Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather, Seal - B

     "Based on one of the bestselling novels of all time, it revitalized Hollywood, saved Paramount Pictures, announced the arrival of Francis Ford Coppola..., minted a new generation of movie stars, made its writer, director, and producer rich, and sparked a war between two of America's mightiest powers: the sharks of Hollywood and the soldiers of the Mob." 

      Watching Joseph Valachi testify before Congress in 1963, "a dead-broke writer" living on Long Island decided to write a novel about the Mob. Mario Puzo had grown up in Hell's Kitchen, where his Sicilian-born mother managed her seven children in the rough and tumble neighborhood in the Depression. Paramount gave him an advance after seeing the first 100 pages, and when completed, the novel was a sensational success. Fame and fortune followed for its author. The novel was so realistic that people in the Mafia could not believe that it was based on research, and that Puzo had never met a real mobster.  He was hired to write the screenplay and moved to Hollywood. Francis Ford Coppola, a director more interested in art than big studio productions, and with a few flops to his name was to be director. Coppola worked closely with Puzo on completely redoing the screenplay to hew closer to the novel, and away from the studio's suggested approach. Coppola had a vision for the film and had settled on who he wanted for every principal role. He won each and every casting battle with the studio. But the battle over Pacino as Michael was the one he almost lost. Evans hated the fact that Pacino was short and stated over and over again that he would not get the role. Evans wanted Redford, O'Neal, Hoffman, Nicklaus, anyone but Al. Coppola persisted, and was almost fired before Evans finally gave in.

    The Italian American Civil Rights League and a real life crime figure threatened to stop the production but they ultimately relented Shooting started in NY in the spring of 1971. The film was "shot in 120 New York area locations over 67 days." Clearly, Francis Ford Coppola is the genius who made this magnificent film as great as it is, and for him, the entire process was the most difficult time of his life. There was no fun or satisfaction in the filming. He, his pregnant wife and two children were living in his brother-in-law's two bedroom apartment in Manhattan for the simple reason that Francis was broke. Every day he waited for Evans, who had sent Jack Ballard to be his eyes and ears on the set, to fire him.  Ballard second guessed every move Coppola made. Pacino too was very uncomfortable in a key role working with such well known actors. The dailies they were seeing at Paramount involved a Brando they couldn't quite hear. There were people working on the film calling for Coppola to be fired, so Francis fired six of them. But when Evans saw the restaurant scene when Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluskey, everything changed. The scene saved Coppola's and Pacino's jobs. 

     Nonetheless, the tension and constant oversight of Ballard who fought every expenditure, meant that stress and anxiety were the handmaidens of  the filming of The Godfather. Post-production and editing began: Evans in Hollywood and Coppola in San Francisco. Both men claimed the credit for making the movie the masterpiece it was. Evans, though, did have the clout to convince the studio to allow it to run almost three hours. The next battleground was the music. Evans hired Henry Mancini; Francis wanted Nino Rota. Once again, Coppola prevailed.

     Both the NY and Hollywood premiers were met with stunned silence. Coppola was so discouraged that he accepted an offer to write a screenplay and flew to Paris to work on it.  The film was a phenomenal success. "It broke Gone With The Wind's record in a week and a half." It was soon grossing a million dollars a day. Oscars followed, and for those with points, Coppola, Puzo, and the producer Al Ruddy, vast wealth came too. As for Coppola and Evans, they continued to hate each other and hurled insults back and forth. For Godfather II, Coppola had it written in his contract that Evans would have nothing to do with the film. Evans went to his grave believing it was his film.

      The first half of this book dealing with Puzo and his struggles is much better than the second half covering the actual production, perhaps because so much has been written over the years. Obviously, the major takeaway is Coppola was brilliant and patient, while Evans comes off as evil incarnate.