Carbon monoxide. You can't see it. You can't smell it. And without an alarm, you may not know it's there. Install carbon monoxide alarms on every level of your home and test them monthly. The more you know, the safer you'll be. Learn more at embridgegas.com slash safety. My name's Renee, and I'm good at plenty of things. For instance, I'm really good at making babies smile. But I'm terrible at movies, like really bad. So that's why I ask my friends to challenge me to watch their favorite movies so I can build up my repertoire and stop looking like an idiot. Sometimes I like the movie, sometimes I don't. But either way, my friend and I are going to talk about it.
So for my first episode ever, I brought on my friend Michael Delaney. He is on an indie improv team, Moonroof, which I also happen to be on. And he decided that the best movie to start off with would be The Godfather. Now, I don't really know anything about The Godfather. Just judging from the title alone, I'm going to guess the movie is about this guy whose friend has a baby. And the guy's like, hey, do you want to be my baby's godfather? And he's like, sure, yeah.
The movie that happens is just the really heartwarming story of a man and his godson going through life's struggles together. And that man just, you know, helping guide this young boy through life. And it's very sweet. And, like, I don't know, maybe they fall on some hardships at one point. Like, the kid falls and skins his knee. And then the godfather's there to put a Band-Aid on it. It's going to be a really great and sweet and happy movie, as far as I can tell.
So let's go ahead and watch it, all right? And then Michael and I are going to talk about it. See ya. Another godfather in one minute. Hey, my daughter's getting married. Oh, that's really great. We should do something about it. Hey, put this horse head in some guy's bed. Oh, I got that covered. Ah! The horse head! Oh, man. Where's the cannolis? Leave the gun. Take the cannolis. Oh, okay. I'd like to say it.
Hey, I'm going to have some wine at this table. Sonny's dead. No! I'm Al Pacino. I never hurt you, Kate. I never hurt you. I'm Al Pacino. Credits. Hello, Michael Delaney. Hello. Thank you for being on the show. So today we're going to talk about The Godfather. And so why did you choose this movie? The Godfather is, like, you had us, you know, you asked a lot of us to write down our favorite films.
It kind of changes a lot for me, so I, like, through, you know, maybe a different genre or a different time of my life, but that movie, I guess, like, Star Wars is something I'll always love, and I'll always be able to come back to, but this one, for some reason, always, like, speaks to me as, like, one of the essential films. Definitely. So, in my personal experience with it, I think I told you this before, but I, my parents, like, and so I... can probably fit in with some of your podcasts that you will be watching movies because I haven't seen a lot of big movies that people have seen. And I'm like, what the fuck? You haven't seen that? Can we cuss? Are we cussing? Yeah. Fuck. So my parents were strict adherents of the MPAA, as it were. I don't know what it stands for exactly, but it's the rating system. Movie picture asshole. Arbitrary. Yeah. But I don't know. They're just like, oh, that's a rated R movie. You shouldn't see it. So I knew my dad really liked it.
And I was, like, starting to get interested in, you know, films that I thought that I should. And I was, like, a freshman in high school. And we had a day off of school. And I was home alone. And so I took my dad's two-tape VHS copy of it. Oh, yeah. And I watched that one. And at some other point, The Godfather Part 2. I don't think it was the same day because it was a long day. But I watched both of them. And at some point, I told my dad. I was like, guess what, Dad? I watched The Godfather. And he, like.
He didn't get, like, super mad or anything, but, like, later I tried to find him again, and he hid them. So I couldn't find the movies for a couple years, I think. And then when I turned 17, I was like, where are the movies, Dad? And he's like, what do you mean? And I'm like, I'm allowed to watch them. And he's like, says who? And I'm like, says this. Says the MPAA, motherfucker. So it's always, like, you know, and it's influenced a lot of other things. There's, like, Batman comics that are really heavily influenced by Godfather. And I read the book, and they have two sequels not written by Puzo because he was dead after that. Yeah, I think...
I mean, I have not seen The Godfather until just yesterday, but you can definitely see the references that are being made in just about any show. Like, The Simpsons have referenced it. I even saw there was a clip from Modern Family where they referenced it. It's everywhere, and people want to reference it in pop culture all the time because it's such a relevant movie. And, I mean, I also read the book. In most cases, whenever I'm doing these shows, I'm going to go in completely blind. But in this case, I actually did read the book in college. You're the first person that I've ever met, including myself, who's only read the book and not seen the movie. I read the book after I saw the movie. That's weird. It's completely backwards. I know. I'm the weird one, for sure. But it's definitely interesting how much came back to me when I was watching the movie. Because before I watched it, I was thinking, there's not much I remember from the book. So it really was just watching it without.
knowing what was gonna happen and then as i started watching i was like oh yeah i remember that i remember this yeah yeah the book there's like i thought i was re-watching it taking notes and i like i was like there's this happened in the book this doesn't happen here like they do it differently and i'm like don't talk about the book the whole time because that's not what you're talking about but there are some interesting points like i mean any book is is thicker than a three hour even three hour movie so but like there's a lot of b and c list characters in the book that don't get a lot of attention probably for the best yeah The girl that Sunny sleeps with at the wedding. With the loose vagina. Yeah, yeah. She has a whole subplot that after Sunny dies, she can't find a man to please her because his member was so large and her vagina was so large. So she has reconstructive surgery, then falls in love with her plastic surgeon. Like, this is a whole plot throughout the book. It's so crazy. And I thought, I mean, yeah, it'd be so weird in the movie just because it has nothing at all to do with the plot, the main plot that's going on. But in the book, it's so funny because he performs a surgery on her. And he's like monitoring as they're, I mean, literally like stitching her vagina up. And he's like, make it one time.
for me yeah no it's god like she's talking about like she hasn't had an orgasm before and then he like laughs he's like you stupid kid like that's ridiculous so like they he takes the time Puzo takes time to like tell the most minute stories that come back in small ways like like that doctor plays a very small role later in the book it's like oh we got that through line for no reason so yeah it wasn't really necessary but I missed it just because it was like oh I wonder how they're gonna tackle this in the movie they didn't even touch it which was probably the smartest thing to do just Ignore the whole plot with the loose vagina girl. So do you want to talk about maybe, like, your favorite scene from the movie, something that really stuck out the first time you watched it? There's always, like, I feel like I really, especially when I really like anything, I eat all of it. If there's any little piece of it that I've missed. So I've read all the books, listened to the commentary, watched, like, the special features. So I know, like, I have kind of a sense of what Coppola goes for, because he has these weird little moments.
He says he doesn't like violence. He said that a bunch. I'm like, okay, but there's some violent stuff. Someone's like, oh, if Francis wants to make a violent scene, he'll make it a little peculiar, which I guess it's true because you have a guy getting shot in the eye. That's something unique. All the deaths are kind of visually interesting. There's all this weird little things that happen lately. The one moment that always sticks out to me is they're in the...
the restaurant before he kills the let's own McCluskey and everything's tense and like gradually you have like that train build up in the background where like you don't have like it's a it's a whole moment of you don't know where you are because they're speaking Sicilian and they don't have subtitles right yeah I thought that was a weird choice they want you to throw I feel like they want you to be off guard not understand what's happening then you have this train in the background tension builds up and he you know he kills them there so that's that's a powerful scene but something before that in that same scene is You know, you know this is a serious scene. You know something big and important is going to happen. And I always find it so amusing. There's this moment, like, the tension breaks because a waiter is opening the bottle. And he pops the cork. And it's the most cartoony cork pop ever. Here, I actually recorded it. So I don't know if this will show up on it. But it's, like, so weird. Yeah. If you just put the phone close to the microphone. Come on. There we go.
There it is. That always to me, I was like, wait, that like reminds me of like an old Disney movie or something. And then there's another part. I also record this because McCluskey frissed Michael before and like Celeste was getting nervous because he's about to go to the bathroom. He frisses him again. And then he says this line. The cop says this line. Play, damn it, play. Such a tiny button. Stay tuned, folks. I frissed him. I frissed a thousand young punks. Like, what a bragging point. I know, yeah.
So that's my favorite scene for like serious reasons and absurd reasons. Yeah, I did like that character McCluskey was just kind of like this typical, just kind of like a cocky cop who kind of has it coming. Yeah. You know, I liked that scene a lot. There was a lot of scenes in the movie that I liked. I'd say my favorite, oh my God, whenever Connie has like a breakdown and it's right after her husband Carlo's like mistress calls the house. And it's that big scene where she ends up calling Sunny, but she's just running around the apartment and throwing plates. And then at one point.
She's just so dramatic. And then at one point she goes up to the China cabinet and just goes like, knocks over all the vases. And I was like, God, that must have been so much fun to shoot. It probably was. They actually choreographed that based on, I don't know whose idea this was, but they said, they had somebody's kid who was on set and said, hey.
what would you do if you're really mad? And this kid did all these things. And so that's why they did it. Because this child said, well, when I'm mad, I break things. I'd go down, I'd go and grab a plate and throw it on the ground and scream and run into the other room and knock down a bunch of vases. Because it's an absurd scene. You watch it and you're like, oh, this is really upsetting. Like she's getting beaten. But then she does this thing and you're like, okay.
She's kind of acting like a child. And I mean, it's just, I don't know, at the beginning of the movie, I think I even wrote it down in some notes that I took that I was like, man, Connie has it so good because like all her brothers have to be part of the business. Her dad keeps her out of it. She gets this fucking fantastic wedding that all these people who have done favors for the Don are like chipping in for like her cake and everything like that. And Johnny comes and, you know, it's like, man, she has it so good because she gets all the benefits, but she doesn't have to be part of this like disgusting business. But then the downside is she marries a complete asshole and beats her and then ends up dying. And it's just, yeah, Connie doesn't have.
She doesn't have it as good as I saw it. Man, I want to meet Connie. Oh, never mind. Yeah, that's Coppola's sister, Talia Shire. So she was in Rocky. She was Adrian in Rocky movies. And then another, Coppola's father is in it as well. He plays the piano and there's like a little montage of like the war against the five families.
They go in more detail in the book, but they're just like, let's do a newsreel montage. So he's playing the piano in that. And then the baby at the end is Sofia Coppola. That's D. Our friend D. Blinnis told me that I could stump you with that. And I was like, I don't think so. He thought for sure you wouldn't know that. You gotta do better than that, D. Come on. Sorry, D.
So if you want to, we could just go through the notes of our movie. I wrote some really fucking weird notes. Okay, so I can go through them somewhat chronologically. So first of all, I wrote that bad guys always have cats. Well, that's true. I mean, if you think about...
Blofeld, who's the Bond villain, he's probably the most famous cat villain, I guess. And then you have Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget, which is probably a knockoff of the Bond stuff. Probably. And then you have... Then there's Dr. Evil, which is definitely a knockoff of Bond. Yeah. I mean, that's an interesting thing that kind of the Godfather, you know, everything is a reference in a way. You know, you can't have, you know, Mark Twain said something like, you know, there is no such thing as an original idea because everything's...
influenced by something else, but it's true. My mom brought up that Modern Family thing. She texted me like, Mikey, they did a Godfather thing. If you guys haven't seen that, you should look up Modern Family Godfather. It's the funniest scene. It's actually taking place at Sofia Vergara and Ed, I can't even remember his name. Harris. No, that's not it.
Is it? No. Ed Harris is in a lot of other stuff, including Rock. Anyway. It's Coach. That's not him either, I don't think. He's from Married with Children. That's not Coach. All right. All right. Well, you know a lot about The Godfather, but not much else, Delaney. You know what? I'm okay. I have a Coach blind spot. But anyway, just YouTube Godfather Modern Family and watch the clip. It's very, very entertaining if you've seen the movie.
It's like a very toned-down version of the Godfather. Yeah. A lot of people, a lot of, like, even the recent Daredevil show has, like, these big scenes of, like, many movies and whatever do the multiple deaths and attack at the same time. Yeah. This grand stroke. Like, you've seen it in all these different things, and it's all from this. Yeah. It's crazy to think about, but, I mean, yeah, I was watching it, and I did have that thought of, I wonder if that's, if Francis Ford Coppola was the first one to do this. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I was like, maybe he wasn't. Maybe he just got lucky and people noticed. Maybe so, yeah. But it's, I mean, yeah, it's definitely visually.
very compelling and it's kind of just you know just bringing it all together to one head instead of like you know doing a slow build to it it's very interesting and to pair it with such a like innocent seeming scene as the baptism of the youngest child of connie's child is just it's i mean i'm sure you might have a better idea of what the actual metaphor is it's like this means something i just don't know well it's just lying i mean he's just you know he's making all these solemn vows right that he's you know the godfather for this boy and the boy can't speak for himself so he's uh saying that he won't sin and he won't do all these bad things and then he is yeah um And that's another thing, like, Michael is, he doesn't kill all the five families in the book. He really kills Titania and Barzini, because they're the guys who wronged him. But in the movie, I think they just want to be like, yeah, he's just taken over. We want to make sure you know that he wins. Yeah, he definitely comes out on top. Yeah, and I can't wait. I mean, the first movie, I think what's held me back from watching movies like The Godfather is the fact that it is so long. It's three hours long, and I just...
you know the thought of even sitting down to watch it for the taping today was a daunting task but once i watched it it was amazing and i couldn't i couldn't you know expect it to be any shorter with all the story that they're trying to put into it and now all i want to do is watch the second one because the first one was so amazing and i also i just don't know where it's gonna go i read the first book so i kind of knew how things were gonna end up but i have no idea what happens in the second one and none of that has really been spoiled for me so second one is a lot of fun like sad fun but uh because they take i would you know episode 15 or whatever after you do a couple more of these I'll do that one. Yeah. But that's like half of it's from the book because they do like flashbacks to Vito's early days and then half of it's original so it's really cool. Very cool. What else? Other notes? Little weird notes that you have?
Okay, I wrote, is Steven Seagal just doing a Don Corleone impression? The way that he talks, it's just like... Could be. And then you just hear Steven Seagal talking. It's the same to me. I just kept getting it like... Yeah, it was just ridiculous in my head. I loved the characterization of Marlon Brando, but all I could think was Steven Seagal. I think that most actors, especially bad ones, probably look towards like...
this performance or like you know i mean everybody looks towards iconic performances probably when they're when they're like coming up and learning uh so i'm sure seagal like thinks like i gotta be like that i gotta be exactly like that you know i mean i was in musicals in high school and like in west side story i played the angry character so i was just like i'm sunny corleone like that was my thought oh yeah that was the other thing i wrote down was i it took me Way too long to realize that Sonny is James Conn. And that Tom is Robert Duvall. Just because they're so young. And I guess I haven't watched a lot of movies from that era. And I've only seen them as older actors. And I was like, whoa, James Conn used to be really hot. But now he's just like an old man. And then also added on to the movie is that he's got a real big schlong. We don't know if James Conn has a real big schlong. No, we don't. You're right, we don't. But the scene with his wife and she's doing her hands and she's keeping them bigger and bigger. It's not that big. No way. He held it out like three feet. That's not possible. Yeah, it's cool to see all of them.
younger and especially Pacino because it's, I mean, cigarettes and screaming completely changed that man. Like, if you ever decide to watch Godfather 3, it feels like a different character in a lot of ways, but especially because he's got that hoo-ha, he's doing this the whole time. He's not like this soft, like he's this soft-spoken, menacing, like, you know, he's not that intimidating, but he still kind of is. He's got this quiet, like, allure to him. And Pacino's not that anymore. Pacino's just boisterous and loud and just like, okay, we get it. Enough screaming. We can hear you.
What's interesting about, like, Pacino, like, there's, like, three levels of, like, this whole Johnny Fontaine part of the book and the movie. You know, Fontaine is Sinatra. That's pretty clear. So they want to, you know, in the movie, they don't want Fontaine to get the movie or, you know, the role he's auditioning for wants because it'll make him a big star. He doesn't want him. Paramount didn't want Pacino. They didn't want him for Michael. Like, they, like, like.
tried so hard to not have him be Michael. And Coppola was really pushing it. Like, they had, like, James Conn was pretty much already Sonny, but, like, Paramount's like, no, we want him to read from Michael. Like, they brought in all these people to read. It's so funny, you can watch some of them, like, Martin Sheen auditioned for the part of Michael Corleone, and he's got, like, Fu Manchu, and, like, his hair's really long, and he's just so un-Italian. He's, like, doing, like, he's like...
They came after my father. Like, I don't know. It's just, like, so unconvincing. That's hilarious. But it's really interesting, like, how it, like, imitates itself. Yeah. Well, how did Al Pacino finally convince him? Did they stick a horse head in the Paramount? Yes. Actually, what convinced him was the scene, the Slutso scene. He did the dinner scene and killed, you know, and that's what sold him, I guess. Yeah.
I really, I like Pacino in that role for sure. And yeah, it's like you said, it's interesting to see him as a younger actor because I haven't seen him do that much. And his whole relationship with Diane Keaton in that movie, I really liked her in the role of Kay. The last note I wrote in my whole note thing was, poor Kay. Yep. The way the movie ends, I was just like, oh, poor thing. She just has to deal with this now. You get a bad reading of wives and girlfriends in pop culture that has crime in it. And I think that's like...
watching it in the wrong way. Did you watch Breaking Bad? Yeah, I did. So you have the same thing. You have, like, people are like, oh, Skylar sucks. Like, the same thing. They say the same thing about Kay. They say the same thing about Carmella Soprano and The Sopranos. It's just like, well, I guess. But, like, you can't. There's got to be somebody saying, hey, what are you doing? Yeah, this isn't right. And, like, picture yourself married to this guy. You're just going to be like, yeah, kill him. Like, I love you, babe. Like, come on. I don't know. Like, it's weird. So a lot of people are like, I hate Kay Adams. And sometimes I'm like, oh, Kay. Sometimes I'm just like, maybe it's Diane Keaton. But, you know, you have to be able to step out of the.
the story a bit and be like well come on right like what would you do if that was you yeah I think it's definitely there's a reason for her role in that and especially just as an outsider coming into the family and I mean that whole scene at the wedding where Michael is just so frank with her and is like yeah I think he said like he killed somebody or something like that and Kay's just like what is going on but she still goes along with it because I guess she loves Michael enough that she'll put up with it. Not knowing that one day he's going to be in that position. She just didn't know what she signed up for. And now she just has to deal with it because she's married and they have a kid. So yeah, I feel bad for her. Well, Michael's like the smart, he's like, he's actually the rebel of the family. Because he didn't want to be in the business. He joined up the Marines, which at that time, like Sicilians and Italians, like they were, they're like, I'm not going to fight for my country because you discriminate against me. So that was kind of a middle finger to his dad and he didn't want to be in the business.
marrying or like wanting to date like a super white i mean they're all white but uh super american waspy protestant uh that was like totally like supposed to be like an act of rebellion yeah you know eventually basically he gets pulled back in because he's the smartest like that's really what it is you know you look at them and you're just like sonny is too mad fredo's too dumb can i tell you what i wrote down for fredo yeah First thought, is Fredo mentally challenged? He just stares at Kay and he goes in for a kiss. Then I also wrote down, Fredo is the Buster Bluth of his family. He is. No, that's amazing. Because when I watched the rest of the film, I was like, there's so many parallels. It's scary. Michael is Michael. He's got to take over when he doesn't want to. Yeah, Job is Sonny. He's just kind of irrational and egotistical. And then Fredo is just a little soft. Yeah, yeah. Fredo, he gets so much good material in the second one. Yeah, I heard that. And it's also because so many people are dead.
But he's a really more interesting character. Like, you know, I watch the movie. I'm like, oh, Fredo. I'm like, oh, he doesn't do much in this movie. But he does. Like, you know, he's just, you know, you feel bad for Fredo. You're going to feel worse for Fredo. But it's just like, yeah, I'm going to learn the casino business. You're like, oh, buddy. They're going to teach me about owning a casino. Yeah, that scene where his dad gets shot and he runs out of the car and drops the gun. And he's like, Papa. I was like, Buster. It's so Buster. Hey, Father. Hey, Father. Yeah.
Oh, man. Yeah, I couldn't stop thinking of that the whole time I was watching the movie. Anytime he came on screen, I was like, ah, that's Buster. Oh, okay, so what's in, did Marlon Brando put something in his mouth for the movie? He, I don't know if he actually did. Some people say he put cotton balls. Some people, like, you know, I'm not really clear on that. He just, um...
He, like, I remember saying, like, Coppola saying that he said he wanted to talk like a bulldog. He's gonna have a juby face like a bulldog. So that's all I remember. I don't think the studio wanted him either. From what I've heard, Marlon Brando is a terrible, like, person to work with on set and everything. Like, he...
In this movie, there's a scene where he's talking to Luca Brasi, and this guy is not a very good actor. You could probably tell, oh, this guy, he looks low, too. Oh, yeah, the bit they put in there where he's sitting down, rehearsing when he's going to say it on, that's him practicing his lines. What, the actor? Yeah. Oh, wow. And so they're like, oh, we're going to put this in as his character. So he's super nervous, and Brando, they're filming from behind Brando, so he takes a note card.
tapes it to his forehead and just says fuck you like brando just like difficult guy like so like you know side stuff like he got father part two he was going to be in a flashback but he wanted the same amount of money that he got for the whole first film so they didn't do that and then uh um what's the other heart of darkness or is that is that what the movie apocalypse now basically uh he he was supposed to have Red Heart of Darkness, like show up on set, like in shape to be like this general that he was supposed to be. And he hadn't read the book. He was super fat. So they filmed most of his scenes like in the shadows and he was wearing black to be all slim. Like, Red Heart was an asshole. That is so funny. I mean, yeah, he was, I can't picture anybody else doing that scene. I mean, doing that whole part. Did he actually win an Oscar for that? Do you know? Yes. And so he won the, this is another of him being an asshole. He won and he declined to attend and accept. So instead he had a
a Native American go up to the stage, like, get the Oscar and said, Marlon Brando is not here to receive this award due to the negative portrayal of the Native American people in film. Huh. Which is like, you know, it's a good statement. It's weird. And then people started booing her. It was bad. Oh, no. It was bad. That's terrible. Oh, poor thing.
That is so funny though that he was like, I don't know how that had anything to do with it. No, it has nothing to do with the role. He's just like, well, I have an opportunity to speak. That's like you see people do that at the Oscars all the time though. People will go up and they all accept it and then start talking about like genocide. And you're like, okay, I mean, I get that you're like on a stage on a platform, but it's almost become like if you don't talk about something serious during your speech, you're an asshole. Like you're selfish if you don't bring it back to some tragedy that's happening in the world. Patricia Arquette, I just really like boyhood. Can't you just talk about that? It was really cool.
Oh, well, whatever. Thanks, Marlon Brando. God. Thanks to you. We have to listen to all these people just gab about nothing. Well, it's something. Anyway. I'm trying to... Oh, I wanted to talk about Apollonia in Italy. Apollonia. Such hair, such a mom. Apollonia. Yes. She is like... I mean, I remember seeing it and...
being like well he doesn't speak that much Sicilian he's got a girl he loves back home yeah so what's the connection here yeah that's pretty much all it is he was just like super into it and like like well why not um and I love how they just glaze over that like he comes back and he's just like oh yeah I'm uh I'm back I'm not gonna tell you about you never tells Kay or anybody about the fact that he's been married before yeah I like that. You talked to me about this last night, the line where she's talking about, I know English. Monday, Tuesday. Thursday, Wednesday, Friday. That was a funny scene in the movie. Yeah, I also, I had a thought. It's funny because I would write a note and then right after I would write it, the thing that I was writing the note about would happen. Yeah. So I said, as like they had the wedding scene.
I said, if this movie, if they had made The Godfather today for the first time, there'd be so many more boobies in it. There'd be so much more nudity. If you think about, like, Martin Scorsese movies, there's always, like, a lot of nudity. And then right after I wrote that, Apollonia shows her boobies. And I was like, oh, okay, all right. I was re-watching it once when I got, like, my wisdom teeth taken out. And my mom was watching it with me. And then that scene happened. And, like, this has happened to us before. Like, whenever we're watching, like, something and, like, anything sexual happens on screen, she just looks at me. She's like, Michael.
you shouldn't be watching this. So I always think of my mom in that scene. But I think, you know, it's just a simplistic relationship is really what it is. But, you know, there's some sweetness to it. There's, like, I don't know if this was, you know, an actor or character choice or whatever, but they're, like, you know when he's courting her? First off, he's courting her. And, like, you think they're just alone. And then, like, the whole town's falling. All this is sitting with her. Ah, look at that! Yeah, they're just, like, watching, like, how he's doing. But, you know, she, like, trips and falls. And he, like, catches her and, like, oh, that's a little sweet moment. Yeah.
Overall, it's just like, oh, Apollonia, you simple Sicilian woman. I felt like she would probably be, if it actually had worked out where he was able to bring her home, she would have been better fit to handle that whole mob scene scenario than Kay would have ever been. Yeah, I mean, The Godfather is ultimately a tragedy. And Michael is not the man his father is. And I've always thought if Apollonia lived, that would have been his chance to have what he wanted. So she's like, I don't know if I want to say missed opportunity, but with her gone, it's just kind of like, well...
you gotta deal with what you have right maybe you can't have that yeah you can kind of see it yeah it's interesting because he is michael really is the hero of this movie and you just see you see what's led him to become at the end of the movie the new don and it's just every bad thing that's happened to him in his life just makes him that much more like vengeful and angry and you kind of see that that build up in in his personality and it makes sense by the end of the movie why you're like oh yeah he's he could have like he could do this yeah michael he has i mean clearly he's he's got you know, control issues, you know? Yeah. I mean, most people in that position do, but he's got to have it all. He has to have it all, so he kills everybody. And at the end, he's already won. He's already won, but he's still, and he's probably going to kill Carlo either way. Yeah. He's going to be like, okay, you killed my brother, like, you're out. But he still needs to know who hired him. It has, I mean, nothing is going to come out of that. He's already killed Barzini and Italia, but he's like, I need to know. I need to know for my own personal vindication. Like, that's such a minute thing, but like, he has to have control over it all. Yeah.
I thought that was really interesting. That was the other note I wrote where at the baptism, because you just don't see Carlo for most of the movie after the whole fight with he and Connie. And I was like, wait, what the fuck? Like Carlo's still around? They didn't kill him yet? And then like two seconds after that, he's, you know, getting strangled in the car. But I thought, I also wrote down the scene where Sonny and Carlo fight in the street is one of the funniest fight scenes I've ever seen. Yeah, you can see, especially with the wide shot, you can see James Caan's fist. Yeah, his fist will just go right like in the other direction and the guy's still like, oh, like he's getting punched. And then at one point, whenever Carlo is...
When he's grasping the rail and Sonny bites his fingers. Yes. I mean, you can tell there was no choreography in that scene. Like, James kind of even talked about, like, he brought a broom handle in the car. I don't know why. And he's like, because that's the first thing he does. He comes out of the car and he throws something at him. It's just like, why did he have a broom handle? Why did he do that? Yeah. But if you, like, that's one thing you'll notice between one and two is as much of a great film this is, like, you know, there's still little interesting mistakes because it's like, you know, it's a young film. So there's like, you have that, you have like, wow, he totally missed that. Right. And then you have.
with the McCluskey killing, he shoots a letso, and then there's a wide shot, and you can see the bloodshot on McCluskey's head before he shoots it. Oh, wow. So there's all these little things you can catch in the movie where it's just like, oh, well, they didn't have the time or the budget, but the second movie's a lot tighter because the studio trusted them, basically. That's very cool. I mean, yeah, it's little things like that, though, that make make me laugh during the movie. And, you know, despite that, even even with that happening, I still thought it was amazing. It's still a really good movie. And I don't know what I was expecting, but I liked it a lot. Yeah. And it's not normally a genre that I would gravitate towards. I mean, it's taken me all this time to actually sit down and watch the movie. And I really enjoyed it. Well, Puzo and Coppola both.
I don't think they would categorize themselves as mafia genre people. And this is when I was talking to you about how I was going to come on and sound all professional. I was like, well, Puzo tried to sell his first novel, but he did. He tried to sell his first novel. I think it was called An Immigrant's Tale. I'm not sure. But it was just a simple tale about a Sicilian immigrant.
Publishers didn't want it. They wanted a mafia story. They wanted something with blood and sex and violence and stuff. So this was kind of a mercenary job for him. But he still put some heart into it. And then I think Coppola took it and made it even more. Because he's like, well, I want to make a story about family. So if I'm going to make this mafia movie, it's going to be more about family. Yeah, family dynamics.
So I think that's what is always appealing. And to me, like, you know, I think any boy, any man can be like, oh, it's my dad. You know, like, there's so many, like, especially the second movie, there's all these things where you're just like, you know, living up to your dad or being different or all these different things. And really, like, the mafia is all this, you know, everything's a metaphor for America. Everything's a metaphor for people. But they take, it's the things they will allow to change over time, you know, which is just like.
america and the world like you know progressing through like you know civil rights gay rights all these things it's it's what you allow to happen like at a certain point in time because they're having this conversation about drugs they're like no like my parents didn't do that we didn't do the business and drugs we only did gambling uh but eventually they do that it's just kind of like the things you allow over time i can definitely see that i uh i wrote down i definitely don't think that don reminds me of my dad he's my dad is nowhere near as scary as the don but that whole scene at the end right before don corleone dies um you know in the i guess orchard or whatever in his little garden where he's with his grandson and he takes the orange peel and turns it into teeth it reminded me so much of my grandpa because my grandpa was such to me such a scary man and then he would do something silly like that and it would still freak me the fuck out like my grandpa would do the disappearing thumb trick you know talking about where you'd have like your fist together and you make it look like you're detaching your thumb yeah and it scared me shitless because he just was such a scary looking man yeah i think that's an important part of it though because
And I think a lot of it was, like, improvised, and they were losing daylight, and they needed to get it done. Yeah. So, like, he just started playing around with the kid. Yeah. Because he was being uncooperative. Because he's a kid. Yeah. So, and, like, so it's nice to see that soft side to him. But you really, you only see subtle intimidation throughout the movie. You never see him commit any act of violence. Yeah. But you know that he's behind a lot of it. So that's another thing that kind of, like, you know, he's not a good guy. Right. But he's a, you know, there's a good part of him. Yeah. But you don't see him do any of the bad stuff. Right. So you kind of.
dissociate that yeah and to me i kind of had the thought of like that's the only life he's ever known like how else would would he ever get by like vetoes is his real name right yes yeah so like how else would veto know to like make money for his family or to provide for them other than this life because i mean what what else could you do that's that's the only life he knows and that's how he gets money for his family and luckily he's done a pretty good job of keeping his children not his children but keeping his grandchildren out of that they don't know any different they just think that this guy is their grandpa because he doesn't talk about business around them or anything they just think he's their grandpa and they love him and everything and he provides for them and gives them everything they need and you know it's just i don't know there's something kind of nice about that he's not i do like the parts of the movie where they show uh like a more human side of him and it's it really is just that's that's the only life he knows so you kind of give him a little bit of forgiveness for acting like a total menace whatever you know well michael like i said michael has these control issues where he and he does things i mean he just breaks the rules basically uh you know if he wants to like have somebody killed like a ranking member he's supposed to get permission to do it like you know they have a commission they have rules uh but he does what he wants and in a way veto to like not as a crazy extent he does that too because um the crime families are businesses they're not family businesses so they always carlione's always kind of had this light on them where it's like oh
he just got the job because he's the guy's kid, which nobody else does. Like, pretty much, it's you work your way up. Right. So that's, like, an interesting thing. Like, the Corleones basically just do it the way they want to do it. Yeah. And they don't, like, you know, have Tom Hagen, who, like, that's unheard of, you know, for them to have somebody who's not Italian and not, you know, not Sicilian and not Italian to be in that kind of position. Yeah. Well, I was going to ask, actually, that was my next question, was what, maybe you know better than I do, like, what is Tom Hagen's actual role? Because to me, it just looks like he just is, like, he's in on the meetings. He's kind of like the right-hand man, but mostly he just...
watches and listens he doesn't really take any action as far as i know yeah uh he um in the cut scene of the film they like visit uh jenko amandondo who is dying and he's the original conciliary um and i think uh hagen i don't know he didn't really train him but he kind of followed him uh but he was always more of the family lawyer and seemed to be in line to be a conciliary like michael said in the first scene so he's always kind of been the broker i guess you know he kind of puts the stuff together and you know he's The assistant, I guess, really. He's not a captain, which like Sonny's a captain. Clemenza, Tessio, all these guys. He's part of the business, but he's not. And that's something he's always had this characterization for because he's an outsider. Because he's Italian. He's not Italian. And he's not blood. And you have these scenes where you really feel for him because Sonny in the heat of the moment is like, if I had a wartime concierge, I wouldn't be in this position. Like, Papa Genco, look what I got. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, because he grew up with him. I mean, he's around Sonny's age. He's grown up with a family all his life. But yeah, he's still, he's never going to be considered a son. Even though he calls, you know, he calls Vito his dad. I remember, you know, he calls the wife his mom. But yeah, I mean, it's great. It's like, it's like Jon Snow. He's just kind of the bastard. And he's there, but he's not really, he's not allowed to be a part of it like they are. But he's just about as close as he can get to being part of the family. Yeah, all these sons really have their own, like, hang-ups. For, like, a lot of reasons. Like, Sonny's like...
well, I'm not as smart. Fredo's kind of like, I'm not as smart, but also I'm just not as, I'm kind of inept at everything. Sonny's like, I'm not Michael. Because Michael's the perfect one. And Hagen is, I'm not a part of it. So it's really interesting that these characters have a lot of potential that they show in the movie and then in the next one too. Oh, I can't wait for the next one. I can't wait to have you back so we can talk about the second movie. Before we end, this is an interesting tidbit, and I think the movie would have been terrible if they would have done this and we wouldn't be talking about it right now, is that Paramount wanted...
them to make it set in the modern day. So they wanted to adapt the book to take place in the 70s. And Coppola was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not going to work for so many reasons. So there's a lot of interesting behind the scenes stuff. Just trying to get the production going was crazy.
that's yeah i mean i can't picture it what would they have done with the drug stuff and everything like that in the 70s it wouldn't have been nearly as relevant than you know especially with the way that they're talking like kind of their whole racist spiel of like we're just going to keep the drugs in like the black neighborhoods and everything the colors yeah that's so awful but i mean that's it's the time that it takes place in the movie you see like that's totally what they would have been talking about at the time because racism was so prevalent that yeah they would just they they looked at them like animals they looked at black people like they were not on the same level and so it was okay to you know taint their society with drugs and violence and everything like that just keep it away from from our people it's ridiculous but there's well there's this thing it's like i think we have you know we look at tom brokaw always called world war ii veterans the greatest generation uh so like the movie's so close to that it has this like timeless feel like you know like we look back and and you know it's something kind of that would look fondly on and their manner of dress and everything but if you put that in the 70s like I just think that it would be garbage like like the stuff they would be wearing like the things they'd be talking about like I don't know it just it wouldn't you wouldn't consider it a classic you'd just be like what was that yeah it's true it would have lost a lot of a lot of the beauty that's in that movie for sure if they had ruined it with all the stylings of that time just think of like Saturday Night Fever Godfather yeah yeah that'd be ridiculous or I mean yeah it'd be kind of like um whatchamacallit
Scarface. Yep. Yeah, be Scarface. These earphones are starting to hurt. Okay. Maybe we should wrap up. I'm trying to think of any finishing thoughts I have. I mean, I'm assuming with...
Since this is the first episode, I feel like I was definitely very lucky to get a film like Godfather to watch because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anybody who hasn't seen it yet. And if you're listening to this and you haven't seen the movie yet, we basically spoiled just about everything. But you should still watch it because it's a very interesting film and it's been long enough that you should watch it. So shame on you. Did you notice the oranges? Yes. Okay, good. Motifs! But yeah, I'd say it was a great film and I'm not always, I don't expect that every film that my friends make me watch I'm going to actually enjoy. I can't wait for those episodes. I can't wait for somebody to see.
sit down like d i'm calling you out for that sophia thing he's gonna come and talk about something and you're gonna be like i thought it went down i didn't like it it's gonna happen where are the boobies i need more boobies that's my conclusion uh godfather would have been great if there were more boobies in it uh feel bad for connie hopefully she's okay being a single mom now and i can't wait to see what fredo is up to in in the second movie get ready to get sad poor fredo poor baby buster um I was thinking maybe we could plug something if you wanted to. I know, I mean, Michael and I are both in our indie improv group, Moonroof. Yep. You should definitely find our page on Facebook and like us. We post any upcoming shows onto that site. Michael, I know you're a writer for a blog as well. Did you want to maybe shout out your blog? If you like comic books, you could check out Retcon Punch, where we talk every week. R-E-T-C-O-N Punch. So we talk about...
kind of just like this in a way it's a conversation it's not like a review so it's a one guy kind of talks about a single issue and then the other guy replies so um yeah it's we do stuff every week check it out yeah thank you so much for being on the first episode thank you for having me Thank you guys so much for listening to our first episode of Bad At Movies. More fun where that came from. Special thanks to my guest Michael Delaney, to the producer of Second Wind Collective, Dan Schiffmacher, and to Sarah Zwinglis. So we're going to end the show today with a little film critique by the very, very well-noted Ava and Morty Rosenblum, here to talk about what they thought of The Godfather. Guys, I didn't want to be involved in this. You guys can't drive yourself, so...
I drove you guys here, so no idea what you guys are talking about. I don't mind you guys experiencing life. I just don't want to be the one who's taking you to these experiences. I'm tired, you know? All right, I'm leaving.