The Grand Finale

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.

Speaker 2 Hey, I'm Lindsay.

Speaker 4 Hydrodonitis superativa, HS, caused bumps and abscesses that made me feel embarrassed.

Speaker 5 I talked to my dermatologist and started a treatment that works for me, Cosentix.

Speaker 6 I found relief.

Speaker 8 Cosentix secukenumab is prescribed for adults with moderate to severe hydrodonitis superativa, HS.

Speaker 9 Don't use if allergic to Cosentix.

Speaker 10 Get checked for TB before starting.

Speaker 13 Increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur, like TB or other serious bacterial, fungal, or viral infections.

Speaker 12 Some were fatal. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, like fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or cough, had a vaccine or plan to, or if IBD symptoms develop or worsen.

Speaker 12 Serious allergic reactions and severe eczema-like skin reactions may occur.

Speaker 7 Learn more at 1-844-COSENTIX or COSENTIX.com.

Speaker 17 You're stronger than HS.

Speaker 1 Ask your dermatologist about Cosentix.

Speaker 18 So, let me get this straight.

Speaker 2 Your company has data here, there, and everywhere. But your AI can't use the data because it's here, there, and everywhere?

Speaker 18 Seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data.
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Speaker 19 Every day, it's the same thing for my treatment for opioid addiction. It reminds me of my addiction.

Speaker 19 Every day, it's the same thing for my treatment for opioid addiction.

Speaker 19 Every day, it's the same thing.

Speaker 19 Every day.

Speaker 2 Day after day, does treatment for opioid addiction leave a bad taste? Visit rethinkyourrecovery.com to learn more and find a doctor.

Speaker 2 In his palatial estate known as Woodland, Robert Evans sits up in his bed. He's still glued to the screen.
The movie has ended and the memories begin.

Speaker 20 It's my most important legacy in life.

Speaker 2 Evans holds firm to the conviction that he saved the movie, saved the studio, and in many ways, elevated the glory of American film.

Speaker 20 When you walk out of Godfather, we were you're introduced to a different world.

Speaker 2 As I would later write in the book, from this bed and from this man and those he appointed, the Godfather sprang forth. It was a miracle on paper and on screen.

Speaker 2 Created and inspired by the sons and daughters of immigrants, its characters were portrayed by a band of misfits who based their roles on a gang of miscreants, humanized to the point of being honorable.

Speaker 2 The story endures as those who made it recede, leaving behind a testament to the glory of the American family and the steadfast belief in the American dream.

Speaker 2 I'm Mark Seale.

Speaker 21 And I'm Nathan King.

Speaker 2 And this is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.

Speaker 21 In our final episode, we're discussing the life, legacy, and legend of the cast, crew, and film.

Speaker 21 Mark, when you walked into Woodland that day, did you know you would eventually write the definitive book on the making of the Godfather?

Speaker 2 Not at all. I just thought that I was going to do a magazine story, but I had no idea that I would later write a book about it and that it would consume my life for so many years.

Speaker 2 After the article was published, I started thinking about writing the book and I was able to meet with Anthony Colombo, son of Joe Colombo, who headed the Italian-American Civil Rights League.

Speaker 2 And we drove out to a diner in New Jersey. And there he was.
He comes into the diner walking with a cane by then. I think he was in his 60s maybe.

Speaker 2 And we talked for a long time and he couldn't have been nicer. And I tried to imagine him back in those days in the Park Sheridan Hotel with Al Ruddy speaking before the league.

Speaker 21 You've said previously, Mark, when you're writing a magazine article like this, that casting a wide net is very important and talking to as many people as possible, no matter how inconsequential they seem.

Speaker 21 Did you do that here?

Speaker 2 Oh, yes, of course. You know, I tried to talk to as many people as I could for the article and then later for the book.
And it was amazing.

Speaker 2 After the article came out, people would call and tell me facts that I couldn't have dug up any other way. But it was nothing like after the book came out.

Speaker 2 One man called and said his uncle had delivered the horse's head to the set. There were so many unexpected but important additions that just came from the story being out there in the world.

Speaker 21 Who was the most unexpected character you talked to?

Speaker 2 Well, maybe Marilyn Stewart, because I hadn't really read anything about her. There's There's not one interview that I could find.

Speaker 2 But I called the number that I had found for her, and she answered the phone. And it was like, it seemed like she was expecting my call, which of course she couldn't have been.

Speaker 2 But she was just ready to tell her story and what a story she had to tell.

Speaker 2 You know, she came on, she was Paramount's head of publicity and promotion, and she just started before the movie was even shot, you know, fostering its image, making sure that she got the magazine covers and all the television shows.

Speaker 2 And I just thought she was a great window into the Godfather's past and how it became such a sensation worldwide.

Speaker 21 I want to talk a little bit more about the reporting aspect of it, how you sort of organize your thoughts and figure out who to talk to.

Speaker 21 Someone like Janet Snow, for instance, is that someone whose name just comes up in the course of interviewing someone else and then one thing leads to another?

Speaker 2 That was a great story. So Janet Snow had not been interviewed either.
I mean, maybe she had, but I had not seen any interviews with her.

Speaker 2 And I was talking to Gray Frederickson and he goes, oh my gosh, Mario had an assistant during those days and he couldn't remember her name at first.

Speaker 2 And he just said, oh, Janet Snow.

Speaker 2 And I called Janet and she, right off the bat, told me this incredible story about Mario Puzzo arriving in Hollywood and that story about the white Lincoln Continental.

Speaker 2 And I went, oh my gosh, it was just like too wild to believe.

Speaker 2 You know, as you're putting together a portrait of somebody for a book, you're just trying to get as much clay as you can to build the character.

Speaker 2 And Mario had done lots of interviews, so there was a lot about him in print.

Speaker 2 But a person like Janet Snow, who was there when Mario arrived in Hollywood and drove him from Paramount to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I mean, you can't get much better than that.

Speaker 21 And it's interesting because while they're in very different situations, Mario's a huge successful author and Janet's a relative nobody, they're both neophytes in their own way in this Hollywood world.

Speaker 21 And I think that's enough to bring them together.

Speaker 2 Yes, and they were both fairly young. Mario's in his 40s and he was new to that world.
Plus, Janet had a magical story to tell about how she got the job.

Speaker 2 You know, you open a door and these stories just come flooding out. Like I'll never forget forget going to James Kahn's home in Beverly Hills when I was researching the article.

Speaker 2 And I walk in and there was a huge drawing of the godfather on his wall. It was Don Corleone and his three sons, including Sonny, who was played by James Kahn.

Speaker 22 I think, you know, with a lot of those guys, not just the Italians, obviously, like I said, you know, the immigrants couldn't get a job working with three cents.

Speaker 22 you know so they did what they had to do out of need

Speaker 2 and we spent i think three hours that day talking about the movie and his role and how he prepared for the part, how he got the part.

Speaker 21 What was it like interviewing James Kant? Because he's obviously an actor, but also sort of a street guy. Did you find him very easy to interview and affable?

Speaker 2 Oh, certainly. And later, when I called him for the book, he was incredibly forthcoming.
I talked to him for another, I think, two hours and then called him again for another hour or so.

Speaker 2 He was so giving and generous with his time.

Speaker 22 Was there somebody that you picked up mannerisms from, like you did, like the Rickles idea? Well, Andrew was my closest friend, you know, and he had certain energy.

Speaker 22 You know, there's a certain energy about Rickles when he was younger, you know, which he still has today in his 80s, you know, but it's obviously not as sharp. None of us are as sharp.

Speaker 22 But I can just see that bottom being lines coming out of Rickles. Yeah, well, that's where it came, you know, I don't know.

Speaker 22 I wish I'd had the foresight to like, what do you call a copyright that thing. I could have made money.
I wouldn't be begging.

Speaker 2 Hey, I'm Lindsay.

Speaker 4 Hydrodonitis superativa, HS, caused bumps and abscesses that made me feel embarrassed.

Speaker 5 I talked to my dermatologist and started a treatment that works for me, Cosentix.

Speaker 6 I found relief.

Speaker 8 Cosentix secukenumab is prescribed for adults with moderate to severe hydrodonitis superativa, HS.

Speaker 9 Don't use if allergic to COSENTIX.

Speaker 10 Get checked for TB before starting.

Speaker 13 Increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur, like TB or other serious bacterial, fungal, or viral infections.

Speaker 12 Some were fatal. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, like fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or cough, had a vaccine or plan to, or if IBD symptoms develop or worsen.

Speaker 12 Serious allergic reactions and severe eczema-like skin reactions may occur.

Speaker 7 Learn more at 1-844-COSENTIX or COSENTIX.com.

Speaker 17 You're stronger than HS.

Speaker 1 Ask your dermatologist about Cosentix.

Speaker 18 So you're telling me that the AI that's meant to make everyone's job easier to manage just adds more to manage on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages.

Speaker 18 Funny how that works.

Speaker 18 Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business.
Let's create Smarter business.

Speaker 2 IBM.

Speaker 2 Jingle Jammies, the Old Navy, perfect for all the festivals, photos familiar, maratones, pelliculas, achimenea, el interchangeo de regalos en la great mañana, basically para cualquier momento a cojedor del calindario.

Speaker 2 Old Navy tene algo para todos, bentidos estilos en sumayor selección de jingle jammies hasta la fecha.

Speaker 2 Puedes quedarte con los clásicos acuadrados o combinar los con nuevos estampados, como los exclusivos de Disney, Pienza and Stitch and Angel, Mickey and Friends, inclusos Star Wars, but not only piamas, ah, camisetas congráficos para combinar, sudaderas, medias, mantas, frazadas de lana, inclusos sueteres para máscotas.

Speaker 2 Para que tu pero se una la diversion. Encuentra tús jingle jammis y otros articulos festivos ahora en all Navy punto com.

Speaker 23 Hi, I'm Martin Hackett, host of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a production from Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenics.

Speaker 23 This season, we're sharing powerful stories of resilience from people living with MG and CIDP.

Speaker 23 Our hope is to inspire, educate, and remind each other that even in the toughest moments, we're not alone. We'll hear from people like Corbin Whittington.

Speaker 23 After being diagnosed with both CIDP and dilated cardiomyopathy, he found incredible strength through community.

Speaker 2 So when we talk community, we're talking about an entire ecosystem surrounding this condition, including of course the patients at the center that are all trying to live life in the moment, live life for the future, but then also create a new future.

Speaker 23 Listen to Untold Stories, Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Another great thing that I was privileged to do was research the life of the actor who played Luca Brazzi, Lenny Montana, who is one of the most unforgettable characters in the movie.

Speaker 2 He was a former wrestler and some say a bodyguard.

Speaker 2 I was able to dig up some really old newspapers about him, and there's one where he tells the story of going to visit his mother in suburban New York.

Speaker 2 At the same time, they were filming The Godfather there and had been looking for the perfect actor to play Luca, who had to be a mountain of a man.

Speaker 2 And they had gone through several potential actors, all professionals, but none were quite right.

Speaker 2 Anyway, Lenny is visiting his mother, and Al Ruddy looks out on the crowd that's gathered around the set and sees this colossal man behind the barricades.

Speaker 2 He takes Lenny Montana to meet Francis Coppola in his trailer. Lenny's head was probably scraping the ceiling because he was so big, and Coppola looks up at him and says, that's Luca Brazzi.

Speaker 21 We mentioned earlier that Robert Evans passed away in 2019, just before we started making this show. Sadly, he wasn't the only one.

Speaker 21 There were six or seven other characters in the Godfather story who died while we were making this podcast.

Speaker 2 Yeah, just to name a few. Al Ruddy died this year.
Eleanor Coppola, Roger Corman, Robert Towne, the screenwriter who wrote the majestic succession scene.

Speaker 2 Fred Ruse died this year, James Kahn two years ago. I mean, it's amazing.
Time takes its toll. This is a movie that was made 50 years ago.

Speaker 2 So a lot of time has passed, and a lot of people who gave so much to the film have passed along with it.

Speaker 21 One thing we should talk about is the proliferation of conflicting accounts, and specifically how you chose whose to believe.

Speaker 2 Well, honestly, I didn't want to choose, and I don't really think it's my job to take aside and make a choice. All of the stories were so fascinating.

Speaker 2 And in the absence of any conclusive evidence about who was right, who was wrong, I just decided to present all the versions to readers and let them decide.

Speaker 2 And I feel like we've done the same thing with this podcast. But it was a pretty chaotic time.

Speaker 2 And Ira Zuckerman's Godfather Journal was such a great help because he was there every day and documented every single single day of filming in such detail that you really couldn't quite argue with that because that seemed to be the definitive fly-on-the-wall account.

Speaker 2 I mean, there's very few movies where you have someone who's written a day-to-day diary of everything that happened. And so it was a real treasure to have that as a resource.

Speaker 21 And what about Gianni's version of events? I like his account the best.

Speaker 2 What we like personality-wise like this?

Speaker 25 Same as anyone, now, never changed.

Speaker 8 Don't care about nothing.

Speaker 26 We got to leave. I'll jump out the window.
We leave.

Speaker 25 We take a shot. See you later.
I don't care about that. I started from nothing.

Speaker 2 Well, yeah, of course, because Gianni Russo has a way of telling these things that they make them come alive, you know, but so many others do as well. I mean, Al Ruddy is the same way.

Speaker 2 And of course, Bob Evans, I mean, he's the same way. And Francis Coppola is a professional storyteller.
They're all amazing storytellers.

Speaker 21 After working on this podcast, it's hard not to feel like making a movie is a completely foolish endeavor because you have all of these conflicting personalities tossed together in one place and, you know, you're all working toward a common goal, but it seems like things are bound to go wrong more often than not.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's a miracle that any movie gets made, isn't it? Because all the personalities, money, logistics, there's so many ways for things to go wrong.

Speaker 2 It's not unusual for a movie not to work out, and The Godfather is a rare case where the ending was happy and the alchemy worked against all odds.

Speaker 21 I think that directors like Francis Foricoppola get a lot of flack for being almost authoritarian in their pursuit of getting what they want.

Speaker 21 But you can kind of see where that would be a benefit in making The Godfather because you need someone with such a determined vision and sense of purpose.

Speaker 2 There has to be a captain of the ship, right?

Speaker 21 Mark, we know the movie did well financially, but did the people involved?

Speaker 2 Well, there's conflicting stories once again about this.

Speaker 2 You know, some people said they got rich off of the movie, but really the actors were paid minimal salaries, I guess $35,000, I think, for some, and that was for the established ones.

Speaker 2 Al Ruddy said he had points and he did well on it, but one thing is clear above all is that Paramount made a lot of money.

Speaker 2 Robert Evans told me that day in Woodland that being the head of production, he didn't have any points, so he didn't make any money off the movie personally.

Speaker 2 But, you know, it gave him a springboard to do other things when he became an independent producer. So it's another mystery of the godfather about who made what on the movie.

Speaker 2 But here's how Al Ruddy described it in our interview. You got to understand, nobody ever envisioned the success of this movie.
Everyone worked for scale. So classic

Speaker 2 got some points. Mario had two and a half points, and I had seven points.
But they don't, who cared was net profit.

Speaker 2 You know what they say? It's not worth the paper it's written on, right? Right. Net profits.
Except this movie.

Speaker 21 Went through the roof.

Speaker 21 If there was any doubt about how the movie did or was received in Coppola's mind or anyone else's, it was eradicated when the 1973 Oscars came around. Mark, can you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker 2 The Godfather was nominated for 10 awards of the 1973 Oscars.

Speaker 2 Best Picture, Brando as Best Actor, Coppola for Best Director, Coppola and Puzzo for Best Adapted Screenplay, and for Best Supporting Actor, three of them. Al Pacino, James Kahn, and Robert Duvall.

Speaker 2 They also had nominations for costume, editing, and sound. When the envelopes were opened, it was Mario Puzzo and Francis Ford Coppola for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Speaker 2 And they said that Mario decided not to go because he was too worried about having to give a speech. So he watched it from home in suburban New York.

Speaker 2 Brando won Best Actor, but probably in one of the most famous events in Oscar history, he didn't attend.

Speaker 2 And instead, he sent an emissary on his behalf, a woman named Sashine Littlefeather, who got up and gives a speech about what had been happening at Wounded Knee.

Speaker 27 Hello. My name is Sashine Littlefeather.
I'm Apache, and I'm president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee.

Speaker 27 I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently because of time, but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award.

Speaker 27 And the reasons for this being

Speaker 27 are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry

Speaker 27 and on television, in movie reruns,

Speaker 27 and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.

Speaker 27 I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will, in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity.

Speaker 27 Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando.

Speaker 21 It's fair to say that everyone was stunned by Sashi and Littlefeather's speech. Another surprise was to come shortly thereafter in the form of the Best Picture Award.

Speaker 21 And the winner,

Speaker 21 and the winner was

Speaker 26 Albert S.

Speaker 2 Ruddy.

Speaker 26 Godfather.

Speaker 26 Let me do this quickly in two parts because I know it's past midnight in New York and some of my relatives want to go to sleep.

Speaker 26 There are a number of people I would like to thank, as everyone else would, because they deserve it. Bob Evans for giving more than any studio head should in time and creativity.

Speaker 26 Frankie Blanche for having the courage and imagination to sell this film and make my mother rich. Charlie Bludorn for having the courage to finance films, which I guess borders on insanity.

Speaker 26 And Peter Bart,

Speaker 26 who was a friend all the way through.

Speaker 2 Hey, I'm Lindsay.

Speaker 4 Hydrodonitis superativa, HS, caused bumps and abscesses that made me feel embarrassed.

Speaker 5 I talked to my dermatologist and started a treatment that works for me, Cosentix.

Speaker 6 I found relief.

Speaker 8 Cosentix secukinumab is prescribed for adults with moderate to severe hydrodonitis superativa, HS.

Speaker 9 Don't use if allergic to COCENTIX.

Speaker 10 Get checked for TB before starting.

Speaker 13 Increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur, like TB or other serious bacterial, fungal, or viral infections.

Speaker 12 Some are fatal. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, like fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or cough, had a vaccine or plan to, or if IBD symptoms develop or worsen.

Speaker 12 Serious allergic reactions and severe eczema-like skin reactions may occur.

Speaker 7 Learn more at 1-844-COSENTIX or COSENTIX.com.

Speaker 17 You're stronger than HS.

Speaker 1 Ask your dermatologist about Cosentix.

Speaker 18 So, let me get this straight. Your company has data here, there, and everywhere.
But your AI can't use the data because it's here, there, and everywhere?

Speaker 18 Seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data.
IBM helps your AI access your data wherever it lives to change how you do business.

Speaker 18 Let's create Smarter Business.

Speaker 2 IBM.

Speaker 2 Si tudieras que capturar lespirituna videño en una sola palabra cual sería obio que pillamas.

Speaker 2 Y si no definitivamente de vería serlo porque nada dice felices fiestas como los jingle jammies de Old Navy.

Speaker 2 Perfectos para todos festivo, photos familiar maratones depelliculas 12 achimenea, el interchambo de regalos en la great mañana basically para cualquier momento a cojedor del calendario.

Speaker 2 Old Navy tene algo para todos, bentidos estilos en su mayor selección de jingle jammies hasta la fecha.

Speaker 2 Puedes quedarte con los clásicos acuadrados o combinar los con nuevos estampados, como los exclusivos de Disney, Pienza en Stitch and Angel, Mickey and Friends, enclosures Star Wars, but not only

Speaker 2 with Gráficos to combinar, sudaderas, medias, mantas, frazadas de lana, enclosos sueteres para máscotas. Para que tu pero se una la diversion.

Speaker 2 Encuentra tus jingle jammies y otros articulos festivos aora en all Navy punto com.

Speaker 23 Hi, I'm Martine Hackett, host of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a production from Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenics.

Speaker 23 This season, we're sharing powerful stories of resilience from people living with MG and CIDP.

Speaker 23 Our hope is to inspire, educate, and remind each other that even in the toughest moments, we're not alone. We'll hear from people like Corbin Whittington Whittington.

Speaker 23 After being diagnosed with both CIDP and dilated cardiomyopathy, he found incredible strength through community.

Speaker 2 So when we talk community, we're talking about an entire ecosystem surrounding this condition, including, of course, the patients at the center that are all trying to live life in the moment, live life for the future, but then also create a new future.

Speaker 23 Listen to Untold Stories, Life with a a Severe Autoimmune Condition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Let's talk about legacy.

Speaker 21 The film sort of eclipses the careers of most of the people who made it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's like every person who touched the movie has this asterisk next to their name that says the godfather.

Speaker 21 Well, let's start with the obvious, Francis Ford Coppola.

Speaker 21 Despite the success of the first movie, Coppola was so scarred that he didn't want to make a sequel, but then Charlie Bluedorn talked him into it.

Speaker 2 Yes, the story goes that Coppola initially didn't want to do it, but then Hurricane Charlie erupted.

Speaker 2 Francis, you've got the recipe for Coca-Cola and you don't want to manufacture any more bottles of Coke.

Speaker 2 And whatever happened, Coppola ended up signing on for Godfather 2, and after that, Godfather 3.

Speaker 2 And of course, Charlie Bluedorn wanted to make Godfather 4, 5, and 6 as well.

Speaker 21 This movie changed Coppola's life.

Speaker 2 Well, for better and for worse, but mostly for better. You know, time heals all wounds.
And recently, Coppola told Rolling Stone that he saw The Godfather as a gift.

Speaker 2 He said the movie opened up the world to me. Some of the greatest people in the world have wanted to talk to me simply because I was the guy who made that film.

Speaker 21 What about Mario Puzzo? What happens to him afterwards?

Speaker 2 Well, Mario Puzzo became a superstar screenwriter. He became rich.
He became famous. He could gamble all he wanted.
I love what his son told me via email. He told me, now that he had money, look out.

Speaker 2 He would buy books instead of taking them out of the library. He'd rented a house in Malibu.
You know, he would eat whatever he wanted. He would gamble whenever he wanted.

Speaker 2 I think he still loved the good life of Hollywood and, of course, Las Vegas. He wrote a book about Las Vegas that was sort of a love letter to the city and what it meant to him.

Speaker 2 And in addition to writing many more novels, he wrote the screenplay to Superman, so he maintained his Hollywood ties.

Speaker 21 Another person who went on to have an amazing career, Robert Towne.

Speaker 2 Yes, Robert Towne became the dean of Hollywood screenwriters. He wrote Chinatown and so many other movies that became classics.

Speaker 21 And he wasn't famous when Coppola brought him in, but he had certainly worked on other projects. He'd done Bonnie and Clyde and McCabe and Mrs.
Miller.

Speaker 21 And then The Godfather was probably his first big project.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and I love the story of how he came up up with that incredible scene, the succession scene.

Speaker 2 It was late in the night in New York, and Coppola was going to pick him up the next morning to take him to the set.

Speaker 2 And he was looking at the cover of Mario Puzzo's novel, you know, with the invisible puppeteer holding the strings, you know, with those strings dangling down.

Speaker 2 And he said it was like at four in the morning, the line came to him, and it was just this incredible line that would sum up so much, and it became one of the most classic scenes in the movie.

Speaker 21 Listen to this list of movies he went on to write after that. The Last Detail, Parallax View, Chinatown, Shampoo, The Missouri Breaks, Days of Thunder, The Firm, Mission Impossible 1 and 2.

Speaker 2 Yeah, pretty incredible list. Robert Town once said that he was not really interested in writing novels, that he just wanted to write movies, and listen to that list of movies that he wrote.

Speaker 2 I mean, he's one of the greatest screenwriters in Hollywood history.

Speaker 21 What was Charlie Bluedorn's legacy like at Paramount?

Speaker 2 Charlie Bluedorn saved the studio in the end with The Godfather and other movies later, but sadly, Charlie passed away at a fairly young age.

Speaker 2 He lived in the Dominican Republic where he built this amazing resort, but he died on a, they say, on a plane coming home.

Speaker 2 So he missed out on seeing so much, and I would have loved to have obviously spoken with him. But he's remembered by by everyone whose path he crossed.

Speaker 21 What about Al Ruddy? What happens to him afterwards?

Speaker 2 So Al Ruddy remained vital until the end. He produced both The Godfather and Million Dollar Baby, winning Best Picture Oscars for both.
And he died at 94 years old last May.

Speaker 2 And about two weeks before he passed away, I spoke to him again. He was the same Al Ruddy as always, you know, talking a mile a minute.

Speaker 2 His memory was sharp, and he was really excited about this podcast and wanted to do whatever he could to help, which is typical Al, the quintessential producer, the man who gets things done.

Speaker 2 When we came back from Sicily, I went through New York, and they said they wanted to do a sequel. And I told straight out, I said, I have no interest, listen to me.

Speaker 2 No interest in ever doing a movie again with this mob. And I got lucky, I got out, I've been happy, I've been one piece, I could never get more out of it.

Speaker 21 And regardless of the fact that he didn't work on subsequent Godfather movies, he clearly cared about the movie's legacy a lot because he worked on the offer.

Speaker 2 Yeah, the offer was really molded around his life. It was his story.
Miles Teller played Al Ruddy, you know. He was the central character.

Speaker 21 You didn't get a chance to interview Brando because he was dead by the time you started working on this. But if you could have, what would you have asked him?

Speaker 2 I would have loved to have known in his own words about how he made the transformation into Don Corleone. But Alice was able to tell me a lot.

Speaker 2 And also she was able to tell me his reluctance to play a mobster. He didn't want to do it at first.
And he only wanted to do it when he heard that they were thinking about Lawrence Olivier.

Speaker 2 He goes, he can't play a mafia Don. And Alice said she looked in and he was like like using shoe polish to create a mustache and dye his eyebrows.
And she goes, no, that's not right.

Speaker 2 Do it like Brando. But I would have liked to have asked him about that.

Speaker 21 Let's move on to Evans. So you spoke with Evans in 2008, which is 11 years before his death.
What were his reflections on the film and its legacy?

Speaker 2 He said it was his greatest legacy, but it was also a failure for him personally in many ways because he chose the Godfather over his personal life and that was slipping away from him.

Speaker 2 That day in Woodland, I'll never forget the line that he said. He said, it's so long ago.
So many people are dead.

Speaker 2 And he proceeded to rattle off everyone who had died in the interim, which at that point was already quite long. Richard Castellano, Marlon Brando, John Casall, and so forth.

Speaker 2 And so he had some regrets for sure, but at the same time, he was really proud of the movie and all that the movie had achieved.

Speaker 2 As I wrote in the book, he felt that he had fostered it and much of its success was due to him. Which, you know, as the head of the studio, he had the right to believe.

Speaker 21 If the filming process was rough for Robert Evans, it got even rougher after The Godfather came out, didn't it, Mark?

Speaker 2 Well, at first it went all right. He produced Chinatown, starring his close friend Jack Nicholson, but not long after that, he left Paramount to become an independent producer.

Speaker 2 And that's when he started to struggle a little bit. As I wrote in the book, he descended into darkness for a period.

Speaker 2 There was a misdemeanor cocaine trafficking plea in 1980, the box office disaster of the Cotton Club in 1984, his entanglement in a murder scandal stemming from the film, and the eight torturous years it would take him to clear his name.

Speaker 2 Also, I thought it was interesting, his wealth, which is, you know, pretty much always the ultimate measure of success or failure in Hollywood, dropped from $11 million in 1979 to $37 a decade later.

Speaker 2 He had to sell his beloved home, Woodland, and he was only able to buy it back with the help of Jack Nicholson.

Speaker 2 The house of a Hollywood producer is always very important, but for Robert Evans, this was beyond anything. He had so many memories there.

Speaker 2 And it was a privilege to be able to interview him in that storied place, which is where he lived until his death in 2019.

Speaker 21 Okay, so Mark, let's end this on a happy note. We know that Evans and Coppola eventually made up, or supposedly made up, at the 25th anniversary of the film.

Speaker 21 Let's hear Evans' recollection of that evening in San Francisco.

Speaker 20 Five years ago, if it was the 25th anniversary of it,

Speaker 20 it was in San Francisco.

Speaker 20 Francis walked in there. He's king of San Francisco.
As he walked down the aisle, I took his sister Talya to the affair.

Speaker 20 He came over to me, put his arms around me, kissed me, and said, we must have done something right. Oh, that's good.
It's a good line.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 20 You must have done something right and kissed me and then walked on.

Speaker 2 And Evans was really proud of that.

Speaker 20 It's my most important legacy in life.

Speaker 20 The Godfather is

Speaker 20 number one.

Speaker 20 It broke a whole barrier of film. It was opera.
It was new filmmakers, great ideas, and fighting the organization. And I love fighting the organization.
What organization were you fighting? Paramount.

Speaker 20 The two of them.

Speaker 20 Yeah, the other one was what?

Speaker 20 The other Du Bois.

Speaker 20 But they're all the same. Wow.

Speaker 20 Well, they're all everything is monetarily focused. And I was looking to touch magic.
And magic to me lasts longer.

Speaker 20 Why is it that Mozart is remembered far longer than Napoleon?

Speaker 20 The world of art is remembered far longer than the world of greed.

Speaker 2 Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli is a production of air mail and iHeart Media.

Speaker 21 The podcast is based on the book of the same name written by our very own Mark Seale.

Speaker 2 Our producer is Tina Mullen.

Speaker 21 Research assistants by Jack Sullivan.

Speaker 2 Jonathan Dressler was our development producer.

Speaker 21 Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our executive producers are me, Nathan King, Mark Seal, Dylan Fagan, and Graydon Carter.

Speaker 2 Special thanks to Bridget Arseneau and everyone at CDM Studios.

Speaker 21 A comprehensive list of sources and acknowledgments can be found in Mark Seal's book, Lead the Gun, Take the Cannoli, published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon Schuster.

Speaker 29 Amazon Five Star Theater presents real customer reviews performed by a real serious improv podcaster. Tonight's review, Furby.
I bought a Furby as a nostalgic joke. Joke's on me.

Speaker 2 Day one, adorable.

Speaker 29 Giggles, wiggles its ears, says, me love you.

Speaker 2 Day three, woke me up at 3 a.m. whispering in Furbish.

Speaker 29 i think it summoned something day five i'm starting to ask it for life advice day seven it blinked at me like it knew i blinked back we've reached an understanding i fear it i love it five stars aaron m find your perfect gift this holiday on amazon

Speaker 19 she'd throw things wander and started hoarding.

Speaker 28 Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard, but then we found out she had something called agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult.

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Speaker 2 So usually on OK Storytime, our audience will send in their relationship problems and the OK Storytime squad gives some good advice goofily. But today, we're not giving out our usual advice.

Speaker 2 Our producer Riley says we're giving something else. So what are we doing today, Riley? Today we're playing a little game.
Hello, game.

Speaker 2 Game, says the man.

Speaker 31 I'll bought special gifts for you guys from eBay. Each one picked with one of you in mind.
Yeah, Dakota, if you want to guess.

Speaker 2 All right, there is a gift at my feet. Open that thing.
And now it is in my hands.

Speaker 2 Oh!

Speaker 2 I feel like it's got to be our resident gamer keyboard. This is the rectangle of childhood.
It's a portable game console. I used to have this as a kid.
This game console, I used to play all the time.

Speaker 2 And, you know, when your mom came into the room when you were a kid and, like, you're pretending to sleep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, Riley, what a thoughtful gift. Yeah, Riley.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 Riley, you're crushing it. But we have one more gift.
Yeah, we got another one. Go ahead and grab it.
Let's open it. Boom.
Oh, camera. Yeah.
An old timey camera. That's right.
Classic.

Speaker 2 This is awesome. Yeah.
Because you know how I love to take pictures on my travels. Yeah, you're always somewhere.

Speaker 2 Whether it's in Kyrgyzstan with some nomad or just New York, you know, with a nice little piece of trash or a wrap.

Speaker 2 Nice little heads of taking pictures with the birds.

Speaker 2 So, Riley, you got all this from eBay?

Speaker 31 Dude, eBay, it was really fun finding it with you guys. Like, I had very specific things for each one of you.
Yeah,

Speaker 2 it was all there. Thanks, Riley, and thank you, eBay.

Speaker 31 And guys, shop eBay for millions of finds, each with a story.

Speaker 2 eBay, thanks people up.

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.