The Godfather's Birthday
On March 14, 1972, the premiere of Francis Ford Coppola's gangster film drama "The Godfather" took place in New York. Almost everywhere you can find the wording that F.F. Coppola's film is "an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo". But this formulation requires some clarification.
The idea of making the film "The Godfather" appeared even before Puzo's novel was finished. Paramount Pictures executive director Peter Barth bought the film rights to Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" when he read only a 20-page sketch of the future novel. And since the sale of the rights to the film adaptation of his future novel, Mario Puzo has been focused on creating not only a novel as such, but also a script for a future film. The original idea of Paramount Pictures was to make a low-budget gangster film based on the future novel, the action of which would take place in the late 60s, and not in the 1940s - 1950s. And this was reflected in the original version of the script. Due to the financial difficulties that the film company was facing at that time, a rather limited budget of $ 2.5 million was planned for the implementation of the project.
At first, Sergio Leone was offered the position of director, but he refused, explaining his refusal by saying that the mafia theme, in his opinion, would not be popular. Subsequently, Leone terribly regretted his refusal and got rid of his regrets only when he made the film "Once upon a Time in America" in 1984. The next candidate for the position of director of the picture was Peter Bogdanovich, but he was not satisfied with the modest budget of the picture. Then an offer was made to Francis Ford Coppola.
Originally F.F. Coppola was against the production of the film, as he believed that it glorifies the mafia and violence, and this could reflect badly on his reputation due to his Italian-Sicilian roots. But he was persuaded to accept the offer by his friend and colleague George Lucas. The fact is that in the previous film "THX 1138" (1971), in which Lucas was the director and Coppola was the executive producer, the overspending of the film company's funds in the amount of 400 thousand dollars was allowed, and the company "hung" this debt on Lucas. Coppola persuaded himself that it was possible to make an allegory of American capitalism out of the film, and accepted the film company's offer. In addition, while all these negotiations were going on, Puzo's novel became a bestseller. Thanks to this, Coppola achieved an increase in the budget to $ 6 million. Accordingly, at Coppola's insistence, Mario Puzo with great pleasure rewrote the script of the future picture, bringing it as close as possible to the novel. As a sign of appreciation to the writer for the great and high-quality work on the creation of the script, Coppola in the opening credits for the film designated its title not just as "The Godfather", but as "Mario Puzo's The Godfather".
The main character of Puzo's novel and Coppola's film, Don Vito Corleone, is a collective image that unites the real prototypes of the "fathers" of several mafia clans: Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Joe Profaci, Lucky Luciano. Orson Welles ("Citizen Kane", "The Third Man"), the beloved actor of F.F. Coppola, actively offered his candidacy for the role of Don Vito Corleone. Welles even promised to lose a lot of weight if needed for the role. However, the film company initially planned Marlon Brando ("Apocalypse Now", "On the Waterfront", "A Streetcar Named Desire") for this role.
Marlon Brando was known in the cinematic world for his difficult character and, at times, hooligan behavior on the set. For example, he categorically refused to learn the script. He read all his lines from hints that were hung all over the set, including on the backs of other actors. But at the same time, everyone knew about his ability to "make a cash", and therefore they forgave him a lot. Moreover, he was allowed to star in Bernardo Bertolucci's ("The Conformist", "1900") "Last Tango in Paris" at the same time as filming "The Godfather". The filming schedule was specially designed in such a way as to ensure that Brando combined filming in both pictures.
There were sharp tensions between Francis Ford Coppola and Paramount Pictures from time to time. It even got to the point that Paramount Pictures, citing Coppola's inability to meet the schedule, inappropriate budget expenditures, as well as production and casting errors, tried to replace Coppola with Elia Kazan. Brando then announced that he would leave the film if Coppola was fired, and the studio backed down. Apparently, the management of the film company was not aware of the relatively long-standing, since the time of the film "On the Waterfront", the enmity of Brando and Kazan. By the way, Coppola actually finished the film ahead of schedule and met the allotted budget. And yet: Marlon Brando, playing the role of Vito Corleone, reproduced the voice of the real Frank Costello with 100% accuracy.
If Marlon Brando got the role of Don Vito Corleone in the film "The Godfather" on an almost uncontested basis, then things were much more complicated with the performer of the role of Michael Corleone. This role was consistently offered to Warren Beatty ("Bonnie and Clyde"), Jack Nicholson ("One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The Shining", "The Passenger") and Dustin Hoffman ("Midnight Cowboy", "Graduate"), but they all declined. Martin Sheen ("Apocalypse Now") auditioned for this role and Dean Stockwell. Rod Steiger ("On the Waterfront", "In the Heat of the Night"), who was 46 years old at the time of filming, actively fought for this role. Even Alain Delon ("Rocco and his brothers") offered his candidacy for the role of Michael Corleone. The management of the film company actively promoted the candidacy of Robert Redford. It took Coppola's directorial super-sense to choose Al Pacino for this role.
By that time, Al Pacino had only two roles in full-length feature films. The role in one of them - "The Panic in Needle Park" (1971) - made a huge impression on Coppola. The situation was complicated by the fact that Al Pacino performed extremely poorly at the film auditions, as well as by the fact that at that moment he was already starring in the crime comedy "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight". But Coppola literally pulled Al Pacino out of the "Gang" and insisted on his playing the role of Michael. Which further strained his relationship with the producers. The management of the film company continued to consider Al Pacino a mediocre actor exactly until the shooting of the scene in the restaurant, where he plays with his eyes for about a minute before deciding to kill Sollozzo. The scene made such an impression on everyone that no one ever doubted his talent anymore. In 1973, Al Pacino received an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for this role. This offended Pacino terribly, because he considered his role to be the main one in the film on the grounds that the role of Michael Corleone had more screen time than the role of Don Vito. Al Pacino even boycotted the Oscar ceremony in protest and was left without an award.
With the role in the film "The Godfather" began the ascent of Al Pacino to the heights of the cinematic Olympus. Four years in a row he received Oscar nominations: "Serpico" (1974), "The Godfather. Part II" (1975), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1976). But only in 1993 he became the owner of the coveted golden statuette - for his role in the film "The Scent of a Woman" by Martin Brest. But as for the financial side of the recognition of Al Pacino's acting talent, the following figures indicate the growth of this recognition: his acting fee for his role in the film "The Godfather" amounted to 35 thousand dollars, and just two years later - for his role in the film "The Godfather. Part II" - his fee was 600 thousand dollars + 10% of the fees of the painting. However, everything is known in comparison. 600 thousand dollars in 1972 is equivalent to about 3 million dollars in 2022. And, for example, two Chris', Evans and Hemsworth, received $ 15 million each for their roles in the Russo brothers' film "Avengers: Finale" (2019).
The peculiarity of Francis Ford Coppola's gangster film drama "The Godfather" is that the word "mafia" has never been heard in this film. There are reasons for this. Even before the filming of the film, the mafia in every possible way prevented attention from being drawn to its affairs. Crime boss Joe Colombo and his organization, the Italian-American Civil Rights League, have launched a campaign to stop the making of the film. The producer of the Paramount Pictures film company Robert Evans later wrote in his memoirs that Colombo called him at home and threatened him and his family. During the preparation for filming, Paramount Pictures received many letters from Americans of Italian descent, including from politicians, in which the film was condemned as anti-Italian. They threatened to protest and disrupt filming. Another Paramount Pictures producer, Albert S. Ruddy, had all the windows knocked out in the car and left a note: "Either stop shooting, or..." Then Ruddy and Coppola organized a meeting with the leaders of criminal groups, at which they agreed to give the criminal bosses the opportunity to get acquainted with the script of the film and make the necessary changes to it. That is why the words "mafia" or "mob" are not used in the film.
After that, the angry letters and threats stopped. The joint development of the script with the mafia began — any episodes that could show the mafia in a bad light were deleted. Moreover, the mafiosi began to come to the shooting and monitor compliance with the script. The film crew began to consult with them on various issues. It all ended with the fact that they became friends, and family representatives became permanent consultants during filming. For example, all the guests at the festive reception at the Corleone house are real mafiosi, their friends and relatives.
At the beginning of 1973, F.F. Coppola's film "The Godfather" received 7 Golden Globe Award nominations, of which it won in five, including the most important ones: Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director - Motion Picture. A little later, the film received 10 Oscar nominations, but won only three of them: Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marlon Brando). Brando, by the way, like Al Pacino, also boycotted the Oscar ceremony, and not only boycotted, but also refused the award. It is curious that, although every year at the Oscar ceremonies we see the amazement of the actors when they are declared winners, at the 1973 ceremony, after the announcement of Brando's victory, an actress of Indian origin Sachin Littlefeather took the stage and read Brando's statement about his refusal of the award in protest against the infringement of the rights of Indians in the field of entertainment and as a sign of condemnation of the incident in the village of Wounded Knee shortly before.
The most significant film awards won by the film "The Godfather" at European festival venues were two awards of the Italian Film Academy David di Donatello, awarded to the film as the Best foreign film and Al Pacino. Coppola's film also received 5 nominations for the British BAFTA Award, but all in minor categories.
The perception of the film "The Godfather" by the overwhelming majority of film critics can be described as universal delight. The guru of American film criticism Roger Ebert devoted two reviews to the film, both rating the film with maximum 4 stars and including it in the list of "Great Movies". The New York Times film reviewer Vincent Canby noted in his review:
"Francis Ford Coppola has made one of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment... It's the gangster melodrama come-of-age, truly sorrowful and truly exciting, without the false piety of the films that flourished 40 years ago, scaring the delighted hell out of us while cautioning that crime doesn't (or, at least, shouldn't) pay."
One of the most authoritative Russian film critics Anton Dolin wrote in his review:
"Why is "The Godfather" the main American film? And this opinion exists not only among critics and film historians, but also among many viewers. Because here two opposite and at the same time interrelated themes are combined: on the one hand, the law and its violation, since the mafia clan is at the center of the action, and on the other, the family and its gradual destruction. Coppola reinterpreted on American material, with the involvement of the Italian background - autobiographical, including - the textbook classic conflict of feeling and reason, showing through two characters - Don Vito Corleone and his younger son Michael - and three excellent actors: Brando, Pacino and de Niro - how power destroys the human in a person, and crimes against the law destroy the connection with reality and ultimately lead to death."
In the Soviet Union, Coppola's film "The Godfather" was not shown, at least until the beginning of perestroika. Nevertheless we sang the song Speak Softly Love on the theme music from the movie in the mid-70s at every student party. By the way, about this musical theme. Its author, Nino Rota, was nominated for an Oscar. But just before the Oscar ceremony, the nomination was canceled due to the fact that it was used in the 1958 film "Fortunella". However, this did not prevent her from receiving the Golden Globe and the British BAFTA Award in 1973. For the second part of "The Godfather", Nino Rota slightly arranged this musical theme and... and received an Oscar in 1975.
The following figures speak about the evaluation of F.F. Coppola's film "The Godfather" by ordinary moviegoers. With a budget of $ 6 million, the film grossed 268.5 million, i.e., it paid off almost 45 times. Modern moviegoers, after several decades, appreciate the film no less than the audience of the early 70s of the last century. 87% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated the film from 8 to 10. And every second user rated the film with the highest score - "ten".
With that said, the rating of Francis Ford Coppola's film "The Godfather" according to Filmgourmand version was 9,967, thanks to which it took 49th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
