The Godfather Film Franchise Review

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. Alright, good evening gang. So all throughout August, it is Godfather City. Everything Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo, and Godfather related.

[00:00:22] Similar movies, similar TV shows, miniseries, but also just other adaptations and just similar crime thrillers that have action, neo-noir drama, just Italian mafia discussions. We're going to go even beyond that also too, just discuss even some B-movies or other stuff that is similar and definitely borrows from that whole family and honor routine.

[00:00:49] So I'm in for everybody this week, but yeah, just enjoy this look at the Godfather just franchise and how it was just instilled in the DNA of cinema. Even if you don't like it, we might convince you to rewatch it and acknowledge its purpose. Next two days. You my friend? Father?

[00:01:19] USA Network presents. I'm going to make him an awful guy refuse. Francis Ford Coppola's complete version of the original two Godfather movies. If anything in this life is certain, besides you can kill anyone. The epic story of a family from humble beginnings. Come on, son. What is your name? Through years of power and revenge. They hit us. So, we hit him back.

[00:01:49] Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again. To a dark conclusion. I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. Robert De Niro. Al Pacino. James Caan. Robert Duvall. Diane Keaton. You won. You want to wipe everybody out? Just my enemies. USA Special Presentation. Part 1 of The Godfather Saga.

[00:02:17] You come to me on my daughter's wedding day.

[00:03:10] You broke my heart, Fredo. So many themes. So many things to talk about. It's always story short. And Mike, he's got his reading glasses on. He's reading the room. He feels... If he's reading the room, then this is the wrong shot for him. Because I don't think Elie Wiesel has a part in The Godfather. Oh, if only, man. If only. Are you sure he didn't try to rip off Scarface in his infamous movie?

[00:03:39] Which one? Oh, good point. It might have been White Heat at this point. I don't know. It's bullshit. I did not hear to her. I did not. Oh, hi, Don. Oh, hi, Don. Oh, hi, Don. Don. So I watched Part 1 and Part 2 again. I just finished Part 2 like half an hour ago. Yeah, I was forced to watch. Because I had to listen to Part 2 while I was working. So all I could do was listen.

[00:04:09] So whenever they were in Italy, it was kind of hard to follow what was going on. Yeah, there's a lot of silent sequences there. Well, that and the Italian. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah. And so I had to watch some recap stuff on YouTube today. It has had a very puzzling and film history kind of deal where it's like you see people who hate gangster movies but love this franchise. You see people who think some of the stuff that came later is better than it.

[00:04:38] It's kind of almost the Star Wars of crime movies because, again, you have this guy who rejects his family's advances to become part of their crooked family and then slowly but surely falls into the line of work, so to speak. Like, it's Shakespearean. And it's just so funny. Like, I see people complain about it being too long. And for me, I don't know what it is. I just feel like it's just poetry. It's just people are telling a story. Yeah, you don't want to delete anything. Absolutely. It's like Lord of the Rings.

[00:05:07] It's just, unfortunately, that's the only way you can tell it. So I don't know what to tell anyone other than buckle up. I didn't check out the first two movies before. I mean, the first movie I saw with Al Pacino was Serpico, probably. And then one- Oh, really? So around that year after. Gotcha. And then maybe the first gangster thing I saw, I mean, was Scarface. Gotcha. So you worked around. Yeah. Because I was 13, and I think it was 1980 that Scarface came out.

[00:05:36] So I was 13 then. Yeah. These were regularly played on AMC. And you'll love this. My mother wasn't concerned about the violence. She was more concerned about the risqueness, because that's what she remembered about the novel. I'm like, oh, and it's so downplayed in the movie. Yeah. Yeah, it's not really there for me. Sonny's literally just flirting with someone. And again, if it's on network TV, you're not going to see Pacino's fiancés. Godfather. Well, it's a pleasure for me to have you invite me on this day of your daughter's wedding.

[00:06:06] You're a masculine child. Is that the one where he's practicing before he sees the Don? And I guess that was actually that they just caught him doing that, because he was trying to remember his lines. So they actually wrote that in the offer. Lenny Montana. Yeah. Lenny Montoya. And I can remember him. They said he was a wrestler, too. Right. He actually worked for the mob. He actually was just like a low, low.

[00:06:32] He was there to be on the set as an advisor. Right. And then after a while was kind of the unofficial kind of muscle at times on set. But he was he was like saying, no, no, this is not how it's done here. You know, this is how you do it during this. And then, you know. I do always find it interesting reading every film history book I've ever read. They've always talked about how it wasn't just a gamble with the fear of the mob and wanting to glamorize it as much as it was.

[00:06:59] Previous gangster movies had just been, you know, epic fails at the box office. There's this decent movie that everyone seems to hate called The Brotherhood with Kirk Douglas. Yeah. Despite Martin Ridd's direction, it flopped. But you could argue it was kind of more of the sign of the times. People weren't ready yet to see, you know, beloved actors playing, you know, despicable professions.

[00:07:24] So one movie had to fail prior to The Godfather's unexpected success. And I still anytime I see someone say I can't do a good job if I don't like the source material, I'm always like bullshit. Look at what Coppola did. He didn't like this, but he saw what people saw in it. And again, he wanted to do the two movies he wanted to do, which was the conversation in Apocalypse. Now, you can make a good thing.

[00:07:52] He was practically fighting for his directorial life at that point, because I can remember he just he started out with Your Big Boy Now, which is under Corman. And then he goes, he does, he does also when he did, I think he did The Rain People. Yeah. Good movie. With Robert Duvall. Yeah. And I keep thinking, did he do Finian's Rainbow or something like that? I think he did. I think he did work on that after Dementia's 13.

[00:08:19] And but like every Roger Corman accomplice, after a while, you want to hit it big. You don't want to keep making B pictures. And he didn't forget. He didn't forget Corman, though. That's the thing. He never. You know, that was so funny how he puts, you know, him in as one of the congressmen at the hearing. Yeah. I'm watching. I'm like, wait, that's Roger Corman. Yeah. He didn't even name someone else. So just like he does in the apocalypse now, General, you know, Lieutenant Corman, sir. Lieutenant Corman and General Lucas. Yeah.

[00:08:48] General Lucas. Yeah. But the thing that amazes me the most is that he's like fighting for his directorial life. Because if he does this, that's it. He's done, you know. And the thing with this movie was that it didn't portray the mob like the way we saw it. Like my father saw it in the 30s and the 40s. You know, a bunch of guys going, you know, yeah, Rocky. Hey, what do you want to do here? Yeah, you know, it was, you know, the Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Jamie Cagney kind of mob. And it was the right kind of crew.

[00:09:17] They could critique their own intentions. There would be times where Coppola would be like, I'm getting in too close. I need to frame this better. Yeah. I saw Visions of Light, which is a great documentary from 92. You can still probably find on YouTube. Yeah. Which had various cinematographers talk about their work. And it is so awesome seeing the late, great Gordon Willis, who later becomes a regular for Alan J. Pakula and Woody Allen. He talks about lighting the Godfather.

[00:09:45] And he's like, there's scenes I wish I hadn't lit as dark, but people love. And then there's scenes which are just right. And people. But it's the mood. It's the mood. It's the mood building. I mean, you're seeing again. I think I think it is really a visual thing. People get caught up in the dialogue and kind of like the Terminator. They become distracted by all the often parodied, you know, gang violence. I look at it almost like a darker version of West Side Story almost at times.

[00:10:12] It's it's a throwback to earlier movies, but it's also showing again the the more Michael enters his profession, the darker his world literally is. So that is that's the thing. Everybody says, you know, oh, the Godfather's about Vito. It's not about Vito. Yeah. Vito's the mentor and the dad. Vito's the mentor. It's it's it's Michael who's becoming the one he does. Because if you watch the beginning of that movie and you guys have all seen that when he's talking to Ken, he's like, that's not me. That's that's my family.

[00:10:42] But that's not me. He regrets it. Yeah. With the course of that movie, you can kind of tell it. Yes, it is him. This was definitely one of the first. Where I saw interior conflict versus, you know, nowadays, a movie is basically just free different exterior conflicts is like, yeah, no. But this is an internal conflict first. And then later it becomes an exterior conflict where he's like, OK, now that I'm comfortable

[00:11:08] being the main Don of the family, now it's time to get revenge for my old man and all the other instigators. I have recognized the actor who plays Virgil the Turk, you know, Salazzo. Yeah. And so many other Godfather knockoff movies, Al Letary. But I think the reason he and the crooked police captain at that diner. Yeah. See, this is why it's a good movie. We've seen it enough times. We can know all the different factions of the Don. They got good Italian food here. The best in the city.

[00:11:37] You want to talk suspense. You don't know what that scene means at first when Michael's talking to his few other guys is like, set this up for me. He's like, oh, what? Set what up? It's like, oh, oh. He smuggled in a pistol in the restroom. We thought he was going to get kind of, you know, pressured in and taken advantage of by this instigating, you know, rival mobster who's got, you know, the police in his pocket. It's like it's it's this thing where you see Michael when, you know, Sonny's not there. Here's the thing.

[00:12:05] It opens up with a wedding, which I think is great. You know, it opens up with with Don Corleone meeting all the people and the guy that is the undertaker discussing about getting revenge for his door, getting beaten up by a bunch of hoodlums. Right. Yes. And and, you know, that's the cocky one. But you needed that. He's Sonny's the cocky one. He's cool. But at the same time, he lets himself literally out in the open. And yeah, I see people nowadays bitch about, oh, I don't find that fight scene convincing. I'm like, well, guess what?

[00:12:35] They were worried about the believability versus what bullshit. That was believable. He did beat the shit. Well, they kind of hinted that in that that. Yeah. That was a beat down. He totally just about killed him. So said, yeah, he he did. He did hit him around, slap him around a little. It's like they're just looking for shit to talk about. And but Coppola is pretty cool. Kudos to him for when he remastered the Blu-rays.

[00:13:01] He could not stand the fact that people complain about the boom mic being in one of the Don's first meetings. He's like digitally. Yeah. So when you got The Godfather, it speaks to a lot of what made it so popular. And I'll talk to this. I'll talk to this a little bit later. But there are what I see in the movies, especially is just that first one system. It's a mixture of genres that you can actually point to. And it's like it's so complex.

[00:13:30] You have so many moving parts. But they all work together and they make a stunning film. Absolutely. It's got neo-noir moments. TV Guide said in their awesome write up, it's as much an action drama as it is a crime thriller. Yeah. But it goes even further than that. We mentioned Shakespeare. Definitely there are Shakespeare elements. It had elements of a period piece.

[00:13:57] It had the everyman hero of Michael trying to fight that stuff off. It truly transcends the idea of just a simple mobster movie from the 30s. Because you got to see more behind the scenes or at least as much behind the scenes as the filmmakers would allow. That's a good point. Yeah. And just some of the interplay too. You remember the heavy stuff.

[00:14:27] You remember the gunfights. You remember all the lawyering and different things like that. But you don't necessarily think of it in terms of this is a family drama and this is a period drama. Yes. This part is a melodrama. It hits on so many different levels. The author was just as involved in it. He knew the compromises he had to make as an author while making it cinematic. That's rare.

[00:14:54] Usually the author says, I'll take the paycheck, but I disown this if you change one thing. And that's the great thing about Puzo was that he was going through this with Coppola. He was going through a fine-toothed comb and says, all right, take this part, but we could just put little things around it. Because the script, when it was written, it seemed like there was more to be said.

[00:15:16] But I think Coppola wanted the meat and the potatoes of how this guy, Michael, is part of this family. It's part of a five-family bracket that is running New York City. And how Michael's basically just stayed away from it. He doesn't want any part of it. Unless a filmmaker would have moments that you're like, I don't know if that's underdeveloped or a scene was cut out.

[00:15:44] A lot of the stuff that happens offscreen, you really do kind of leave it to your imagination. It's like, okay, it looks like some of Beto's goons are helping out Michael when he enlists during World War II. No, when you find out in the last scene of Godfather II, he was going to go to college. Michael says, no, I decided to enlist. Yeah, to enlist. And he's like, what the? What do you mean? Pop got your deferment and everything.

[00:16:12] You know, he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to enlist, you know. But we're talking about where he gets placed, like in the Marines. Yeah. And Fredo was the only one that supported him on that, too. He said he was going off to, you know, fight in the service. Yeah, it really pissed Sonny off. He almost punched him out when he caught up. We'll return after these messages. Hi, folks. How's that here? We've got a 90-minute weekly Shack Stop.

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[00:18:59] or check us out at whowouldwinshow.com. I think the reason people also liked it is it was the first time where you were watching a crime movie, but you actually got a sense of how the whole empire operated. You know, who answers to who? Who are the street soldiers vs. the goons for hire? You know, who's the hitman slash right hand? And, I mean, there's so many other great dramas that have done that.

[00:19:26] You know, everything from Breaking Bad to Power, but The Godfather, you actually can tell everybody. You get a sense of their character as well as their loyalty versus who's, you know, an inside man. And it helps that, again, Michael has standards. You know, you don't mess with me while pretty much every other family always just, you know, contradicts or breaks their rule. So, we don't feel sorry for them when they break the rule.

[00:19:55] I'd almost say that The Godfather itself was not so much about the Don so much as it was about, it almost became a prequel of itself, for lack of a better term. Yes. Yeah. I'm glad you brought up Pauly, though. That was supposed to be the original part De Niro played. Yeah. But then you wouldn't have had him as young Vito. And I think... I think he got pneumonia or something like that, and he wasn't able to do... I've been seeing some rumors of that. Do the rule or something like that. Yeah. It was something like that. It was just like, oh, shit.

[00:20:25] It's ironic that if that's true, because his son gets pneumonia. Young Fredo. Fredo gets pneumonia. Yeah. And what happens is that you got to realize, everybody gets the order messed up. They think Sonny's the oldest. No, it's Fredo who's the older brother. It goes Fredo, Sonny. I kind of thought that, too. I think it was just because James is bigger. It's just...

[00:20:54] It's a common misconception that because you're bigger, you're smarter, or the oldest is like, no. That's not at all true. Yeah, it's just like... No, it's not. Or the hothead. No, it's not. Yeah, my brother's bigger than me, and he's four years younger. So, what the hell? Yeah, that was over in another country where if you were... The fatter you were, it meant the richer you were, but then that turned out to be wrong. Yeah, no, that just made you realize here. Yeah, being fat was seen as a son of wealth back in the day. It really was.

[00:21:23] It simply meant you were an American. No, not even American. Yeah, I felt pretty self-conscious when I was walking over in Germany and France. Because it was hard-pressed to see any heavy people, and if I did, I'm like, oh, they're probably Americans. Hey, you from Brooklyn? Nine. Oh, never mind. Nine. Not ten. Snow. Snow. I didn't realize Uncle Junior's in Godfather 2. Yeah.

[00:21:54] Joey Ola. Yeah. Yep. Joey Ola. I love Godfather 2 when he meets, when he sees Hyman Roth. And if you guys never picked this up, when he's meeting Hyman Roth, when Michael's here, he goes by another name. Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson or Mr. Paulson or something like that. And I never knew what that meant until I read it. Hyman Roth didn't want any, didn't want his wife to know that he was an organized crime. So when Michael comes, he's like, oh, Mr. Johnson. Oh, yes.

[00:22:22] He'll come to see, you know. And his wife is just so prim and proper in that movie. And here's this guy who was basically like, you know, one of the last mob heads, you know, because, you know. I used to get them two mixed up. And then, of course, in recent years, I'm like, yeah, no. Uncle Junior is playing, yeah, is playing Ola. And Hyman is actually played by Lee Strasberg, who was Pacino's acting teacher at, you know, the actor's studio. And he's like, I got to repay you. You got to play.

[00:22:53] And if you ever see Injustice for All, he plays his grandfather in the movie. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Whoa. He gives him evidence about the judge. Oh, that's an even bigger favorite. He keeps using them. Man. Man.

[00:23:41] Man. One by one, our old friends are gone. Death. Natural or not. Prison. Deported. Hyman Roth is the only one left because he always made money for his partners. But there's something about him with Hyman Roth that I love where he's like, you know, he's talking about, remember your father, Michael? Used to bring the trucks with molasses down from Canada. Those were the good old days.

[00:24:09] Michael, we're bigger than U.S. steel. Yes. Wow. I mean, just when they're going to talk about. That's some politics right there. Yeah. And then when they're talking about opening up the thing in Cuba and he's talking to Michael, there was this kid, little brass. He had this idea to open up a hotel in the middle of the desert. Got a little ahead of himself. Somebody put a bullet through his eye. I said nothing. I kept my mouth shut.

[00:24:39] I knew things were going to happen like this. But to this day, there's no plaque or no statue honoring Mo Green. Oh, jeez. And I'm like, holy. And I realized what that was about. Bugsy's people was opening up Las Vegas. And they sent Meyer Lansky out to talk to him about spending all this money. And he's like, no, no, I'll have all the money back for you. And Lansky told the other families, they're like, look, I don't know when this money's coming out. I'm out on this.

[00:25:09] You can handle this. Because I know that Meyer Lansky, that Roth was based on Meyer Lansky. I know that for a while. We all know that. And Mo Green was Bugsy Siegel. But the people they were inspired by, it never felt like they were just out of ideas or too cute for its own good. And Chianassi, while you mentioned some other Pacino collaborations, I mean, Chianassi, I think, is so fantastic, much like with Pacino when he works with Sidney LeMay on

[00:25:38] Night Falls on Manhattan and Q&A, the former as a judge. And I think that's it. These actors, even though they are typecast as gangsters, as you've seen in other movies like Gotti and what have you, is just they are. They are so accustomed to just. Bringing dignity to anyone, whether they are cold blooded killers versus career criminals versus just dads who happen to be doing some bootlegging business on the side.

[00:26:03] And I feel like De Palma, even though Scarface has some godfather angles, I feel like Coppola's friend De Palma, as godfather as he gets, is definitely with the last portion of the untouchables. He is definitely getting it. And especially with that, when they are catching the bootleggers in Canada, that same kind of material kind of covered. And but yeah, I mean, Cuba was a good change of scenery and for part two.

[00:26:32] And for a while, I even heard rumors of them wanting to make a fourth godfather. But it's like, yeah, what would you even do? Well, I was that that was abandoned after Fuzo passed away, I think. Yeah, I think so. And or after they saw the box office for Godfather three. And then that got remade altogether. Yeah, they redid they redid that. But one and two are just so bookends of each other. One opens up with the wedding and there's a funeral and then there's a christening.

[00:27:01] And then all I love how they they basically what they just do the whole, you know, you know, the night of the knives or something like that, you know, they just take just he just takes out everybody, you know, especially when they're at the funeral scene. And like Peter says, no, the one that you meet will be the one that will be the traitor in the family. And like you just see Tessio, who's Abe Fagoda's character, shake down Don Barzini's hand. And the look on Mike's face is just like, oh, shit. I knew I can't.

[00:27:30] I never thought it'd be Tessio. I thought it'd be Clemenza. But Clemenza was not that smart, you know. And he says, he says, he says, he says, when I go to when I go to Barzini's house, I will be assassinated. Now, I want you to do, you know. And when he when he starts when he when he wipes out everybody the day of the day of the christening, you know, in these these carefully planned hits where they least expect it, where all the other heads of the families are vulnerable.

[00:27:59] And then he goes after Tessio and he goes after Carlo for telling Barzini about Sonny and then Tessio selling out Mike for Barzini. You know, that's what got me the most. And you know what? Did you guys ever read about who they wanted to be? A godfather? They saw some different names years ago, but I can't remember. This is amazing. They wanted Richard Conte, who would play Barzini. Orson Welles. That would have worked. Lawrence. Lawrence.

[00:28:28] I'm Olson Welles and you will belong. I have Orson Welles and I am the godfather. I am also from Lawrence. Yeah. Laurence Olivier. And then supposedly they wanted to have Robert Redford playing Michael, which would not have worked because. Yeah. Yeah. Richard Conte was later in. Well, they didn't really want Marlon Brando at first. Yeah. They didn't because he was box office. He was box office poison, as they said.

[00:28:58] Yeah. Because he had done the men. He'd done Missouri breaks. And those bombed terribly. And they had to like basically beg him. They were like, you know, come on. You know, we. Coppola wanted him because they wanted, you know, he wanted him. You know, he wouldn't. But that's wild. Conte instead plays Barzini. You know, I'd heard that like that Johnny Fontaine was originally offered to Vic. Vic Damone. Yeah. Wow.

[00:29:28] And that got me thinking about there's a connection to Star Trek now because of that. Oh, God. Because in Deep Space Nine, there's a there's a holographic character called Vic Fontaine. Yeah. Yeah. Shit. I don't. I noticed several times there's a real. Michael, Michael just looks at one of his henchmen and they nod and that's like, OK, you're going to put the hit on this guy. You never saw. Al Neary. Yeah. Yeah. It's just. Al Neary. You just.

[00:29:56] You can just see it in his face and he like. He nods real quick and you know what's going to happen. Well, Al Neary is the cop that is the guy who kills Barzini when he's outside the steps. And he was actually in the book. He's actually a cop who retired and he knew and he knew the Corleone family. And when at the end you see the one scene where when the Godfather to when mother mom

[00:30:22] of Corleone dies and he says, you know, I think we do kind of get less of. Yeah. The mom in the film versus the book. But it is interesting how everyone forgets. Yeah. He did have a mom. Yeah. Morgana King was her name in real life. And she was a singer. Hmm. And she was on the Sullivan show a couple of times and she they wanted her to be Mama Corleone. And you know who's in that first movie?

[00:30:50] Our favorite actor who one of my favorite actors, character actors, Vito Scotti. He plays the baker. Vito Scotti. Wow. Vito Scotti. You would recognize him right away. Oh, my God. Yep. I mean, it's great. You know. If he's going to be on Baker. Harry Dean Stanton shows up too in two. Yep. Harry Dean Stanton plays. I don't know. Does he have any lines? Yeah. He says, come on, Frankie. We're going to play Pinochle. And he's.

[00:31:20] Okay. Yeah. And. Because I spotted him in the court in the courtroom scene. He's Robert De Niro in two plays young Vito. Yep. And that makes it the first movie that him and Pacino are in together. Although they're not in a scene. Right. Yeah. He happens to can't see him in the same scene. Unless you count him as the baby. You know. But you've got Bruno Kirby in two is going to go on to bigger and better things. You know. And later appears in Donnie Brasco with Pacino again. Yeah. He'll always be in City Slickers.

[00:31:50] Billy Crystal's friend. Who's the guy who plays the brother in The Wedding Singer? He's also. He always plays like a mafia guy. You know. He's the guy. He's the guy in Goodfellas. He gets hung in the. He gets hung in the. He gets hung in the freaking ice in the. In the thing. In the. The ice. Ice truck. Yeah. In the ice truck. Yeah. Ice truck. He's in it too. Victim. Oh. Oh. He's in it. He plays. I think he plays one of the. I think he plays one of Vito's guys. That guy.

[00:32:21] Shit. Yeah. His name. He was the guy who did that one thing that one time. Yeah. He got it in the hat. Yeah. He put them in the face and stuff. Not Matthew Glaive. Is it? No. Not. Not. Not the Stargate actor. It's. I might have. I might have. I might have the wrong guy in there. But. The one guy I love is the actor who played Don Cheech. Don Cheech. When Vito's. When. The guy. Vito shoots. Or Don Chong. Don Chong. Vito Chong. Vito Chong. Frank. Frank. Frank. Frank.

[00:32:51] Frank Severo. Is the actor. Is he in. That's that. Yeah. But yeah. He plays Genco in Godfather 2. Yes. Genco. Genco. Genco. Yeah. So. Yeah. You're right. He plays Andy in Wedding Singer. Okay. And then the gun breaking. That gets replayed in John Wick. Yep. There you go. See. Yep. Man. Here's the thing too. Small touches. Yeah. Yeah. But I was going to mention John Wick. As a matter of fact. The Godfather gave us an insight into the Italian mob.

[00:33:20] And John Wick gives us a sort of the same kind of view of the Russian mob. Yeah. And it's. And they handle it in different ways. Yes. With Michael in The Godfather. He's starting up. And he starts from. I wouldn't say necessarily zero. But he's familiar with it. With John Wick. You have somebody who has been ingrained in it. Who was raised in it. And is just now starting to come back. So. We.

[00:33:50] We can draw the parallel between the two. But. But just the tonal differences. The way the main characters. Are. They're completely different. And intersect in the family. And all the unwritten codes. If you have to ask. Yeah. You're already dead. Yeah. Tell your charter. I think is part of the heart. Of the Rocky films. But. I think this is a career best. As Michael's sister. Yes. And. She has the biggest character arc. If you think about it.

[00:34:19] Because she goes from. The Don's daughter in war. You don't really want to become part of this. Do you? I don't have a choice. Connie. Connie. I got no choice Connie. But the one. The part. In three. When she becomes like this viper. You know. That's like. Ready to take care of. You know. Because remember. In two. She. Remember in two. She marries. She meets that guy. Merle Johnson. A.K.A. Troy Donahue. She meets Troy Donahue.

[00:34:49] It was a big mistake. And then she comes back to Michael. And she's broken. She's broken. She's broken beyond belief. And Michael's like. Okay. You know. And she says. Don't hurt Fredo. Don't hurt Fredo. But she knows. He's got to take care of it. You know. He's got to take care of Fredo. Well. And then. In the third one. She jumps in. To actually committing a killing herself. Yeah. She. She kills. What do you call it? The one guy. Eli Wilde's character. With the. With the cannoli. Oh. That's right. See.

[00:35:19] Yeah. The moments. In part three. Despite the. Stupid way. He just dies. In a chair. I. I do. Like. At least. Just the build up. How he's handling. The different eras. And everything. It's just. Again. A lot of the stuff. People complain about. Is pretty distracting me. I mean. Indy Garcia's on fire. He's great. But. Then you have. You know. Coppola making the mistake. Of having Sophia. Have to carry the movie. And I'm just like. Well. They wanted.

[00:35:49] They wanted. Winona Ryder. To play the daughter. And so then. They just did a career shift. Yeah. I gotta say this. I had. Family member. Who was in. The business. So to speak. He. My. My father's cousin. Frankie. Who was a low level. Numbers runner. And. He said. He said. What you saw in that movie. With. With all that stuff. Is like. 90% true. You know. I think it was like. The wild card. In that movie. Oh that.

[00:36:19] That's exactly it. He has the poker face. Which makes you believe. Why he got into law. And. Because he's bound by. Loyalty. As vetoed. Being his unofficial dad. But. I think also just. I think that's why. People also like this. Like. It. The whole. Both the first two movies. Alone. Alone. Are a giant chess game. Yeah. You don't know. You don't know who's going to. Or maybe poker. If you want to go that ambitious. Especially with the Cuba setting. Is like. You don't know who's going to fold first.

[00:36:49] And just be like. I got nothing. I got no ace. Up my sleeve. It's. Well. The way I look at it is. It's the downfall. Of Michael Corleone. Because. Yes. You got to think about it. He's. He's this war hero. You know. He comes back. He's living a good life. With his. With his girlfriend. At the time. Then he shoots. He shoots McCluskey. He shoots. So lot. So. He goes to Sicily. He's hiding there. He falls in love with this girl. Apollonia. They eventually find him. They kill her. In the car.

[00:37:19] And. You know. He comes back. He marries Kay. Kay to me. I hate Diane Keaton. In that movie. I'm sorry. I am part three. Yeah. She's such a. A whiny. You know. Shit. You know. No. She's just. She's not. You know. She's not. Of the fan. You know. Of. Of the blood. You know. She's. She's like. Michael. Who are those men? You know. Michael. No. Michael. Michael. What do they. They kind of do right. Or as a real ditz. But then. I think my main issue.

[00:37:49] With part three. Also is a lot of the betrayals. Kind of come out of left field. Like. When they're. When the Carleons are getting ambushed. By some. Gangsters who have. Like. Access to like. A police helicopter. I'm always like. What. What the hell is happening right now? What are they doing? So that's a so bad. It's good moment. I'm like. This feels like it belongs. In a stupid Schwarzenegger movie. Not in a Godfather movie. Okay. Everybody out of the room now. O.J. Simpson. Chase. Something. Yeah. There's O.J. Get in.

[00:38:19] You talk about Diane Keaton. In the second one. She kind of. Definitely. Cuts herself away from the family. When she admits to Michael. That she aborted the child. Yeah. Yeah. I like. But like. Like you guys are saying. I like. The setup. I just don't like. Always the line delivery. To where you're just like. Did Coppola just. Was he so in love. With all the actors. He couldn't give a little more direction. To everybody. Saying hey. It was an abortion. Michael. Okay. An abortion. And what's this Sicilian thing. And I'm like.

[00:38:49] Holy shit. What year was that though? You are. 74. That's why they couldn't say it. Yeah. Because you know. Look at Bea Arthur's interview. Let me tell you what I'm saying. Without saying. Yeah. Bea Arthur was interviewed about that. When she did. When. The first. Series. If she was on. She could say. Son of a witch. She couldn't say son of a bitch. Because it was syndicated. Right. I can remember watching that scene. It's a Sicilian thing. And my. My mother and my father. What does she mean by. My mother's like.

[00:39:19] What do you mean by Sicilian thing? My father had explained to her. You know. It's a thing where. You know. If you. You know. It's a male child. A male child. You know. It's an abortion. Michael. I didn't want to bring you. You know. She's just like. She becomes this like. Monster. I mean. She's more of a monster. When she says that to Michael. This Sicilian thing. That's why people like these movies. There's all this other subtext. And other contradictions. I mean. That's why we liked all these other. Soprano dramas. We would see. All these cold-blooded killers.

[00:39:49] Have a moment of truth. Come out of their mouth. You're like. Well. Interesting. These old double standards. Are kind of. Hitting each other. Square in the noggin. I mean. Carlo. You know. Oh. God. Connie's. Awful. You know. Husband. Michael. Of course. I think it's. Rid of. But I love how. He has a moment of truth. Before. They're getting rid of him. He's like. That's it. Break it all. You spoiled guinea brat. Break it all. Come on now. Yeah. Kill me. Be a murderer. Like your father. All you Carly owns. Are murderers anyway. And I'm just like.

[00:40:19] Funny. He gets it. It still doesn't make up. For being a piece of work. But man. You know that. You know that little farce. You and my sister played. I could see right through that. You know. I was like. I was like. Holy shit. You see. Well that's the other thing too. The more Mike. That's what I also kind of like too. Because he's logic first. And then he. Obtains the gangster skills. He starts seeing through everybody. To where. Once he gives you that gaze.

[00:40:49] You know. Everybody is not going to last the night. It's like. You are more trouble. Than you are worth. You are bringing disgrace to me. And my family. I'm getting rid of you. Well I love. I love when he's telling. He's telling Connie. In the second one. He's like. How about your son. Who was picked up for drug. You know. For drug possession. I had to bail him out. You know. Like. He's just. He's just telling Connie. Like you're a fucking waste. You know. As a mother. Yes. You know. And like. And like the thing that gets me the most. Is like. When Carlo dies.

[00:41:20] Yeah. I think. We all like that satisfaction. Of him dying. Getting. You know. Getting garrotted. By freaking. These people with infamous methods. Getting rid of a scumbag. It's an interesting twist. The way. The way. Pete Clemenza is just in the back seat. And he's just like. All right. Boom. Gets him. And the thing is. Why they. Why Clemenza did it. I always get a feel. This was not the first time. Clemenza had to deal with a crappy boyfriend. Well. No. No. No. No. What it was. Was that. Clemenza was a good friend. Was really close to Sonny.

[00:41:50] So when Sonny died. You know. He took it really hard. That's the other twist on it. Yeah. He's not doing this. Just because it has to be done. He's also doing it. Because he's also loyal to Sonny. It is funny. It's. But. I mean. There. There are some other great twists too. I mean. How about the fact that Willie. The hitman of the Carleone. You know. Betrays them for Frank. What? Remember. The other associate of Vito. Like. And he's doing business with Frito. And we're like. I don't have a good feeling about this. Which movie was this?

[00:42:20] I think it's in part two. Remember. Where. He's the other guy with glasses. Is. Hanging out with Frito. And Frank. But he's the. Auspicious looking guy. With glasses. And a mustache. Oh. Oh. Wait a minute. No. Wait. You're talking about. Willie Chi Chi. Willie Chi Chi. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And he. Okay. He's at. He's at the wedding. And he appears at the Senate. Frank Patanjali. No. Frank Patanjali's drinking out of the hose. That's what it is. He's like. What do you think. But Clemenza. He's just.

[00:42:51] He died of a heart attack. And Willie Chi Chi goes. That was no heart attack. But the thing is. Is that. He turns. He's like. He's like. They're asking all these guys about it. And like. He's like. He's like. I don't know what you're talking about. You know. He's like. He's just basically. Just making the. Making a joke of all the. All the fucking people. On the. The panel up there. You know. Because he knows. If he says something. That's it. Yeah. You're done. You know. He later is basically pressured into silence. It's interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:21] Right. Yeah. I. But see. Here's the thing. With all these. Complex. Material. Like we talked about before. We can still keep up with it. On repeat viewings. It's never. To the point of. That was. You know. Very over explained. Or poorly. Executed. No pun. It's like. We always. Find something out of each. Viewing. Richard Castellano was going to come back for part two. Oh really? He wanted. He wanted more money. And he wanted to write his own lines. And Coppola was like. No.

[00:43:50] We're not going to pay you for the money in the lines. Don't. Don't. You know. Don't bother to come back. So. They brought in. They brought in. Mike. Michael. Vigazo. Who was actually a. A well-known playwright. And an actor. And he's in one of the. That's right. Harry movies. And he comes in. And he plays Frank Pantangeli. I love Frank Pantangeli. Frank Pantangeli reminds me of. A lot of the people my father knew. Growing up. In my family. Who were like. You know. They were still. They were still speaking in Italian.

[00:44:20] This is becoming your unofficial biography at times. Oh no. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well trust me. Trust me. When I hear. James was a dangerous man. No no. When I hear some of the words. He just likes being a podcaster. When I. When I hear some of the words. That were bandy about. About certain people. I was just like. Oh I've heard that one before. You know. You've heard certain slurs. And everything. I heard. I heard certain slurs. That should not be repeated out loud. And I'd be like. Oh. You know. That's a funny word. That's a.

[00:44:52] Dad. What does Moulignon mean? Oh. I knew that one. Oh. That's how that's pronounced. Okay. Yeah. You heard it from the. Most Italian man on this podcast. The next day. Hey. Can I get a Moulignon over here? I'm looking at my. What is it? The other Mike. He wants. He wants to know more questions about. Trust me. When he says. When he says that. That. That goddamn Jew. I was like. I was like. What does he mean by goddamn Jew? Dad. What does he mean by.

[00:45:21] You'll find that later. You'll find that later. You'll find that later. You'll find that later. Don't repeat it. Don't repeat it. Don't say it. Don't think it. Don't repeat it. Tomorrow stubs his toe. That goddamn Jew. That's not how we say it. That goddamn. What are you watching? South Park? I can't. It's you. Okay. Given all the spoofs. You guys have mentioned. I would be amiss. If I did not mention.

[00:45:49] Whoever saw the Conan O'Brien turkey desk skit. Don't know what it is. He blew up. He would take a turkey and they would just show different ways in which they were blowing him up. And it was often by a drive-by shooting or a car explosion. And it was just a recurring gag. Like he would have a turkey at the table eating and getting its front slit. And he would just have this random just montage of turkeys getting blown up and killed. I'm like, Jesus, it's a total godfather. Very good. Very good. You see Drew Carey.

[00:46:19] Drew Carey did one where he had Ava Goh showed up and he's like, oh my god. You think he gave me one more time off the hook, Drew, for old time's sake? No. No, I can't. I can't. I think it was Ian Gomez and someone for like walking him off. And walking him off the set. Like they're going to whack him, you know. Oh my god. I need to rewatch that show. In God Thumb, it was nicer. They threw pennies or coins at him.

[00:46:49] What hurts when you flick it at your hand? It's probably a penny. So I have some trivia for you here on Reddit for Gil's point on what a fourth godfather would have looked like. Again, a movie buff can dream. So according to the original DVD commentary for part three, Coppola said that a fourth movie, the original script that he was going to work on with Puzo was going to have a structure similar to part two. And it was going to have Vincent, Andy Garcia's character in the 80s and 90s, back when cocaine

[00:47:17] is being a big part of their operations and showing how corrupt the family has gotten since Vito was so opposed to drugs back in the day. The second story would have taken place in the 30s and focused on Sonny, you know, who, you know, Vincent's the father was Vincent's father and contrast the golden age of the Carleone family with the decline of the family in Vincent's time. And Coppola wanted Garcia and Talia Shireback and De Niro to reprise the role of Vito.

[00:47:45] But they were also considering DiCaprio to play Sonny. Oh, thank you. So if you put him in it, then you're going to have to have him jumping off a boat. But so the first story would have been good to tie into Frank Lucas. Right. I think the Sonny thing would be conflicting because James Caan would have gotten sold by then and it'd be hard to fill those shoes.

[00:48:12] So, yeah, he said the scene from part three with Michael on the bench at the end was going to be incorporated into the film. Michael would meet Vincent and give him some advice and then die shortly after, as you do in these kinds of movies. And it was meant to mirror the scene in the first movie where Vito gives Michael advice and then dies, you know, of a heart attack afterwards. And see, that scene was really sad for me when I saw that. I'm like, say what you want about this backstory.

[00:48:41] He just, you know, the kid is having fun with him and he thinks, you know, granddad's playing dead. No, that might be the most realistic scene in the whole series. It's a very realistic looking. It looks like it's a hidden camera. They're just filming. You know, that's what I was saying. The voyeuristic camera angles is like, I feel like I'm looking over someone's fence seeing an innocent. The thing that gets me is everybody thinks the kid killed Vito because he's spraying him with the...

[00:49:10] Well, it is that kind of irony. Yeah. If I die, I don't want to die with an orange peel in my mouth. Yeah. When he scares the kid with the orange, that was just... It shows you the kind of calisthenia we had back then. It's like the kid didn't know it was coming too. He had a genuine reaction. You're right.

[00:49:34] So that's why they probably tied that in with Al Pacino's character at the end with his death and he's holding an orange. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. I never thought of it that way. And if you watch the book of Boba Fett... It all comes back to Star Wars. A little tribute to the Godfather who's walking around and there's a fruit stand and he grabs an orange. And I went, oh, great, great. Oh my God! Now I have to rewatch that. Yeah. The most blatant Godfather ripoff in Star Wars. You want to know something really funny?

[00:50:04] When they were filming this... There was one scene they were filming and he talks... He's talking... And Joe... The guy who's in the three. The guy who played Joey Zaza. Joe... Joe... Joe Manchin. Joe Manchin. Joe Manchin. Oh, I have a funny story for you before you continue. I had a pal in college who's gone on to be a freelance editor in LA. He's even met Danny Trejo. Yeah. I... You know, we all...

[00:50:34] Just like we have to convince people that movies they think are bad aren't that bad, like James' conversation about his... With his ex-wife. I... I... For the life of me, I was always... He hated Joe Mantegna just because of that movie. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Mantegna. He's a great comedic actor, serious actor. And he's like, oh, but I... He's so bad in part three. I'm like, I think he's fine. It's just the character's not... Well, here's... Go ahead. Here's what I find out. He's sitting... He's sitting with Coppola one day.

[00:51:03] And Coppola... They're doing the scene. And he's like, you know... I was asking him... Who played the baby in that... In that movie? You know... The baby who's getting christened. And Coppola said... You see my daughter, Sophia? He's like... That was her being christened. Yeah, that's right. In the christening scene in one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like... She plays a boy and a girl. Oh, no. So true. I love... I love the part where she says... You know, Michael...

[00:51:32] I gotta take care of some business. And he comes back to the house... And there's Carlo just sitting there going like... I'm fucked. I'm fucked. I'm fucked. You know, I'm like... You brought it upon yourself, pal. Nobody else did. You brought it upon yourself, buddy. So, yeah. No. But the most blatant Star Wars knockoff of The Godfather... Has to be... Execute Order 66. Yeah. That... That... Again, just the montage. The one theme is playing while you're seeing various things happening all at once. It's like... Yeah.

[00:52:02] Lucas... I think I did see some stories somewhere where Lucas even asks Coppola's permission. You know, permission to rip you off. My mentor. Is that in the third Star Wars movie? Right. That's the revenge of the Sith. Yeah. Palpatine is having the clone troopers go all Nazi. Execute Order 66. Yes. While I'm at a christening. As you wish, sir. Yeah. As you wish, sir. But... There is another movie from 1998... 98...

[00:52:32] That I absolutely love. That is almost directly a... Not just a knockoff, but a homage. But an outright parody of The Godfather. Mafia. Mafia. Mafia. Oh, God, yeah. That's where Lloyd Bridges plays. The minute you said 98, I'm like... I love that movie. That's the one where Lloyd Bridges is the godfather, right? Yes. Directed by Jim and Ramsey.

[00:52:54] There's another movie that came out in the same year that kind of plays into the hitman side of the mafia bit. And done really well. It's called The Big Hit. I see. Yeah, I kind of remember that. Yeah. Lou Diamond Phillips. Marky Mark. Yeah. Yeah. Ironically, both these movies have... Christina Applegate. Wow. Oh, wild. Wild, wild, wild. Godfather characters would you put in other movies?

[00:53:23] I feel like... It's hard to remember, but they might have even done some sort of godfather-type parody. They had to. They did. They did. Something to do with the shoes, right? Yeah. And they had something similar in Community. They had something very similar in South Park when they had the Tooth Fairy. And Belzer. And Belzer. No, they did. Belzer. I'm going to cut off your balls. Belzer played the godfather. Yep. Did the voice. I'm going to remove your penis. Yeah.

[00:53:53] You know, I think the one thing that gets me is like, who do you think, like, in real life, did you... Do we know anybody? Like, I'm not saying mafia, because I knew some people on that thing, but... I know people who knew their dad was a crook and they never spoke of him because they left them a bastard, but I think... Well, I had an uncle hold up a gas station, but that's about it. Oh, Jesus. Which gas station? I don't remember. I don't remember. Was it a word tripper? Oh, well... I got the ultimate story for you.

[00:54:23] When I was about five or six years old, we visited my father's cousin, Frankie, who I loved dearly. He was a great man. Nice man. He was a great man. He was a flat-sheet man. He was. He was a good man. I know. I'm sorry. I'm just making fun of what people say about JFK. I know. No, but this guy, this guy, God bless him. We went to this place called the Clam Broth House in Hoboken, right? And we're eating dinner, and there were a bunch of guys in the room with pinstripe suits on. Oh, Jesus. With bulges under the suits. Oh.

[00:54:52] Yeah. And under the suit jackets. They're packing some big dicks. No. Packing... Hey, this guy. He gets around. He gets around. Wherever your head is, keep it out of there. So anyway... I don't want to suck it. So what happens is... So what happens is, you know, little old me, I go to my uncle Frankie, my cousin Frankie, and I go... I call him Uncle Frankie. Uncle Frankie, are you in the mafia? And the whole room went silent.

[00:55:22] And these guys are in the back, and my mother is just thinking, oh, shit, we're going to get shot. I can see it now. And these guys just start looking, they go, funny kid, funny kid, funny kid, you know. Oh, my God. He told stories about how they would do the books, right, at the end of the year. So the guy who was the boss would say, here's a grand, go get yourself Chinese food.

[00:55:49] So they would order from New York and have the Chinese food delivered over to New Jersey. And then they would go... My father and my father and my uncle went to dinner with them one night with my aunt and my mom. And they went to this Chinese place in Hoboken or Weehawken or something like that. And they said, oh, table for Mr. Vassalo right here. Clear table number 25. And my mother was thinking, there must be people eating at that table. They're telling them, go clear that. Go sit at that table over there.

[00:56:19] And it was like, it's like my father's cousin was like, Frank, you like lobster? Yeah, I like lobster. All right, give him the Hong Kong lobster. You like ribs? You like ribs? Let's get some ribs. I mean, the whole thing, they knew him by name. Like, you know, yeah. Yeah. And... No pressure. When they were... When they went to the house one time, my father... My father... My father's talking to his cousin, my uncle Frankie. He's like, he's like...

[00:56:47] He's like, Frank, what's your suit size? I'm about a, you know... I don't know. 44 long. 44. Yeah, he's like 44 long, 46 long. He's like, come on in the back. I want to show you something. So he goes in the back and they had a railroad apartment, which is basically just like... Oh, baby. I want to show you something. So... Watch it. So, uh... I'm just kidding. I'm pulling it out. So what happens... So what happens is... He opens up the closet and there are Brooks Brothers suits hanging up on the...

[00:57:16] Hanging up on the railings. Radical. That fell off a truck. A freaking truck. Fell. Fell off a truck. So my father had these three nice Brooks Brothers suits that he had, you know, they were jackets or something like that. And he's like, yeah, they fell off a truck. Don't say anything. They just fell off a truck. You know, which means... Which means they were... Stolen. Yeah, stolen. Oh, no. Stolen. So that's what's happening. Stolen. It sounds like a take of it.

[00:57:46] Stolen. I will find you and I will wear you. I don't know who you are. Where's my Brooks Brothers? Are you looking for suits? I don't have any. But what I do have is a particular set of skills. My father had a sweatsuit, like a sweatsuit from like, I don't know, like some designer that was like, you know, maybe $300. Just give it to him. Here, take this. This size. Take it. I was like, what? Just take it. Take it. Don't worry about it. Take it.

[00:58:15] You know, he's like, you know, that's what it was like, you know. Shut the mafia up. Stop talking about your goddamn kidney family. Stop talking about the goddamn wops in your family, for Christ's sake. No problem. My wife, my wife is part Dutch and part Irish, and she swears better in Italian than I do. Hey, fucking watch it.

[00:58:45] I thought I heard it. I think Jabba. No, she said Bafang. She said Bafangu. Oh, okay. Bafangu. So did your dad ever have a moment like in Goodfellas with, uh... I always wanted to be. Right over there. Back there. Just, no, they're over there. Go back there. No, I gotta go, you know. My dad was so, like, kind of like, I don't know where these people, you know. He'd be like, we don't talk about those people in the family.

[00:59:13] You know, he'd just be like very kind of like quiet about it. But I'd be like, I'd be... But my... We found out later that, um... I never told anybody this story. My... My father had a cousin, Gino. And Gino was in the, uh... Remember those coffee machines you get? Like in the coffee vending machine business, right? So we get a phone call one day from my cousin Marie. And, uh... What about Donnie? Oh. And, uh... My husband's my bad.

[00:59:41] Cousin Marie goes, Jay, can you put your father on the phone? I'm like, why? Oh, yeah. Why? What's going on? She's like, uh, just put your father on the phone. And, uh... She's like... I'm like, okay, okay, Marie. I'll get your shine box. Sorry. Yeah, so... So... Marie gets on the phone with my father. Marie gets on the phone with my father. My father's like, oh. Oh, Jesus. Oh, my God. Okay. All right. All right. When is it? Okay. I'll tell you.

[01:00:10] I'm going to be in Ohio, but... Sandy will go. My mother will go. So he gets off the phone. He's like, Gino died. Now, my... I was like, Gino died? Yeah. It's like, Jesus, what happened? He just fell down an elevator shaft. Oh, Jesus. Damn. Okay. Just pulled an LA law on us. No, no, no, no. No, Jack. This is what happens. I know. It's real. I'm just saying. So my... My... My... My... My... My father... My father and my... They go to the...

[01:00:39] They go to the wake. All right. So there's Gino in the coffin. You know, he's made up. Yeah. And my... My uncle and... My uncle Joey and my... My cousin Frank... Like, you're talking to my mother. And they said... They think what happened was... Was that... He had a loan given to him by some people. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. And he... He didn't pay it up in time. And, you know, he's... Basically, how do you...

[01:01:09] How do you fall down a... How do you fall down a warehouse elevator alone? So put two and two together. So he thinks... The mob gave him some dough. And then they were like... Pay up within six weeks. And he was like... It's just like when you have a friend who's a gambler. And you don't hear from him. You're like... Yeah. Who's the elephant in the room? And are they here at this funeral? Yeah. My mother said that when she was walking up to the casket, she looked to the left and there

[01:01:38] was a flower arrangement that looked like a cup of coffee with steam coming off of it. Oh, my God. Oh, God. Yeah. She was like trying hard not to laugh. And then she walks up to his wife and she looks at the necklace she's wearing and it's a little coffee cup with a spoon on it. And she's like, I'm sorry for what happened. She's covering her mouth and she's going like, I tried hard not to laugh during the funeral, Frank. I couldn't help it.

[01:02:07] You know, she almost busted out laughing. And my father was like, I know, I know. That's how they are. I know. Because this is the side of the family. My grandmother's side of the family. My grandmother Anna's side of the family. You know, Hoboken, Secaucus, New York. You know, very, very, very Italian. You know, which is something my father. Italian. Yeah. I-A-F. Yeah. I-A-F. Italian as fuck.

[01:02:35] And you watch the movie Goodfellas. Okay. When Lorraine Bracco's characters in the scene, you know, the scene when they're doing the wedding shower, all the women around. That's my father's. That's my father's family right there. Oh, jeez. Oh, yeah. Make a mental note. They could not, they could not, they could not understand why my father married my mother when he could marry a nice Italian girl. And they did, and they did the first time.

[01:03:04] Hey, you gotta marry a sweet, Frank, you gotta marry a Polish girl? Why do you gotta marry a Polish girl? Well, I love her. Yeah, but Frank, Frankie, this is, there's Italian women out there. My father did not want to marry an Italian woman. You know, I could understand it. I could understand it. You know. You gotta break tradition, man. Break tradition. Break tradition. Unless your legs were broken. But other than that, you're- Hey! You gonna marry her now, ain't ya?

[01:03:33] You gonna marry her? Knocked her up? You knocked her up, Frank? Huh? You knocked her up? Well, I didn't knock her up. No, you knocked her up, didn't you? Shut up. I'm gonna rip you right in the fucking jaw, pal. You know, I think that's the- That's the thing that gets me, is like, I have an Italian- I tell people, I have an Italian family. I know they exist. I'm- I know most of them, but some of them, I just don't want to know. Some of them, they're so- They're so off the boat, it's like, it's not even funny. That's even funnier. Uh, yeah.

[01:04:03] When they're on- I don't know you! I- I'm off the boat. I met- I met my- I met my grandfather's, uh, cousin, my grandfather's nephew, Talud. That's a great name for a guy, Talud. His name's with toilet. Oh! And he- It all comes back to toilets. He was- He- So here's what happens. My father said he had a nose so big, if he smoked a cigar in the shower, the cigar wouldn't get wet. What the hell? So- So-

[01:04:33] So we go over their house one time for a party, and I'm like, I don't know who- I don't know who to talk to, I don't know who the hell anybody is, they're like- But I- I would get- I would get money from people, that's the only thing I know. What's your name? J.J.? Uh, you're Frankie's boy? Yeah. Here's $20. Go buy yourself a Pepsi. Yeah. Yeah. Here's $20. Do get my shot. Get a cannoli. Yeah. Here's $20. Go, go, go, go, go spend it in college. I'm like, okay.

[01:04:59] And I would go to these parties, and I'd be like going, 100, 200, 300, 400. I pulled down a good amount tonight, you know. So what happens is, um, my mother- Is anyone ever in a sentence with, hey? Or is that just a- Yeah, every- Oh, Jesus. No, but I'll tell you what happened, though. Like, they were playing poker, right? Yeah. And my mother comes walking by, and my mother was a good card player. So they go, hey, Sandy, you want to sit in for some cards? She's like, yeah, sure. Uh, what are you playing?

[01:05:29] We're playing a poker, five cards. She's like, oh, yeah, okay, no problem. She cleaned everybody out that night. And my cousin Vinny, my father's cousin Vinny said, I don't want her playing with cards with us ever again. She's a goddamn card shark. Goddamn, goddamn son of a, you know, swearing at a time. My father was like, come on, let's go home. Let's go home. Let's go home. I think that your cousin Vinny hates the movie based on him. I never saw Vinny ever again. I never saw Talud. I never saw Vinny.

[01:05:58] I never saw anybody of that ever again, because I'll tell you right now, I am like, I'm just, I feel like I'm like, I feel like I'm watching like when I'm in the room, when I was in the room with them, a lot of times I felt like my intelligence go down like five points, 20 points. Cause they were like, well, I'll, I'll give you a case in point that there, they were, they were, they lived in like, I don't know where they lived, like somewhere in like Secauble. So I don't know where they, but they were. So this is interesting.

[01:06:28] Cause you watch these movies. You think some people are validated by them. Others might find it traumatic and others might be like, I heard, I heard, I heard a couple of terms that were not really good to use in public. Um, especially when some people were moving into the neighborhood, you know, and I found out, I found out later about my grandfather, you know, with my uncle Ernest and my uncle Dominic, you know, they would be like, Hey, the goddamn Moulinions are moving.

[01:06:54] And I was like, what the, whoa, you know, you know, and my father was like, dad, they're just moving in. Don't worry about it. They're, they're nice people. No, I don't like them. I don't like them at all. You know, dad, it's fine. You don't even know them. We don't need color in the neighborhood. It's fine the way it is. If I come out and my wheels, if I come out and my wheels are missing from my car, I know who to blame.

[01:07:25] Jesus. He was first. All right, Stan. Mel Karen. Jesus. It was like, it's like they're moving across the street. Yeah. Italian Kyle. Italian. Yeah. They were, they were, oh my God. I mean, sometimes, sometimes I would hear, I'd hear words of like my, my, my, my, those, and he would use the, uh, the N I. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Not my father.

[01:07:54] Not my father. Not my father. Not my father or my uncle. But Frankie would say it once in a while. I'd be like, the are moving in. And you know what they're going to do with the neighborhood? They're going to make it. And I was like, oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. My mother would just sit there. My mother would just sit there sipping her tea going, oh, okay. You know, Jesus. Here you go. Don't want to be here right now. Don't want to be here right now. Yeah. He would give his opinions and his opinions were so unfiltered. They were like, you know, no trap door at all.

[01:08:23] Just boom, boom, boom. I'm like, get the street sweeper, Mikey. The street sweeper. Oh, my God. Long story I know about a street sweeper. Please tell. Wow. Please, please tell us your opinion, sir, about what happened when they moved in. Oh, my God. That's, that's a part of my life. I just go, you know, I'm happy to be Italian. I'm happy to be, you know, I'm glad I'm Italian.

[01:08:51] There's some points are just like, where did we go wrong? I don't like pizza anymore because of my family. I should have been born British. I would have had. Bloody hell. Fucking say. I've never, I've never done Ancestry.com, but, you know, I've been told I'm English, Dutch, Irish, German, and Indian. My brother, my brother would really like us to focus on the Irish part.

[01:09:19] And I'm like, no, I said, Chad, we're just months. Let's just get used to it. Yeah. Well, I'll give you, I'll give you, I'll give you mine. Mine's my, my father's Italian full, full, full FBI, full blooded Italian on his side of family. My mother's side, it's, it's English, Irish, German, Swedish, Ukrainian, Polish. What the fuck? Oh, wow. Yeah. Ukrainian, Polish, because where my, where I found out where my grandmother was from,

[01:09:47] it was like, it was still the Prussian empire. So where they were, where they were. In Russia, you'll be dead. In the, in the, in the one part of the house, it was Poland. The other part, it was the Ukraine. So like, come to Prussia. Come to Prussia. Come to Prussia. It'll be depressing. Very depressing. Very depressing in Prussia. Yeah. And then, and then, you know, I find out, you know, I find out, yeah, you know, we're

[01:10:17] like, we're from all over Europe. And I'm like, so we basically are the Axis. What the floor was this guy? Colonizer. Yeah. We're the Axis and the allies of, of World War I. What the hell is this shit? You know. Oh my God. X marks the spot. X marks the spot. I almost did my drink. Oh. Oh. Oh. So. Yeah. What do you think, sirs?

[01:10:45] What do you think, sirs? I had to do a family tree and I found out like my, my father's side of the tree is just like, boom. My mother's side of the tree is like, you know, where do we go from here? Wait. And I find out one of my family basically left King George's army to fight on the continental and the continental army. My like great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Robert Cox. He was the Frito of the family. He was like, why are you leaving?

[01:11:15] Cox, why are you leaving? Why are you leaving? Two George's army. I mean, well, I want to go to the other army. Why? The food's better. Like, yeah. Like, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my great, great grandfather sounded like Chico, Chico Marks when he talked. Oh, geez. I was just about to make a Hessian joke. Okay. The reason why he left the army was because of the facts. Federico Franco needed the money. Does he need to say it? He needed it. Oh, Lord.

[01:11:44] I got, I got like, I got like pictures of my family at their wedding and it's like one side looks like the Waltons. The other side looks like the Godfather. It's like, you know, you could tell who's on whose side. You know, everybody on my mother's side is very nice and way. You know, they're like very, you know, we keep a Christian household. The other side's like, Hey, right here, baby. You know, I can think it now with the Waltons. Well, well, this is how we do this here on the ranch. Where I meet people.

[01:12:10] My grandmother, my grandmother's face in my, my father's, when my mother and my father got married, my grandmother's face is like going, I can't believe she married that grease ball. You know, I swear to God, my grandmother is not, my grandmother's giving that smile. I was like, I know he's Italian. I know he's loud. Oh no. I know he's loud. I know. I know. I know. He's got so much fun.

[01:12:39] Listen to God. Can what? Bastard. You're going to be bleeping a lot of this shit out. I know. Hell no. I don't believe anything. I don't even believe he's supposed to be reading that. My grandmother, you look at my grandmother, you look at my grandmother's face that day of the wedding. My mother and my father are happy as ever. My grandmother's like, I can't believe this goddamn grease ball is going to move into my house. You know, I got to eat goddamn spaghetti all the time and veal parmesan. I can't take it anymore.

[01:13:09] You know? Oh my God. My father, if you guys had met my father, you would have loved him. He's a great guy. You know? He was a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. Very nice guy. Very nice guy. But you escaped intact, so that's good. Next week. We don't get iced. Follow us on the web on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

[01:13:36] The podcast is available on Podbean, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Anchor, Apple, and anywhere else podcasts are available. Feel free to review our show and leave comments on any of those sites. Thanks a million for listening. It's a Jackdown Review Show. It's a Jackdown.