Celebrating the mob in the 50th year of the release of 'The Godfather'

Revisiting a piece of cinematic brilliance that once came close to being shelved

You don't get too many iconic movies that continue to stir public imagination 50 years after their making and end up inspiring a staggering 400 movies at last count, including two sequels that hit the screen and one that got shelved. The Godfather, which was released on March 24 in 1972, is one such rare film to have achieved this feat.

And this was a piece of cinematographic brilliance that was about to be abandoned halfway through its making and all the artistes and supporting staff on the verge of being asked to go, as the producers felt the movie wasn't making much progress.

So, what made The Godfather tick? For starters, it gave a “humanistic” touch, if you will, to the underbelly of a very uncomfortable side of America. The characters weren't all black and white, and there were many shades that showcased their fears and the fickle-mindedness, the suave and the savagery, the reticence and the ruthlessness. One would, for instance, hardly have imagined that there was a weaker side to a brute like Don Corleone's (Marlon Brando's) favourite hitman Luca Brasi, who ultimately met his end in a restaurant at the hands of Virgil Sollozzo and his men.

Much before the scene of his garroting, Brasi is seen nervously rehearsing the congratulatory message he must deliver to Don Corleone on the occasion of the wedding of the latter's daughter. That particular shot was, in fact, not scheduled, and it is to the crew's credit to spot an opportunity to shoot an edgy Lenny Montana, who played Brasi in the movie, while he was actually mugging up his dialogue just before a face-off with an established star like Brando.

Then there was Al Lettieri, who played the wily narcotics man Sollozzo, and who displayed a variety of personality traits --from crafty negotiator (selling the Corleone family a ticket to the narcotics trade), to brutal killer (Brasi's murder), to ruthless intimidator (kidnapping and threatening the Don's consigliere Tom Hagen), to nervous peace broker (the restaurant scene where he meets his end). All this in four sequences spanning just about 20 minutes of screen time.

And of course, the Don's youngest son Michael (Al Pacino) Corleone's metamorphoses from the shy, law-abiding young military officer to a ruthless mafia boss in a journey that started with the murder of Sollozzo and Police Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden) has become a gold standard in cinema. Likewise Vito Corleone's steady deterioration from patriarch to spent force.

The other factor that gave the movie its cult status was the “real” factor. So, on the one hand, Don Corleone's character was based on actual gangster Frank Costello, on the other, the cast had at least five actors who were connected in some way or the other to real-life mobsters. Two such were Lettieri, who died just three years after the movie was released and was related by marriage to the boss of a Genovese crime syndicate, and Lenny Montana, who served as the bodyguard of another strongman.

Coming back to the movie's cult status, The Godfather has gone way beyond inspiring a record number of Hollywood and Bollywood movies and those from other parts of the world as well. In fact, it took Feroz Khan no more than three years to come up with a lift-off called Dharmatma (played by Premnath), which not only replicated the broad theme with a dash of Indianness, if you will, but also blatantly copied some of the scenes. Witness the garotting of Dharmatma's trusted man in much the same way that Carlo (Gianni Russo) is disposed of in the original. A staggering 30 years later, Bollywood's obsession with the iconic movie doesn't end, but is several shades subtler. Those who've watched the 2005 Amitabh Bachchan starrer Sarkar will agree.

What makes The Godfather even more inspiring than sheer mimicry is its achievement of bringing several directors and actors of complete or partial Italian descent, such as Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Tucci and a host of others to mainstream American cinema. While it would be unfair to belittle the contribution of the 'Italians' on both sides of the Atlantic -- there were spaghetti westerns galore that made their mark on the landscape -- the credit for huge shift in public perception of the Italian artiste cannot be taken away from Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece.

Beyond the screen

The Godfather's influence goes beyond cinema and embraces society at large. At one end, author Tom Santopietro, who wrote the book The Godfather Effect, claims that the movie actually demolished the image of Italians either being mobsters or simple-minded peasants. In a 2012 article in Smithsonian Magazine, Santopietro, who is of mixed Italian and English parentage, says that the movie helped the community identify with its own immigration experience. He believes that the vast majority of Italians have actually embraced the movie for its propensity to inject a sense of family ties and love in a mobster story. He refers to the tender interaction between Don Corleone and Michael in the garden just before the son is handed over the empire.

That said, there was a fair deal of angst that persisted for years after the movie was released, with Italians on both sides of the Atlantic lambasting it for portraying their community as a bunch of no-goods. Paola Clodoveo, a social activist who lives in Turin, Italy, confirms this. She told Business Standard that while she liked the movie, it did tick off many of her friends who felt it stereotyped them.

And of course, how can a masterpiece such as this not spawn an entire universe such as attire, video games and even crockery, coasters and tablecloths? Some websites are even selling mobile phone cases inspired by the official posters of the movie. As for restaurants, it would be difficult to count the number that are merrily using the film's title. That not all of them serve Italian cuisine, though, is a minor matter.