Larry V Solha

Film History

The Godfather



1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.
Rather than telling the story from outsiders view of the mafia, it is shown from
within the family. The Godfather is a movie about family and whats an Italian family
with out food? 50 scenes to be exact. It takes a lot to food to feed the amount of killing
in this movie, there was 23 on screen deaths. Dont think this film is all about death and
sadness though. It includes a wedding and a baptism. All though he mafia is considered
to be bad , this family is the anti-hero, who do questionable things yet we the
audience root for. Only the bad things happen to the bad guys and main characters.
No civilian were harmed, no live ruined by gambling, no one was robbed and no one led
into prostitution. Only offers that couldn't be refused were shown.

2) Find a related article and summarize the content.

http://flavorwire.com/445639/25-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-godfather
by: Alison Natasi

25 things you didn't know about The Godfather is the name of the article and it
talks about things we may have not known about the film. Corleone is an Italian word
meany Lionheart. Originally, the movie was suppose to be directed by Sergio Leone,
but he was busy working on Once Upon A Time In America so he passed on the offer.
This film was intended to take place in the 1970s with a budget of $2.5 million, but
since paramount wasn't too interested in a period piece, then Coopela was hired and
turned into a 40/50s movie, the budget rose to $6.5 million.
Orson Welles wanted the role of Vito Corleone, even offering to lose weight for
the role, but even Coppola being the big Orsen Welles fan he is, had to turn him down,
because he already had Brando in mind.






3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.

Lenny Montana, who played Luca Brasi actually very nervous when he was
practicing his lines for his scene with the Godfather. Coppola took the opportunity and
filmed his jitters. That footage is what we see in the actual film. Side note, Lenny was
actually a bodyguard for the Colombo crime family.
The movie holds a lot of memorable quotes, but on specifically was ad libbed.
Take the cannoli said that after his line Take the gun. Without the extra part , this line
wouldnt have been so memorable.
The Godfathers cat at the beginning of the movie was actually a stray that hung
around the paramount studio lot. The cat purred so loud during the scene that the had
to redub the whole thing. This may bother some, but the horse head used was real.
They got it from a dog food company.
The elaborate wedding at the start of the film took a whole week to film. Four
days were taken to shoot Sonny beating up his sister's husband and features 700
extras, the can lid was improvised by James Caan (Sonny).
A loot when into the character of Vito Corleone. Brando blackened his hair,
stuffed kleenex in his mouth, invented a backstory for his his off-kilter speech (he was
once shot in the throat), and rolling back his jacket collar.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film.
The Godfather is by far one of my favorite movies. The movie is no doubt brutal,
but at the exact same time its heart warming. Michael Corleone is a war hero who
comes back home and believes what his family does is wrong but towards the end
realizes its a necessary evil. Michael is a man who only knows how to deal with things
with force though. He goes to fight in the war, he personally kills Sollozzo and the police
captain, and then he goes to Italy and proposes to the first beautiful girl he meets. I am
glad that we got to end the semester with a bang. Anyone who hasn't seen this film
does not truly know what an amazing roller coaster of a story and movie it is.













CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1) (x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) (x) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I
clearly explain that in the paper.

3) (x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or
used indentation and citation within the text.

4) (x) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the
bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) (x) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) (x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another
way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) (x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or
originality.

8) (x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the
research and ideas used in my paper.

Name: Larry V Solha Date:5 /8/2014