'The Godfather' premiered 50 years ago and thrilled millions of people around the world by portraying the bloody rise of a mafia family.
The Godfather' is considered one of the great classic films of American cinema and turns 50 this March 14. It reinvented the mafia's way of telling stories and set the 'bar very high' for all films of its kind. This reference film in cinema is full of curiosities and anecdotes. One of them was the agreement that a producer closed with the Italian mafia to avoid boycotts of the film.
It is said that Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount, felt his blood run cold when he heard a man on the other end of the phone who threatened him not to make the film.
That was just one of the chilling attempts to trash Francis Ford Coppola's iconic film based on Mario Puzo's 1969 novel about the Corleone family.
However, the mafia is said to have ended up supporting the project after a real-life godfather made the producer an offer he couldn't refuse.
This made the film starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino reflect an authenticity that made it a colossal success.
But let's go from the beginning. Paramount always wanted 'The Godfather' to be directed by an Italian-American. The chosen one was Francis Ford Coppola.
As the film began to take shape, the head of the most powerful crime family in New York began to take an interest in it.
Joseph Colombo, head of one of the five mafia families in New York, was also the founder of the Italian American Civil Rights League, a 45,000-member organization that set out to improve the image of Italian Americans.
He didn't want Paramount to shed light on the issue and used the League to confront the studio. At first there were threats about labor issues. An executor arrived in Hollywood offering Paramount a million dollars to scrap the project.
Workers associated with the film have also been known to threaten to go on strike, expensive equipment mysteriously disappeared, and location scouts in a New York neighborhood found that people were unwilling to cooperate.
Then came the ominous phone call to Paramount production chief Robert Evans, threatening him, his wife and his baby. When the threats reached producer Al Ruddy, he had no choice but to meet with Colombo.
The offer he couldn't refuse
In early 1971, Ruddy cautiously agreed to a meeting with Colombo. The mobster gave him his "offer": eliminate the word 'mafia' from the script, omit any direct reference to the 'Cosa Nostra' and allow authentic members of the mafia to collaborate in the filming.
Thus, the word mafia came out and some of Colombo's 'partners' entered as extras in the film. Coppola insisted on ignoring them, but the gangsters are said to have been enthralled, drinking coffee, adjusting their ties and offering advice.
And as part of the deal, Ruddy promised to donate profits from the premiere to the Italian-American Civil Rights League of Colombo.
The 'blessing' of the mafia
In return, the League made a public announcement that 'The Godfather' was being filmed with Columbo's blessing. But the problems did not end there. Gulf & Western, the conglomerate that owns Paramount, was enraged to discover that an employee was making deals with the mafia.
Stock prices plummeted and Ruddy was fired only to be rehired shortly after at Coppola's insistence, although the donation to the League was quietly scrapped. Ruddy would later say: "Without the help of the Mafia, it would have been impossible to make the film."
The premiere was a complete success. 'The Godfather' surpassed the box office record of 'Gone with the Wind' and in cinemas people lined up for hours to see it.
The only ones who didn't have to wait were the gangsters invited by Ruddy to a special screening as a thank you for his 'cooperation'.
And what happened to Joseph Colombo? The man who 'gave his blessing' to film 'The Godfather' spent the last seven years of his life in a coma due to an attack perpetrated by Jerome A. Johnson, a man disguised as a photographer who shot him four times a few blocks away. from where Coppola was filming.
Johnson died instantly after being shot by Colombo's bodyguards. Joseph Colombo died in May 1978.
Critics believe that over the past 50 years 'The Godfather' has permeated the culture and has aged as well as a fine Italian wine.
