Speaker 1: In the history of cinema, few films have been as
Speaker 1: successful as The Godfather. When it was released in March
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy two, Francis Ford Coppola's gangster epics at
Speaker 1: a new standard, not just for movies about the mafia,
Speaker 1: but for movies in general.
Speaker 2: It's five most supported legacy a light.
Speaker 1: Although if you talk to the people who made it,
Speaker 1: The Godfather's prospects for success were far from ashored. In fact,
Speaker 1: before its release, they were pretty bleak and.
Speaker 3: They said, we're finished. This is over. The lily is
Speaker 3: I'm gonna work to tell your reals, guys, that.
Speaker 1: People close to the movie have talked a lot over
Speaker 1: the past fifty or so years about how difficult it
Speaker 1: was to make The Godfather. But and leave the gun
Speaker 1: take the Canoli. My co host Mark Ceo and I
Speaker 1: strip back the varnish of movie history and talked to
Speaker 1: never before heard from sources to get at what really
Speaker 1: made the process so arduous for starters. Mario Puzzo, the
Speaker 1: author of the book on which the movie is based,
Speaker 1: only wrote it because he was deep in gambling debt.
Speaker 3: This dead broke rider comes into his office with a
Speaker 3: thirty five page treatment under his arm, and pretty soon,
Speaker 3: over cigars and conversation at Evans's office, the two men
Speaker 3: strike a deal.
Speaker 1: And when the studio behind the film, Paramount, tried to
Speaker 1: enlist a bankable director, it couldn't find one. It's solution
Speaker 1: to hire Cobola, a relative unknown who proved to be
Speaker 1: every bit the visionary they'd hoped for. The Only problem
Speaker 1: was that the Paramount executives and producers didn't know he's
Speaker 1: seen eye to eye with Cobola's vision.
Speaker 3: Jack Ballard was hired basically by Robert Evans to be
Speaker 3: there on the set and to haunt me.
Speaker 1: At every turn, from scriptwriting and casting to editing and
Speaker 1: choosing the music. Paramount fought tooth and nail against the director.
Speaker 2: France has just got so sick of everything.
Speaker 3: He goes, I'm going to sicily just cast my movie.
Speaker 1: Excuse my language, but that's just the beginning. Serious trouble
Speaker 1: came for The Godfather when the real life mafia tried
Speaker 1: to stop the film from being made.
Speaker 3: The Five Families did not want us to shoot that
Speaker 3: picture in the New York.
Speaker 1: The mob thought Hollywood had given Italian Americans a bad rap,
Speaker 1: and they were certain the Godfather would only deepen that stigma,
Speaker 1: so they waged a campaign of threats and scare tactics.
Speaker 1: But the studio and the filmmakers were not to be
Speaker 1: deterred by what at times amounted to more than threats.
Speaker 2: My kids came in all hysterical, they'd heard gunshots.
Speaker 1: They worked their connections and did everything they could to
Speaker 1: win over the people the film was based on, well
Speaker 1: at least most of them.
Speaker 2: I look over at Sinatra's table and, oh, my god,
Speaker 2: Mario standing at Sinatra's table. And I looked at Mario
Speaker 2: and his face was ashen.
Speaker 1: Despite the almost unfathomable hardship of making The Godfather, it
Speaker 1: minted a new generation of stars. It also made over
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty million dollars, won several Oscars, and
Speaker 1: redefined America's relationship to one of its darkest, most shadowy forces,
Speaker 1: the Mafia.
Speaker 2: No I'm saying when you heard the terminology crime, don't pay, yeah,
Speaker 2: crime pace.
Speaker 1: The result was a modern masterpiece that bridged old Hollywood
Speaker 1: and New Hollywood and managed to win over the American
Speaker 1: public and the Mafia alike.
Speaker 3: And the projection has called me, Hey, you guys missed
Speaker 3: already I've been a projector is my whole life. No
Speaker 3: one never gave me a thousand dollar tech.
Speaker 1: Leave the Gun Take the Canoli as based on my
Speaker 1: co host Mark's best selling book of the same title,
Speaker 1: and on this show we call upon as years of
Speaker 1: research to help unpack the story behind The Godfather's birth.
Speaker 1: From start to finish, we sift through innumerable accounts, many
Speaker 1: of them conflicting, and try to get to the truth
Speaker 1: of what really happened. And more importantly, we find out
Speaker 1: how a story that starts like this, So I pull.
Speaker 3: Up bexin Red though all my wood and done, I
Speaker 3: just stick my ass out to say, this is the
Speaker 3: first day he's met us.
Speaker 1: Ends like this.
Speaker 3: You gotta understand nobody every vision successive as well.
Speaker 1: Leave the Gun Take the Canoli features new and archival
Speaker 1: interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Yes that was a real
Speaker 1: horse's head, Robert Evans, it called Leaving Godfather's Godfather, James con.
Speaker 3: Jimmy it wants coming past suest.
Speaker 1: What you gotta push you at me to drive around
Speaker 1: the block? Al Ruddy Bob said, I got a caugh
Speaker 1: of these Italian guys. David see the movie makes it
Speaker 1: up be a lot of trouble Talia Shire.
Speaker 2: Everything was a very arduous chess game.
Speaker 1: And many others. We still aren't entirely sure what's true
Speaker 1: and what's not, but we can promise that our ten
Speaker 1: part series gives everyone who is involved a chance to
Speaker 1: tell their side of the story. Listen and subscribe to
Speaker 1: Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli starting February nineteenth, on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts.