You can smell the spaghetti." That's Robert Evans, who was head of production at Paramount Pictures in 1972, explaining in the film version of his memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture why they hired Italian-American director Francis Ford Coppola to direct The Godfather, with a mandate to bring an authentic-feeling culture to the film. "We're going to make a picture that's going to be Sicilian to the core. Even an 11-year-old Black kid watching TV in Gary, Indiana knew about the Mob boss who made people offers they couldn't refuse.Īlong the way, The Godfather created archetypes for telling stories about the Mafia that helped inspire some of the best films and TV shows of the modern age. The ASPCA's after me about this horse thing.") That was a measure of how much The Godfather had already permeated pop culture by 1976. Laraine Newman was decked out in a blond wig and Valley Girl accent for the sketch from SNL's first season, dubbed "Godfather Therapy," telling Belushi's Corleone, "please reach out, man!" (One of my favorite lines from that sketch: "Now the feds are watching me.investigating me. John Belushi did an amazing impression of Marlon Brando as Corleone, and he was playing the Don in a group therapy session with Elliot Gould as the therapist. The first time I saw The Godfather's Don Corleone, it wasn't in a movie theater. Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Bonasera asks Don Corleone to avenge the brutal rape of his daughter. From left to right, Salvatore Corsitto as Bonasera, James Caan as Santino 'Sonny' Corleone and Marlon Brando (1924 - 2004) as Don Vito Corleone in 'The Godfather', 1972.
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