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Sure, there’s no shortage of gravelly-voiced icons in Tinseltown, but if there’s one name that rings a bell louder than a Las Vegas jackpot, it’s Alex Rocco. Ever wondered how he got convinced to play a bespectacled Jewish casino owner in The Godfather?

Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

The late, great Alex Rocco, who rose to fame with his cocky portrayal of Moe Greene in a 1972 Mafia classic, actually just left us with indelible lines like “You don’t buy me out. I buy you out.” Oh wait, he also taught us that sometimes a nudge from a visionary director like Francis Ford Coppola can turn an initial ‘no’ into a Hollywood legend.

Yes, landing the role of Moe Greene wasn’t as plain as it might seem. Initially, Rocco was hesitant to take on the part, especially given the character’s Jewish background.

Almost half a century ago, a cinematic juggernaut stormed into theaters, heavily transforming the landscape of Hollywood. Released in 1972, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather swiftly rose to the pinnacle of box office success, sealing its fate as one of the most influential films ever produced.

Also spotlighting James Caan as Santino ‘Sonny’ Corleone, the film catapulted its stars into phenomenal stardom. Yet, it’s a real head-scratcher that, despite the movie’s sky-high acclaim, Caan found himself under a dark cloud of dissatisfaction.

Marlon Brando and Salvatore Corsitto in The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

A decision by Coppola to cut an extended scene has left Caan perpetually miffed. It’s like cutting the cloth according to your coat. But sometimes the trim leaves you with more than just fabric scraps—it can slice through your soul as well. When Caan realized a scene that held deep meaning for him was...

Some iconic gangster movies featured real-life mobsters in their cast, such as Lenny Montana who played Luca Brasi in The Godfather. Tony Sirico, known for his roles in The Sopranos, Goodfellas, and The Godfather, had a past as a mob associate with multiple arrests and convictions. James Caan has been alleged to have connections with the Colombo crime family, and his portrayal in The Godfather suggests he understood the authentic mobster lifestyle well.

There have been several real-life gangsters who appeared in some of the most famous gangster movies in film history. While the full extent of actual mafia members turned Hollywood actors remains clouded in mystery for obvious reasons, there are still a number of established characters who appeared onscreen in some of the greatest mafia or gangster movies ever made. Mafia and gangster films have essentially become their own type of genre, producing some of the most prestigious...

The Godfather is full of incredible performances from some of Hollywood's best actors at the time, but one actor required movie changes to make his role work. The opening wedding sequence sees Connie Corleone (Talia Shire) celebrating her marriage to Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo), but it also features countless meetings for Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), as he famously can't refuse a request on the day of his daughter's wedding. This leads to his meeting with his number one enforcer, Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana), who doesn't want to make a request, but simply wants to thank Vito for being invited to the wedding.

In the original The Godfather book, Luca is a terrifying assassin and absolutely not to be messed with. That character was set up in the movie, as Michael (Al Pacino) tells Kay (Diane Keaton) about his violent work with Vito. However, he isn't the fearful enforcer in the 1972 release,...

No one could have made "Unforgiven" like Clint Eastwood did. Revisionist westerns weren't novel anymore by 1992. What makes the movie special is how it humanizes the face of the genre. Eastwood, who had played ruthless, stoic Western archetypes in his younger days, was now portraying a man who struggled to mount his horse, aim his gun, or keep his vow not to kill. Eastwood's presence transforms the character William Munny from a deconstruction into a career postscript. "Unforgiven" is the epilogue to every gunslinging cowboy Eastwood ever played, from Blondie to Josey Wales.

And yet, the movie didn't originate with Eastwood. It was first written by David Peoples in 1976 and titled "The Willliam Munny Killings." Eastwood got his hands on it during the 1980s but waited about a decade to actually make it. For the 30th anniversary of "Unforgiven" in 2022, Peoples spoke with Yahoo Entertainment, shedding some light on both...

Before a relatively unknown Al Pacino was cast as Michael Corleone, the shy young man who will eventually take the reins of his embattled mob family in The Godfather, there were other names bandied about for that crucial role. Warren Beatty. Dustin Hoffman. Jack Nicholson. Robert Redford. Martin Sheen. And one other person: James Caan, although he hadn’t put himself forward for the gig. “One night,” Caan later recalled, “I got a call from Francis…and I could tell in his voice that this was not his idea: ‘Jimmy,...

Paramount+ is going to the mattresses on April 28. The streamer will debut the first three episodes of The Offer. Based on the experiences of producer Albert S. Ruddy, played by Miles Teller, the original miniseries is about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 gangster classic, The Godfather. But it is really a love story to early 1970s filmmaking. Paramount+ will also add remastered versions of the full Godfather trilogy to its streaming library. Promoted as an epic tale of betrayal, power, and murder, the first film is an allegory to the American dream, corporate malfeasance, and family. The film trilogy, as a whole, can be seen as a metaphor for the motion picture industry at the end of the 20th Century.

The Godfather epic is a motion picture saga which tells the story of modern filmmaking. Over the course of three films and a coda, it follows the cinematic wave from its scrappy beginnings,...

The Godfather, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, is a perfect film. Every scene is an individual work of art. Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel is never sloppy, but part of its olive oil charm lies in its blemishes. Some of the featured players were not professional actors, and uncomfortable scenes play out in lingering real time.

The Godfather has been criticized for glorifying violence, and it certainly has its share. From the barrage of bullets at a toll booth to the brains all over Michael’s Ivy League suit, plus waking up with the severed head of a beloved horse, the range of brutality is vast. There are scenes of domestic abuse which lead to street beatings. Car bombings vie with bar stabbings.

The reason the violence works so well, however, is because so much time is allowed to pass in between these scenes. The...

Leave the screening, take the cannoli.

James Caan says that he walked out of an initial “The Godfather” screening after realizing director Francis Ford Coppola cut a key scene involving Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. Caan played Sonny Corleone, the eldest son of mafia don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando).

“When Michael [Al Pacino] tells me he is going to take care of the cop and Sollozzo [Al Lettieri], I say, ‘You’ll get brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.’ There was a scene before in the same room that I had with Bobby [Duvall] that was like 10 pages long — and Francis cut all of it out!” Caan told The Hollywood Reporter in honor of “The Godfather”‘s 50th anniversary. “I was so pissed off, I couldn’t watch the rest of the film.”

Caan added, “But otherwise, [Coppola] gave me a great honor.”

Caan also dismissed the rumor that he...

"The Godfather" is a movie that is so richly layered, thoughtfully structured and expertly performed that it has a feeling of verisimilitude in every frame. Though painstakingly scripted by Mario Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola, the film rarely feels staged or stilted. The most authentically chaotic sequence in the film is undoubtedly the opening scenes depicting the wedding of Connie Corleone (Talia Shire) to Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo), during which the whole Corleone clan celebrate on their New York City grounds while Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) entertains requests from his family members and business associates.

Of course, the Corleone's are a crime family, a powerful...

The post The Godfather Scene You Might Not Know Was Improvised appeared first on /Film.

“Ennio,” the hotly anticipated Ennio Morricone doc by Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore has sold to a slew of territories ahead of its world premiere Friday at the Venice Film Festival

Block 2 Distribution, which is the sales arm of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone films, has announced sales of the doc to Germany and Austria (Koch Media), Benelux (Periscope), France (Le Pacte), Scandinavia and Baltics (Non Stop Entertainment), Italy (Lucky Red), Japan (Gaga) and China (Blossoms Island Pictures).

“Ennio” will also go out across the Middle East via (Front Row) and has been additionally sold to Poland (Best Film), Spain (Karma Films) and Turkey (Filmarti).

Negotiations for sales to other territories are underway on the Lido.

Morricone who is among the most prolific and admired composers in film history –– and who died last year at 91 –– had a very close rapport with Tornatore, having composed the...

Block 2 Distribution, the sales arm of Wong Kar-wai’s Jet Tone Films will handle international rights to “Ennio: The Maestro.” The film is an upcoming documentary about legendary film musician Ennio Morricone, written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.

Morricone, who is 91, has more than 500 movie credits to this name including scores for Sergio Leone’s so-called “Dollars Trilogy” – “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

Tornatore and Morricone have worked together on 13 films, with their best known effort “Cinema Paradiso” in 1988, which claimed the best foreign language film Oscar. The documentary involves a mix of interviews with film-making partners – including Wong, Quentin Tarantino, Bernardo Bertolucci, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Springsteen – that are intercut with fragments of Morricone’s private life, recordings from Morricone’s world concert tours, clips of classic films scored by Morricone, and previously unseen archival footage of...

Giuseppe Tornatore is directing the film, Ennio: The Maestro, about the life and works of the legendary composer.

Block 2 Distribution, the sales arm of Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone Films, is handling international sales on Giuseppe Tornatore’s documentary, Ennio: The Maestro, about composer Ennio Morricone.

Wong Kar Wai was also a producer film, along with Peter De Maegd and San Fu Maltha, with Gianni Russo and Gabriele Costa as both producers and executive producers. Block 2 has worldwide rights outside of several territories that were pre-sold or set up as co-production territories and will commence sales at the European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin.

Giuseppe Tornatore is directing the film, Ennio: The Maestro, about the life and works of the legendary composer.

Block 2 Distribution, the sales arm of Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone Films, is handling international sales on Giuseppe Tornatore’s documentary, Ennio: The Maestro, about composer Ennio Morricone.

Wong Kar Wai was also a producer film, along with Peter De Maegd and San Fu Maltha, with Gianni Russo and Gabriele Costa as both producers and executive producers. Block 2 has worldwide rights outside of several territories that were pre-sold or set up as co-production territories and will commence sales at the European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin.

Gianni Russo wasn't just in "The Godfather," he claims to have deep mob ties -- and tells TMZ there's No Way the hit on Gambino crime boss Frank Cali was carried out by the Italian mafia.  And why? Because Russo says the killer broke a Sacred mafia rule that no Italian mobster would dare to violate.  "I don't think it was an Italian hit or a Family hit because they shot [Cali] in front of his family's house.

Stars: Kim Milford, Cheryl Smith, Gianni Russo, Ron Masak, Dennis Burkley, Barry Cutler, Mike Bobenko, Eddie Deezen, Keenan Wynn, Roddy McDowall, Rick Walters | Written by Franne Schacht, Frank Ray Perilli | Directed by Michael Rae

The latest release from 88 Films’ Grindhouse Collection label, Laserblast is a very early Charles Band production that, for fans of 80s Dtv productions, is probably one of the most notoriously “bad” movies to come from the Full Moon head honcho. Notorious in so much that the cover art for the VHS release (also present on this DVD) should be in the bad movie hall of fame… And so should some of the acting!

For those interested in a plot, Laserblast tells the story of Billy Duncan, a put-upon teenage loner who, after being bullied by two local teens and given a speeding ticket by two police deputies, wanders into the desert and discovers a laser...

In the new horror movie Jug Face, Sean Young, Larry Fessenden, and Lauren Ashley Carter play members of a backwoods cult which sacrifices people to a pit-dwelling monster. Sounds creepily intriguing? Indeed it does. And we haven’t even mentioned the ghosts. Or the incest. Or, for that matter, the artisanal jug-making.

The directorial debut of Chad Crawford Kinkle, Jug Face is currently available on VOD and arrives in cinemas this Friday. Below, the endearingly candid Sean Young talks about the film — and much, much more.

Entertainment Weekly: Hi, how’s it going?

Sean Young: Good, good.

I was...

A star of America's TV dating show The Bachelor is set to make her acting debut - as legendary screen beauty Ava Gardner.

Gia Allemand auditioned for the role of Frank Sinatra's one-time wife shortly after her stint on The Bachelor ended and producer Gianni Russo admits he was stunned by her talents the moment she walked in to the room.

He tells the Globe, "She looks a lot like Ava, but it's really the passion that she had that convinced me to cast her."

The Godfather star insists his untitled movie will be more fact than fiction because he actually knew Sinatra.

They were smug, evil, or maybe just plain stupid. Here’s our list of the top ten ‘They had it coming’ movie deaths…

"They had it coming. They had it coming. They had it coming all along."

So sang the hosiery-clad vixens of smash hit musical Chicago. Of course, they were referring to the many men they had brutally murdered, whereas I'm responsible for the deaths of no one on this list. But it's an appropriate introduction to a run-down of movie characters who, for one reason or another, really did bring their own cinematic demise on themselves.

Undoubtedly some of the 10 deserved their deaths more than the others. But as I've watched each of them shuffle off this mortal coil, either shaking my head in sorrow or slapping my thigh in triumph, I've been compelled to declare on each occasion, "Well, they asked for that."

Here then (in no...

"Bachelor Pad" beauty Gia Allemand has been cast as legendary screen siren Ava Gardner in a biopic about 'The Godfather' star and reported Mafia connection Gianni Russo. Russo calls Gia's (who was part of Jake Pavelka's "Bachelor" season) casting in the small role a "Cinderella story," and says he is happy to pay it forward since he was afforded a similar career opportunity years ago. "It's a small role. Gia looks a lot like Ava, but it's really the passion that she had that convinced me to cast her," Russo tells Zap2it.com. "Forty years ago someone did this for me. They stuck their neck out." "I was pursuing him to cast me as Ava," says Allemand. "After I heard about Mr. Russo signing on a napkin for 'The Godfather' (at The Palm in Manhattan in 1969), I recited Ava's whole life to him...