Speaker 1: It's March of nineteen seventy two. Ivor Davis is an
Speaker 1: LA based reporter for the London Daily Express.
Speaker 2: I was the one man Los Angeles bureau working out
Speaker 2: of southern California.
Speaker 1: He's a British bloodhound who's heard the talk and read
Speaker 1: the headlines of the most anticipated movie of the year,
Speaker 1: The Godfather.
Speaker 2: And there was all sorts of chicanery going on in
Speaker 2: New York. We heard the mob didn't like the way
Speaker 2: they were being depicted in the film, and so there
Speaker 2: was a lot of talk buzzing around The Godfather.
Speaker 1: He calls Paramount and they tell him press screenings are
Speaker 1: coming not good enough. He wants a scoop, So.
Speaker 2: My London office kept nagging me, when's the film coming out?
Speaker 2: When are you gonna see it? Can you see it quickly?
Speaker 1: One night, Ivor is hanging out at Chasin's, Yes, the
Speaker 1: Chasins where Mario Puzzo had his altercation with Frank Sinott.
Speaker 1: He's talking to the mad Or d a friend of
Speaker 1: his name Phil Scully. He tells him about his quest
Speaker 1: to see the movie everyone's talking about but nobody's seen.
Speaker 2: And I said to Phil, have you heard about The Godfather?
Speaker 2: He said, no, I know it's coming out, so I
Speaker 2: said I'd love to see it, and I left it
Speaker 2: at that.
Speaker 1: A few days later, the reporter's phone rings. It's Phil.
Speaker 2: He said, Iva, they're showing the movie tomorrow night and
Speaker 2: it's at a Litton Savings alone cinema on Sunset Boulevard,
Speaker 2: and if you want to see it, come along and
Speaker 2: I'll get you in.
Speaker 1: It turns out Jason's is catering a first look screening
Speaker 1: for distributors.
Speaker 2: He said, the only problem is I can't bring you
Speaker 2: in as a journalist, so you have to pretend to
Speaker 2: be a waiter.
Speaker 1: So Ivor shows up to the theater the next day
Speaker 1: and meets Phil around back to get a waiter's uniform.
Speaker 2: He said, get in there. Make it simple, just take
Speaker 2: drink orders. So I took drink orders and he said
Speaker 2: keep your mouth shut, and I did that for about
Speaker 2: forty five minutes to try to overhear what people were saying.
Speaker 1: Just before the screening begins, Ibor takes off his uniform
Speaker 1: and blends into the crowd of distributors and off.
Speaker 2: I went into the screening room and got a backseat,
Speaker 2: took my notebook, and there before my very eyes. The
Speaker 2: movie unfolded.
Speaker 3: I Believe in America.
Speaker 4: I'm Mark Seal and I'm Nathan King.
Speaker 1: And this is Leave the gun, Take the Canoli.
Speaker 4: In today's episode, we're moving on from the tumult of shooting,
Speaker 4: post production and endless fights and onto the glitz and
Speaker 4: glam of The Guy Father's New York City premiere and
Speaker 4: subsequent rise as one of the greatest films of all time.
Speaker 1: We'll hear from the mastermind behind The Godfather's press strategy
Speaker 1: and tie up the loose ends between Coppola and Evans.
Speaker 4: So we left off last episode with Francis Ford Coppola
Speaker 4: winning every single fight with Evans in the studio. He
Speaker 4: gets the cast he wants, the locations he wants, He
Speaker 4: painstakingly gets scenes back into the movie that were once
Speaker 4: cut out of it. And he's made a masterpiece.
Speaker 1: Well we know he made a masterpiece, but he's somehow
Speaker 1: sure that he's made a boring movie. He's consumed by
Speaker 1: the idea that it's going to be a flop.
Speaker 4: But even without Copola believing in the movie, there's one
Speaker 4: person who believed in it enough for everyone.
Speaker 1: Yes, there was the great Marilynd Stewart paramounts worldwide head
Speaker 1: of publicity and promotion, who got the town buzzing about
Speaker 1: the film before a single frame had been shot.
Speaker 5: No other publishers, maybe in the country, could do what
Speaker 5: I could have done.
Speaker 4: You talked to her for the book, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I talked to her, and I talked to her, and
Speaker 1: I talked to her for hours at a time, and
Speaker 1: she told me her strategy in minute detail. The key
Speaker 1: to it all in her mind was Marlon Brando's transformation.
Speaker 1: She had seen that revolutionary transformation in the home video
Speaker 1: I believe that Francis had done on Mulholland Drive and
Speaker 1: was astounded, like everyone else at this incredible transformation of
Speaker 1: Marlon Brando into Vito Corleone. And so she thought, that's
Speaker 1: the key.
Speaker 5: I'm going to walk up the shed. Nobody's going to
Speaker 5: get a picture of Rolon Brando as the Godfather time
Speaker 5: or usually on the cover with a big story.
Speaker 1: I got so excited that you can hear me ferociously
Speaker 1: typing in the background as she tells me the story
Speaker 1: of how she made The Godfather an international sensation.
Speaker 5: So the big thing was Marylyn's picture that Steve Shapiro
Speaker 5: shot on her Godfather set said, show raw in in
Speaker 5: clear detailing my personal Fafty deposit box.
Speaker 1: And so she thought, then we can stun the world
Speaker 1: when the movie comes out with the pictures of Marlon
Speaker 1: Brando as the Godfather, because everybody will want to see
Speaker 1: the movie because they want to see Marlon Brando as
Speaker 1: the Dawn.
Speaker 4: How did you track her down?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I was talking to Nicholas Pelegi for
Speaker 1: the book, and he told me he was the only
Speaker 1: reporter loud on The Godfather said in little Italy. I said, well,
Speaker 1: how did that all happen? He said, well, Marilyn Stewart
Speaker 1: handled everything. She was the paramount head of publicity and promotion.
Speaker 1: And so I said, Marilyn Stewart. I really hadn't heard
Speaker 1: about Marilyn Stewart before, and so I frantically google her
Speaker 1: name and I was able to find a phone number
Speaker 1: for her and give her a call. And she was
Speaker 1: just this amazing woman who had unveiled this then revolutionary
Speaker 1: press strategy of promoting a movie not upon its release
Speaker 1: or a few weeks or months before its release, but
Speaker 1: before it would have even been shot at all, making
Speaker 1: deals with magazines and newspapers and planning a press strategy
Speaker 1: a year or two in advance.
Speaker 4: So when I'm for Davis says, it's the movie everyone's
Speaker 4: talking about, and he has to sneak into his screening.
Speaker 4: Marilyn's the reason everyone's talking about it.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, and she wasn't even working for Paramount by
Speaker 1: the time the movie came out, but she set up
Speaker 1: a publicity time bomb for the day of the release,
Speaker 1: and boy did it work.
Speaker 5: And I called Rob and I, you know, should have
Speaker 5: you ever heard of knowing that you're going to be
Speaker 5: on the newsweek code one train of film?
Speaker 6: What are you talking about it?
Speaker 4: So Marilyn Stewart got the press and the public buzzing
Speaker 4: about the premiere of The Godfather. Mark, you saw the
Speaker 4: movie in theaters when it first came out, But I'm
Speaker 4: guessing it was a whorled away from the glamour of
Speaker 4: the New York City premiere.
Speaker 1: It was several worlds away. I mean, I'm watching the
Speaker 1: movie in Memphis, Tennessee. I can only imagine what it
Speaker 1: was like to be at that premiere. You can see
Speaker 1: the pictures, you know, and you can see the excitement
Speaker 1: and feel the energy and the enthusiasm of all that
Speaker 1: the film premiere on March fourteenth, nineteen seventy two, at
Speaker 1: the low State Theater on forty fifth and Broadway. The
Speaker 1: streets were clogged with heavy traffic, police, mobs of fans
Speaker 1: and press. Marilyn Stewart had done her job. It was
Speaker 1: an absolute frenzy.
Speaker 4: Okay, everyone was there, Kennedy's, Ford's Raquel welch al Pacino,
Speaker 4: of course, Charlie Bludorn, Mario Puzzo and his whole family,
Speaker 4: Francis Ford, Coppola and his wife. Even Robert Evans, suddenly
Speaker 4: cured of his ailments, arrived with Ali McGraw on one
Speaker 4: arm and a surprising guest on his other.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Robert Evans brought none other than Secretary of State
Speaker 1: Henry Kissinger to the premiere, much to the delight of
Speaker 1: Charlie Bludorn, who tells Evans in his book Evans Evans,
Speaker 1: I love you, I love you Kissinger. He was so excited.
Speaker 4: It was like having the co sign of the US
Speaker 4: government on the film exactly.
Speaker 1: You know, Charlie Bludorn was in heaven this night.
Speaker 4: And when the limo suspected to be carrying Marlon Brando
Speaker 4: pulled up, the crowds were poised to pounce on the superstar,
Speaker 4: but he didn't show up. In his place, he sent
Speaker 4: a friend of his, Jim Thomas, a Native American man
Speaker 4: from Alaska, in full regalia.
Speaker 1: Yes he did, and I was so excited to speak
Speaker 1: to Jim Thomas because he gave me a lens into
Speaker 1: the premiere.
Speaker 4: What did he say about it from his personerspective?
Speaker 1: You know, he came with a small group of friends
Speaker 1: and family, and he was sitting in a prime seat
Speaker 1: in one of the front rows, and he just had
Speaker 1: a great story to tell about talking with Al Pacino,
Speaker 1: who said, how do you like the movie? You know
Speaker 1: he didn't recognize Pacino at first. He goes, I thought
Speaker 1: it was pretty good.
Speaker 4: Now, before we get off the red carpet and into
Speaker 4: the theater for the premiere, I want you to tell
Speaker 4: me the story of something that didn't happen. It's a
Speaker 4: great story, and it doesn't appear in your book.
Speaker 1: No, it's not in the book. But when I was
Speaker 1: interviewing Gianni Russo, who played Carlo Rizzy, he told me
Speaker 1: about his experience at the premiere.
Speaker 6: I'll tell you what I was going to do, and
Speaker 6: I should have did it.
Speaker 1: Actually they took me out of it. In fact, you
Speaker 1: know I took him my premier food.
Speaker 6: You will not believe this, doctor Theodore Jacobs.
Speaker 1: Apparently, four days prior to the premiere, Gianni gets a
Speaker 1: call from the FBI informing him of a call the
Speaker 1: interceptor who had plans to kill Gianni at the premiere.
Speaker 1: They tell him they can't offer any protection, but it's
Speaker 1: their obligation to tell him of the threat.
Speaker 6: So, like everything else in life, I said, I'm going
Speaker 6: to use this then, So I hired a mocksman and
Speaker 6: I was going to put him on the roof and
Speaker 6: let him shoot me and live television. The FBI revertified
Speaker 6: that I had to hit on me.
Speaker 1: How did you fucking headlines the next day be dead?
Speaker 7: Though?
Speaker 1: No, I had mosmen to shoot me here, Oh not
Speaker 1: kill me.
Speaker 6: I would have been the biggest star in the world.
Speaker 6: So I got my doctor. He's just crazy. Can I
Speaker 6: took you at this? I said, no, it's a stunt.
Speaker 1: It's a stunt. Doctor about it? So then what did
Speaker 1: you do it?
Speaker 7: What happened?
Speaker 1: They took me out of it? Who in the eleventh hour?
Speaker 6: Who my doctor Brancooper and my very close one Tommy Blotti.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the headlines the next day? Carlo Rizzy,
Speaker 1: the godfathers errant son in law shot at the premiere
Speaker 1: of The Godfather? Could you imagine better headlines? And that
Speaker 1: it would make him a worldwide star.
Speaker 4: It would be the biggest publicity stunt of all time.
Speaker 1: Probably. Wow.
Speaker 4: Well, I was pretty shocked when I heard that tape. Mark. Okay,
Speaker 4: so we get into the theater. Thankfully, no one's been shot.
Speaker 4: What's the reaction when the credits roll and the lights
Speaker 4: turn back on.
Speaker 1: Absolute silence.
Speaker 4: Not the standing ovation you would expect from a masterpiece.
Speaker 1: No, it's not at all. Here's how Robert Evans later
Speaker 1: described it in his memoir No applause, not a sound,
Speaker 1: silence scary here.
Speaker 4: Well, despite the silence, the star studded audience heads to
Speaker 4: the top floor of the Saint Regis Hotel for an
Speaker 4: over the top galla, complete with authentic Sicilian food, waiters
Speaker 4: dressed as Corleone bagman, a giant ice sculpture in the
Speaker 4: shape of a submachine gun, and an orchestra playing the
Speaker 4: Godfather theme over and over again.
Speaker 1: It was a night to remember, and in fact, one
Speaker 1: that Robert Evans remembered for years to come. When we
Speaker 1: spoke in two thousand and seven, he got quite emotional
Speaker 1: talking about it.
Speaker 8: This is the highest nide of my life. It's such
Speaker 8: a euphoria. Everyone who realized has just seen something.
Speaker 7: MS Bryce five people there.
Speaker 1: I was in heaven.
Speaker 4: What about for Coppola? He must have been relieved that
Speaker 4: the ordeal was finally over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure he was in a sense, But he
Speaker 1: later said that he had been so conditioned to think
Speaker 1: that the film was too dark, too long, too boring,
Speaker 1: that he wasn't sure it would have any success. But
Speaker 1: you can see him in the photographs from the party.
Speaker 1: He looks like he's having a pretty good time.
Speaker 4: He's hiding his despairwell. A week later, the Hollywood premiere
Speaker 4: saw a similar audience response that Eerie Silence, and.
Speaker 1: Al Ruddy wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Speaker 1: He and al Pacino decided to sneak into the last
Speaker 1: ten minutes of a showing at a theater in New
Speaker 1: York to gauge the reaction. Here's how he described it
Speaker 1: in an interview with All Things Considered.
Speaker 3: I was with al Pacino in the back of the
Speaker 3: theater and it was an amazing thing that occurred.
Speaker 1: When the lights came on, everyone got up and walked out.
Speaker 1: Nobody clapped.
Speaker 7: It was quiet. I took that alley, I said, Oh
Speaker 7: Jesus Christ, this Maybe they think it's a disaster.
Speaker 1: But Ruddy's fears were soon relieved. On the day of
Speaker 1: the nationwide premiere March twenty fourth, nineteen seventy two, Al
Speaker 1: Ruddy drove past the Paramount Theater on Broadway in the
Speaker 1: middle of a driving rainstorm. There was a line stretching
Speaker 1: around the block to see The Godfather.
Speaker 4: And meanwhile, Coppola has no idea that his film's ahead.
Speaker 4: Immediately after the New York premiere, he heads to Paris
Speaker 4: for some peace and quiet to focus on his next
Speaker 4: screenplay and adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
Speaker 1: Yet another pair out project that he took on for
Speaker 1: Robert Evans.
Speaker 4: Why do you think he decided to take on this job,
Speaker 4: especially if he had such a bad experience working with
Speaker 4: Evans the first time around.
Speaker 1: Well, he needed the money, don't forget the money he's
Speaker 1: received so far from The Godfather. Went to cover his
Speaker 1: debts for American zoa trope and the huge house he
Speaker 1: had just bought for his family and other expenses.
Speaker 4: Well, he'll soon find out that he definitely doesn't need
Speaker 4: the money. When does Copla finally realize that The Godfather
Speaker 4: isn't the massive failure he fears.
Speaker 1: Well, he's in Paris and his phone rings. It's his wife, Eleanor,
Speaker 1: who's still in New York. After the premiere. She tells
Speaker 1: him that just outside her hotel room, she could see
Speaker 1: a movie theater with the marquee reading The Godfather, and
Speaker 1: on the street, day in and day out, there's a
Speaker 1: line snaking around the block. She said, Oh, my god, Francis,
Speaker 1: you won't believe it. It's a phenomenon.
Speaker 4: So the Godfather mania is in full swing, a spurred
Speaker 4: on by Marilyn Stuart's genius press strategy, and theaters can
Speaker 4: add enough showings to keep up with the ravenous crowds.
Speaker 1: The La Times even runs the story headline Lifestyles for
Speaker 1: waiting in line to see The Godfather, which was an
Speaker 1: instructional guid for how to make the long wait more tolerable.
Speaker 4: Mark, Is it true that Al Ruddy set up a
Speaker 4: separate screening for the boys, as he called them?
Speaker 1: Yeah, even the men who inspired the movie had trouble
Speaker 1: getting tickets. So Ruddy sets up a screening in New York.
Speaker 3: So I stuck a print out which parent I never
Speaker 3: knew about, and I gave them a screening.
Speaker 2: It must been one hundred lib sees in front.
Speaker 6: I swear to guy, and the projection has called me
Speaker 6: the guy's mister. Ready. I've been a projected is.
Speaker 3: My whole life.
Speaker 2: No one never gave me a thousand dollar tip.
Speaker 1: That's how much the guys.
Speaker 7: Lived the movie.
Speaker 1: And there's a great cartoon that's featured in my book,
Speaker 1: and it shows the Godfather Marquis and a line of
Speaker 1: these big men and overcoats with violin cases under their arms,
Speaker 1: snaking down the street waiting to see the movie. And
Speaker 1: what about the reviews, Well, the reviews were pretty much sensational.
Speaker 3: Robo Brando's Godfather hailed the New York Times the year's
Speaker 3: first really satisfying, big commercial American film, four stars, highest
Speaker 3: rating from The Daily News. An Italian American gone with
Speaker 3: a wind, claims Time magazine.
Speaker 1: Gene Shallittt NBCTV.
Speaker 3: Calls The Godfather a spectacular movie, one of the finest
Speaker 3: gangster movies ever made. The Godfather is now a movie
Speaker 3: from Paramount rated R now at low State one to
Speaker 3: sinne Orphium and Tower East.
Speaker 4: But it's more than bluster. There's real money to back
Speaker 4: up The Godfather's success.
Speaker 1: Yes, and by the end of nineteen seventy two, at
Speaker 1: Gulf and Western's annual meeting, Charlie Bludorn announced that The
Speaker 1: Godfather had made over one hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 4: And what's that number today?
Speaker 1: Two hundred and fifty million and still going strong.
Speaker 4: So what did that do for Paramount the last Place studio?
Speaker 1: Well, it saved the studio. Bludorn had a short memory,
Speaker 1: but at that press conference he said, we've got the
Speaker 1: best ratio of hits against flops in the industry.
Speaker 4: This film has changed so many lives, but maybe known
Speaker 4: so much as Evans and Copola. They both regarded the
Speaker 4: film as something that both made and destroyed their lives.
Speaker 1: And for all of their differences, they really share that
Speaker 1: they were both so passionate about the movie, but the
Speaker 1: legacy really haunted both of them. Coppola couldn't go anywhere
Speaker 1: without people playing the Godfather theme and being reminded of
Speaker 1: the traumatic experience of making the film, and Evans lost
Speaker 1: so much over his absolute obsession with the movie. When
Speaker 1: I interviewed him for the book, I was struck by
Speaker 1: how much he opened up to me about the emotional toll.
Speaker 8: Now as the party leader Oh Shop.
Speaker 1: He showed me a photo of himself and his wife
Speaker 1: Ali McGraw on the night of the premiere. They're dancing
Speaker 1: and they looked completely in love.
Speaker 8: Would you believe at this very moment, this is madly
Speaker 8: in love with another man. And I had no idea
Speaker 8: any man the things he can need, the mind of woman.
Speaker 8: It's a man who's nothing.
Speaker 4: It seems like Coppola and Evans could have bonded over
Speaker 4: how much they gave to the movie.
Speaker 1: They probably could have, but in reality the two never
Speaker 1: really became best friends. Their riff continued after the film's
Speaker 1: release in something of a pr war. Each blamed the
Speaker 1: other for threatening to derail the film at various points
Speaker 1: of the production. Coppola revealed Evans's initial opposition to his
Speaker 1: perfect cast, and Evans struck back, saying he saved the
Speaker 1: movie by re editing the final cut. Coppola said in
Speaker 1: an interview claimed he had saved the picture because he
Speaker 1: asked me to put back at the half hour that
Speaker 1: he had told me to take out.
Speaker 4: And this feud is probably best exemplified by two telegrams
Speaker 4: from nineteen eighty three that were printed in full and
Speaker 4: sold at auction as part of Evans's estate. December thirteenth,
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty three. Dear Bob Evans, I've been a real
Speaker 4: gentleman regarding your claims of involvement on The Godfather. I've
Speaker 4: never talked about your throwing out the Nino Rota music,
Speaker 4: you're barring the casting of Paccino and Brando, et cetera.
Speaker 4: But continually your stupid blabbing about cutting The Godfather comes
Speaker 4: back to me and angers me for its ridiculous pomposity.
Speaker 4: You did nothing on The Godfather other than annoy me
Speaker 4: and slow it down. That is why Charlie put in
Speaker 4: The Godfather to contract that you could have nothing to.
Speaker 1: Do with the movie.
Speaker 4: You will never see The Cotton Club until it's an
Speaker 4: answer print. You have double crossed me for the last time.
Speaker 4: If you want to pr war or any kind of war,
Speaker 4: no one is better at it than me. Francis Coppola, Wow,
Speaker 4: actually put my back into that one.
Speaker 1: Mark Evans responded with his own dramatic retort December fourteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three. Dear Francis, thank you for your charming cable.
Speaker 1: I cannot imagine what prompted this venomous diatribe. I am
Speaker 1: both annoyed and exasperated by your fallacious accusations when all
Speaker 1: I do is praise your extraordinary talents as a filmmaker. Conversely,
Speaker 1: your behavior toward me glaringly lacks any iota of concern, honesty,
Speaker 1: or integrity. I am affronted by your gall and daring
Speaker 1: to send this Macavelian epistle, the content of which is
Speaker 1: not only ludicrous but totally misrepresents the truth. I cannot
Speaker 1: conceive what motivated your malicious thoughts, but if they they
Speaker 1: are a reflection of your hostility. I bear a great
Speaker 1: sympathy and concern for your paranoid, schizophrenic behavior. However, Dear Francis,
Speaker 1: do not mistake my kindness for weakness. Robert Evans, Wow,
Speaker 1: that's Shakespeare. In to this day, wherever couple of goes,
Speaker 1: people seem to have impressions about the film. He tells
Speaker 1: a story about walking by a group of suspiciously tough
Speaker 1: Italian men. They were stealing glances at him, and he
Speaker 1: heard one of them whisper the name Mario Puzo. One
Speaker 1: of the men yelled, you didn't make him, he made you.
Speaker 1: He could not disagree, later writing, It's absolutely true that
Speaker 1: Mario made me and that Godfather changed my life.
Speaker 4: Coppola's relationship with Puzzo really made up for his feud
Speaker 4: with Evans.
Speaker 1: It sure did, and I think we can sign off
Speaker 1: with an excerpt of the audio that Coppola shared with
Speaker 1: us for the podcast.
Speaker 7: I immediately like Mario Puzzo. I found him funny, wise
Speaker 7: and lovable, like an uncle. He spoke in clear, short,
Speaker 7: wise statements. I was very fond of him and enjoyed
Speaker 7: working with him very much. I miss him now that
Speaker 7: he's gone, and I wish he was still around so
Speaker 7: I could talk to him.
Speaker 1: Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli. As a production of
Speaker 1: Airmail and iHeartMedia.
Speaker 4: The podcast is based on the book of the same name,
Speaker 4: written by our very own Mark Seal.
Speaker 1: Our producer is Tina Mullin.
Speaker 4: Research assistance by Jack Sullivan.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Dressler was our development producer.
Speaker 4: Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our executive producers are
Speaker 4: Me Nathan King, Mark Seal, Doan Fagan, and Graydon Carter.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Bridget Arsenal and everyone at CDM Studios.
Speaker 4: A comprehensive list of sources and acknowledgments can be found
Speaker 4: in Mark Sieal's book Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli,
Speaker 4: published by Gallery Books. An imprint of Simon and Schuster