CHAPTER 22: THE LEGACY
Jon Lewis: Coppola made four films in the 70s that are among the best ever—the two Godfathers, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. The Godfather, deservedly, is always in the discussion for best film ever.
Harlan Lebo: The Godfather is a reminder—a reminder that is always immediately forgotten until another example comes along—that young, talented, unproven performers can become instant stars when directed by an equally-unproven director with a crystal-clear vision of what he was trying to achieve.
Dana Renga: The antihero existed before 1972 but something about The Godfather stuck and antiheroes are more popular as ever. Sympathetic perpetrators are not going away and that’s due in large part to The Godfather’s legacy.
Alison Martino: My parents and I were there for the 25th anniversary in San Francisco. We arrived with Alex Rocco and Gianni Russo. And now Mom and I were present for the 50th. Unfortunately, we’ve lost so many cast members since 1997—but it felt so good to attend with dear friends and see familiar faces in the audience. It was also surreal hearing Dad’s music from the soundtrack on the loudspeakers before the film—because that would never not be surreal. Having any type of association with this film’s legacy is never taken for granted.
Raymond Benson: Given what we know about the making of the film, it’s a miracle that we got the picture we did. It’s a movie that jump-started a lot of careers in Hollywood, as well as reinvigorated others. Frankly, it’s a masterpiece.
Lee Pfeiffer: Its influence on world pop culture is probably the most important aspect of its success. Even people who have never seen it will understand “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” and “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” Brando may have been the only ingrate connected with the film’s success, even though he was possibly the main beneficiary. Not only did he reject the Oscar he won for the movie, he betrayed his friend Coppola by backing out of Godfather II and then hosing him down for a lot more money at the last minute in order to appear in Apocalypse Now. But everyone else seems to have been justifiably grateful to appear in the movie. The New York Times recently ran an interview with Al Pacino about how the film affected him personally and professionally. He said, “I am deeply honored by it. I really am. It’s a piece of work that I was so fortunate to be in.” When I first saw it as a kid, I knew I was seeing a great cinematic work of art. It would be hard to find anyone today who would disagree.
John Cork: The Godfather was also the end of an era. Excepting The Godfather Part II, it marked the close of the era of sprawling melodramas becoming massive hits. For decades, movies like Giant, Splendor in the Grass and Butterfield 8 were staples of the studios. The Godfather combined those complex family dramas with the gangster film, and yet, it was only the gangster film that flourished in its wake. The event films that followed in the 1970s, such as The Exorcist, Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, and Animal House, all leaned into their source genres, re-tooling and reinventing, as The Godfather had done. But the big melodramas ceased to be a force at the box office. In its own way, The Godfather heralded back in the importance of genre filmmaking. The Westerns had all but died. The spy film craze was over except for the James Bond films. Musicals were continuing to crash and burn. Yet the genre films that were once mostly the domain of the studio B-units could be given new life by young filmmakers who romanticized the genre films of their youth. No film exemplified this more than The Godfather, prompting studio heads to look for material that would elevate classic genres, attract A-list actors, and create the potential for huge box office.
Roy H. Wagner, ASC, FRPS: The Godfather continues to assert itself amongst all of the clones that followed. It is fundamental film storytelling with a new way of seeing, speaking and learning. It redefined American films as the French New Wave revealed a new way of communicating many years before.
Tom Santopietro: I think The Godfather made people realize that different ethnic groups needed to have the opportunity to tell their own stories, needed to bring that authenticity to the telling of the tales. It changed the way Hollywood did business because when it became clear that the film was a phenomenon, there was a nationwide roll out much more quickly than had been the norm previously (this was 3 years before Jaws was released). All of this is why I titled my book: The Godfather Effect: Changing Hollywood, America, and Me. I think the film changed all three.
Robert Casillo: Having become wealthy thanks to the first two Godfather films, and thus being able to finance his own projects, Coppola set up his own studio and went on to make a series of films which, when judged in the light of the first two Godfather films, are quite forgettable: Rumble Fish, Peggy Sue Got Married, One from the Heart. The Cotton Club failed to live up to its promise. Apocalypse Now is pretentious and bombastic and inflated. Gardens of Stone left little impression. And so on. By the time Coppola was assigned the task of directing Godfather III, he was so eloigned from his material that he (and Puzo himself) could only go through the motions, in a mechanical, perfunctory, and enervated presentational extra.
Ray Morton: The impact of the film on the culture was considerable and lasting. The movie was a smash hit at the box office and for a while was the highest-grossing movie of all time. It was embraced by audiences the world over and before long some of its dialogue had become instantly-recognizable catch phrases (“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse,” “It’s not personal; it’s only business,” “…sleeps with the fishes,” “Leave the gun…”). Brando-as-Vito impressions were everywhere, as were spoofs of the movie and its most famous scenes, and are still done today. Real-life gangsters even restyled themselves and their protocols after the characters and rituals depicted in the movie. The way the public understands the Mafia and the way it has been portrayed on film ever since both come straight out of The Godfather. Every gangster picture made since has been influence by the film. Today, The Godfather is considered an undisputed cinematic classic and has become both a television and a home video staple. It’s become such an indelible part of American culture and world culture that it’s become one of those films that everyone knows even if they’ve never seen it.
Sergio Angelini: It is a film of multi-generational appeal, one that tells a compelling family saga with technical brilliance, memorable dialogue and a wonderful cast. But it also has a darker and very serious side, one that gives it uncommon depth and a built-in political dimension. My brother and I have been obsessed with the Godfather saga all our lives and one of our proudest moments as film fans was when his twin daughters at age 16 demanded to see all three of the films they had heard so much about. And they wanted to make sure they had the experience surrounded by the entire Angelini clan (their grandparents and their uncle as well as mum and dad). And they loved the experience and have watched the films many times since. One of them just finished reading Puzo’s original novel (I warned her about the more lurid bits but after Stephen King nothing scares her).
Robert Casillo: In all likelihood the decline of Coppola’s career can best be understood to have resulted from his failure to grasp the full potential of the Godfather series as a source of continuing inspiration. Yet he might have come to such a realization had he pondered a key moment in the career of Honore de Balzac, the French novelist who provides the epigraph of Puzo’s novel and with whose works Coppola can be supposed to have had some acquaintance. As is well known, Balzac in a sudden flash of intuition realized that the various apparently independent novels he had been writing could be made to form a single reticulated and ramifying creative totality from which further novelistic creations could be generated almost endlessly—thus the birth of the Comedie Humaine, which encompasses the history of France from the later eighteenth into the mid-nineteenth century, and in the writing of which Balzac never lost his inspiration, so impelling was the originating idea. But Coppola never experienced his “Balzac moment.” He failed to see that the Godfather series, with its foundations in the history of the Corleone family, but also pressing on to include new as well as repeating characters of both an ethnic and non-ethnic type, could serve to portray the entire history of the United States in the twentieth century, by means of an ever deepening exploration of immigration, ethnicity, assimilation, crime (especially gambling and drugs), politics, religion, entertainment, and so much more. And what is especially saddening to consider is that Godfather II suggests at least a glimmer of awareness on Coppola’s part of such creative possibilities, as witness the episodes concerning the corrupt Senator Geary, Havana and the Cuban Revolution, and Las Vegas as the mob’s substitute for the lost Havana casinos. Instead, not only did Coppola abandon the Godfather series, but he spoke of it dismissively and even disdainfully, as if the films themselves were vulgar potboilers to be considered apart from his true artistic endeavors. He also seems to have regarded Puzo’s novel as schlock, which it is only in parts, and perhaps disliked the idea of basing his films on someone else’s original idea.
Tom Santopietro: I think style is one of the ways the films live on—I think it’s a combination of the clothes and the production design that give us our sense memories of what immigrant life was like in the early 20th century (Godfather II) and the 40s and 50s (the original Godfather as well as Part II). The immigrants who came over circa 1910 are no longer alive but the look, the details of furnishings and clothes found in Godfather II, tell us how our grandparents looked and lived at that time. The films did that for me—supplied missing sense memories—and it’s a perfect example of how films have enormous power. Great films illuminate, and that’s what the Godfather films do.
Chris Chiarella: The only other thing I can add is my very Italian-American extended family's take on it: While I'd heard that some folks are offended by it, and I learned that there was much trepidation among the community before its release, we've only ever embraced the film. It was an instant classic and an all-time favorite among pretty much everyone on our Christmas card list. We think it's a fantastic movie for all of the obvious reasons, we respond to the wonderfully authentic cultural flourishes, and we take a certain measure of pride in how our nationality sort of entered the pop culture with this movie. We became "legit" if you will. It gives us a sense of satisfaction to see ourselves so well-represented on film, and that the movie was so well-received.
Raymond Benson: The Godfather is one of the great American motion pictures. Period. A classic in every sense. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. What are you waiting for?
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IMAGES
Selected images copyright/courtesy Albert S. Ruddy Productions, National Screen Service, The New York Times, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Variety.
SOURCES/REFERENCES
The primary references for this project were the motion picture The Godfather (Paramount, 1972), regional newspaper coverage, trade reports published in Boxoffice, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, and interviews conducted by the author. Some interview quotes were previously published and have been repurposed here with permission. Kimberly Peirce’s quote was referenced from The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark by Robert K. Elder (2011). All figures and data pertain to North America (i.e. United States and Canada) except where stated otherwise.
SPECIAL THANKS
Sergio Angelini, David Ayers, Jane Barnwell, Don Beelik, Raymond Benson, Sharon Bruneau (American Society of Cinematographers), Jon Burlingame, Ray Caple, Robert Casillo, Chris Chiarella, John Cork, Richard Crudo ASC, Ron Dassa, Ernest Dickerson ASC, David Dunton, Robert K. Elder, Beverly Gray, Lawrence Grobel, Sheldon Hall, Robert A. Harris, Paul Hirsch ACE, Bill Hunt, Amy Holden Jones, Larry Karaszewski, Harlan Lebo, Mark Lensenmayer, Gary Leva, Jon Lewis, Paul Linfesty, Alison Martino, Joseph McBride, Scott Mendelson, W.R. Miller, Ray Morton, M. David Mullen ASC, Gabriel Neeb, Kirk Orlando, Kimberly Peirce, Lee Pfeiffer, Saul Pincus, Dana Renga, Tom Santopietro, Team Deakins (James Ellis Deakins; Sir Roger Deakins, CBE,ASC,BSC; Grant Wheeler), Roy H. Wagner ASC, Daniel Waters, and a very special thank-you to the librarians, genealogists and private researchers who assisted with this project, in particular Nicole Adams (Oshawa Public Libraries), Rachael C. Altman (Carnegie History Center), Amy, Julia and Vicky (Halifax Public Libraries), Amy (Jefferson-Madison Regional Library), Amy (Olean Library), Ann Marie (Dauphin County Library System), Anne Marie (Boise Public Library), Laura Baas (State Library and Archives of Florida), Zach Baker (Leavenworth Public Library), Bonnie Battaglia and Gavin Furman (El Dorado County Library), Ben (Bristol Public Library), Katie Biehl (Bozeman Public Library), Deb Bier (Peoria Public Library), Barry Bradford (Tangipahoa Parish Library), Joseph Brannan (Kitchener Public Library), Linda Bridges and Cheri Lewis (Live Oak Public Libraries), Diane Buckley, Lanham Bundy (Providence Public Library), Cedric E. and Lisa (Virginia Beach Public Library), Michelle Burkhart (Michigan City Public Library), Olivia Bushey (Washington Memorial Library), Judy C. and Renee Schmutz-Sowards (Boyd County Public Library), Caroline and Joe (Alachua County Library District), Laurie Carroll (Duluth Public Library), Morgan Chance (Texarkana Public Library), Chris (Fredericton Pubic Library), Nan Cinnater (Provincetown Public Library), Jordan Cloud and Prathibha Singh (Grand Rapids Public Library), Colette, Jodie, Kaylie and Monique (Greater Sudbury Public Library), Caitlyn Cook and reference staff (New Jersey State Library), Mark Cousins (Prince Edward Island Public Archives and Records), CailÍn Cullun (Aurora Public Library), Shane Curtin and Michael Lara (San Jose Pubic Library), Ron Davidson (Sandusky Library), Carol Davis (Woodland Public Library), Ruth Davis Konigsberg (Vineyard Haven Public Library), Tabitha Davis (Pueblo-City-County Library), Elisabeth Demmon (Kitsap Regional Library), Karen Dettloff (Brazoria County Library System), Kathryn Devine, Mary Schaff, Kelsey Smith and Julie Thompson (Washington State Library), Vu Do (San Diego Public Library), Judy Dombrowski (Centre County Library and Historical Museum), Diane Donham and Adam Oster (Library of Michigan), Anneta Drilling (Joliet Public Library), Erin Edwards (Boulder Public Library), Eric and Marnie (Wood County District Public Library), Evan (Okanagan Regional Library), Laura Fazekas and reference staff (Chapin Memorial Library), Karen Feeney (Forsyth County Public Library), Amy Ferguson and Russ (New Bedford Free Public Library), Kevin Geisert (Norfolk Public Library), Karla Gerdes and Ann Panthen (Champaign County Historical Archives), Aron Glover (Mississippi State University Libraries), Dori Gottschalk-Fielding (Seymour Library), Jana Gowan (Tulsa City-County Library), Grace and Heather (St. Catharines Public Library), Cathy Hackett (Clark County Public Library), Jamie Hale (Norman Public Library), Carl Hallberg (Wyoming State Archives), Carl Hamlin and Jake Thomas (Cabell County Public Library), Brian Hargett and Shannon Hendrix (Lee County Library), Vanessa Harris and Orton Ortwein (Waukegan Public Library), Brianna Hemmah (Laconia Public Library), David S. Hess (Gary Public Library and Cultural Center), Darcy Hiltz (Guelph Public Library), Teresa J. Hobe (Stark Library), Isaac (Buffalo & Erie County Public Library), Susan Jackson (Torrington Library), Jillian Jakubowski (Sarnia Library), Debra James (Jonesboro Public Library), Jason (Birmingham Public Library), Endya Johnson (Waterloo Public Library), John Johnson (Keene Public Library), Jordan and Renée (London Public Library), Karen and Leigh Anne Johnson (Indiana State Library), Justin Kau (Athens-Clarke County Library), Matt Kendall (Yakima Valley Libraries), Kent and Tim (Jackson District Library), Perian P. Kerr (Starkville Public Library), Kirsten (Hamilton Public Library), Tammy Kiter (Jacksonville Public Library), Nayt Knapp (Ohio County Public Library), Deborah Kitko (Wayne County Public Library), Dyron Knick and Edwina Parks (Roanoke Valley Libraries), LaDonna (Murray State University), Brittani LaJuett (Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library), Renée LaPerriére (Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library), Leo LeFevre (Public Libraries of Saginaw), Philippe Legault (Bibliothéque et Archives nationales du Québec), Sandy Linn (Calloway County Public Library), Carol Lockhart (Prendergast Library), Lois (Cortland Free Library), Emma MacMillan (Moncton Public Library/Bibliothéque publique de Moncton), Ethan Marek (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg), Eric Mathis (South Georgia Regional Library), Max (Curtis Memorial Library), Genevieve Maxwell (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Denise M. McLain (Cabarrus County Public Library), Meggie and Nicole (Moorhead Public Library), Mekayla (Portsmouth Public Library), Alex Merrill (Kalamazoo Public Library), Michael Miller (Sherman Public Library), Nancy Miller (Rochester Public Library), Sana Moulder (Cumberland County Public Library), Katherine Muto (Osterhout Free Library), Mark O’English (Washington State University), Jody Osicki (Saint John Free Public Library), Carrie Ottow (Corvallis-Benton County Public Library), Katherine Parker-Wright (Rochester Public Library), Phoebe (Falmouth Public Library), Roxanne Puder (Onslow County Public Library), Alison Purgiel (Muskegon Area District Library), Suzette Raney (Chattanooga Public Library), Brenda Ray (Auburn University Libraries), Lynda Redden (Killeen Public Library), Reference Staff (Albany County Public Library), Reference Staff (Borwnsville Public Library), Reference Staff (California State Library), Reference Staff (Cape May County Library), Reference Staff (Carlsbad City Library), Reference Staff (Erie County Public Library), Reference Staff (Eugene Public Library), Reference Staff (Hall County Library), Reference Staff (Jones Memorial Library), Reference Staff (Niagara Falls Public Library), Reference Staff (Portland Public Library), Reference Staff (Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library), Reference Staff (Thompson-Nicola Regional Library), Reference Staff (Thunder Bay Public Library), Reference Staff (Tulare County Library), Brandi Resendez (Gwinnett County Public Library), Melinda Ridgway (Logan County Libraries), Lauren Rogers (The University of Mississippi), Emily Rohlfs (Quincy Public Library), Jonathan M. Roscoe (Maine State Library), Cathy Roy (Niagara Falls Public Library), Emily Rundle (Jervis Public Library), Stephanie Salvaterra (Mississippi University for Women), Daniel Sample (Fort Bend County Libraries), Sarah (Monterey Public Library), Susan Schafer (Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library), Emily Schaub (Peru Public Library), Melissa Searle (Coeur d’Alene Public Library), Jeannie Sherman (Connecticut State Library), Joyce Sonnier (Calcasieu Parish Public Library), Stephanie (Peter White Public Library), Holly Stiegel (Columbus Public Library), Leann Stine and Taylor (Anderson) VanTryon (Danville Public Library), Susan R. (Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries), Salena Sullivan (Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library), Sean Sutcliffe (Waco McLennan County Library), Beth Swenson (Idaho Falls Public Library), Catrina Thomas (Dothan Houston County Library System), Lincoln Thurber (Nantucket Atheneum), Jace Turner (Santa Barbara Public Library), Esther Vorhauer (Cambria County Library), Rebecca Waite (Taunton Public Library), Kaitlyn Watson (Sault Ste. Marie Public Library), Galen Webb (Fort Smith Public Library), Christine Weislo (Anderson County Library), Danielle Willett (Grace A. Dow Memorial Library), Abigail Williams (Utica Public Library), Diane Wilson (Belleville Public Library), Beth Wood (Fort Vancouver Regional Library), Robin E. Yarzab (Parkersburg & Wood County Public Library), Carol Zoladz (Kankakee Public Library).
IN MEMORIAM
- Richard Conte (“Barzini”), 1910-1975
- Al Lettieri (“Sollozzo”), 1928-1975
- John Cazale (“Fredo”), 1935-1978
- Nino Rota (Composer), 1911-1979
- Saro Urzí (“Vitelli – Sicilian Sequence”), 1913-1979
- Rudy Bond (“Cuneo”), 1912-1982
- John Marley (“Jack Woltz”), 1907-1984
- Victor Rendina (“Philip Tattaglia”), 1916-1985
- Sterling Hayden (“Capt. McCluskey”), 1916-1986
- Richard Castellano (“Clemenza”), 1933-1988
- Corrado Gaipa (“Don Tommasino – Sicilian Sequence”), 1925-1989
- Carmine Coppola (Additional Music – Mall Wedding Sequence), 1910-1991
- Lenny Montana (“Luca Brasi”), 1926-1992
- Anna Hill Johnstone (Costume Designer), 1913-1992
- Vito Scotti (“Nazorine”), 1918-1996
- William Reynolds (Editor), 1910-1997
- Philip Smith (Set Decorator), 1923-1998
- Salvatore Corsitto (“Bonasera”), 1913-1999
- Mario Puzo (Novel and Screenplay), 1920-1999
- Bud Grenzbach (Re-recordist), 1923-2004
- Marlon Brando (“Don Vito Corleone”), 1924-2004
- Jeannie Linero (“Lucy Mancini”), 1945-2005
- Richard Bright (“Neri”), 1937-2006
- Warren Clymer (Art Director), 1922-2007
- Peter Zinner (Editor), 1919-2007
- Al Martino (“Johnny Fontane”), 1927-2009
- Angelo Infanti (“Fabrizio – Sicilian Sequence”), 1939-2010
- Tony Giorgio (“Bruno Tattaglia”), 1923-2012
- Gordon Willis (Director of Photography), 1931-2014
- Dick Smith (Makeup), 1922-2014
- Alex Rocco (“Moe Greene”), 1936-2015
- Louis DiGiaimo (Casting), 1938-2015
- Franco Citti (“Calo – Sicilian Sequence”), 1935-2016
- Abe Vigoda (“Tessio”), 1921-2016
- Julie Gregg (“Sandra Corleone”), 1937-2016
- Richard Portman (Re-recordist), 1934-2017
- Morgana King (“Mama Corleone”), 1930-2018
- Robert Evans (Paramount executive), 1930-2019
- Michael Chapman (Camera Operator), 1935-2020
- James Caan (“Sonny”), 1940-2022
- Michael Coate
Michael Coate can be reached via e-mail through this link. (You can also follow Michael on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
