The Godfather - 50 Years Later

[Wally Pryor 5261]

Premiered March 23, 1972. Still top 5 for me. Maybe top 1.

Great interviews with the cast from this month:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/the-godfather-at-50-james-caan-robert-duvall-talia-shire-reminisce-1235109266/

https://dnyuz.com/2022/03/09/al-pacino-on-the-godfather-its-taken-me-a-lifetime-to-accept-it-and-move-on/

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

Godfather I and II are both the GOAT for me.  I've watched both of them dozens of times and I almost always pick up some nuance that I'd not noticed before each time I watch them.

[WBT 20586]

AMCs are showing it in theaters this week for the 50th anniversary.

['stache 21817]

I have heard that it insists upon itself.

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

Added bonus is that Robert Duvall is in I and II.  There's never been a Robert Duvall pic that I didn't enjoy to some degree.

[Mileslong 4727]

My favorite all time, I still stop down and watch it anytime I see it on, even if it’s half the way through…

[mchookem 16336]

good reads, thanks for posting.

sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole...

my god, SO many of the greatest actors not just of my lifetime but in the history of movies are likely gonna be lost in the next 10 years, they're all on the backside of 80 now... it's gonna be rough when it starts happening regularly 💔 

[Texzilla58 4738]

One of my top films; I consider 1 & 2 really a single picture. I’ve read the book. The movie didn’t get into the horrible aspects of how Lucca Brazzi came to have such loyalty to Don Corleone, just the story of the Johnny Fontaine contract.

I too have watched it dozens of times; i’ve owned it on vhs, laserdisc, and dvd. I’ve preordered the 50th anniversary blue ray.

The wedding segment with a little more stuff would have made a great movie by itself.

[hobbes2702 13045]

Parts 1 and 2 may not be my favorite movies overall (Lebowski) but I think they are the best movies ever made with Shawshank in 3rd. They are just perfect in every way. And the fact that it’s so rewatchable so many years later is a testament to just how incredible the filmmaking is.

[Horn80 6127]

2 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Added bonus is that Robert Duvall is in I and II.  There's never been a Robert Duvall pic that I didn't enjoy to some degree.

His scenes in Apocalypse Now are epic but unfortunately the story didn’t allow for him and Brando to do scene together again.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Horn80

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

And one of the next best tiers of GOAT movies:

 

[Sbbruin 21858]

3 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Godfather I and II are both the GOAT for me.  I've watched both of them dozens of times and I almost always pick up some nuance that I'd not noticed before each time I watch them.

Same.  They are movie perfection.

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

 

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

 

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

 

[C-Man 27230]

Great flick. Came out the year I was born. Fuck, I'm gonna be 50 this year.

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

I totally agree that 1 & 2 are probably my favorite movies of all time.  What I find difficult is figuring out which of those two movies is better.   You get Brando in 1 but DeNiro in 2 who does a great job of acting like Brando in Vito’s younger days.  There are very few perfect movies and both of these are perfect.

[mr. sunshine 2827]

I read that Richard Castellano refused to play Clemenza in II because the original script had him betraying Michael, which Castellano was adamant the character wouldn’t do. So Coppola killed him offscreen and brought in the great Michael Gazzo, a playwright, to play Frank Pentangeli 

[Nole-4-Life 804]

8 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

One of my top films; I consider 1 & 2 really a single picture. I’ve read the book. The movie didn’t get into the horrible aspects of how Lucca Brazzi came to have such loyalty to Don Corleone, just the story of the Johnny Fontaine contract.

I too have watched it dozens of times; i’ve owned it on vhs, laserdisc, and dvd. I’ve preordered the 50th anniversary blue ray.

The wedding segment with a little more stuff would have made a great movie by itself.

Thankfully the movie also didn't get into the vaginal reconstruction angle either.

[Wally Pryor 5261]

7 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

 

There are many great scenes in 1 and 2 but I think this may be my favorite. Michael's stare toward the end could kill 100 men. 

[hobbes2702 13045]

8 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

I totally agree that 1 & 2 are probably my favorite movies of all time.  What I find difficult is figuring out which of those two movies is better.   You get Brando in 1 but DeNiro in 2 who does a great job of acting like Brando in Vito’s younger days.  There are very few perfect movies and both of these are perfect.

I think part 1 is the better movie of the two but I think part 2 has the two greatest acting performances of all time in Pacino and Deniro.

[Wally Pryor 5261]

So much trivia in the makings of 1 and 2....the cat that Brando is playing with in the 1st scene of 1 was just a cat that hung around the set. It wandered into the filming of that scene and Brando picked it up. 

[Catpfish 618]

6 hours ago, mr. sunshine said:

I read that Richard Castellano refused to play Clemenza in II because the original script had him betraying Michael, which Castellano was adamant the character wouldn’t do. So Coppola killed him offscreen and brought in the great Michael Gazzo, a playwright, to play Frank Pentangeli 

Down the rabbit hole I go, but Richard Castellano is the nephew of Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano.  Art imitates life or something like that

 

 

 

[66BUFF 2564]

1 hour ago, Catpfish said:

Down the rabbit hole I go, but Richard Castellano is the nephew of Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano.  Art imitates life or something like that

 

 

 

He was only 38/39 when the Godfather was made.

[ConferenceRoom 6144]

17 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Added bonus is that Robert Duvall is in I and II.  There's never been a Robert Duvall pic that I didn't enjoy to some degree.

My favorite Duvall scene from my favorite Coppola film. The Godfather is a close second. The expression on his face and his body language when he says "Someday this war is gonna end" is the height of acting if you ask me. 

[ConferenceRoom 6144]

Spoiler

It’s hard to imagine “The Godfather” without Al Pacino. His understated performance as Michael Corleone, who became a respectable war hero despite his corrupt family, goes almost unnoticed for the first hour of the film — until at last he asserts himself, gradually taking control of the Corleone criminal operation and the film along with it.

But there would be no Al Pacino without “The Godfather,” either. The actor was a rising star of New York theater with just one movie role, in the 1971 drug drama “The Panic in Needle Park,” when Francis Ford Coppola fought for him, against the wishes of Paramount Pictures, to play the ruminative prince of his Mafia epic. A half-century’s worth of pivotal cinematic roles followed, including two more turns as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather Part II” and “Part III.”

“The Godfather” premiered in New York on March 15, 1972, and 50 years later, you can imagine all the reasons Pacino wouldn’t want to talk about it anymore. Maybe he’d be embarrassed or annoyed about how this one performance, from the outset of his movie career, still dominates his résumé, or perhaps he has said all there is to say about it.

But in a telephone interview last month, Pacino, now 81, was quite philosophical, even whimsical, about discussing the film. He remains an ardent admirer of the movie and of the lengths that Coppola and his co-stars went to support him, and he is still awe-struck about how it single-handedly gave him his career.

“I’m here because I did ‘The Godfather,’” Pacino said, speaking from his home in Los Angeles. “For an actor, that’s like winning the lottery. When it comes right down to it, I had nothing to do with the film but play the part.”

As Coppola recalled it, Pacino was who he saw in the role all along and a candidate worth going to the mattresses for, despite his lack of a track record.

“When I actually read the ‘Godfather’ book, I kept imagining him,” Coppola said in a separate interview. “And I didn’t have a second choice. It was, for me, always Al Pacino. That’s the reason why I was so tenacious about getting him to play Michael. That was my problem.”

But for the actor, delivering the performance of a lifetime brought its own burdens, as he would learn in the years that followed.

“It’s hard to explain in today’s world — to explain who I was at that time and the bolt of lightning that it was,” Pacino said. “I felt like, all of a sudden, some veil was lifted and all eyes were on me. Of course, they were on others in the film. But ‘The Godfather’ gave me a new identity that was hard for me to cope with.”

Pacino spoke further about getting hired for and making “The Godfather,” the weight of its legacy and why he never played another film character like Michael Corleone after it. These are edited excerpts from our conversation.

When you get a call asking you to talk about “The Godfather,” is there some part of you that thinks, oh God, not again? Does it ever become tedious?

Well, no. You expect it. You expect to talk about what things worked and what things didn’t. You get a sense that somebody’s going to come at you. You just go: OK, been here, done this. But it’s cool. It beats talking to myself about it.

How did the role of Michael Corleone first come up?

At that time in my life, I didn’t have a choice. Francis wanted me. I had made the one film. And I wasn’t as interested in film to the extent that I became interested. My head was in another space. I felt out of place in the early films that I made. I remember saying to my friend Charlie [his mentor, the acting teacher Charlie Laughton]: Wow, they talk about it being real, but meanwhile it’s not. Because there are wires all over you. And also, you’ve got to do it again! [Laughs] You do it and they say, well, go again, do it again. It’s real and not real at the same time. Which takes some getting used to.

When did you and Coppola meet?

To give a little history to it, Francis was this filmmaker who had Zoetrope [his production company, American Zoetrope], and people like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and [Martin] Scorsese and [Brian] De Palma were all part of a group. And I remember seeing a few of them when Francis asked me to come to San Francisco after he had seen me in a play on Broadway. Do you know that story? I’m telling old stories now. [Laughs]

That’s OK. It’s why we’re here.

He saw me onstage [in the 1969 Broadway run of “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?”] but I never met him. He had written “Patton” by that time, and he sent me a script for a wonderful love story he had written [which was never produced]. He wanted to see me. That meant I had to get on a plane and go to San Francisco, which is something I was not used to. I thought, is there any other way to go? I can’t tell this guy to come all the way back here, can I? So I said I’ll bite the bullet and I went. I spent five days with him. It really was special, this film. But we were rejected, of course. I was an unknown actor and he had made a couple of films, “You’re a Big Boy Now” and “The Rain People.” So I went back home and never heard from him again.

But you did, eventually. When was that?

“Panic in Needle Park” hadn’t come out yet. And I got a call from Francis Coppola — a name from the past. First, he says he’s going to be directing “The Godfather.” I thought, well, he might be going through a mini-breakdown or something. How did they give him “The Godfather”?

You didn’t think it was possible that he was making it?

I’ve got to tell you, it was a big deal already. It was a big book. When you’re an actor, you don’t even put your eyes on those things. They don’t exist for you. You’re in a certain place in your life where you’re not going to be accepted in those big films — not yet, at least. And he said, not only was he directing it, [breaking into laughter] but he wanted me to do it. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh here. It just seemed so outrageous. Here I am, talking to somebody who I think is flipped out. I said, what train am I on? OK. Humor the guy. And he wanted me to do Michael. I thought, OK, I’ll go along with this. I said, yes, Francis, good. You know how they talk to you when you’re slipping? They say, “Yes! Of course! Yes!” But he wasn’t. It was the truth. And then I was given the part.

Paramount was famously opposed to the idea of your playing the role.

Well, they rejected his entire cast! [Laughs] They rejected Brando. They rejected Jimmy Caan and Bob Duvall. There was conflict.

I recently watched some of your “Godfather” screen tests and you seemed to have this hangdog look on your face as you are asked to go through it again and again.

Yeah. I always had that look. [Laughs] It was a facade that got me through these auditions. Because great actors were auditioning for this thing. But here’s the secret: For whatever reason, he wanted me and I knew that. You could feel that. And there’s nothing like that, when a director wants you. It’s the best thing an actor could have, really.

But you were not exactly a nobody. You had already won a Tony Award.

Oh, on the island of Manhattan, things were happening for me. I had done “The Indian Wants the Bronx.” I was young. I got the Obie Award and then I won a Tony. Then I got fired from a play. [Laughs]

What play?

I got fired from some play. They let me go. Let’s put it that way. You happen to be the lead, but we’re letting you go. That’s how bad you are in this performance. So I was known in certain quarters. I wasn’t looking for work in that sense — I was engaging myself in things.

When you got into the filming of “The Godfather,” working alongside people like Caan and Duvall, who had quite a lot more moviemaking experience, and Brando, who you admired a great deal, how did you hold your own?

I thought about the role. I just couldn’t articulate it at the time. I could articulate it today. I was thinking that this is a character that could be very effective if he comes out of nowhere. That was my vision for it. I couldn’t, naturally, mention it to anyone because I didn’t know how to say it. But I could think it. And I felt it was mapped out for me when I read the script.

How so?

He’s not showing up a lot. He’s there but not quite showing up. I guess a lot of it was just building up to that one speech where he says I’m going to go get those guys [the drug kingpin Sollozzo and the corrupt police officer Capt. McCluskey], and they all start laughing at him.

Meaning, Michael was being underestimated and that was something you could connect to and use to your advantage?

Exactly. But I will tell you, they couldn’t have been more comforting, all of them. I was young, I was unknown, and they were so comforting. There was a love there. They understood it, Brando especially. But the others, too. They were becoming those older brothers and advisers that they play in the film. Those kinds of emotions and colors in them came out, both in the performance but also in life. They mesh.

Was there ever a moment during the making of “The Godfather” that you realized it was going to be as great as it is?

You remember the funeral scene for Marlon, when they put him down? It was over for the evening, the sun was going down. So, naturally, I’m happy ’cause I get to go home and have some drinks. I was on the way to my camper, saying, well, I was pretty good today. I had no lines, no obligations, that was fine. Every day without lines is a good day. So I’m going back to my camper. And there, sitting on a tombstone, is Francis Ford Coppola, weeping like a baby. Profusely crying. And I went up to him and I said, Francis, what’s wrong? What happened? He says, “They won’t give me another shot.” Meaning, they wouldn’t allow him to film another setup. And I thought: OK. I guess I’m in a good film here. Because he had this kind of passion and there it is.

Have you rewatched the film recently?

No. I might have seen it two, three years ago. It’s the kind of movie when you start watching it, you keep watching it.

Do you get self-conscious about watching your own films?

No. I enjoy watching films I’ve been in. Sometimes I show them. I say, “Hey, come this way! Here it is! Hey, it’s me, yes! Take a look at this!” Well, I don’t go that far. But I would if I could. I think “The Godfather” plays no matter what. But you’re surprised when you realize how many people never saw it.

You’re encountering people who are aware of “The Godfather” as a cultural phenomenon but haven’t actually watched it?

They’ve heard about it. You get that. “Oh, I heard — were you in that? That was a film, wasn’t it?” Yes. So was “Citizen Kane,” by the way — I was in that, too. Why not? They don’t know.

Is there anything about your performance that you wish you could change now?

Maybe I’ve been spared. It’s like when I once lost my wallet in my early 20s. I had no money, but what I had, I had in my wallet and I lost it. I said, Al, you simply have to forget this. Put it out of your mind, OK? You know what will happen to you if you keep thinking about it. So, what I do is, I don’t think about it.

Who from the movie doesn’t get enough credit for their contribution?

John Cazale, in general, was one of the great actors of our time — that time, any time. I learned so much from him. I had done a lot of theater and three films with him. He was inspiring, he just was. And he didn’t get credit for any of it. He was in five films, all Oscar-nominated films, and he was great in all of them. He was particularly great in “Godfather II” and I don’t think he got that kind of recognition.

There is an intense quietness to how you play Michael in “The Godfather” that I don’t think I ever saw again in your other film performances, even the later times you played him. Was that a part of yourself that went away or was it just the nature of the character that called for it?

I’d like to think it was the nature of that particular person and that interpretation. I can’t think of any other characters that I did that could have used that kind of framework. I was a young actor — on “Part III,” I was no longer young, but that’s not my fault. [Laughs]

But compared to other characters you’re also closely associated with, like Tony Montana in “Scarface” ——

Well, that character, Tony Montana, was written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma, who wanted the heightened reality. Brian wanted to do an opera. All I wanted to do was imitate Paul Muni. [Laughs] But if I put “Dog Day Afternoon” with “Godfather,” or “Serpico,” I don’t see a resemblance there. Would you call Michael more introspective? That’s what I would say. And I don’t know of any other introspective characters I played. But if I sit down with you and go to the almanac, we’ll find something.

You received your first Academy Award nomination for “The Godfather,” yet you didn’t attend the ceremony that year. Were you protesting because you were nominated as a supporting actor and not as a lead?

No, absolutely not. I was at that stage in my life where I was somewhat, more or less, rebellious. I did go back for others. But I didn’t go to them early on. It was the tradition. I don’t think Bob [De Niro] went to one of them. George C. Scott didn’t even go. They had to wake him up. [Laughs] Marlon didn’t go. Look, Marlon gave back the Oscar. How about that? They were rebelling from the Hollywood thing. That kind of thing was in the air.

So all of this is contributing to your feelings at the time about your rising fame?

I was somewhat uncomfortable with being in that situation, being in that world. I was also working onstage in Boston at that time [in “Richard III”]. But that was an excuse. I just was afraid to go. I was young, younger than even my years. I was young in terms of the newness of all this. It was the old shot-out-of-a-cannon syndrome. And it’s connected to drugs and those kinds of things, which I was engaged in back there, and I think that had a lot to do with it. I was just unaware of things back then.

When you did win an Oscar for “Scent of a Woman,” was there some part of you that still wished you’d won it for playing Michael Corleone?

Absolutely not. If I think about it now, I would say, “Sure, I should have won! I’d have three Oscars! I would be like the big guys.” [Laughs] No, I don’t think that. It’s a serious thing. You’re being honored for something.

So you’re comfortable now with the praise you received — and continue to receive — for your performance in “The Godfather”?

Oh, yes. I am deeply honored by it. I really am. It’s a piece of work that I was so fortunate to be in. But it’s taken me a lifetime to accept it and move on. It’s not like I played Superman.

Do you have any kind of metric you allow yourself to use to rank your own films?

I guess the films I make myself, that I directed and wrote, none of which I think anyone has ever seen, like “Looking for Richard” or “Salomé” with Jessica Chastain — but I’m talking about myself. I should be talking about “Godfather.” I don’t know why I get on about myself. I don’t know anybody else. [Laughs] Someone called me, he says, You must be alone. I said, no, I’m here with my ego. [Laughs]

Recent interview with Pacino in the Times. Man, I'd love to sit down and converse with that guy. Full interview behind the spoiler. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/movies/al-pacino-the-godfather.html?searchResultPosition=1

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

 

Everytime I think I've figured out if I like GFI or II better, I watch the other one and change my mind. Currently, its GF II but that could change.

 

[The Original Greaser Bob 2841]

14 hours ago, C-Man said:

Great flick. Came out the year I was born. Fuck, I'm gonna be 50 this year.

And you're going to blink and then you'll be 60. 

You better get shit done the next decade.

[The Original Greaser Bob 2841]

I just told my wife the other day: "I'm going to go see the Godfather.  See the Godfather."

[dcbc 14487]

16 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

I totally agree that 1 & 2 are probably my favorite movies of all time.  What I find difficult is figuring out which of those two movies is better.   You get Brando in 1 but DeNiro in 2 who does a great job of acting like Brando in Vito’s younger days.  There are very few perfect movies and both of these are perfect.

We had the 7 VHS Tape Godfather Saga that someone gave us as a gift one Christmas.  So my first time to see the Godfather movies was in chronological order with all the flashbacks at the beginning.  No need to choose between the two movies when you see it that way.  That said, I give the nod to The Godfather over TGP2 but only slightly.

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

1 hour ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

I just told my wife the other day: "I'm going to go see the Godfather.  See the Godfather."

Nice Goodfellas riff, Jimmy Two Times!

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

3 minutes ago, dcbc said:

We had the 7 VHS Tape Godfather Saga that someone gave us as a gift one Christmas.  So my first time to see the Godfather movies was in chronological order with all the flashbacks at the beginning.  No need to choose between the two movies when you see it that way.  That said, I give the nod to The Godfather over TGP2 but only slightly.

I literally just gave away my unopened Godfather 1 and 2 DVD set since I never used them and don't even have a DVD player anymore.   I always tend to like 2 better because I find the flipping back and forth between timelines more interesting.  

[dcbc 14487]

1 minute ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

I literally just gave away my unopened Godfather 1 and 2 DVD set since I never used them and don't even have a DVD player anymore.   I always tend to like 2 better because I find the flipping back and forth between timelines more interesting.  

In the late 90s, they rereleased it in theaters.  I saw 1 at the Angelica in Houston and realized there was some extra footage that I didn't remember from before.  It's after the shoot the Don and they take Tom to the train car to lay out the deal they want Sonny to make.  I'm pretty sure that was new, and it really ties the room together.

[Deej 76811]

I read that as "I saw 1 with Angelica Huston" and thought "right on, man!"

[GhostOfTomJoad 9327]

So Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent on Ted Lasso) has a great podcast called Films to be Buried With. He's funny and engaging as shit.

My wife has witnessed me watch the Godfather and II dozens of times over the years. She just doesn't get the attraction. But after listening to 7 or 8 of Brett's podcasts on a trip to Big Bend in December and her consistently hearing the guests reply that the Godfather is the greatest film of all time she's agreed to see it in the theater (her first time).

FTR, Citizen Kane and Casablanca (and maybe Raging Bull) nose the Godfather in my book, but there are no losers in that game. 

[dcbc 14487]

3 hours ago, Deej said:

I read that as "I saw 1 with Angelica Huston" and thought "right on, man!"

Like a boss!  But alas . . . .

[BonzoMontreaux 1040]

If you were to make me choose between the 2, I don't think I could do it.  I can say that there is a scene in Part 2 that is probably my favorite scene of all time.  

Mama Corleone's funeral and Michael embraces Fredo.  So beautiful and brutal at the same time... which is something that can probably be said about the entirety of both films.  If I happen to catch 2 running on any channel, I am not doing anything else until I see that scene.  

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

I prefer Part 2, but only because of De Niro.  Also, unrelated; when I met my wife, she was 27.  She had never seen The Godfather, but had heard it was a mobster movie, and nothing more.  She liked dramatic movies, however.  So, one night I put it on---she loved it so much, she got pissed at her dad for not introducing it to her at an earlier age, because he loves it.

Also, the  Times had an interview with Pacino a few weeks back about his role, and how it changed his life:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/movies/al-pacino-the-godfather.html?searchResultPosition=4

 

Quote

It’s hard to imagine “The Godfather” without Al Pacino. His understated performance as Michael Corleone, who became a respectable war hero despite his corrupt family, goes almost unnoticed for the first hour of the film — until at last he asserts himself, gradually taking control of the Corleone criminal operation and the film along with it.

But there would be no Al Pacino without “The Godfather,” either. The actor was a rising star of New York theater with just one movie role, in the 1971 drug drama “The Panic in Needle Park,” when Francis Ford Coppola fought for him, against the wishes of Paramount Pictures, to play the ruminative prince of his Mafia epic. A half-century’s worth of pivotal cinematic roles followed, including two more turns as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather Part II” and “Part III.”

 

Quote

“The Godfather” premiered in New York on March 15, 1972, and 50 years later, you can imagine all the reasons Pacino wouldn’t want to talk about it anymore. Maybe he’d be embarrassed or annoyed about how this one performance, from the outset of his movie career, still dominates his résumé, or perhaps he has said all there is to say about it.

But in a telephone interview last month, Pacino, now 81, was quite philosophical, even whimsical, about discussing the film. He remains an ardent admirer of the movie and of the lengths that Coppola and his co-stars went to support him, and he is still awe-struck about how it single-handedly gave him his career.

 

Spoiler

“I’m here because I did ‘The Godfather,’” Pacino said, speaking from his home in Los Angeles. “For an actor, that’s like winning the lottery. When it comes right down to it, I had nothing to do with the film but play the part.”

As Coppola recalled it, Pacino was who he saw in the role all along and a candidate worth going to the mattresses for, despite his lack of a track record.

“When I actually read the ‘Godfather’ book, I kept imagining him,” Coppola said in a separate interview. “And I didn’t have a second choice. It was, for me, always Al Pacino. That’s the reason why I was so tenacious about getting him to play Michael. That was my problem.”

But for the actor, delivering the performance of a lifetime brought its own burdens, as he would learn in the years that followed.

“It’s hard to explain in today’s world — to explain who I was at that time and the bolt of lightning that it was,” Pacino said. “I felt like, all of a sudden, some veil was lifted and all eyes were on me. Of course, they were on others in the film. But ‘The Godfather’ gave me a new identity that was hard for me to cope with.”

Pacino spoke further about getting hired for and making “The Godfather,” the weight of its legacy and why he never played another film character like Michael Corleone after it. These are edited excerpts from our conversation.

When you get a call asking you to talk about “The Godfather,” is there some part of you that thinks, oh God, not again? Does it ever become tedious?

Well, no. You expect it. You expect to talk about what things worked and what things didn’t. You get a sense that somebody’s going to come at you. You just go: OK, been here, done this. But it’s cool. It beats talking to myself about it.

How did the role of Michael Corleone first come up?

At that time in my life, I didn’t have a choice. Francis wanted me. I had made the one film. And I wasn’t as interested in film to the extent that I became interested. My head was in another space. I felt out of place in the early films that I made. I remember saying to my friend Charlie [his mentor, the acting teacher Charlie Laughton]: Wow, they talk about it being real, but meanwhile it’s not. Because there are wires all over you. And also, you’ve got to do it again! [Laughs] You do it and they say, well, go again, do it again. It’s real and not real at the same time. Which takes some getting used to.

When did you and Coppola meet?

To give a little history to it, Francis was this filmmaker who had Zoetrope [his production company, American Zoetrope], and people like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and [Martin] Scorsese and [Brian] De Palma were all part of a group. And I remember seeing a few of them when Francis asked me to come to San Francisco after he had seen me in a play on Broadway. Do you know that story? I’m telling old stories now. [Laughs]

That’s OK. It’s why we’re here.

He saw me onstage [in the 1969 Broadway run of “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?”] but I never met him. He had written “Patton” by that time, and he sent me a script for a wonderful love story he had written [which was never produced]. He wanted to see me. That meant I had to get on a plane and go to San Francisco, which is something I was not used to. I thought, is there any other way to go? I can’t tell this guy to come all the way back here, can I? So I said I’ll bite the bullet and I went. I spent five days with him. It really was special, this film. But we were rejected, of course. I was an unknown actor and he had made a couple of films, “You’re a Big Boy Now” and “The Rain People.” So I went back home and never heard from him again.

But you did, eventually. When was that?

“Panic in Needle Park” hadn’t come out yet. And I got a call from Francis Coppola — a name from the past. First, he says he’s going to be directing “The Godfather.” I thought, well, he might be going through a mini-breakdown or something. How did they give him “The Godfather”?

You didn’t think it was possible that he was making it?

I’ve got to tell you, it was a big deal already. It was a big book. When you’re an actor, you don’t even put your eyes on those things. They don’t exist for you. You’re in a certain place in your life where you’re not going to be accepted in those big films — not yet, at least. And he said, not only was he directing it, [breaking into laughter] but he wanted me to do it. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh here. It just seemed so outrageous. Here I am, talking to somebody who I think is flipped out. I said, what train am I on? OK. Humor the guy. And he wanted me to do Michael. I thought, OK, I’ll go along with this. I said, yes, Francis, good. You know how they talk to you when you’re slipping? They say, “Yes! Of course! Yes!” But he wasn’t. It was the truth. And then I was given the part.

Paramount was famously opposed to the idea of your playing the role.

Well, they rejected his entire cast! [Laughs] They rejected Brando. They rejected Jimmy Caan and Bob Duvall. There was conflict.

I recently watched some of your “Godfather” screen tests and you seemed to have this hangdog look on your face as you are asked to go through it again and again.

Yeah. I always had that look. [Laughs] It was a facade that got me through these auditions. Because great actors were auditioning for this thing. But here’s the secret: For whatever reason, he wanted me and I knew that. You could feel that. And there’s nothing like that, when a director wants you. It’s the best thing an actor could have, really.

But you were not exactly a nobody. You had already won a Tony Award.

Oh, on the island of Manhattan, things were happening for me. I had done “The Indian Wants the Bronx.” I was young. I got the Obie Award and then I won a Tony. Then I got fired from a play. [Laughs]

What play?

I got fired from some play. They let me go. Let’s put it that way. You happen to be the lead, but we’re letting you go. That’s how bad you are in this performance. So I was known in certain quarters. I wasn’t looking for work in that sense — I was engaging myself in things.

When you got into the filming of “The Godfather,” working alongside people like Caan and Duvall, who had quite a lot more moviemaking experience, and Brando, who you admired a great deal, how did you hold your own?

I thought about the role. I just couldn’t articulate it at the time. I could articulate it today. I was thinking that this is a character that could be very effective if he comes out of nowhere. That was my vision for it. I couldn’t, naturally, mention it to anyone because I didn’t know how to say it. But I could think it. And I felt it was mapped out for me when I read the script.

How so?

He’s not showing up a lot. He’s there but not quite showing up. I guess a lot of it was just building up to that one speech where he says I’m going to go get those guys [the drug kingpin Sollozzo and the corrupt police officer Capt. McCluskey], and they all start laughing at him.

Meaning, Michael was being underestimated and that was something you could connect to and use to your advantage?

Exactly. But I will tell you, they couldn’t have been more comforting, all of them. I was young, I was unknown, and they were so comforting. There was a love there. They understood it, Brando especially. But the others, too. They were becoming those older brothers and advisers that they play in the film. Those kinds of emotions and colors in them came out, both in the performance but also in life. They mesh.

Was there ever a moment during the making of “The Godfather” that you realized it was going to be as great as it is?

You remember the funeral scene for Marlon, when they put him down? It was over for the evening, the sun was going down. So, naturally, I’m happy ’cause I get to go home and have some drinks. I was on the way to my camper, saying, well, I was pretty good today. I had no lines, no obligations, that was fine. Every day without lines is a good day. So I’m going back to my camper. And there, sitting on a tombstone, is Francis Ford Coppola, weeping like a baby. Profusely crying. And I went up to him and I said, Francis, what’s wrong? What happened? He says, “They won’t give me another shot.” Meaning, they wouldn’t allow him to film another setup. And I thought: OK. I guess I’m in a good film here. Because he had this kind of passion and there it is.

Have you rewatched the film recently?

No. I might have seen it two, three years ago. It’s the kind of movie when you start watching it, you keep watching it.

Do you get self-conscious about watching your own films?

No. I enjoy watching films I’ve been in. Sometimes I show them. I say, “Hey, come this way! Here it is! Hey, it’s me, yes! Take a look at this!” Well, I don’t go that far. But I would if I could. I think “The Godfather” plays no matter what. But you’re surprised when you realize how many people never saw it.

You’re encountering people who are aware of “The Godfather” as a cultural phenomenon but haven’t actually watched it?

They’ve heard about it. You get that. “Oh, I heard — were you in that? That was a film, wasn’t it?” Yes. So was “Citizen Kane,” by the way — I was in that, too. Why not? They don’t know.

Is there anything about your performance that you wish you could change now?

Maybe I’ve been spared. It’s like when I once lost my wallet in my early 20s. I had no money, but what I had, I had in my wallet and I lost it. I said, Al, you simply have to forget this. Put it out of your mind, OK? You know what will happen to you if you keep thinking about it. So, what I do is, I don’t think about it.

Who from the movie doesn’t get enough credit for their contribution?

John Cazale, in general, was one of the great actors of our time — that time, any time. I learned so much from him. I had done a lot of theater and three films with him. He was inspiring, he just was. And he didn’t get credit for any of it. He was in five films, all Oscar-nominated films, and he was great in all of them. He was particularly great in “Godfather II” and I don’t think he got that kind of recognition.

There is an intense quietness to how you play Michael in “The Godfather” that I don’t think I ever saw again in your other film performances, even the later times you played him. Was that a part of yourself that went away or was it just the nature of the character that called for it?

I’d like to think it was the nature of that particular person and that interpretation. I can’t think of any other characters that I did that could have used that kind of framework. I was a young actor — on “Part III,” I was no longer young, but that’s not my fault. [Laughs]

But compared to other characters you’re also closely associated with, like Tony Montana in “Scarface” ——

Well, that character, Tony Montana, was written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma, who wanted the heightened reality. Brian wanted to do an opera. All I wanted to do was imitate Paul Muni. [Laughs] But if I put “Dog Day Afternoon” with “Godfather,” or “Serpico,” I don’t see a resemblance there. Would you call Michael more introspective? That’s what I would say. And I don’t know of any other introspective characters I played. But if I sit down with you and go to the almanac, we’ll find something.

You received your first Academy Award nomination for “The Godfather,” yet you didn’t attend the ceremony that year. Were you protesting because you were nominated as a supporting actor and not as a lead?

No, absolutely not. I was at that stage in my life where I was somewhat, more or less, rebellious. I did go back for others. But I didn’t go to them early on. It was the tradition. I don’t think Bob [De Niro] went to one of them. George C. Scott didn’t even go. They had to wake him up. [Laughs] Marlon didn’t go. Look, Marlon gave back the Oscar. How about that? They were rebelling from the Hollywood thing. That kind of thing was in the air.

So all of this is contributing to your feelings at the time about your rising fame?

I was somewhat uncomfortable with being in that situation, being in that world. I was also working onstage in Boston at that time [in “Richard III”]. But that was an excuse. I just was afraid to go. I was young, younger than even my years. I was young in terms of the newness of all this. It was the old shot-out-of-a-cannon syndrome. And it’s connected to drugs and those kinds of things, which I was engaged in back there, and I think that had a lot to do with it. I was just unaware of things back then.

When you did win an Oscar for “Scent of a Woman,” was there some part of you that still wished you’d won it for playing Michael Corleone?

Absolutely not. If I think about it now, I would say, “Sure, I should have won! I’d have three Oscars! I would be like the big guys.” [Laughs] No, I don’t think that. It’s a serious thing. You’re being honored for something.

So you’re comfortable now with the praise you received — and continue to receive — for your performance in “The Godfather”?

Oh, yes. I am deeply honored by it. I really am. It’s a piece of work that I was so fortunate to be in. But it’s taken me a lifetime to accept it and move on. It’s not like I played Superman.

Do you have any kind of metric you allow yourself to use to rank your own films?

I guess the films I make myself, that I directed and wrote, none of which I think anyone has ever seen, like “Looking for Richard” or “Salomé” with Jessica Chastain — but I’m talking about myself. I should be talking about “Godfather.” I don’t know why I get on about myself. I don’t know anybody else. [Laughs] Someone called me, he says, You must be alone. I said, no, I’m here with my ego. [Laughs]

 

 

[WBT 20586]

Third time that Pacino interview has been posted in this thread, including the OP.  Impressive.

[Sbbruin 21858]

Never noticed that the bar Luca walks into to meet with Philip Tattaglia has fish on the glass, right before he sleeps with the fishes.

 

[Nightfly 61]

On 3/22/2022 at 6:18 AM, mr. sunshine said:

I read that Richard Castellano refused to play Clemenza in II because the original script had him betraying Michael, which Castellano was adamant the character wouldn’t do. So Coppola killed him offscreen and brought in the great Michael Gazzo, a playwright, to play Frank Pentangeli 

As I recall, he wanted a high salary + his wife to be in it. 

 

https://godfather.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_S._Castellano

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

23 minutes ago, WBT said:

Third time that Pacino interview has been posted in this thread, including the OP.  Impressive.

Well hell.

Reading comprehension isn't my strong suit apparently.

 

[mchookem 16336]

the thing that's so amazing to me about Pacino in these movies is it's impossible to reconcile basically every single other role he's ever played with how quiet, restrained and menacing Michael Corleone is! 

i don't think he's ever replicated it. and it's not just an age thing, where he grew more bombastic in roles as he aged...his work from around the same time period (DDA, Serpico, Scarecrow, Justice for all, etc) is nothing like the Godfather. hell, one of the biggest problems with Part III is Michael himself...GIII Michael is completely incongruous with GI and GII Michael! altho I guess that was kind of supposed to be the point, how much age and life had changed him...but it just didn't work on any level for me. i honestly could have overlooked Sofia Coppola's terrible acting, she wasn't in that many scenes, the overall plot worked (and fit the pattern), Garcia was more than passable and was successful in being reminiscent of Sonny...but Michael just didn't fit, that was the biggest disconnect for me by far.

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by mchookem

[Texzilla58 4738]

I’d love for Coppola to put out an extended version of G1 and G2 with a lot of the cut scenes. I know Jimmy Caan had a big scene cut and I’d have liked more scenes with John Cazale (died too young; what a talent)

[mr. sunshine 2827]

51 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said:

I’d love for Coppola to put out an extended version of G1 and G2 with a lot of the cut scenes. I know Jimmy Caan had a big scene cut and I’d have liked more scenes with John Cazale (died too young; what a talent)

The above-described Godfather Saga is probably what you’re looking for 

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

I always have loved this Godfather funeral scene.  The part where all of the black limo doors are opened simultaneously is absolute filmcraft.

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by DalTxHornFan

[Texzilla58 4738]

The above-described Godfather Saga is probably what you’re looking for 

I’ve seen it. It’s basically the 2 movies shown linearly. There is a ton of footage that never made a public print.

[henrygandorf 29191]

seems like an appropriate place to put these:

and because anything worth doing is worth doing twice:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5318678/

 

i have seen the godfather 4x in a theater. for movies made before i was born, that’s 2nd behind jaws. about to be #5 hopefully. 

[Gordon Shumway 452]

On 3/22/2022 at 12:37 PM, Catpfish said:

Down the rabbit hole I go, but Richard Castellano is the nephew of Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano.  Art imitates life or something like that

 

 

 

I fell down the rabbit hole as well and it looks like they weren't related.   The actors wife made it up after he died and his sister confirmed they was no relation to the mobster.  

he was of no relation to actor Richard S. Castellano from The Godfather, despite claims made by Richard's wife after his death.^[6][7]

 

[UTCzech III 2907]

Sorry to branch off on a tangent, but all this analysis reminded me of this very underrated movie, and it also shows Brando could have a sense of humor about it all..