Getting Prepared for The Godfather (1972)

Let us know what you think about this episode in the comments section below!

on't forget to subscribe to the podcast on the links below and on YouTube!  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory

Buy Me a Coffee!: https://buymeacoffee.com/historyofthepapacy 

Listen and subscribe: www.beyondthebigscreen.com

Listen on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/664j7uhxYZ8wlVdhhN9VbD #moviescenes #music #filmmaking #horror #movienight #instagram #photography #comedy #cine #tv #director #horrormovies #drama #filmmaker

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Beyond the Big Screen Podcast with your host
Steve Guerra. Thank you for listening to Beyond the Big
Screen podcast, where we talk about great movies and stories
so great they should be movies. Find show notes, links
to subscribe and leave Apple podcast reviews by going to

(00:23):
our website Beyond the Big Screen dot com. And now
let's go Beyond the Big Screen.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Reminds me a bit of that movie American Gangster, where
I think it's Russell Crowe's character he just actually returns
like the drug money, like the dirty money and the
culture like you know what I mean, Like what's wrong
with you? Like how why are you not taking this home?
And he's just he is just such an honest Guy's

(00:54):
flabbergast that this would be an issue, and he ends
up getting blackballed by the other police officers because they're like,
we can't trust you because we're all doing this and
you're not doing this, so you're going to write us out.
You know. It's like it's you know, but that was
the reality at the time.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
There's a similar scene in Training Day when they dig
up all the money and the the guy's kitchen there
Scott Glenn's kitchen and Ethan Hawke's character Hoyte doesn't want
to take the money, and that that Alonzo Harris ends
a Washington's character is trying to get him to take.

(01:32):
And so it's it's the same thing. It's it's about
trust and and and you know again culture. Culture is
a strong thing, very very much dictates how people respond, uh,
and it's everywhere. It's like gravity.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
I would have to imagine the book on Serpaco has
to be fantastic. I think the movie is a little
dated and it's a little al Pacino on it eleven
for me, like the everything about it, like the theme
and everything where I really enjoyed watching the movie, but
it was just a little bit too much.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, I mean you can tell it was made very
shortly after the events. I mean it was still the
seventies when it was made, and of course they you know,
made it look like the time period that it was
taking place in. It's been a long time since I've
read the book. The book is always better. There's only
a few times I've ever thought the book was not

(02:26):
as was not better than the movie. We're actually going
to talk about that later on down the road. Here.
I think the Godfather was one that I think the
movie's better than the book, but it's pretty rare.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
I actually got to read the book for the series
that we're doing. I've never actually read the god fauthor book.
I've watched the many times, but never actually gotten around
to read the book.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
You should read it, and you will. You'll shake your
head and wonder why is this in here? And then
I can see why they didn't put this in the movie.
That'll happen About four times.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
I read Take the Guns Leave the Canoli book. It's
like it's a book about the making of The Godfather,
and they they mentioned that the book has like more
there's like more sex scenes and violence and stuff. Is
that true or is it.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
There's just subplots that really cutting them out made for
a much better story.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, well that's I got into like when because they
hired Mario Puzo to write the screenplay and basically Francis
for Coppola had to help him do it. You know,
he didn't know how to do it, but the studio
wanted him to write the screenplay because the novel was
such a success, and he ended up taking a pretty

(03:47):
big step back as the filming of the movie was
going on because he he found himself like siding with
the studio more than Francis wore Coppola, and it made
him feel like dirty because he was like an artist himself.
So he's like, you know what, I'm bitter off just
kind of just kind of just getting out of the
picture here, right. So that's a bizarre I don't know.

(04:10):
It's like I did a couple of shorts on I
was just researching it. Like It's like Jack Nicholson basically
had the role and he it was up to him
whether he wanted to take it or not, and he
just didn't want it. I don't I don't even know
if that would make a good movie or not, but
it definitely would have been different, I know, you know

(04:32):
what I mean, Like they wanted Robert Redford to play
him at one point. I'm like, he doesn't even look Italian,
not like at all, you know, Like you know, I
know Marlon Brando is not Italian, but like you do
the makeup and everything like that, and I mean, he
he can pass his Italian you know, he just doesn't
look a talent like Robert Redford's about. He just I

(04:54):
don't know, I don't know what they were thinking, but
they don't. They totally did not want al Pacino at all.
The only guy they wanted it. The only guy they
wanted al Pacino was Francis Warcoppola. Well he was a
studio producer. Didn't want him. Nobody wanted al Pacino. It's
just blows my mind how things just kind of happened

(05:16):
by accident, you know, like a lot of it happens
in wrestling too, like Stone Cold Steve Austin's character becoming
this big mega superstar that was kind of an accident.
Like when they initially came up with that character was
he was supposed to be kind of like a borderline
serial killer type character. He's supposed to be a bad guy.

(05:37):
And then he has a match with Brett the Hitman
Heart where he was the bad guy and it was
an I quit match and he ends up bleeding all
over the ring and he's like literally in a pool
of his own blood, like not quitting. And then the
crowd just turns and Stone Cold becomes the good guy
and Brett Hart becomes the bad guy, and like the
rest is history. You know, they didn't plan it, and

(06:00):
it was just like an accident. Really, And it's like
same thing with The Godfather. It's like, you know, if
they had hired a different director, and you know, al
Pacino is not starring in the movie. Who knows, maybe
the movie just turns out to be nothing.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
You know.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Well, one thing that the book did that I thought
was that I did enjoy this next one. I guess
it was how they explored the relationship with the sister
with Connie and her husband, and they didn't really get
into that, but I think it having known that backstory,
it explained the movie a little bit better. Like the

(06:39):
animosity that they had towards the brother in law.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yeah, that's a good point. It does come off of
just Sunny getting a little pissed about one thing and
going and beaten Carlo up. But the reality is is
that was an ongoing domestic abuse situation and that went
on and on and on, and so yeah, that's a
good point. Stick m