'Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli': The Epic Story of the Making of the Godfather

"I believe in America..."

So this is a somewhat out-of-order book review, but last month I read this history of the making of the first Godfather movie and it was excellent. Deeply researched and featuring several interviews conducted by Mark Seal, the author, it really draws you into the entire history of the tale - from Mario Puzo’s background as an author all the way through to casting wars between the studio and Coppola. It then works its way through the shooting, which featured surprisingly extensive negotiations with the New York mob through the Italian-American Civil Rights Society. As someone whose father adores ‘The Godfather’, this book was right up my alley and a really enjoyable read.

Some interesting tidbits from the book - I had no idea Mario Puzo was such a character himself. A veteran of the Second World War, Puzo was a man of great appetites - for food, for gambling, and for spending money he generally didn’t have. Prior to hitting the jackpot with ‘The Godfather’, he had a middling publishing career and was nearly bankrupt. One particularly amusing part I found was that Puzo had eked out a living working on pulp magazines, which fits his background but is a somewhat sordid origin story for a film so critically acclaimed. Seal actually credits the pulp work with improving Puzo’s writing by giving him insight into what people wanted and how to create a compelling story (shorthand for including more sex and violence than you’d think).

One other interesting piece is that one of the classic lines from the film, indeed, the title of the book itself, was a piece of ad-lib from Richard Castellano. For those of you unfamiliar with the film, the Corleone family is in the midst of a massive mob war and recently found out one of its members was a traitor and had tipped off their enemies on how to get the drop on their leader. One of the caporegimes of the gang, Pete Clemenza, has been tasked with taking care of Paulie, the traitor, who does not know he has been made. Clemenza and another gang member have Paulie, a driver, drive them out on a series of errands through the city before heading out into a more rural area. At the start of their travels, Clemenza’s wife asks him to get some cannolis before he returns home.

Through this, Clemenza keeps up a running dialogue to keep Paulie at ease but had already made clear to the third gang member that Paulie will be eliminated. Driving through a wheatfield, Clemenza demands Paulie pull over so he can “take a leak”. Paulie dutifully complies and Clemenza steps away from the car to go to the bathroom. Coppola lets the camera stay distant from the car, catching Clemenza, the vehicle, and the Statue of Liberty far off in the background. The third gang member dutifully shoots Paulie in the back of the head.

Another car drives up and, in the script, Clemenza tells Rocco to “Leave the gun.” Castellano, in a moment of genius, added to it, “Take the cannolis.” It’s a truly fantastic scene and something referenced in my family on a surprisingly frequent basis.