The Godfather

Trivia: The Godfather was roundly criticized by the Italian-American Civil Rights League for its stereotypical portrayal of Italians.

Trivia: Although Coppola was advised not to talk to real Mafioso because they would never stop bugging him and it might change how he filmed the movie, James Caan did spend time with various Mafia heads, and got much of his character quirks, expressions and gestures from them.

Trivia: The term "godfather" was never actually used by the actual mob, author Mario Puzo just made it up. Yet after the book and film came out people started assuming it was, so it started appearing in news reports. And it is now actually used by the mob.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This is incorrect, Joe Valachi - The First Rat used the term "Godfather" when describing the mafia's initiation of a crew member to a made man during the subcommittee hearings on organized crime held between 25 September 1963 and 16 October 1963.

Trivia: In the scene where Sonny is killed by the men with the Tommy Guns, James Caan was very apprehensive about how many squibs he was wearing (147, a record number at that time, and therefore very dangerous). He only did that scene because he didn't want to lose face in front of the female crew members.

Trivia: Francis Ford Coppola's original choice to play gangster Hyman Roth was James Cagney. He begged Cagney to take the role, even visiting him at his home, but Cagney turned him down.

wizard_of_gore ★

Trivia: In order to get the part as Vito Corleone, Marlon Brando had to put up a $1 million dollar bond due to his reputation as being a difficult actor to deal with.

Trivia: The house Jack Woltz lives in, where he discovers the horse's head in his bed, is also where JFK spent his honeymoon. Called the "Beverly House", William Randolph Hearst lived there until 1951, and it's been used in The Bodyguard and Fletch.

Jon Sandys ★

Trivia: In the scene where Michael is rolling Don Corleone on the hospital gurney he accidentally mashes the Don's hand between the gurney and the doorway. Marlon Brando snatches his hand away, Al Pacino briefly pauses, then continues with the shot.

Thomas S Wilson

Trivia: Although Marlon Brando is first billed, he is only in the film for less than an hour.

Trivia: Al Pacino refused to go to the Academy Awards after the film's release because he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, even though he had more screen time than Marlon Brando, who had been nominated for Best Actor.

Trivia: Woltz's reaction to seeing a horses head on his pillow was real. The actor was unaware of what was to unfold in the scene, making it genuinely shocking.

Trivia: The race horse in Woltz's stable is a high quality healthy stud horse, but when the (real) horse's head is in the bed it has cataracts in its eyes - probably because an older horse had been sent to the slaughterhouse, and its head used for this scene.

Jennyred

More for The Godfather

Mistakes

Factual error: In the scene when Michael visits his father in the hospital in 1945 there's a NYC Fire Dept. Sign on the wall with the name of the Commissioner, Robert O. Lowery, who was commissioner from 1966 to 1973.

Ray Palermo

More mistakes in The Godfather

Quotes

Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

More quotes from The Godfather

Questions

Question: Why did Don Corleone send Luca Brasi to gather intel on Sollozzo? Wouldn't it have been obvious to the Don that sending his bodyguard, who was widely known to be unquestionably loyal, wouldn't fool his adversaries, which would eventually, with Brasi dead, lead to his own death?

Answer: Luca wasn't Vito's bodyguard, Paulie Gatto was. In Mafioso circles the bodyguard is also usually the chauffeur which was the other part Paulie played. Luca was an independent who had loyalty to Vito. Unlike other members of the family, Luca had his own operation and his own scams. He was usually only called into service by the Don when some particularly nasty piece of business needed to be taken care of for which Luca was paid handsomely. Few people knew why Luca was loyal to Vito, it had to do with a bit of trouble Luca got into with a young girl, Luca was looking at some hard time and Vito was able to get him out of it. As explained in the books, Luca didn't care if he lived or died, he didn't even care if he was killed, but he cared very deeply that he wouldn't be killed by Vito. That was the hold Vito had on Luca which made his loyalty so deep. So far as the rest of the underworld was concerned Luca was just an independent contractor who worked for the Corleone's from time to time. If you'll recall when Kay sees Luca Michael tells her "he helps out my father sometimes." Barzini was probably the only other one who truly understood how deep Luca's loyalty went. So, why did Vito send Luca: Vito thought he was dealing with the Tataglias. Ten years prior to the Sollozo meeting there had been a Mafia war. Vito planned the strategy of the war while Sonny handled the tactics. The war was bloody and costly but the Corleone's were able to out maneuver the other families and come out on top. After that war Vito was top dog of all the 5 families. Had Vito been correct that Philip Tataglia was behind Sollozo, sending Luca would have been a smart move. As Vito mentions after the meeting of the commission "Tataglia is a pimp, he never could have out fought Santino." Tataglia would have seen getting Luca as a huge win, not only would he have Vito's special muscle, but he'd probably also believe he'd be able to get information from Luca. Where Vito made the mistake was not seeing Barzini pulling the strings, had he believed Barzini was involved he'd have handled it differently.

The line in Goodfellas seems illuminating here where Henry Hill explains that the Mafia is essentially an organisation that offers protection for those who can't turn to the legitimate law of regular society. This suggests that these "family" ties are not as strong as we imagine. These criminals are not a definite part of an orderly corporation, like head of HR at IBM, but a loose confederation of connections and loyalties that are rather more fluid. This is a theme also explored very well in the book and film, Donnie Brasco. Therefore, it wouldn't be totally unthinkable that someone in Luca Brasis position could turn to another "family" if he felt it expedient. However, these kind of guys have a tendency towards mistrust.

Answer: Luca was instructed by Don Corleone to act as if he was unhappy with his current situation within the Corleone family. In the book, this mission was planned more thoroughly and was spread out over a longer period of time with Luca frequenting the Tattaglia family's bars and bordellos, where he (falsely) bitterly complained to the prostitutes and anyone who'd listen about how he was underpaid and undervalued by the Godfather. Either this ploy did not fool Sollozzo or, if he did believe it, he didn't care and used it to send a message to the Corleones by killing Luca.

raywest ★

More questions & answers from The Godfather

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.