Here lies a story that you will not be able to reject. The true story behind the filming of The Godfather. It is a common and accepted convention that the character of Vito Corleone is inspired by this or that mafia boss from the 70s, but nothing could be further from the truth. Especially when the same author of the source novel has confessed that his characters are the product of desk research, of which he has lived in regret and shame.
However, Mario Puzo should not be ashamed of anything. He saved, perhaps, from having transferred the rights to his novel for a negligible amount that is not in keeping with the grandiloquence with which one of the best (or the best, called by many) films of all time now has.
A lifeline for Mario Puzo
The true story of The Godfather It was born from the cradle of large debts and threats of payment with violence. Mario Puzoan Italian-American with aspirations to be a writer, but with a weakness for betting and gambling, until the 1960s he had managed to publish two novels that were warmly accepted by critics, but not by readers.
The financial failure of his novels, growing debts and poor luck forced him to write a novel about gangsters and mafia. A subject she had refused to pursue for a long time. When she was only about 70 pages into the manuscript, in an act of desperation, she appeared before the Paramount executive, Robert Evansto offer you the rights to an unfinished book about the world of the mafia.
“Are you in trouble,” Evans asked, and Puzo confessed that if he didn't come up with $12,000 to pay off a debt, he would probably have his arm broken. The deal was closed for $12,500 dollars and with zero interest or faith, on the part of both, that one day the manuscript would end up in something substantial. However, when months later the novel, which was originally titled Mafiabecame a bestseller, Evans and Puzo crossed paths again.
However, Paramount Pictures did not have confidence in The Godfather. The reason? Mafia movies were not exactly the box office success that a Hollywood studio was looking for. In the previous meetings of the executives, it was stated that the reason that the films on the aforementioned subject did not turn out funny was because they were works about Italian-American characters, captured and developed by talent behind the camera who did not share the same estate. Thus, the agreement was reached that Italian-American talent was needed to achieve better results.
Did the Mafia try to prevent The Godfather?
Producer Albert S. Ruddy, a good-looking New Yorker, was chosen because he had experience making films quickly, efficiently and on a small budget. At first to The Godfather It was given a $2.5 million budget. However, as the popularity of the novel increased—and especially the fame of a production that tried to be boycotted by organized crime—that sum increased to $6 million.
It is precisely said that the true story is that The Godfather It was condoned by the mafia and organized crime. During the 60s and 70s, the word “Mafia” became the number one enemy of criminal groups that until then had not received a pseudonym or qualification as such. When the rumor grew that Coppola's film was looking like a great film in order to begin production, a man tried to oppose the idea.
During the spring of 1970, an Italian-American named Joseph “Joe” Colombo He started a movement called the Italian-American Civil Rights League. After the FBI took too much interest in his business dealings, which included loans, jewelry thefts, tax evasion and profits of $10 million a year from gambling operations, the astute Colombo declared that the Bureau of Investigation was really only discriminating against him. him and the entire Italian-American community of New York whom he persecuted under the pretext of shady deals.
The Italian-American Civil Rights League then became a façade that managed to stop the authorities and perpetuate the activities not only of Colombo but of four other prominent families dedicated to organized crime who, however, through the aforementioned institution also exerted pressure. so that the Paramount production would never happen.
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It first began with a letter addressed to the studio executives in which the League stated that “a book like The Godfather “It leaves one with a sickening feeling.” But later the request escalated to threats and these, to attacks. On two occasions the offices of Paramount and Gulf & Western had to be evacuated due to bomb threats. At the same time, several phone calls were made to members of the production with the warning to stop the film.
Producer Al Ruddy found no other solution than to attend a meeting with Joe Colombo, after his car parked outside his house was even shot at during the early hours of the morning. Only the aforementioned producer, Colombo and two of his bodyguards attended the meeting, ironically arranged at the Park Sheraton Hotel – a place famous for witnessing the murder of Albert Anastasia (another mafia leader) -.
Ruddy made sure his opponent understood that the film's intentions were in no way to disparage the Italian-American community. The film, more than being a condemnation against the criminal world, was the story of a family bond. When he spread the script and Columbo began to read, he asked him what it meant. Fade-In. “And that's when I realized that Columbo wouldn't get past page two,” Ruddy declared.
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The matter boiled down to one important issue: Columbo did not want the word “mafia” to be mentioned at any point in the film. And disassociating this word from the Italian-American community in the United States was the primary purpose of the League. Al Ruddy agreed immediately and that is why the word “mafia” is never mentioned in The Godfather. This despite the fact that it appeared up to three times in the original script.
Before closing the deal, Columbo asked for one more thing: that profits from the film's release be donated to the League. Ruddy accepted, but Columbo asked that the two hold a press conference. The producer agreed believing that only local and Italian media would attend. The reality was different. The fame of the film had grown so much that media of all sizes and nationalities attended. This put Paramount in an uncomfortable situation with headlines saying that the Mafia had given permission to shoot the film.
The next day the stock market indicated that Paramount's shares were much lower than usual. The newspapers did not talk about anything other than the subjugation of criminal groups against a Hollywood production company. Studio executives called Ruddy in and fired him on the spot. However, his position was saved, thanks to the defense of Francis Ford Coppola. The filmmaker made it clear that the film would not have reached this point and would not go any further without Ruddy in the game.
At its premiere The Godfather It received 11 Oscar nominations and took home three: Best Picture, Actor, and Adapted Screenplay. Precisely, the good Al Ruddy won the statuette for his work as producer of the film, as did Puzo and Coppola in the screenplay category; three men who from their own trenches bet, went into debt, or made deals with the mafia, in order to win a fight whose main goal was to see the film resolved. A work that has served for generations to educate both viewers and new filmmakers in the work of the seventh art.
Where to watch the trilogy The Godfather?
The three installments of The Godfather are available in Paramount Plus. You can also purchase it on Blu-ray through Amazon.
Luis Angel H Mora My most stable relationship is with cinema, parties and music. I love writing about cinema, meeting new people and sharing ideas. Idealist in every sense, I guess that's my Aquarian ascendant trait.