This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the legendary “The Godfather” trilogy in film history.
On March 22, the 4K ultra-high-definition version supervised and restored by director Coppola was released. The picture quality is rejuvenated, and the texture of the oil painting is visible to the naked eye.
Although the “The Godfather” series is hailed as one of the must-see movies for men in their entire lives, just repairing the picture quality doesn’t seem to be enough reason to watch it again.
For a movie that is more than 3 hours long, if you want to spend time revisiting it, you need not only time, but also more fresh stimulation.
The gangster story behind The Godfather is obviously a very good entry point.
1.
The Godfather’s original novel is nothing but the work of a mediocre Italian writer earning a living.
2.
Coppola didn’t want to make The Godfather at the time, and when the studio asked him if he wanted to make the movie, he asked his roommate, alumnus and entrepreneurial partner for his opinion.
The man behind the scenes is George Lucas.
Lucas said, the company is going out of business, what do you think?
Related Post: “The Godfather”: a great classic movie achieved by “chance”.
3.
Coppola pretends to have a seizure during a meeting in order to get Paramount to accept his choice of Marlon Brando.
4.
Paramount, though forced to accept Coppola’s casting, asked Marlon Brando to audition.
And one of Marlon Brando’s bad reviews in the industry was that he never auditioned.
So Coppola called Marlon Brando, pretended to talk about the script, made an immersive experience, brought a makeup artist and a photographer to Marlon Brando’s house, put on makeup on the spot and entered the character, and shot a small video.
5.
The makeup artist starred in the opening scene of “The Godfather,” the funeral home manager who asked the old godfather for help.
6.
Al Pacino, who played Michael, forgot his words at the “The Godfather” audition because he knew Paramount couldn’t have chosen him, but Coppola chose him anyway.
7.
The actor who plays the old godfather’s daughter Connie is Coppola’s sister.
8.
The actor who played the old godfather’s son-in-law is a true gangster who has lived his whole life in this role.
9.
The singer Johnny, who cried and cried to the old godfather for help, was based on Frank Sinatra, a white Italian singer, nicknamed “Skinny Monkey”.
Sinatra has always been rumored to have an affair with gangsters, and the second spring of his career was indeed opened by participating in the movie “From Here to Eternity”.
Johnny in the movie was blocked by the film company owner for cheating out a female star, and Sinatra himself experienced a similar experience.
He landed the role in “From Here to Eternity”, supposedly after finding a New York mafia boss and calling him.
10.
In the movie, in order to intimidate the boss of the film company, the horse head hidden in his bed is real, and the horse head was bought from the slaughterhouse.
11.
After the release of “The Godfather”, many gangsters watched the movie. Some people openly asked about the horse head plot at the premiere, and they were warned by the relevant gangsters afterwards.
12.
When Marlon Brando was filming the scene in which the old godfather was assassinated, Gambino, the mafia boss known as the “civilian godfather”, sat in a cafe not far from the filming location to watch the filming.
And this cafe is one of the places where Gambino usually “handles official business”.
13.
The bridesmaid who fucks Sonny at Connie’s engagement scene doesn’t love Sonny, she’s good with Sonny for a special reason.
14.
When Coppola was filming The Godfather, he showed more of his experience with the Italian family.
“The Godfather” is actually the story of a man growing up in a family, which is one of the reasons the film is enduring.
15.
In “The Godfather” Michael kills his brother who betrayed the family. But in fact, Italian gangsters do not kill their relatives, no matter what they do.
16.
After “The Godfather” was released, there were real cases of “suicide to protect family” and “second assassination in hospital” by gangsters.
It can be said that the plot of “The Godfather” inspired them.
17.
Actor John Cazale, who plays Michael’s brother, the cowardly Fredo, is one of the most outstanding actors in the history of American cinema.
But he died young, dying of cancer in 1978 at the age of 43.
He only played 5 roles in his life, all of them are classics.
John Cazale’s girlfriend before his death was Meryl Streep, who was not yet famous at the time.
Streep stayed with his lover until his death.
The last and only movie they both starred in together was “The Deer Hunter”.
18.
The reason why the old godfather played by Marlon Brando is hoarse is to imitate the real gangster Costello who attended the hearing.
Costello suffered an assassination in his early years and suffered a throat injury that made his voice hoarse.
The condition of his attendance at the hearing was that he could not show his face.
So, audiences across America remembered his husky voice.
19.
Costello is one of the few mafia bosses in the history of the American gang who has survived.
It is said that in the 1970s, his net worth exceeded 10 billion US dollars, which is probably equivalent to Zuckerberg’s current net worth.
20.
Michael avenged his father and shot the right mafia boss and black policeman.
He fired a total of two shots at the black police, one in the head and one in the neck.
Neck beating was one of the hallmarks of mafia killings at that time, and it was necessary to achieve the effect of being dead or dumb.
twenty one.
Michael kills Moe Green, the disobedient casino tycoon, and a bullet goes through Moe Green’s glasses.
This passage is from a real case.
twenty two.
Although Sonny was beaten into a sieve with a submachine gun in “The Godfather”, submachine guns are rarely used by gangsters in the real world.
Submachine guns are not only demanding for gunners, but also social backlash is too great.
Gang bosses usually play the role of protectors of the poor in the block, and it is not advisable to over-pronounce.
twenty three.
The famous American criminal, Al Capone, was suspected of planning the “Valentine’s Day Massacre”, killing 6 members of the rival gang and a passerby who was too idle to chat with the gangsters in the warehouse. The firearms used were submachine guns.
Because of this, Capone’s reputation was so bad that he had to bribe the black police with $20,000, throw himself into the net for illegal possession of guns, and infuriated the people.
twenty four.
The prototype of the old godfather comes from many people, including Gambino, Costello, and the boss of the New York Mafia boss, Luciano, the leader of the five major families. Luciano really set up a “National Gang Association” to deal with disputes between gangs.
He is also the prototype in the movie “Once Upon a Time in America”.
25.
Luciano’s younger brother, Bugsy Siegel, nicknamed Bugsy, single-handedly established the construction style of “luxury hotel + luxury casino” in Las Vegas.
It is a pity that he took the money of the gang boss in the United States to build Las Vegas, but before the casino made money, he was killed by the impatient boss in his Los Angeles apartment.
26.
The line “I’ll make an offer he can’t refuse” has been on the lips of uneducated American gangsters for years.
27.
Coppola originally wanted Michael to die in the last movie, but finally chose Michael to lose his beloved daughter and die alone, because this is the cruelest blow to Michael who values his Italian family.
28.
Coppola didn’t want to do “The Godfather: Part II” because a great movie shouldn’t have a sequel.
But someone inspired him, this is not II, this is Part II, a continuation of the first Part I.
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