The Godfather premiered 40 years ago today, March 15, 1972.
Celebrate with oranges and and a hoarse voice!
And horsemeat steak for dinner.
And don’t forget the cannoli!
I saw just two movies with my brother – Them! in 1954 and The Godfather in 1972. They’re still two of my favorite movies. Some of the acting in The Godfather makes me cringe now – Sonny biting his fist when he sees his sister’s black eye, for one.
I remember gasps from the audience when Michael slipped off Apollonia’s dress and revealed her breasts. Must have been one of the first mainstream movies with bare breasts?
Time has a nice feature on 40 things you might not know about The Godfather, incl. excerpts from Pacino’s screen tests and a deleted scene of Don Vito taking his sons to visit his dying consigliere: The Cat | Godfather Anniversary: 40 Surprises About the Classic Film | TIME.com
And did you know there’s a Godfather Wiki?: The Godfather Wiki | Fandom
BTW, do true Godfather fans like the Mark Winegardner books?
I should have had a Cannoli. Sage advice I always took. “Leave the gun, take the cannolis.”
Not even close.
I wouldn’t know what the first mainstream movie with bare breasted women was, but I’ve seen the silent film version of Ben-Hur, from 1925, and there were bare breasted girls throwing flower petals during a victory parade in that one.
Maybe the gasps were because the breasts were so, um, nice? 
The 1925 Ben Hur as pre-Hays Code, wasn’t it?
I’m not remembering many bare breasts in mainstream/major studio movies in the 50’s and 60’s.
I believe The Pawnbroker (1964) was the first post-code American non-exploitation feature to have a woman appear bare breasted.
I find the casting stories interesting-is it true that Danny Kaye was being considered for the Don Corleone role?
And Abe Vigoda-he was driving a cab to pay the bills-when FF Coppola noticed him-and that was the start of his successful acting career.
I often wonder if Frank Sinatra would have made a good Johnny Fontain-that would have been interesting.
Stirling Hayden (as the corrupt NYC police captain had a brief role-be he was good).
Wold The Godfather have been as big a sccess without Marlon Brando? There were innumerable jokes about his mumbling-Johnny Carson said the he sounded like his mouth was full of marbles-but overall, a very good acting job.
Quite a bit too old, I’d think.
I gasped, because it was* incredibly* sexy!
Abe may have been driving a cab but he was already acting on Broadway before The Godfather. In fact I understand Hal Linden remembered him from a Broadway show and that was the bigger key to him getting the audition for Barney Miller.
Sinatra was far too old to play his [del]younger self[/del] Fontain.
The Godfather Wiki confirms what my memory tells me:
My God, Diane Keaton is gorgeous in those screen tests.