The making of The Godfather

It’s now considered a movie classic, says Peter Bart, but the filming was a fiasco of ego and insecurity

The Last Word: The Godfather
(Image credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

FROM THE MOMENT The Godfather hit the best-seller list, early in 1969, Bob Evans and I knew that the rules of the game would change. As the heads of production at Paramount, we had been dealing with this underdog project — a manuscript by an obscure author, Mario Puzo, which had been transformed into a gripping screenplay by a still-obscure writer-director, Francis Coppola. But now The Godfather had become, by Hollywood standards, a hot property. "I suppose we should be thrilled about this," I told Evans, "but I feel a chill, not a thrill."

Within days, my chill seemed prescient. Million-dollar offers to buy the book arrived from top producers like Dino De Laurentiis and stars like Burt Lancaster. Next came the second-guessing from the hierarchs in New York. Every top executive at Paramount and at Gulf & Western, the parent company, was now poring through The Godfather and knew exactly who should direct the film and star in it.

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