All language subtitles for 1977-1-THE GODFATHER-1080p-Áudio

Gary Nardino was
a very close friend of mine,

a one-time agent of mine.
He was running Paramount Television.

He called me one day
and he asked me

if l'd be interested in doing
The Winds of War.

And l had to admit l didn't know
what The Winds of War was.

And he told me it was a novel by
Herman Wouk, who l greatly admired.

A messenger delivered
this 20-pound book.

l couldn't believe the size of it.

A thousand... 1 ,1 00 pages,
whatever it was.

And l called Gary and l said,
''Are you out of your mind?''

He said, ''Just read it,
and then we'll talk about it.''

l guess this is it, then.

- Tumbleweeds blowing apart, huh?
- That's right.

Tumbleweeds blowing apart.

l pray for Natalie and your son, Byron.

l know you do, Dad.

Thanks.

The Winds of War was the crème
de la crème de la crème of a book.

Everyone wanted that.

lt was the one that you thought, ''lf l
could get this one particular property,

''l could make the greatest miniseries
of all time.''

So everyone lusted for it,

and Herman Wouk
basically had no interest

in making it a miniseries whatsoever.

Herman Wouk never wanted to sell
The Winds of War...

...to television, or to anybody,
for that matter.

He was vastly unhappy with the work
that had been done in the past,

translating his novels to film.

He did not like The Caine Mutiny.

He hated MarJorie Morningstar.

l don't even think he would look
at YoungbIood Hawke.

He was...

...thoroughly disenchanted
with Hollywood.

MarJorie Morningstar and YoungbIood
Hawke were just trivialized,

and that wasn't going to happen
with The Winds of War.

lt just mattered too much to me.

So that was out of the question.

Once it became a bestseller,

a number one bestseller,
Winds of War,

then naturally the offers came,
and we just turned them down.

The Winds of War is a, really,
almost perfect book for television.

And l'll tell you why, in my opinion.

lt's about a family, and family stories
on television are always the best.

And it's a family in crisis
as a result of a war.

So you have a family that's evolving
and changing and growing,

and relationships shifting throughout
the course of their life,

set against this backdrop
of action and suspense and fear,

so you had the perfect combination
of elements

to make an extraordinary saga.

- Are you OK, sir?
- My glasses, they're shattered.

That was quite a commotion.
Close call there, wasn't it?

What Herman Wouk has done
that is unique

is that he manages to put

the average Joe and Jane
into the picture

as if they were living then,

and they were breathing the air
of 1 939 to 1 946.

And by doing that, he immediately
attracts everybody's interest.

l was a Naval officer for four years
in World War ll,

served on destroyer minesweepers

very much like the USS Caine
in The Caine Mutiny.

That's my naval background.

And out there, it occurred to me
that sooner or later,

somebody was going to write
a big book about this war.

And l didn't think
it could possibly be me,

but it was a dream.

And it never quite left me.

Well, Herman Wouk's story
of The Winds of War

is a sweeping study of the history
of that period and those events

leading up to World War ll
and, of course, the Holocaust.

And it has a great importance.

lt's a period of history
that l've lived through.

So has Dan Curtis
and so has Herman Wouk,

and we all remember

some of the mistakes
that all of our governments made

and the horror of that war

and how those years of the 1 930s,
when Winds of War begins,

affected the whole world.

lt's one of those stories
that must never be forgotten.

When l decided to take a shot
at writing this book

intended to throw a rope
around World War ll,

l realized that l was in
for some very serious reading.

And l found myself with a list
of 300 books that l ought to read.

And l read them.

Started the research,

l would say, maybe about 1 960.

l finished writing
War and Remembrance in 1 9 7 7,

so all that is...
Now there's 1 7 years,

and another about three years
on the miniseries,

so a good part of my life,
the central part of my life.

- This is the famous Pug Henry, dear.
- Oh, what a pleasure.

Pug...

...will the British hold out
if France quits?

l don't know much
about the British, sir.

Would you like to go there for a spell
as a Naval observer?

Possibly after you've had a month
or so back in Berlin?

Mr. President...

...is there any chance
of my not going back to Berlin?

- You go back there, Pug.
- Aye, aye, sir.

You'll get your sea command
in due course.

l think the most
interesting thing about...

...how the books developed
was the German general

Armin von Roon's memoirs
or analysis of the war,

which really is the spine,

the historical spine
that runs through both novels.

lt was my concept

that the story could be told entirely

through the experiences
of my characters.

l was about a year into the writing
when l realized that would not work,

because they did not have
the overview.

ln the middle of a war, nobody has
the overview of what's happening.

And this character, General Armin
von Roon, just walked into the book.

And one day l was trying to write
some scene or other,

and l needed
the historical background,

and this character walked
into my room where l was working

and said, ''l'll take it from here'',

and he started to describe the war
from his viewpoint.

That worked, and that was
the essential missing piece.

AII previous studies inadequate.

Assumptions about Soviet Union,

in view of the proposed AngIo-Soviet
AIIiance, are highIy hazardous.

We are going out on very thin ice.

Von Roon is the only fictional
German officer in this story.

Mr. Wouk wrote him
as a military diarist.

So he didn't have a family.

He was never apprehended in secret
meetings or anything like that.

So the best l could do
was try to infer

a certain ambiguity
about his loyalty to the Fuehrer.

More important than ever
to do your background reading

and see if you can pick up
some tips,

maybe even suggest something
about the character,

which is to augment the character
in some way.

Research, nothing to beat it.

Tell me, Victor...

...what is all that
smokescreen about

lending and leasing?

There is legal precedent for the leasing
of American military property.

But the lending of ships and weapons
is a novel idea.

Of course, they have to be returned
in good repair after the war.

lt's poppycock.

lt's politics.

Check.

l started with Pug Henry
because of this...

His...

The centrality of a figure

who would be close enough
to the president

to see a lot of the aspects
of Roosevelt's decision-making,

without his being, in any sense,
a heroic figure.

Just a run-of-the-mill,
obscure Naval officer.

ln the story, nobody's ever heard
of Pug Henry,

and nobody ever hears
of the Pug Henrys of real life.

They are the ones
who get things done

and never have
the 1 6 minutes of fame.

They serve.

Goodbye, Pug.

Goodbye, Mr. President.

Goodbye, Mrs. Roosevelt.

l read the book...

...and of course, l loved it.

But l instantly realized
that it was half a story

because it ended at Pearl Harbor.

And the story
was just getting started.

Without counting pages,
l just wrote and wrote and wrote,

and finally, l got to Pearl Harbor,

and then l went back
and counted the pages,

and l saw that l had written
a 1 ,000-page novel, pretty near.

And l told this to my wife. l said,
''What am l going to do now?''

And she says, ''Well, l don't know.
The story's just beginning'', she said.

And l talked to my editor then,

and we decided
there was nothing for it

but to tie it off and publish
The Winds of War by itself.

And indeed, that's what l did.

lt was Barry Diller who came up
with the idea of making a miniseries,

which was the correct form.

l mean, then you have all of the room
that you need to tell the story.

We thought that was impossible
because of the commercials.

Herman finally agreed

to let it happen,
but with all kinds of provisos.

He limited the amount of commercial
minutes that the network could have.

He put restrictions on them
that they never dreamed of,

and they all bought it.

The restrictions covered things
like what sponsors would be allowed,

how many commercials
would be allowed,

what the commercial positions
would be,

how many would be connected
to each other.

Herman had creative approval
on the writer,

creative approval on the director,

he had creative approval
on the cast.

So he was loaded with clauses,

which were about 4 7,000 pages long
that none of us could understand,

which had to do with his control
over the production itself.

But with that, we got the rights.

Don't marry Slote.

How young you are.

Promise me?

You know what Lenin said. ''Promises,
like piecrusts, are meant to be broken.''

Forget about Lenin,
just promise me.

You idiot, don't you know
how much l love you?

Most of our role was to find
the right people and to support them.

The hard part of it, of course,
was that it was all over the world.

l mean, this was going to cost
a bloody fortune.

This was going to be the biggest thing
that television had ever seen

in the history of the business.

Because the book was so massive
and it involved extras

and it involved attacks
and it involved explosions

and it involved shooting
in all these different areas,

so the production side of it
was really, really difficult.

However, actually taking that script,
mounting it,

putting it on the air,
making it happen, making it real,

and not just a little
eI cheapo production,

but a big, mammoth saga,

which is what was really needed

in terms of the book
and in terms of Herman Wouk,

that was a tremendous challenge.
Tremendous.

l come to the house...

...and l'm greeted
by Herman and Sarah.

Right away, l know Sarah takes
an instant dislike to me.

She thinks l'm Mr. Hollywood.

And Herman and l have this long
dialogue, and l said to him,

''You don't understand.

''l'm my own boss.
l have my own company.

''This is an interview. l've never been...
l don't need this job.

''l have grave doubts about doing it
anyway. l've got problems with it.''

And l told him about the fact
that l thought it was a half a story,

and he allowed as how
he would not ever let anybody

get into the second half,

which turned out to be
War and Remembrance,

until he knew
they could do the first half.

We talked about it again.

We got into a huge argument
because l said, ''OK, l will do it,

''but l won't do it
unless l can do the whole thing.''

Dan started out by saying,

''The book is the Bible
of the miniseries.

''We're going to follow the book.

''When in doubt, we go to the book.''
This is what he said to me.

ln attempting to write for television,
l did some ad-libbing,

and he said,
''No, go back to the book.''

That was the first thing
l learned from him,

which was music to my ears,

the idea that all l do is stick
to my book. lt just couldn't be better.

The first thing l determined

was that we would adapt the book
while l was in preproduction.

So, what l did was sit down...

...and do an outline

of the major sequences

that l was pretty sure
were going to end up in the picture,

so that l could then start to look
for these main locations.

At the same time,
we were going to start casting.

The writing process and preproduction
took probably a year and a half.

l was traveling all over the world

while Herman was working
on the screenplay.

l was also drafting some sequences
that l would send on to him.

And l brought in

my good friend Earl Wallace,
who was a wonderful writer,

who worked as story editor
and also worked very closely with us.

So we all worked very closely together
on the screenplay...

...with Herman having final word
on everything.

Because of our previous experience,
we knew practically better than any...

Certainly any other network
or anybody in the business,

what you had to do

in order to get everybody into the tent
on opening night.

We had every single day
of the year

mapped out on the walls
of this conference room,

and we met once a week
with the public relations people,

the photography people,
with the on-air people,

with the advertising people.

And there was a meeting
for one year

prior to the air date of Winds of War,

where we would discuss what was
going to happen on every single day,

366 days before the premiere night.

We ended up, as a result of this kind
of attack and this kind of detail on it,

we ended up with 1 7 magazine covers
for The Winds of War.

We covered absolutely
every base everywhere.

So we had to take it and turn it into

a major monster television event,
which we did.

With an actor in the White House,
it wasn't surprising to see

the super powers of Hollywood

mingling with Washington's
power brokers

at a special preview screening of
the upcoming Winds of War miniseries

here at the Kennedy Center.

This is a very extraordinary
and unusual film.

The character that Robert Mitchum
plays, Pug Henry,

is kind of an omnipresent character
who is on the spot with Mussolini,

with Hitler, with Roosevelt.

And so, all of a sudden,
you create those years

that a good many of us remember
with some nostalgia

and some sorrow.

l think Winds of War is a piece
that is historical,

a piece that's important
for a lot of people to see

who really have forgotten
or were born after World War ll

and really don't realize
what went on at that time.

And it's obviously a bipartisan war.
Everybody seems to have shown up.

l think that Herman Wouk's and Dan
Curtis' movie about World War ll

is an enormous antiwar document
without being didactic.

l think this is enormously instructive.
lt's interesting. lt's fast-moving.

And l think all of us
can always learn from history.

When l got the part
in Winds of War,

l had no idea what a big deal
this job was. l just really did not.

l knew l was doing a big miniseries,

but l don't think anyone knew
how popular it was going to be,

and that on the week
or the ten days when it was airing,

you could drive through the town, and
there wouldn't be a car on the streets.

l mean, it was amazing.

There were areas of L.A.
that were like a ghost town

because everybody was home
watching television.

lt's hard to describe the rush that you
feel when you get those ratings,

but it certainly is extraordinary,
and it's also nice to know

that you're actually probably going
to keep your job until lunch of that day.

l give credit to Brandon Stoddard of
ABC for taking this enormous gamble

on the notion that the attention span
of the audience could be held

three hours a night straight through
six nights of prime time.

l don't know
if it could be done today.

l don't know that the audiences today
would stand still for it.

Herman Wouk and Dan Curtis

were able to tell their story

and to have their story impact on
the lives of tens of millions of people.

And that is surely
a lasting contribution

to Holocaust education
and remembrance.

l definitely think that Winds of War

and War and Remembrance,

it's anthology of the wartime,

l think one of the best documents
ever made

about this war.

l didn't know whether l could do it.

l didn't know whether

people would be interested
in the Second World War.

l wrote them during the Vietnam War

with marchers outside

and the kind of turmoil in the country
that we now have with lraq.

That was going on then
when l was writing the books.

Many a day, l looked out
of my Washington, D.C. window,

and l could see marchers going by.

l said to myself, ''Who cares?
Who will care about this book?''

lf you've got a theme
in which you believe...

At least this is the way
l've always worked...

You do it, and then
you see what happens.

The fact that the books...

...worked the way they did

and the way that the miniseries
worked the way they did

is just enduring satisfaction to me.

But l put in the time
and l put in the effort,

and l stand by the outcome.

l can remember Brandon
saying to me,

''OK,

''l'll get them in the tent.''
He promoted the hell out of it.

The promotion on The Winds of War
was gigantic.

''After that, it's going to be up to you.''

l says, ''OK.'' l says,
''What kind of a number do you want?''

He said, ''Anything with a five
in front of it.''

Six o'clock in the morning
the telephone rings,

and it's Brandon,
and l said, ''Yeah?''

He said, ''64 share,

80 million people.''
Something insane, right?

He was so happy,
and l'm jumping up and down.

When that thing ran that week,

it was...

lt averaged a 64 share
throughout the entire week.

l remember being in the supermarket
buying something,

and people in the line are yelling
at people in front of them to go faster.

They have to go home to watch it.
The restaurants were empty.

Matteo's was a restaurant
l used to go to.

The guy who ran Matteo's
said to me,

''You're killing my business.
Nobody's in here.''

lt was, like,
a just national experience.

The world was watching
The Winds of War.

lt was the most
unbelievable experience.

My wife called up Chasen's
because we had a little party,

and she wanted to get some chili.

She heard that the chili
at Chasen's was great, right?

So Maude Chasen gets
on the telephone and she says,

''This isn't a takeout place.
We don't send out chili.''

And then she says,
''Who did you say you were?''

And she said...

...''Mrs. Dan Curtis.''
And she says,

''Winds of War Dan Curtis?''

And she says, ''That's right.''

She says, ''How much chili
do you want?''

lt was an incredible experience.