russo furious and he went to threaten Brando. However, this reckless act proved to be a blessing in disguise: Brando thought Russo was acting and was convinced he would be good for the role.
26. The line “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” was selected by the American Film Institute on it’s list as one of the top 100 movie quotes, it was at #2 right behind “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” from Gone with the Wind (1939).
25. During pre-production, Francis Ford Coppolashot his own unofficial screen tests with Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton at his home in San Francisco. Robert Evans was unimpressed by them and insisted that official screen tests be held. The studio spent $420,000 on the screen tests but in the end, the actors Coppola originally wanted were hired.
24. Don Vito Corleone’s distinctive voice was based on real-life mobster Frank Costello. Marlon Brando had seen him on TV during the Estes Kefauver hearings in 1951 and imitated his husky whisper in the film.
23. According to Richard S. Castellano, he defended Gordon Willis during a disagreement Willis was having with Coppola. Coppola got revenge on Castellano by making him do twenty takes of the shots of Clemenza walking up four flight of stairs.
22. Al Pacino, James Caan and Diane Keaton were all paid $35,000 for their work on the film.
21. When Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for this movie, he sent Sacheen Littlefeather(née Marie Louise Cruz) to represent him at the awards ceremonies. The presenters of the award were Roger Moore and Liv Ullmann. When Moore offered the statuette to Littlefeather, she snubbed him and proceeded with her speech about the film industry’s mistreatment of American Indians.
20. Al Pacino’s first Oscar nomination marks his first of 4 consecutive nominations, a feat he shares with Jennifer Jones (1943-46), Thelma Ritter (1950-53), Marlon Brando (1951-54) andElizabeth Taylor (1957-60) and Susan Sarandon1992-1996.
19. James Caan actually hung out with various disreputable characters in order to better understand the underworld lifestyle.
18. Francis Ford Coppola turned in an initial director’s cut running 126 minutes. Paramount production chief Robert Evans rejected this version and demanded a longer cut with more scenes about the family. The final release version was nearly 50 minutes longer than Coppola’s initial cut.
17. In reality, all the actors who played Marlon Brando’s sons (Robert Duvall, John Cazale,James Caan, and Al Pacino) were only between six and 16 years younger than Brando, and Caan’s character, Santino, supposed to be older than Pacino’s character, Michael, are actually the same age, being born only one month apart in 1940.
16. Stanley Kubrick rated The Godfather (1972) as one of the greatest movies ever made.
15. The film makes use of a variety of Italian words:
@ Paulie says “sfortunato”, which means “unlucky guy”.
@ Michael explains that Tom is a “consigliere,” or counselor…
@ Vito calls Johnny Fontane a “finocchio,” an offensive term for a homosexual…
@ Sonny refers to Paulie as a “stronzo,” a term equivalent to “asshole”..
@ Carlo and Connie both say “vaffanculo” during their fight, which means “fuck you”…
@ Don Zaluchi says the sale of drugs to children is an “infamia,” or an infamy…
@ Both the Dons Corleone use the word “pezzonovante,” which means “.90 caliber,” or more accurately an idiom meaning “big shot”…
14. Paramount was in severe financial trouble in the early 1970s and really needed a big hit. They specifically asked Francis Ford Coppola to make the film more explicitly violent.
13. Paramount senior management, dissatisfied with the early rushes, considered replacingFrancis Ford Coppola with Elia Kazan with the hope that Kazan would be able to work with the notoriously difficult Marlon Brando. Brando announced that he would quit the film if Coppola was fired and the studio backed down. Paramount brass apparently did not know of Brando’s dismay with Kazan over his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s.
12. This is the fourth of five films as of 2014 in which three actors were competing for the same Oscar for the same film, which were Al Pacino , James Caan and Robert Duvall . The other films were: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) in which Clark Gable , Charles Laughton andFranchot Tone competed for best actor, On the Waterfront (1954) in which Lee J. Cobb , Karl Malden and Rod Steiger competed for best supporting actor, Tom Jones (1963) in whichDiane Cilento , Edith Evans and Joyce Redmancompeted for best supporting actress, and The Godfather: Part II (1974) in which Robert De Niro , Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasbergcompeted for best supporting actor (which De Niro won).
11. In 1990, This film was selected for the National Film Registry, Library of Congress.
10. The film took 77 days to shoot, 6 days less then the 83 days original schedule.
9. At one point during filming, Paramount production chief Robert Evans felt the film had too little action and considered hiring an action director to finish the job. To satisfy Evans,Francis Ford Coppola and his son Gian-Carlo Coppola developed the scene in which Connie and Carlo have their long fight. As a result, Evans was pleased enough to let Coppola finish the film.
8. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #2 Greatest Movie of All Time.
7. A promotional board game titled “The Godfather Game” was released in 1971.
6. When writing the Godfather novel, Mario Puzo either directly or indirectly borrowed ideas from real life Mafia stories. Specifically, he borrowed a lot of from the life of New York gangster “Crazy” Joe Gallo, including the dynamics of he and his brothers. In the movie, Sonny is the “hot head” (Like Crazy Joe), Michael is the thoughtful and intelligent one (Like Larry Gallo), and Fredo is the dimwit (Like Michael Gallo). Also terms like “Sleeping with the fishes” and “Hitting the mattresses” came from the lives of the Gallos. An associate of the Gallos was killed while on a fishing trip with friends and the Gallos were sent a fish wrapped in a box just as when Sonny gets Luca Brasi’s bulletproof vest with a fish. When the Gallos revolted against their boss, Joe Profaci, they went to war and rented apartments stocked with mattresses. In real life, after Joe Gallo saw the movie, he actually considered suing Mario Puzo and Paramount Pictures for ripping off details of his life for their story. However, this never came to pass as “Crazy” Joe Gallo was murdered on April 7, 1972, almost a full month after the movie’s New York premiere.
5. Whenever you see oranges, there is going to be either a death or a near death.
4. During the scene in the study when the family decides Michael Corleone needs to kill Sollozzo and McCluskey, Santino Corleone is seen idly toying with a cane. The cane belonged to Al Pacino, who had badly injured his leg while filming Michael’s escape from the restaurant.
3. Sonny Corleone’s death scene at a highway toll booth was to take place on the Jones Beach Causeway, but was actually filmed on a small airport runway at Mitchell Field on Long Island, which was then called the Floyd Bennett Field. The scene was the most expensive in the movie to set up and film for it cost over $100,000 to set up and was finished in just one take from four or five different camera angles. The large billboard next to the toll booth was set up to hide the appearance of a modern high-rise building in the background. According to Joe Gelmis, 110 brass casings containing gunpowder squibs and sacks of blood were deployed all over James Caan’s body. Plus there were over 200 pre-drilled holes in his car, a 1941 Lincoln, filled with squibs to simulate the ambush attack.
2. During rehearsals, a false horse’s head was used for the bedroom scene. For the actual shot, a real horse’s head was used, acquired from a dog-food factory. According to John Marley, his scream of horror was real as he was not informed that a real head was going to be used.
1. Total Body count: 18 (including the horse).
AVJ
Movie Details Facts and Trivia 