Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli
Episodes (8)
Italians, Stallions, and Corporate Lackeys
From a strict budget and a tight timetable to the interference of the Mafia, Francis Ford Coppola had more than enough on his plate directing “The Godfather”—and thatThe>
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Married to the Mob
Most big films confront roadblocks during production—financial, logistical, or otherwise. But how many Hollywood movies brush up against the Mafia, too? In 1970, the notorious crime boss Joseph
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The Cast that Dreams Are Made Of
In retrospect, it’s almost unfathomable that a cast as strong as “The Godfather’s” could have been assembled. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, James Caan, and
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The Visionary And the Frog Prince
By 1969, Paramount's efforts to turn "The Godfather" into a feature film were in full swing. But there was one problem: the movie needed a director. Robert Evans and Al Ruddy tried to wrangle
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Hollywood Swinging
By the spring of 1969, The Godfather had turned its author, Mario Puzo, into an overnight celebrity. Tasked with adapting his best-selling book for the screen, Puzo’s life soon became that of a
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Stranger Than Pulp Fiction
It was the fall of 1963, and Mario Puzo—a gambler, overeater, and dead-broke pulp fiction writer with outsize artistic ambitions—was glued to his television. Like the rest of America, he
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Saving the Studio
The genesis of "The Godfather" dates back to 1966, when Paramount Pictures was Hollywood's last-place studio, financially flailing and desperate for a hit movie. Enter Charles Bluhdorn, an
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Introducing: Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli
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