THE box office appeal of a blockbuster best seller. The charisma of Marlon Brando in one of his finest performances. Warmth, violence, nostalgia and the dynastic sweep of an Italian-American Gone With the Wind. The Godfather, which will be released next week, is a movie that seems to have everything. Canny producers know that when a movie has everything, it needs something more: a sequel. What could the brains at Paramount come up with to match The Godfather? Something to do with the Mafia, something rife with greed, intrigue and passion. For that, they might consider The Making of the Godfather. The story behind the movie has all those elements and then some.
No sooner had Paramount announced plans to film Mario Puzo's novel about the powerful leader of a Mafia family than the protests began. The Italian-American Civil Rights League, a group headed by Joseph Colombo, the reputed don of one of New York City's five Mafia families, held a rally in Madison Square Garden, raising a $600,000 war chest to stop the production as a slur on Italian-Americans. Close to 100 letters of protest came in from Senators, Congressmen and New York State legislators. The Manhattan offices of Paramount's parent company, Gulf & Western, twice had to be evacuated because of bomb threats. In Los Angeles, police told the movie's producer, Al Ruddy, that his car was being tailed, and Ruddy switched cars with his secretary. She parked his in front of her house, and the next morning found it riddled with bullets.
The melodrama was right in keeping with the kind of picture Paramount had in mind. The company wanted a quickie exploiting the book's success, shot in modern dress in St. Louis on a relatively low budget of $2.5 million. To direct it, Paramount Production Chief Robert Evans approached Peter Yates, who had established his thriller credentials with Bullitt; Richard Brooks, who shot In Cold Blood; and even Greek Director Costa Gavras, the man who made Z. When, for various reasons, none of these choices worked out, Evans went for a dark horse: Francis Ford Coppola, who was only 31 .
Dynasty and Power. Coppola was an established screenwriter (he won an Oscar last year for co-authoring Patton), but he had an indifferent record as a director (Finian's Rainbow, You're a Big Boy Now). Nevertheless, Evans had faith in Coppola's ability, and attached particular importance to the fact that he was Italian-American. Says Evans: "He knew the way these men in The Godfather ate their food, kissed each other, talked. He knew the grit." Coppola, deeply in debt, could have used an offer to direct traffic, let alone a movie like The Godfather. He jumped at the chance, and over some strenuous front-office opposition, won the job.