Original subtitles

everybody at that time italian americans

at the time were very unhappy with mario

puzo's book the godfather because it was

kind of disparaging it felt that way to

italian americans in general that

everybody thinks you know if your name

ends in a vowel and you're italian

you're somehow associated with the mafia

so people took offense to it when they

heard that a movie was being made well

joe colombo said this movie's not going

to be made why let me tell you the

timing

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hey everyone welcome to another sit down

with michael francis hope everybody is

doing well all is blessed on this end

praise god for that we're in the month

of may time is really it's running by us

again for this year but uh all good i

love the springtime getting into summer

soon it's all good before we get into

today's subject uh quick announcement

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many of you have ordered it have

received it have loved it enjoyed it we

got so many comments about it we're out

of stock at the moment we'll be

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okay today is something very interesting

the television series the offer which is

put out by paramount studios the same

studio that made the godfather it is

kind of uh a story about the making of

the godfather you can get it on

paramount plus and that's the streaming

platform for paramount they've done

three episodes they've released so far

i've watched all three of them and i'm

going to talk about it today i'm not

going to tell you everything we're not

going to go over you know scene by scene

but i think some interesting facts from

behind the scene facts that you may not

be aware of what's interesting to me is

that they're kind of telling two stories

here one they're telling the story of

joe colombo and the italian-american

civil rights league how he kind of got

into trouble it was eventually his

demise being part of that league and

they're telling of his involvement with

the making of the godfather and of

course the making of the godfather

itself which is always a difficult task

getting a movie made you know when you

see these blockbuster films these great

movies you think oh you know it's such a

well-oiled machine and everybody's

agreeing with one another and these

things get done like that not true so

often there's so much fighting and

infighting in the studio when they

finance and distribute the film they

certainly everybody there wants to put

their hand print on it there's always

back and forth disagreements about so

many things creatively it's a really

tough process that's why so many of

these films take so long to get made and

get done and there's so much controversy

throughout i know i've been involved in

a couple of them so i understand the

business i've been around it for quite a

long time but so they're telling

parallel stories here and the story is

being told through the eyes of the

producer al ruddy now i don't know al

rody let me be let me be clear on that

but my

agent friend

is very very close with al and we've

communicated through this third party

the only interesting thing i'm going to

say about that is already made a

statement to me through my friend and he

said after the making of the godfather i

will never again make another mob

related movie he didn't want anything to

do with it i was kind of surprised that

he made the offer but he didn't have to

get on the street with anybody like he

did in the godfather

so that's how difficult or that's what

his perception was of how difficult it

was to deal with joe columbo and guys uh

you know during that time so let me get

into it a little bit first of all let me

explain this this is not a documentary

so the studio did take dramatic liberty

with it i can tell you that there were a

couple of scenes in the film that i know

for a fact did not happen as it related

to joe colombo and the italian american

civil rights league and their

involvement in the making of the

godfather so i'm going to point that out

but uh again you know very very well

done i thought it was well cast i

thought everybody played a good role i

really enjoyed al rudy's actor he did a

great job miles teller i believe his

name is i enjoyed puzzle and i enjoyed

coppola i think they were great together

on film robert evans who was the studio

head the head of paramount at the time

he was well cast i happen to know of him

fairly well new people that knew him he

was kind of an eccentric kind of guy a

real studio guy dressed apart did all

the kind of motions you know the way the

way these guys do so he was cast very

well everybody was the ladies in the

film were casted very well too the

casting person was a woman and she did a

great job so there was a lot of things

that i thought were done extremely well

and you know bottom line i really

enjoyed it i thought it was great so let

me get into a couple of things as you

may or may not know joe colombo did have

a big influence on the making of the

film everybody at that time italian

americans at the time were very unhappy

with mario puzo's book the godfather

because it was kind of disparaging it

felt that way to italian americans in

general that everybody thinks you know

if your name ends in a vowel and you're

italian you're somehow associated with

the mafia so people took offense to it

when they heard that a movie was being

made well joe colombo said this movie's

not going to be made why let me tell you

the timing it was 1970 okay that joe

colombo formed the italian american

civil rights league 1970 his son joey jr

had gotten arrested and charged with

melting down coins for their silver

value was charged by the feds right

columbo was very upset it was april of

1970. i get a call at home michael were

very upset with italian americans that

keep continuously getting harassed by

the fbi there's no mafia we want you to

come down to 69th street and third

avenue we're going to picket the fbi

i was thrilled why because just a few

weeks earlier i think was march 26th it

was holy thursday just before easter

sunday when my dad was finally sent to

prison lost all his appeals after being

out for a couple of years three years i

think and they finally remanded him into

custody so it was only two or three

weeks before joe colombo started the

italian american civil rights league so

i was thrilled i said hey this is a way

to help my dad i was in my early 20s i

was one of the first people down on the

line i think the first day there was

only 30 of us that were picketing and

then obviously it grew them to thousands

and thousands i'm not going to tell the

whole league story but that's how it

began right so i'm thrilled when i get

down there they hand me a sign that says

my father was a victim of fbi gestapo

tactics he was framed and sentenced to

50 years in prison that's what was on

the sign that i was carrying right and

we're walking well at the same time that

joe colombo is protesting the fbi's

harassment of italian americans already

wants to make this movie based upon a

book the godfather that nobody liked

right so joe columbo hears about it

absolutely not we're going to use the

whole force of the league to prevent

this movie from being made so al rhodey

finds out about it now let's let's flip

sides for a minute already is trying to

get this movie made bob evans the head

of paramount picks already to be the

producer already didn't have a lot of

success at that point in time for some

reason evans wanted him al rudy is now

the producer now the producer he's main

guy you know he's got to do all the work

so he goes to mario puzo coppola and

says we're going to turn this book into

a screenplay we're going to make a movie

let me tell you a little bit more

backstory mario puzo who wrote the book

the godfather tremendous success i think

was on the bestsellers list for you know

over over a year his agent had told him

not to sell the the story to paramount

didn't want him to thought he would hold

out and make a lot more money mario puzo

was a bad gambler he was deeply in debt

from his gambling habits so he defied

his agent he sold the story to paramount

just to get the money to pay off his

gambling debts if he didn't have those

debts there may have never been a movie

with paramount very interesting but so

now ruddy pushes for puzzle and coppola

to write the script koppler's going to

direct the studio didn't want coppola

they wanted somebody more experienced a

bigger name director ruddy pushed for

him he also pushed for puzzle to write

the screenplay the studio didn't want

him because they said notoriously guys

that write books do not write good

screenplays ruddy push for the both of

them and now mario puzo and coppola are

corroborating to write this screenplay

and throughout the first three episodes

you see them writing the screenplay it's

very interesting because we're all

familiar with the movie and they're

talking about certain scenes you know

how they're in a room together and

they're working out certain scenes and

the corroboration between them i thought

was very cool and i thought it was very

well done and they were very well cast

now

ruddy has an encounter with joe colombo

and here's where i get a little bit i

don't want to say upset but i think

giovanni rabishi who's a great actor he

was cast to play joe colombo good

you know good choice because it kind of

looks like him a little bit

but the character that he played was

kind of buffoonish he made joe columbo

kind of buffoonish that wasn't true i

knew joey my whole life my father was

his underboss i knew the family very

well joe colombo was not a buffoon he

was a smart guy he carried himself well

he was the mob boss he dressed well uh

he was a meticulously dressed kind of

guy always and he carried himself very

well he wasn't portrayed like that by

rabisi and i'm not knocking ribishi

that's probably how the script showed

him anyway he has an encounter with joe

colombo joe colombo tells him straight

out you're not making this movie ruddy

was very adept i think in trying to

convince colombo that forget the book

i'm not making the movie the way the

book was it's going to be based upon

that but i'm not going to disparage

italian americans you're going to be

proud of this and it shows a scene where

they're talking and ruddy says to him

read the script you know come and read

the script if there's things you don't

like we'll talk about it so now we see

ruddy pushing coppola and puzzle to get

the script on you don't push

screenwriters they got to do that it's a

creative process you don't push them but

he's pushing him because he's got to

show colombo the scripture there's not

going to be a movie he realized that now

throughout this whole thing you see a

couple of things happening and there's

one scene when ruddy is in his bedroom

and there's a book cover of the

godfather there he opens it up and

there's a dead rat in his bed i can tell

you that never happened you know no

matter what

but again dramatic liberty they're

making a you know a tv series it's okay

but that didn't happen it didn't get to

that extent there's another scene where

joe colombo allegedly calls up mickey

cohn you know who he was the gangster

out here in california and tells mickey

cohen to intimidate al rudy so there is

a scene there when ruddy is sitting in

the car with his girlfriend and somebody

shoots out the back wind of his car i

can tell you for a fact that never

happened joe colombo did not call up

mickey cohn he didn't have a

relationship with mickey cohen number

one number two it never happened because

mickey cohn was in jail during that time

he was in prison from 1963 to 1972. the

godfather started filming in 1971 it was

released in 1972 it's their 50-year

anniversary now and that encounter never

happened but again it worked for the

television series it was a good scene

but when you watch it i'm telling you it

never happened they did take that

dramatic liberty so again throughout

this we're watching joe colombo's

influence we're watching al roddy having

to navigate joe colombo and making sure

this gets done having to navigate the

studio head robert evans who doesn't

want coppola who doesn't want puzzle and

then who finally doesn't want marlon

brando in the main role they didn't want

him studio didn't like him he's uh

notoriously difficult to work with but

puzzo and kaplan said nobody else should

play this role but him you know they

wanted sinatra to play the role he was

being considered it would have been the

wrong choice they had other people in

mind but puzzle and coppola they said no

way marlon brando if he takes this role

that's who i see as vito corleone ruddy

supported them on that eventually as we

know marlon brando did get the role the

studio was not happy about it they

actually gave him a pay cut that he

accepted and they had certain

stipulations in his contract if he

violated they'd throw him out of the

role but they did win in that regard and

again ruddy supported them they also

didn't want al pacino and kapol has seen

only al pacino in this role they didn't

want him and the guy who played al

pacino in this was very good he kind of

had the yeah the the way uh pacino

talked he had his mannerisms down he did

a great job the studio didn't want him

kapla fought for him ruddy supported him

puzzle liked him eventually what

happened you know he was nominated for

an academy award and really when you

think of all three godfathers al pacino

was really the face michael corleone's

really the face of the godfather so but

you see the struggle that rudy had to

get this movie done and how he had to

navigate both columbo and the studio and

as we're seeing the joe colombo story

we're seeing him

really being talked to by some of the

other bosses carlo gambino joe bonano

locasi they were talking to him as the

league was picking up steam and they

were kind of telling him joey you know

this is what not if my boss does this is

not what we do

but joe colombo is very adamant at that

time and i remember that he wasn't

taking no for an answer he was creating

this league it was becoming huge you

know at the italian american civil

rights rally that we had the second one

we had 50 000 people there that's when

he got a you know there was an

assassination attempt on his life so it

kind of shows the story of joe colombo

and how this league led to his demise

and i think in the next few episodes

we're gonna see that a little bit more

but the way episode three ends is that

joey gallo who you know is a principal

involved in this whole plot to get to

colombo is released from prison you can

see that he has relationships with

african americans with black guys that

he met in prison you know eventually it

was jerome johnson a black guy that take

the shots at joe colombo and joe columbo

eventually died from the wounds he

lingered for about six or seven years i

was there the day he got shot i was 12

steps away from him i was just walking

off the stage after he handed me some

stuff so

some brochures i'm very familiar with

what went on there but um it's telling

both stories so i think you'll find it

very interesting so again i recommend it

you know another thing that coppola had

to fight for you would think that when

he was receiving so much heat he was

getting so much heat what does he do he

proposes his sister to play a major role

italia shire people were against that

too they said come on now you want your

sister in the park but coppola you got

to give him credit i mean he really

fought and you know i know a little bit

about francis because a very dear friend

of mine who is a made guy an elderly guy

now he lives out in vegas is very close

with francis and i heard some things

about the godfather the making of the

godfather i knew for a fact that he was

really you know he went kicking and

screaming into making godfather three he

didn't want to do it right now all

kaplan wants to do from what i

understand is enjoy his wine he's been

very very successful in his business

couple of vineyards and he's doing

extremely well there i did hear that

that he may have another project that

he's getting involved in he's in his 80s

i don't know if that's true or not but

uh just you know some interesting things

that went along with the making of this

film oh one other thing that i want to

get into that i think it was important

frank sinatra mentioned him briefly but

sinatra was extremely upset over the

book he didn't like the book at all

there was two scenes there one of them

i'm sure never happened the other one

might have happened maybe not exactly as

the way we see it in the offer but uh

two scenes number one sinatra in the

film

gives a call to joe colombo and he was

very disrespectful to him starts cursing

at him because the movie was getting

made and sinatra didn't want the movie

to get made because he was upset the way

johnny fontaine was portrayed because

allegedly that was frank sinatra and

allegedly you know it was

the mob that helped sinatra get the role

from here to eternity the whole horse's

head scene and all that you remember

that you know great scene in the movie

and so sinatra was very upset by that

because he didn't want anybody to think

that the mob helped him that that's what

he needed to get that part in the movie

so he was very very upset he has an

encounter with mario puzo in the in the

uh in a restaurant puzzle excited to

meet him and sinatra is just very

disrespectful curses him calls him out

puzzle gets a little bit offended by it

i think something like that did happen i

don't know if it happened in a

restaurant as it was portrayed but it

was a good scene but again sinatra would

never in a million years get on a

telephone call with joe colombo and

start cussing him out sinatra like joe

colombo uh very much he uh appeared at

at least two events that we had with the

italian american civil rights league i

knew sinatra from my younger days with

my dad he liked my dad very much so that

scene would never happen sinatra would

never have been disrespectful like that

to a mob boss so don't believe that that

happened but again it played well in the

movie the in the uh television series

the offer so

uh that's about it gonna wrap it up the

way it ended episode three is we see

joey gallo in a car with one of his

friends a black guy and he spots joe

columbo getting out of a car somewhere

else and he kind of says i got something

in store for joe colombo kind of leading

up to what happened at the

italian-american civil rights league

rally so that's how it ends i'm looking

forward to episode four five and six i

think there's ten episodes all together

in the series it's kind of a of a

limited series uh but very enjoyable if

you have paramount plus i suggest you

watch it if you don't have it get it

you'll enjoy it and and that's it so

that's the offer so that's it for today

i want to remind you all in the united

kingdom i will be there july 2nd for a

25 city tour i know i'm going to meet a

lot of my followers because i've been

getting a lot of great comments we're

going to be posting the schedules soon

i'm going over there to do some media to

promote the event pretty soon hopefully

i'll meet up with a couple of people uh

when i do that so that's it a lot of

good stuff we told you about the wine

the stage play based upon my life that's

in production the television series a

lot of things moving along and we'll put

you up to date and hopefully have a lot

to say about that very soon that's it

for today how do i always leave you the

very same way be safe ladies i don't

want to remind you again please be

observant when you get in a car in a

parking lot look around you make sure

there's nobody shadowing you very

important be healthy take good care of

yourself that's important god bless you

all i really mean that and yes god

willing i will see you next time take

care

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you