Get this. Google Books is hosting a digital archive of the first 30 years of New York Magazine (1968 through 1997). Amongst this bewildering wilderness of magazines is a real treasure - an August 21, 1972, article written by Mario Puzo on his experience writing the novel and the screenplay for The Godfather. Yeah, baby!
It’s a great article, too. First, you gotta go here, which will take you to the contents page. In the upper left-hand corner you’ll see the little summary of the Puzo article and above that, you’ll see “page 22.” That’s a link. Click that, and it’ll take you to the article.
Consider this. There’s a tongue-in-cheek breakdown in which Puzo apportions the credit for the success of The Godfather film:
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The Novel Itself
40% for the fame of the novel
30% for the characters and the incidents.
Total 70%
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Director Francis Coppola
3% for being faithful to the book.
3% for fighting for Pacino (against everybody)
2% for fighting for Brando (against everybody but me)
1% for being Italian.
5% for rewriting script and keeping it a 3-hour movie.
Total 14%
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Author Puzo
3% for writing basic script.
2% for rewriting the rewrite.
2% for suggesting Brando.
2% for keeping it a 3-hour movie against everybody’s advice.
2% for insisting that it would be fatal to leave out Sicily sequence (against everybody except Francis Coppola)
3% for quitting the movie when shooting began and so getting out of everybody’s way so they could work.
Total 14%
Minus 5% for fighting against Al Pacino’s playing Michael.
Net Total 9%
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Producer Al Ruddy
5% for getting the project moving.
3% for holding everybody’s hands and keeping them from killing each other.
5% for taking the rap for everything and taking it with a smile.
Total 13%
Minus 5% for giving wrong advice on how to write the script.
Net Total 8%
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Studio Vice President Robert Evans
5% for listening with an open mind to everyone and making the right decisions.
2% for making the first cut of the movie so commercially swift. (One viewer complained the movie was like having dinner in a restaurant where the food was delicious, but the waiter kept whipping away the dishes before you could finish).
Total 7%
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Paramount Vice President Peter Bart
5% for suggesting Francis Coppola to direct the picture on the theory that an Italian could do the best job. (Not as simple reasoning as it sounds.)
2% for nagging everybody.
Total 7%
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Paramount President Frank Yablans
5% for distribution and exploitation
2% for minding his own business.
Total 7%
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Owner of Paramount Pictures Charles Bludhorn
1% for not insisting Charles Bronson play the Godfather role.
Total 1%
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The Actors
Total 10%
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The Crew and Technical and Costumes and Art, etc.
Total 5%
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Grand Total 138%
(Because you always give more credit in the movie business than exists.)
