THE GODFATHER- FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WAS TOLD WHAT TO DO BY BUFALINO

I'm still sitting here this morning laughing about a story I heard last night.  I fully enjoy the side of mob lore, and legends.

Sometimes the stories are way to filled with gaps to make any sense, but this is a story repeated from former crooner Al Martino.

If you have ever seen the Godfather, one of the more famous scenes is when fictional crooner "Johnny Fontaine," is down on his luck, and goes to "Don Corleone," played by Marlon Brando for help in attaining a starring role in a film.  The issue isn't that Johnny Fontaine wasn't a talented guy, he was.  But Woltz refused to give Fontaine the role out of petty jealously because Fontaine had bedded one of Woltz's starlets.   Woltz had paid a lot of money to get her right, and called her "the greatest piece of ass he had ever had."   So his answer was no.

As stated above Fontaine goes to Corleone, and Corleone sends in Tom Hagen.  They have a meeting where Woltz explains his position and even brings up an old story about Fontaine using Corleone to get out of a recording deal, where the oft quoted line "I ain't no bandleader," comes from.  In the end Fontaine gets what he wants as does Corleone.  Later in the film "Michael Corleone" explains to "Kay" that "Luca Brasi" was the one who shoved the gun in the said bandleaders face.

What you may not know is two things here.  First, before we get to Martino, let's discuss that oft quoted line.  If you didn't know it, that's a true story.

 It was Frank Sinatra who desperately was caught into a contract where he couldn't make money, and his ability to go out on his own would have been almost impossible.  He could but said "bandleader," would get a huge kickback.  That bandleader was Tommy Dorsey.  Tommy knew Sinatra had talent, and he knew if he lost Sinatra he would lose money.  Therefore the contract was incredibly lopsided, and Sinatra knew it, but he also knew he needed to be seen.

Sinatra went to the Fischetti brothers, and the mob stepped in and put a gun to Dorsey's head, and in the end Sinatra walked away from the deal.  Years later Dorsey and Sinatra would make some huge records together, and all had been pushed aside.

Al Martino's character in the Godfather was essentially Frank Sinatra.  Anyone who says otherwise isn't telling you the truth. That aside, let's move on to Al Martino.


When The Godfather was in early casting Francis Ford Coppola wanted an Italian, good looking singer to play the role of Johnny Fontaine.  Martino was signed and even pitched in $50,000 to help in the early stages of production.  The studio wanted Martino and everything looked ready to go.   The issue was after Martino signed, Coppola had a change of heart.  He wanted an actual "actor" to play the role.

Coppola essentially fired Martino, and then refused to give back the $50,000 that Martino had invested.  Martino was pissed. He tried reaching out to Coppola but he was not returning calls.  Martino then pulled something right out of the film.  He called his Godfather Russel Bufalino. He knew that Bufalino had some control at Paramount, especially over this project.   He met with Martino and told him not to worry that "the role is yours, and you will also get your money back."

A few weeks later, Martino is told via Paramount that the job was his, and he would get his money back.  When he returned to the set Coppola tried to isolate him repeatedly, which is why when we see Martino in shots it's always from behind.  Coppola went to extreme lengths to not show his face.  He even forced Martino to sit in a separate area for lunch and wasn't allowed to speak to the cast.  Marlon Brando who knew Russel Bufalino very well wasn't going to tolerate Martino getting treated unfairly so he drove Martino to set everyday and ate with him at every meal, infuriating Coppola.

What people didn't understand, or maybe don't even know today, is that Rusell Bufalino had complete control over the script written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola.  He made sure what was in it, and what wasn't.  He also ensured that all the labor which went into the production was his own unions.

 If you listen to Francis Ford discuss The Godfather, he often says he hated the shoot.  He uses excuses like long delays, and uses the line about how the studio didn't like Pacino or anyone else.  It's not true.  The studio was happy with everything accept Coppola's tantrums on set, and the way he tried to dictate how a mafia film was made.

In fairness to Coppola, I can understand how he's an artist and wanted this film to be his own.  I get that, but for him to sit there and try to coyly say "I don't know who the mafia is or was, I had to get books to read about them, " is hilarious.  Before he could even get hired he had to talk to Rusell Bufalino.   Fuzzy memory on that guy.

The Godfather turned out to be a huge success, but that film had more to do with mob influence than most people know.  Woltz and Bufalino sort of echoed themselves in many ways.  Who knows, had Bufalino said no to the premise then The Godfather would have never been made.  History as we know it from that genre would look a lot different.  Now you know......