Posted on 08/13/2011 4:18:16 PM PDT by EveningStar
Would Lord Laurence Olivier have made a better Don Vito Corleone than Marlon Brando in The Godfatherc?
Coppola's casting choices were unpopular with studio executives at Paramount Pictures, particularly Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone. Coppola's first two choices for the role were both Brando and Laurence Olivier, but Olivier's agent refused the role, saying, "Lord Olivier is not taking any jobs. He's very sick. He's gonna die soon and he's not interested" (Olivier lived 18 years after the refusal)...
LOL...absolutely!
That was the original intent, however, the actor who played Clemenza, Richard Castellano, wanted too much money to do the sequel, so they killed him off and replaced his character with Frankie Pentageli.
Good one...I missed that connection.
One Saturday afternoon Eddie's girlfriend came looking for my wife, who was a nurse. I told her my wife was at work at the hospital. Girlfriend went across the street, and the guy over there was drafted to drive Eddie in his Rolls to the mob doctor to get his hand stitched up after cutting it with the hedge trimmer.
On an Easter Sunday afternoon Eddie was using spray cans to paint a big Lincoln in his driveway a different color while a Dallas police helicopter circled overhead, watching the paint job in progress. Life as Eddie's neighbor wasn't exactly dull. He moved to Houston after defaulting on his mortgage on the house, and we never heard of him again.
I read Puzo’s book well before the movie was produced....it was right to fear Luca Brazzi....my God, what an animal
Also the real reason Connie “had to leave” was just nasty
After seeing Morolon’s twitching fat ass nekkid in “Last Bango in Paris”, that was it for me......didn’t bother with anything to do with him after that.
Olivier would have been miscast as a low order Sicilian.
Brando, however, was a natural for the part, and was at his best playing tough guy, “earthy” roles.
The Godfather: What if Olivier had portrayed him instead of Brando?
The movie would have bombed!!
Any in show or movie, that we remember, the cast has a certain chemistry. We have to believe that they are the character in the story that they pretend they are.
I look at Marlin Brando, and I see a mafia don. Watch his little actions in the film. When he plays with the cat in the opening scene, when he plays with his grandson and he dies. Everything you see is inline with a powerful mafia Don circa 1950's.
Not to say anything about Olivier as an actor. He's fantastic, but he isn't a Mafia Don. He is, however, a fantastic e-Nai (Marathon Man)
Can’t stand Brando...never could...
LOL....I guess your description of Eddie as "smalltime" was right....Yo, Vinnie! Yo, Rico!
The book was very controversial because it did portray gangsters in a positive light.
My freshman year in college, my roommate found out that I didn't know about page 28 of "The Godfather". She gave me a copy for Christmas and I stay up all night reading the book because it was so believable. and well written.
Well, I thought it was, anyway.
Did you see him, again with Pacino, in "Dog Day Afternoon"? Unbelievable.
He died way too young!!
What is page 28? Does it have to do with Sonny’s girth?
If only!!
I had always believed that the actor who played Clemenza had died, but according to IMDB.com
In the DVD commentary of The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola says that Castellano was not in The Godfather: Part II (1974) because he wanted to have someone else (of his choosing) write his dialogue. According to Castellano's widow, Ardell Sheridan, Castellano was dropped by Coppola because refused to regain the weight to play Clemenza due to health reasons.
Pentageli ruined GF II for me.
That is the way I was thinking also.
The guy’s name was PENTANGELI! Pent=five Angeli=angels. Tom Haydn even calls him Frankie Five Angels at the prison in their final meeting.
As for I and II, I think the best treatment of them is what some premier stations have done and that is to splice the two together as one complete story. It moves perfectly and the only scene that is a bit odd is the final scene with the family waiting for Poppa’s birthday.
You’ve gotta admit, that is one of the best movies ever on true human interactions and the way things really work and it made a whole boatload of people into major stars.
And, Brando in “On the Waterfront” is fantastic. That is another one of his greats along with the spoof of the Godfather with Matthew Broderick called “The Freshman.” Even has Bert Parks singing in it!
He spoke up for them against the family...one never talks against the family and doesn’t take the other guys side in a discussion....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.