Leone was approached as a potential director of The Godfather, but turned down the offer in order to work on his prohibition era crime epic Once Upon a Time in . Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson also turned down the part. Conrado San Martn, See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc, Character Repeats Someone Else's Dialogue. Maltese Falcon. . Stars: [66], Many people (including Schickel) assume that the 1968 Frisbee scene, which has an immediate cut and gives no further resolution, was part of a longer sequence. [16] The producers refused, partly because of the commercial and critical failure of Bernardo Bertolucci's two-part 1900, and Leone was forced to further shorten it. (1971). Julia Roberts was offered the part but turned it down to make Pretty Woman instead. Sergio Leone Leone shot A Fistful of Dollars under the pseudonym Bob Robertson, believing it would be better received as an all-American product. Read our extensive list of rules for more information on other types of posts like fan-art and self-promotion, or message the moderators if you have any questions. My 10 favorite mob movies - Baltimore Sun Jason Robards, Votes: Often referred to as the godfather of the Spaghetti Western, Sergio Leone is the man behind the classic Dollars trilogy, which consisted of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which gave the world Clint Eastwood. 132 min | Mickey Knox, Actor and Sergio Leone Writer, Dies at 92 [32] He had discussed doing the project throughout the 1960s1970s, and he started seriously considering it towards the end of his life.[33]. Director: James Woods, Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Do you think it would've been better? Sergio Leone - Timenote [29] Richard Godden defended Leone's representation of rape that it "articulates the dysfunction between bodies in images and bodies themselves." Claudia Cardinale, Is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly a prequel to the two other Eastwood spaghetti westerns? [28] In his book, Leone scholar Christopher Frayling argues that the movie's central gang are all emotionally stunted: " like small boys obsessed with their equipment who have no idea how to relate to flesh-and-blood women."[30]. [33], In March 2011, it was announced that Leone's original 269-minute version was to be re-created by a film lab in Italy under the supervision of Leone's children, who had acquired the Italian distribution rights, and the film's original sound editor, Fausto Ancillai, for a premiere in 2012 at either the Cannes Film Festival or Venice Film Festival. It's been a while since I read the book, but IIRC, the films are pretty faithful to it. Then, when the studio pressured him into making a sequel, he made The Godfather Part II as an arguably even greater film. Robert De Niro and James Woods created gangster icons for Sergio Leone's mob masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in America. | Georges Marchal, David Carradine and Martin Sheen auditioned for the role and Tommy Lee Jones was briefly considered. Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. I can see him casting De Niro as Michael, since he loved working with him on "Once Upon A Time In America". The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) 1959's The Last Days of Pompeii marked Sergio Leone's directorial debut - if unofficially. Movies that make you think: 14. The late Italian director Sergio Leone Its about Sergio Leone, Francis Ford Coppola, two all-time iconic gangster movies like The Godfather and Once Upon a Time in America and a dedication to their own principles by certain filmmakers that is poetry. [9][10][11] After watching his father work on film sets, Leone began his own career in the film industry at the age of 18 after dropping out of law studies at the university. According to the documentary Once Upon a Time, Sergio Leone, the film opened in medias res as the camera goes from focusing on a Soviet hiding from the Nazis' artillery fire to panning hundreds of feet away to show the German Army Panzer divisions approaching the walls of the city. What would the movie look like if Leone had accepted the directing job? At the party, Noodles meets Bailey, who reveals he is actually Max and that he faked his death with the help of the police and Syndicate, stole the gang's money and reinvented himself as a self-made, Teamsters-connected politician. | Before its release, however, it was ruthlessly edited by Paramount, which perhaps contributed to its low box-office results in the United States. Director: John Cassavetes and Peter Falk both lobbied for the role, while Bruce Dern, Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman all auditioned for it. [23][24] He devoted 10 years to this project, based on the novel The Hoods by former mobster Harry Grey, which focused on a quartet of New York City Jewish gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s who had been friends since childhood. What if Sergio Leone had directed The Godfather? : r/movies - Reddit | Gross: | Gross: It may not display this or other websites correctly. Its very difficult to do, but I try not to romanticize too much. Updated on May 22nd, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: The Godfather trilogy has become an iconic cinematic experience and a must-see for any movie fan. Director: [13], The beach scene, where Max unveils his plan to rob the Federal Reserve, was shot at The Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, Florida. 'The Godfather' 50th Anniversary: Al Pacino, cast recall tense first Rory Calhoun, According to biographer Sir Christopher Frayling, Leone was deeply hurt by the studio-imposed editing and poor commercial reception of Once Upon a Time in America in North America. The film gained a mediocre reception at several sneak premieres in North America. They stash half their earnings in a railway station locker, giving the key to "Fat Moe", a friend not directly involved in their activities. A treatment for an "Americanized" Western was written by Leone, Luca Morsella, and Fabio Toncelli. But they feel exploited too, Unionized hotel workers reach deal with biggest employer on eve of July 4 weekend and planned strike, UCLA to expand in downtown L.A. with purchase of historic building for satellite classes, Lakers free agency: Heres the latest about how their plans are shaping up, This nun defends migrants. I remember liking Twixt, but it's been a while, need to check it . His relatives and close friends stated that he talked about filming a remake that was closer to the original novel, but it never advanced beyond discussions to any serious form of production. Born on 3 January 1929[8] in Rome, Leone was the son of the cinema pioneer Vincenzo Leone (known as director Roberto Roberti or Leone Roberto Roberti) and silent film actress Edvige Valcarenghi (Bice Valerian). Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down an escaped Mexican outlaw. A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery. In 1987, Sergio Leone contacted his old collaborators Sergio Donati and Fulvio Morsella, pitching an idea for a TV miniseries about a Colt revolver that passed from owner to owner throughout the Old West, similar to Anthony Mann's film Winchester '73 (1950). Noodles only wants to believe the reality he has created for himself, not an objective one. He was an actor, known for The Godfather Part II (1974), The Godfather Part III (1990) and The Money Pit (1986). The plot was to focus on an American photographer on assignment (whom Leone wanted to be played by Robert De Niro) becoming trapped in Leningrad as the German Luftwaffe begin to bombard the city. [15], By the end of filming, Leone had ten hours worth of footage. The report shows Jimmy O'Donnell, still a Teamsters boss, distancing himself from the Bailey corruption scandal. He was replaced as director by John Frankenheimer, while Mastroianni was recast with Richard Harris.[36]. The critically acclaimed film maker, whose credits include A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America, was 60. An aide said Leone worked all day Saturday and was to have flown to the United States today to sign a production deal. On 3 August 2012, it was reported that after the premiere at Cannes, the restored film was pulled from circulation, pending further restoration work. When Sight & Sound asked several UK critics in 2002 what their favorite films of the last 25 years were, Once Upon a Time in America placed at number 10. Godfather II. Frequent De Niro collaborator Chuck Low and Leone's daughter Francesca respectively make uncredited appearances as Fat Moe and Deborah's father, and David Bailey's girlfriend. Robert Redford and Ryan ONeal were initially on the shortlist for the part of Michael Corleone. Audience tension is maintained throughout this nearly three-hour film by concealing both the hero's identity and his unpredictable motivation until the final predictable shootout scene. The film was shown in limited release and for film critics in North America, where it was slightly trimmed to secure an "R" rating. Director: Francis Ford Coppola adapted Mario Puzos crime epic The Godfather into one of the greatest films of all time. Learn how your comment data is processed. Reddit, Inc. 2023. 10 Times Different Directors Almost Made Iconic Movies (That Would Have The most curious thing is the list of other directors who was contacted after Leones refusal, before coming to Francis Ford Coppola: Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Yates, Richard Brooks, Arthur Penn, Costa-Gavras and Otto Preminger. View all posts by Carlo Affatigato. Sergio Leone Movies - IMDb Its the anecdotes, the curiosities, that make history magical. After Dennis Farina and John Turturro were considered for the part, the job was offered to Sylvester Stallone. By Tony Sokol | September 7, 2021 | | 0 Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures This. Plus, Anne Bancroft and Anna Magnani are both reported to have turned down the role of Carmela Corleone. Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots. Sergio Leone GOAT : r/movies - Reddit [5] The cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the film score by Ennio Morricone. [41] This special edition was re-released on 11 January 2011, on both DVD and Blu-ray. During this period, Leone also directed various award-winning TV commercials for European television. [19][12], Leone continued to produce, and on occasion, step in to reshoot scenes, in other films. Eli Wallach, Doesn't that depend on the script & how close it is to the book? Roman Roy, Harley Quinn, and more morally ambiguous characters we hate to admit we totally love. [52], On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Once Upon a Time in America has an approval rating of 87% based on 55 reviews, with an average score of 8.50/10. Coppola hadnt actually been the studios first choice to direct The Godfather. According to Christopher Frayling's book Something to do with Death, Leone knew a great deal about the American Old West. And seriously, would it have been the greatest movie of all time? Sergio Leone was so freaking ahead of his time. 1941. Posted by u/[deleted] 8 years ago. Considering Leone turned it down to make his own gangster movie would him directing it take different focus? Coppola felt bad about turning down Welles, so he offered him the role of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, but he turned it down. They try searching for the buried treasure left behind in an unmarked grave outside Atlanta in "A Place Only Mary Knows". An Interview with Sergio Leone (1987) - AMERICAN SUBURB X The Godfather directed by Sergio Leone | alternatehistory.com Meanwhile, Joe Pesci was considered to play the younger Peter Clemenza. Noodles' 1968 meeting with Deborah was excised, and the scene with Bailey ends with him shooting himself (with the sound of a gunshot off screen) rather than the garbage truck conclusion of the 229-minute version. Lea Massari, [12] Interior scenes were mostly filmed at the Cinecitt Studios in Rome. | | Gross: Max foils one of their robberies but has the booty stolen from him by a corrupt police officer, Whitey. [16][19] Morricone also collaborated with vocalist Edda Dell'Orso on the score. Set during the height of the American Civil War, the story focused on a Union drafter, Mike Kutcher from Georgia, whose job is to enroll men into the Union Army. Once Upon a Time in America - Wikipedia The cast of The Godfather trilogy is one of the most incredible ever assembled including such screen legends as Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Talia Shire, John Cazale, and Robert De Niro but the movies could've starred very different actors. Leone abandoned this project in favor of A Place Only Mary Knows, though Donati wrote a treatment and the project remained in gestation for years after Leone's death. After spotting her in the retirement home's dedication photo, Noodles tracks down Deborah, still an actress. 1966. Sergio Leone GOAT : r/TrueFilm - Reddit [28][29] He was buried in the cemetery of Pratica di Mare. At the time of his death, Leone was planning to direct a major film about the siege of Leningrad by German troops in World War II. | Martin Sheen had a decent acting resume before auditioning for multiple roles inThe Godfather and although recognizable at the time he'd had mostly appeared in television guest spots and arguably hadn't had his big break yet with 1979's Apocalypse Now. A car can be seen passing by in the background when Tuco is balancing on the cross on the graveyard at the end of the movie. Clint Eastwood, Ironically, the Italian film maker who earned acclaim for his films on life in America, hardly spoke English and gave most of his directions through an interpreter. [36][37][38] However, Martin Scorsese (whose Film Foundation helped with the restoration) stated that he was helping Leone's children gain the rights to the final 24 minutes of deleted scenes to create a complete restoration of Leone's envisaged 269-minute version. Let's start with a story. She says both Texas and California used them as pawns, Review: The imaginative Nimona and the joys of Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, Review: From repair to renewal, Revoir Paris reveals a city rediscovered after a tragedy, Review: Stars manage strong performances in generic melodrama Prisoners Daughter, Review: Every Body, a radical text on the fight for rights and moving beyond pink and blue, Column: How profit-driven turmoil at Turner Classic Movies placed a vast cultural heritage at risk. Realizing that someone has deduced his identity, Noodles returns to Manhattan and stays with Moe. The uncut original film is considered to be far superior to the edited version released in the U.S. in 1984. | The project was canceled when Leone died two days before he was to officially sign on for the film. Approved Were the actors in danger? They enter a wayang theater, where the proprietors slip into a hidden opium den within the building and warn Noodles. For me personally, the attraction is the joy of making justice . | Gross: Having enjoyed Leone's Dollars Trilogy, Grey finally responded and agreed to meet with Leone at a Manhattan bar. It was the final film directed by Leone before his death five years later, and the first feature film he had directed in 13 years. Sergio Leone was born in Rome in 1929 to silent-film star Bice Valerian (Edvige Valcarenghi) and film actor/director Roberto Roberti (Vincenzo Leone). Considering Leone turned it down to make his own gangster movie. In 1968, Noodles is belatedly informed that the Beth Israel Cemetery is being redeveloped, and asked to rebury any loved ones. [24] In the United States, a heavily edited version of the film received a wide release in 894 theaters on 1 June 1984, and grossed $2.4 million during its opening weekend. At that time, the Italian director was already a star, the movies of his Dollars Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly) had defined the myth of Clint Eastwood and invented the so-called Spaghetti Western. [15] The interiors of the lavish restaurant where Noodles takes Deborah on their date were shot in the Hotel Excelsior[it] in Venice, Italy. Cuts were made to two rape scenes and some of the more graphic violence at the beginning. For the prequel storyline that runs parallel to the sequel storyline in The Godfather Part II, Coppola considered bringing back Marlon Brando to play the younger version of his own character, as he was convinced the actor had the ability to play Vito at any age. Stars: Cinema must be spectacle, that's what the public wants. When the original version of the film was released on home video in the US, it gained major critical acclaim, with some critics hailing the film as a magnum opus.[26]. Maybe Clint Eastwood would've been in it. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Moreover, the recent Once Upon a Time in the West had consecrated him as a filmmaker able to overturn the classic schemes of Western cinema, while still producing a film which was able to please every kind of spectator.Sergio Leone, by MalevolentNate (DeviantArt). A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery. The American distributors, The Ladd Company, further shortened it to 139 minutes (2 hours and 19 minutes), and rearranged the scenes into chronological order, without Leone's involvement. Especially to fans of his films. He was also an Italian director. Well Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather didn't come out until 1969 and Once Upon a Time in the West was released in 1968 so this probably wouldn't happen. He is later met with Deborah's aloofness when he watches her board the train to California. Despite the rearranging, no major scene deletions were made. William Devane was considered to play Moe Greene, Olivia Hussey was the top choice for Apollonia, and Pier Angeli was under consideration for a part, but died before shooting began. A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life. Anthony Perkins is still best known for one of his first starring movie roles as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and was certainly a well-known actor by the time The Godfather was being cast over a decade after Psycho was released. Some critics have noted the irony of an Italian director who could not speak English, and had never even visited the United States, let alone the American Old West, almost single-handedly redefining the typical vision of the American cowboy. Auralcrave is a registered trademark. Sergio Leone Duck, You Sucker! Yes, he was the original director asked to direct." It's hard to imagine how different Leone's The Godfather would be from Francis Ford Coppola's film. Stars: Western. Mickey Knox, Actor and Sergio Leone Writer, Dies at 92. A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad. In addition, Clint Eastwood stayed with the film series, joined later by Eli Wallach, Lee van Cleef, and Klaus Kinski. Affatigato also believes this could point to it all being the imagination of Noodles. Coppola even went to Cagneys house to discuss the role, but the Hollywood icon ultimately passed on the part. You must log in or register to reply here. The locations where the shooting took place were in and around US, Canada, Italy, and France, with a focal point in New York City. With the Good, the Bad and the Ugly he continued his upward trajectory and rounded off his dollars trilogy in style. Auralcrave founder, web content creator since 2010, life coach, husband, father, fond of art, culture, society, psychology, economics, politics, games. While internationally the film was well received in its original form, American critics were much more dissatisfied with the 139-minute version released in North America. Charles Bronson, [50] Ebert, in his review of Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, called the original uncut version of Once Upon a Time in America the best film depicting the Prohibition era. Considered one of the most legendary movie masterpieces of all time, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather could have had an entirely different cast. Elizabeth McGovern supported Godden's claim and said that Leone didn't intend to glamorize any "violent sex". Eventually The Godfather was released, Coppola made it, it was a huge success and it has been considered one of the most beautiful films ever, even for that romantic character used to treat a dirty topic like mafia. Sergio Leone hated the message sent by The Godfather when it was released, and obviously he hated the incredible success that the movie had. [57], Unlike its modern critical success, the initial American release did not fare well with critics and received no Academy Award nominations. RELATED:10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Godfather Trilogy You Can't Refuse. While finishing work on Once Upon a Time in America in 1982, Leone was impressed with Harrison Salisbury's non-fiction book The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad, and he planned on adapting the book as a war epic. 224,190 Clint Eastwood, One among them later confronted Robert De Niro in a press conference and made harsh comments to the film's depiction, describing it as "blatant, gratuitous violence. He believes that every area of knowledge has stories worth to be told and he's sure that doing it makes the world a better place. Henry Fonda, the ultimate good guy icon, was successfully cast as a villain in Once Upon a Time in the West, in which he guns down a child in cold blood and rapes the heroine (Claudia Cardinale). On their drive back, a frustrated Noodles rapes her in the limousine. Shooting was scheduled to begin sometime in 1990. In addition to his wife, the film maker, who made his home in both Italy and France, is survived by his children, Raffaela, Francesca and Andrea. Paramount originally wanted Sergio Leone to direct, then Peter Bogdanovich. In fact, he already had a clear idea of how to transport Mafia and gangsters into a movie: its what he was going to do with Once Upon a Time in America, a movie that will have a very slow production and will be released only 14 years later. Max and Noodles become best friends. Nevertheless, it was a huge hit in Europe, grossing nearly three times its $5million budget among French audiences, and highly praised among North American film students. [25] It ended its box office run with a gross of just over $5.3 million on a $30 million budget,[26] and became a box office bomb. The set design is immaculate, the music is outstanding with Ennio Morricone once again composing a Legendary Score, but the . Having the movie rights and the producer already designated (Albert Ruddy), the next step was to find the right director and there was no doubt about who was the first choice for Paramount Studios: Sergio Leone. Stars: Directors of all time. The Death of the American Gangster Film - YouTube Adventure, Western. Francis Ford Coppolas top choice for the role of Hyman Roth was James Cagney. Because of this early audience reaction, the fear of its length, its graphic violence, and the inability of theaters to have multiple showings in one day, The Ladd Company cut entire scenes and removed approximately 90 minutes of the film,[11] without the supervision of Sergio Leone.