The Godfather Wars

A story about the making of The Godfather.

[A] number of priceless ad-libs by actors that turned what was supposed to have been a low-budget movie into a masterpiece.

Examples: “Leave the gun,” Richard Castellano, as Clemenza, orders his henchman after they take out the traitorous Paulie Gatto in a parked car. “Take the cannoli,” he then adds in an inspired ad-lib. “Twenty, thirty grand! In small bills cash, in that little silk purse. Madon’, if this was somebody else’s wedding, sfortunato!,” Paulie Gatto, played by Johnny Martino, adds unscripted in his fluent Italian, about the opportunity for stealing at Connie Corleone’s wedding. When Al Martino, as the whimpering Johnny Fontane, cries over the role the big-shot producer won’t give him, and Brando barks “You can act like a man!” and slaps him, the slap was Brando’s spontaneous attempt to bring some expression into Al Martino’s face, according to Johnny Martino, who had rehearsed with Al (no relation) the weekend before. “Martino didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” says James Caan.

Also, all the back-and-forth about casting and arriving at Coppola as director.

Movie Trivia: The Silence of the Lambs

Gene Hackman originally wanted to direct and write the screenplay for the movie based on the novel. He was also going to play Dr. Lecter himself. But time passed and he lost interest; Jonathan Demme picked it up and wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to play Clarice Starling. She, however, thought it was too dark. Of course, all three roles that were replaced – director, actor and actress – won Academy Awards.

Movie Trivia: Beetlejuice

Warner Brothers really didn’t care for the original title, which happened to be Beetlejuice. They suggested House Ghosts, which Burton hated, so he retaliated with the equally horrible Scared Sheetless, just to annoy them. He was mortified when they loved it and considered using it.

Movie Trivia: Groundhog Day

Here’s a shocker – the film wasn’t shot in Punxsutawney at all. Instead, Woodstock, Illinois was used. Punxsutawnians (I don’t know if that is what citizens of Punxsutawney are really called or not) were very upset by this at first, but later understood that perhaps their beloved town wasn’t quite Hollywood-worthy. For instance, the Punxsutawney had no town square, whereas Woodstock’s town square made for a very iconic, small-town feeling. Several scenes from Planes, Trains and Automobiles was also filmed in Woodstock.

Movie Trivia: Stand By Me

Jerry O’Connell (Vern) had never really acted before – he had just one commercial under his belt. When he auditioned, he recognized Rob Reiner and said, “Aren’t you the guy on channel 5?” At the time, the local channel 5 had been airing reruns of All in the Family at the time and Jerry recognized Rob as Meathead.

(BTW, John Lennon’s cover of this song is pretty good)

Movie Trivia: The Princess Bride

Billy Crystal specified that his character’s makeup should look like a cross between Casey Stengel and his grandmother. Rob Reiner had to leave the room every time Billy had a scene, because he would laugh so hard he would ruin the take otherwise. Mandy Patinkin says, “God’s honest truth,” that despite all of his risky fencing scenes, the only injury he sustained during the whole movie was bruising a rib from holding in his laughter during Billy Crystal’s scenes.