Top 10 Facts About the Godfather
The Top Ten
1 During an early shot of the scene where Vito Corleone returns home and his people carry him up the stairs, Marlon Brando put weights under his body on the bed as a prank, to make it harder to lift him
2 Whenever oranges appear in the film, they foreshadow death or a near death
3 Don Vito Corleone's distinctive voice was based on real-life mobster Frank Costello, Marlon Brando had seen him on TV during the Estes Kefauver hearings in 1951 and imitated his husky whisper in the film
4 The line "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" was selected by the American Film Institute on its list as one of the top 100 movie quotes. It was at #2, right behind "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" from Gone with the Wind (1939)
5 The scene where Sonny beats up Carlo (Connie's husband) took four days to shoot and featured more than 700 extras, the use of the garbage can lid was improvised by James Caan
One other thing during the scene many of Sonnys punches don't actually make contact.
6 The smack that Vito gives Johnny Fontane was not in the script, Marlon Brando improvised the smack and Al Martino's confused reaction was real, according to James Caan, "Martino didn't know whether to laugh or cry."
7 The character of Moe Greene is based on real-life Vegas mobster entrepreneur Bugsy Siegel, who was also shot clean through the eye
8 According to Al Pacino, the tears in Marlon Brando's eyes were real, in the hospital scene when Michael pledges himself to his father
9 Al Pacino's maternal grandparents emigrated to America from Corleone, Sicily, just as Vito Corleone had
10 Marlon Brando did not memorize most of his lines and read from cue cards during most of the film
The Contenders
11 According to Francis Ford Coppola, the film took 62 days to shoot
12 Despite winning Best Picture, The Godfather didn't win the most Oscars in it's year (Bob Fosse's Cabaret won the most that year).
BAdd New Item