FMC 046: The Godfather Directed and Co-Written by Francis Ford Coppola 1972

Full Episode Transcript
This episode of Filmmaker Commentary Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 masterpiece, *The Godfather*, examining its enduring impact, the director's commentary insights, and personal viewing experiences.

Opening Discussion and Film Overview
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, episode 46. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaking commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVD and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with
Casey G. Smith: Casey G. Smith.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back, sir.
Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, today we are talking about *The Godfather*, 1972, co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won three, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay based on material from another medium.
Casey G. Smith: Nice.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I know, man. That, that, they killed it with the awards.
Casey G. Smith: Oh yeah. I had no idea like how many it was nominated for. Had no idea.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Rightfully so.
Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm. It earned its keep.
Reginald Titus Jr.: We had a budget of $6 million. Is that correct?
Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Had a box office of $134 million domestically, $110 million foreign, for about $245 million worldwide.
Casey G. Smith: We are winning.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Dear God, cash cow.
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: $6 million and it's like $240, what?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. After that, you can have, what do you, what else do you want, sir, Ford?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right, right.
Casey G. Smith: We sorry. We, we, we doubted you and gave you such a hard time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Damn.
Casey G. Smith: Have your way.
Reginald Titus Jr.: This is, that's the way you're supposed to do it, man. Keep the budget as low as you can and just put all your heart into it and try your best.
Casey G. Smith: And the crazy thing is that this was this was over budget. Original budget was supposed to only be like two mil.
Casey G. Smith: And they wanted, they wanted this, they wanted this originally, the other screenplay was it really supposed to be set in modern times. So, like at the time, in the, in the, in the late '60s, early '70s. Uh, was going to be set not in New York, but like in Middle America. And Francis Ford came in and was like, this is not going to work. This needs to be a period piece. We need to show the progression of of America coming out of World War II. And because it was going to be a period piece, that obviously drastically increased the costs. Uh, and then shooting, uh, some of the, the scenes actually in, uh, in Sicily and, and doing, getting the Sicilian shots in, things like that, also brought that budget up to $6 million. But yeah, $2 million eventually was the initial, uh, budget for it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Let's go into the synopsis real quick.
Casey G. Smith: Let's do it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, if this is your first time listening to Filmmaker Commentary, please know that there will be spoilers. Reginald, you want to hit them off with the synopsis?
Reginald Titus Jr.: All right. Vito Corleone is the aging Don, head of the Corleone Mafia family. His youngest son Michael has returned from World War II. Just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone, his sister, to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael's family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for the Mafia families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but much against the advice of Don's lawyer Tom Hagen. The Don is morally against the use of drugs and turns down the offer. This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hitmen. The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart. *The Godfather*.
Casey G. Smith: Synopsis long like the movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, buddy.
Casey G. Smith: There's a lot going on here, ladies and gents. A lot going on. A lot of good stuff.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How did you first see this film and, you know, lead us from there?

First Impressions & Narrative Deep Dive
Casey G. Smith: All right, so I, whoof, I, this was, this was a movie that I just knew by reference for a good chunk of my life, into my, into my 30s. I just, I just never seen it. I mean, you get classic images, just this movie is so ingrained in pop culture. There's all kind of references, uh, and things you, you think you get but you don't get until you watch this movie. It's that seminal and that key, that important. Uh, it's a, it's a, it's a game-changer. So I watched it, man, maybe five, six years ago.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, finally, you know, I was having DVDs and Blu-rays come through Netflix. Had it come through, sat down, watched the, the, watched the movie, and it was like your eyes are open, I'm like, oh. That's why this is held as one of the greatest films of all time. That's why this is so seminal in pop, excuse me, in pop culture. Uh, that's why Pacino's career, you know, took off. Um, yeah, and, and having a chance to watch it again. Like, I, I had forgotten like how many twists there were. And, and it's like, I was like, I, I had forgotten a lot. And I was just like shocked. I was like, oh, oh, oh, no. Like, I, like, his, um, the scene where, where, where, uh, Michael's first wife in Italy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, you forgot about that scene.
Casey G. Smith: I forgot all about that. I knew he had to come back and I was like, man, what happens to his wife?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: And once she got in that car, I was like, surprise! I was like, no, no, no, no, no. It instantly came back. I was like, oh, no. Like, oh, man.
Casey G. Smith: So, I, I, I enjoyed, I enjoyed revisiting the film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow.
Casey G. Smith: And, uh, and just yeah, having, having just certain feels all over again. And that's that's pretty, pretty rare to be able to experience a film like that again. It's it's a heck of a film, man. It's a masterpiece. And now that you've seen this, part two, man, maybe next week, we'll hit up, hit up, hit up, hit up.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Is it just as long?
Casey G. Smith: Probably, yeah. I mean, it's, yeah, it's, it's, these are, these are, these are epics.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it's true.
Casey G. Smith: These are absolutely epics. But yeah, part two.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, man.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They, they got a little more of a budget and, uh, yes, sir. How about you? How were you introduced to *The Godfather*?
Reginald Titus Jr.: *The Godfather*. This is one of those films that's been around, but just never really got around to. You know, it's been in my family's collection. I remember, you know, being younger and seeing the VHS tapes along with like *Malcolm X* and *The Godfather* and *Scarface*. And these, you know, these films, they come with two VHS or three VHS tapes.
Casey G. Smith: You know what? I think my dad may have had this too.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it's there. I, I remember it's in my memories just like stacking, like two, three, four VHS tapes. I'm like, I probably won't watch those because you got to take the VHS tape, put in another one, like, my God, that's too long. That's too long. I was like, probably not.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, but, um, this is one of those films as a filmmaker, and I know we discussed it in the last episode. Um, I was like, this is in black and white, right?
Casey G. Smith: I have clearly not seen it, you know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man.
Casey G. Smith: We all, we, we all have our blind spots.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You know, we all have our blind spots.
Casey G. Smith: Because look, the, like the picture on the front, like is black and white. So I just assume, you know, like from all this, it's black and white, right? Yeah, I know about it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Cliff Notes.
Casey G. Smith: But, um, this is my first time watching it. You know, this time around, I was like, you know what, like, as a filmmaker, it's about time for me to watch it. This is one of those films, it's like, okay, this is in the, this is the classic list. So, hey, hey guys, sorry. But, um, I can see why so many people steal from this, this film.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's an epic, it's a lot going on. It's like, it felt like watching like a season of something.
Casey G. Smith: Mm. That's a good point.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's what it felt like.
Casey G. Smith: It's how you would have binged.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. That's what it felt like. It's like, I watched season one of Godfather. That's what it felt like. But , yeah, I really enjoyed it. Didn't especially like now being, I watched it with the wife, um, being a father and having kids and knowing like personalities are different.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's just like, dang. But, but being proud too, like, you know, they finally come around and then just like.
Casey G. Smith: And you have like the same, the same number too, as far as like, three boys and, and, and, and a girl.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: So you like, you want the best for your daughter, you don't want that to happen, but if something does happen, you want somebody kind of coming in and checking that. So it'll be one of the crazy brothers to do that. Always got to have a crazy brother, so. And we have, have a crazy son. So, that would happen.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You don't put your hands on my sister, you hear me? Touch her again, I'll kill you.
Casey G. Smith: He don't listen too well. Uh, So, yeah, , man, I really dug it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What did your wife think?
Casey G. Smith: She enjoyed it too. Yeah, but it was long, man. We were, we were fighting, we were fighting to get to it. But she was like crying on certain parts. Like, she was like, I don't know why.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's, it's, it's well done, man. There's, there's, it's got this wide range, you know, there's, there's emotion, there's, there's drama.
Casey G. Smith: It was a part when, uh, when the son comes back to check on the dad at the hospital. And he moves them, Al Pacino is moving them to another room. And then he's like, I got you, I got you. And then it says, the father starts smiling. That's my son, you know what I mean? Yeah. My wife started crying at that part. I was like, what? Like, this is like crazy.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, man. And, and then there's so many twists. There's so many twists and, and who can you trust? And, um,
Reginald Titus Jr.: In the crime family, you're in the crime business.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. And, and it's so wild, especially when once I went through with the commentary, when even watching it through this a second time, and just seeing Michael at the table with Kay, and he's talking about the, the story of, um, how his dad, um, got them to, uh, him, him and Luca Brasi, how they got, uh, the, the singer, I think Johnny, I think it was.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Fontane, Johnny Fontane. Yeah, how they got him out of his big band contract. You know, made him offer, you know, his, his, the guy, an offer he couldn't refuse. He said, that's a true story, you know, he said, but that's my family, that's not me.
Casey G. Smith: That's my family, that's not me. That, that, that, hearing that line, I'm like, oh, man, you know, where, where he goes by the end of the film. And that, that transformation, and how, how much time passes in this film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They don't show numbers. They didn't show numbers, like what year it was. They didn't tell you what city they were in. Even though you see New York plates and all that.
Casey G. Smith: They, they do say small things that give you an idea of the passage of time. Like when he finally comes back and he sees Kay, how long have you been back? About a year, maybe longer. Like, what?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Thanks for informing us. You know.
Casey G. Smith: Then when you see him again, he's getting in the car after he's asked her to marry him, later on, getting in the car, and they've got a, a son. What? And you find out his son's three years old. Yeah. What? So it's like,
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's true. They leave a lot of.
Casey G. Smith: Passages of time, but they do small things to give you an idea. Okay, a year here, a year there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Or his sister when she gets pregnant. Like, she's pregnant now. You know, you see at the very beginning it's the wedding, then all of a sudden she's pregnant. Like, okay, cool, nine months or so.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. So it's just like, wow. Time is, uh,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Very difficult to do. I don't see, you know, especially translating from a book to a film like this. And, you know, like you got to get rid of a lot of important stuff in order to put this into an actual movie.
Casey G. Smith: Well, Coppola mentioned in the commentary that there is, within the book, there's a whole subplot of some young lady who was having a surgery for her, like her, or something with her genitalia, that it was, they were too big. Something was too big. And so she had this surgery done and ended up falling in love with her doctor. And when he initially read all this, he was like, I don't want to make this movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: But he, he kind of was able to hone in and find this, this amazing family story that was in there. And so he left that, the, that subplot out and just focused in on this.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Good choice.
Casey G. Smith: And was able to glean that from, from Puzo's, uh, from Puzo's book. And,

Movies Watched & Life Lessons
Reginald Titus Jr.: Before we dive further, we're going to go into movies watched this past week.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What are some movies that you watched this past week?
Casey G. Smith: So I dove into *Aquaman*.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, dude. Like a billion, like a billion bucks at the box office, right?
Reginald Titus Jr.: You know what? It, it, it earned every bit of it. I, I went into Aquaman interested and hoping, hoping that it did well. Again, resident nerd here. I was pleasantly surprised, man.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: The, the visual effects.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow. Stunning. Like, they, they, James Wan, hats off to you and your crew, sir. You, you, uh, you broke some new, some new ground, uh, with things that they were doing, uh, obviously being, you know, a good chunk underwater. Uh, the visual effects. And make, man, making Aquaman a total BA. You know, obviously, Jason Momoa being cast is a, is a huge part of that.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But, you know, you see this in the promotional posters, you know, him in his, in the, in the eventually in the classic Aquaman colors, the green and the, and the orange with, with the trident. Um, and once that point comes, it's like, yeah. This is Aquaman, fool. Like, man, they, they really ramp him up. And, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a fun, it's a fun movie, but it feels, it feels epic. Not every joke lands. Some of the jokes a little, yeah, you know, so-so. But yeah, an enjoyable movie. Uh, I think, I think, I think you're, I think your son might enjoy it.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, it's just, it's just, yeah, this is a fun, just superhero popcorn movie.
Casey G. Smith: Compared to Spiderverse. They're both getting money at the box office right now.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They're both get money. This is, this is what Superman should have been. What Man of Steel should have been. To be able to capture that.
Casey G. Smith: The first Spider-Man? I mean, the first Superman?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, yeah, Man of Steel. Uh-huh. I feel this is what Man of Steel should have been, as far as what it's able to capture.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, and the, the kind of hope and, and, you know, Aquaman Arthur, uh, is, is, is, you know, here trying to find his, find his way, but this is also the DC Universe, the Worlds of DC, I think they're calling it now, kind of course correcting and, and becoming lighter in tone.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And this, this, this is, this is that. It's, it's much lighter in tone. It feels, it feels like a Marvel film almost. In terms of the, the, it's lighter. I mean, there's, there's still violence, uh, but the visuals are, man. Like, dudes like Black Manta, whoof.
Casey G. Smith: Money on the screen, huh?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man, yeah. Like, there's a sequel, I, I'd, I'd be in line. I, I would, I would, I would go and see, I'd see it opening weekend. Like, next Aquaman. I'd, I'd, I'd be there. I wouldn't wait.
Casey G. Smith: Well, I'm pretty sure they'll make one.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man. Yeah. This, this, this deserves to do as well as, as it's doing. They, they really, yeah, they knocked it out of the park.
Casey G. Smith: I stand corrected because, uh, it didn't look good.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hey, man. Yeah, you got to go, go, go, you got to go and see it for yourself.
Casey G. Smith: No, I take, I, when, the, when I hear y'all how excited y'all are about it, I'm like, okay, because y'all are the toughest critics, you know, when it comes to, uh, getting the source material right, how people look in their costumes. It's, uh, it's a tough audience. But if you get it right, you can cash in.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, you know, they were willing to, you know, take risks because obviously, Momoa's look is a, is a far cry from, you know, how Aquaman looks in the comic books.
Casey G. Smith: Right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, but that change, that casting by Zack Snyder, I got to give him mad props on that because, you know, going with someone who's of of Samoan descent. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Momoa is of Samoan descent and they're closest to the water, uh, with their people. It, it makes sense. But yeah, the, the, and performances in there, um, Nicole Kidman, you know, she gets some nice, some nice shine. Amber Heard gets some nice shine. Uh, Patrick Wilson, and his, in his role as the, uh, main antagonist. He does, he does his thing. Dolph Lundgren, you know, in the mix.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, but yeah, Aquaman, you're looking for just a fun, uh, fun movie, uh, good time, you take your family to it. Yeah, worth, worth checking out. How about you?
Casey G. Smith: I didn't have too much time this week. It's been a busy week. Um, but I did sneak in, this was like kind of playing in the background. Turned on Netflix and just had this playing. It's a, um, a short series. It's called InstaFamous. And so basically, they're just showing, uh, people that became famous from Instagram and how they make a living.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, wow.
Casey G. Smith: And it's probably like eight to 10 episodes if I'm not mistaken, and they're about 20 minutes a piece. Some of them are okay and then some of them are pretty awesome. So, InstaFamous.
Reginald Titus Jr.: InstaFamous. Okay. Well, the next thing I'll, I'll mention, I, I circled back around and, and watched the three more episodes of Young Justice on the DC Universe app. They're dropping episodes, three, three episodes every Friday. Which is cool. Man, once I go through those three, I'm like, man, I want more. Just loving it, man. Young Justice crushing it.
Casey G. Smith: Um, there's also another on, because me and my wife, we were just staying up and we were just playing this in the background and you just play something, you know, every now and then, I just want to play something that I'm not even, I don't even want to watch, but it's like, you know, you never know what you might stumble upon. And so InstaFamous is one of them. And then, uh, there was a, a show, I think it's called Tidy. It's this, um, Japanese woman who basically shows people how to clean up their houses and stuff like that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, wow.
Casey G. Smith: And it's, it's on Netflix. Like, she's like, has a book and she's, people like follow her system and things like that. Um, but anyhow, it's a Netflix series. So we just play, like, we might need some help here. Let's play that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, man, got some pretty good tips though on just like, just organizing life and like how after you do that, how you feel and how more efficient and more productive you are afterwards.
Casey G. Smith: Man, I, I agree, man. I, I tackled my, my car, right, just the New Year started, and that was a long time coming, man. I was pulling CDs out. Like, man, I think this band broke up. Like,
Reginald Titus Jr.: CDs? What are those CDs you speak of?
Casey G. Smith: That was originally called compact discs.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mm-hm.
Casey G. Smith: Listening.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, with, um, music compressed, uh, onto them. Um, able to, uh, then replay through, um, CD players. Uh, if you could find a portable version, it was also known as a Discman. You may find that in your, um, local museums nowadays. Thank you.
Casey G. Smith: But no, it, it, it feels good, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.
Casey G. Smith: You know, when you tackle things that maybe you've been waiting a while to get around to, and you do it, and you're like, yeah. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So that was one. I wouldn't recommend it just to watch the, like, there's like tons of episodes, but, man, they're drawn out. Like, you know, they're probably like, it felt like an hour, maybe it was 45 minutes. But they needed to edit those down. I mean, people's time is like, I'm all about the 20 minutes. Let's get in, let's get out, let's get it done.
Casey G. Smith: Right, right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: No fluff, you know.
Casey G. Smith: Especially when it's, when it's streaming, you know, made for streaming, and you're not, you don't have commercials in between. Like, it's not so much about the length, it's about just, like I said, either being succinct and, you know, depending on the nature of the, of, of the program.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right. So,
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, so that was the only drawback with that one, but it was pretty good. I played a little bit of, a little bit of video games. I played, uh, Madden 2017 with my, uh, with my son. I didn't think there'd be teaching moments in video games.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What do you mean?
Casey G. Smith: But, um, with football, he's really, really into football. He's 10 years old and, um, there's a mode on it called franchise mode. Basically, you can like, be the coach, general manager of a team. And a lot of sports games have like these functions where you can kind an be over a team and things like that or follow someone's career. Um, so you're responsible for like the money management of the team. And so, you know, I was able to teach him about cap. You know, what's a cap? You know, okay. So, and if you have a business, or you have this, and you're not breaking this down to him. If you have a business, you have this amount of money. Now, if you buy this care, you know, this person, I say buy person, but if you hire,
Reginald Titus Jr.: If you,
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, you know, contract with this person. Um, you know, is it worth $5 million or maybe get two people for $2 million? Or, you know, just kind of breaking those things down. So he's really understanding that. He's, um, and he's, it's crazy how like as a young kid, how much you absorb. Now that I'm older, I see how much stuff that I forget and like, my brain is just like, we're done here. We're done.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Maximum capacity's been reached for today.
Casey G. Smith: We're done here. But as a kid, I see like he's absorbing all this stuff like quickly.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like a sponge.
Casey G. Smith: You know, he's talking about, you know, the read option with the quarterbacks and like, I'm like, wow. Dang, bruh. Dang. You know, even when then we're watching the football game, we just recently watched the Cowboys game and like, I was like, what, uh, what formation are they in? You know, he's like single back or this, like, so he's been able to recall all that, all that stuff.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He and my nephew, they would, they would get along swimmingly.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Yeah. Because he's all, he's all about Madden. Loves football.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man.
Casey G. Smith: Runs my, you know, runs plays with my brother-in-law, knows, knows the game.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's crazy.
Casey G. Smith: Far better than I do, know, knows, knows the game. They, yeah, they would, they would get along super well.
Reginald Titus Jr.: When we're watching the game, my wife was like, how do you know all this stuff? Well, well, I've been, my son's like explaining, well, I've been, you know, watch, you know, I'm into football and I've been watching it a lot longer than you.
Casey G. Smith: Very matter of fact.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I put the time in, mom. I put the time in.
Casey G. Smith: He did. He put in the time. That's for sure. He's dedicated. That is for sure.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, that's hilarious.
Casey G. Smith: And then also like just explaining, so like in, in video games, you have like, you can play amateur level, you can play pro, blah, blah, blah, all the way to like the best, you know, the most, the most difficult, uh, level. And I was teaching him that don't always play at rookie or amateur, that level. Once you've gone to another level, don't get satisfaction of beating people that are below your level. You know, I said it's equivalent of you beating a first grader when you're in the fifth grade.
Casey G. Smith: Right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, you should get no satisfaction from that.
Casey G. Smith: Right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I said, so I was like, once we get to that level, let's, let's step it up. So he's like one level under the most difficult level on Madden.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, wow.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And so I said, see, as time has gone by, I said, see how easier it's getting now that you're playing. You got to play with people that are on your same competitive level and if you're trying to go up a different level, you got to be surrounded around those people.
Casey G. Smith: By those that are better.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So I never would have thought that, you know, playing a video game would allow teaching moments and you can learn about life lessons.
Casey G. Smith: For all of you out there. Yes, there's educational value in video games. But I think that value especially comes from parents playing games with their children. Because then you can see those moments and you can explain, whether, whether it's, you know, good or bad, you have the moment to, to, to make, to make that what you will, what, what you want your son or daughter to, to get out of it. So parents, you know, so, you know, know what your kids are playing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: For sure. Yeah, and, and, and, you know, engage with them. Maybe they're on Fortnite, maybe they're on Call of Duty.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Whatever it might be. Um, you know, jump in.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And like we've been playing together now. So like we have a franchise, it's the franchise mode where we're playing the video game. So we're literally, we've got a franchise from scratch and, you know, we're playing offense together, defense together. We're getting pretty darn good, you know.
Casey G. Smith: What's the name of your franchise?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, well, uh, the team that we're actually playing with is called the, the Pittsburgh Steelers. And so we decided to roll with them.
Casey G. Smith: Steelers, a lot of history there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And we're building, and you get to build like your character. So, uh, we got a quarterback that we built, Miles Morales. Uh,
Casey G. Smith: Yes, for the win. For the win.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed.
Casey G. Smith: Graduated from, uh, Empire University in New York.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, okay.
Casey G. Smith: We did put New York as his, uh, city.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Nice.
Casey G. Smith: Um, but the university, they have default universities on there. So we're, you know, having fun playing that. He's leading the league in, you know, interceptions and, you know, it's fun. It's been, it's been pretty cool.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Sir.
Casey G. Smith: Nice. Nice.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So you can learn out there. Video games, you can learn some stuff. Hello.
Casey G. Smith: Hello.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Message!
Casey G. Smith: Message.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All right, so I think that wraps it up. Now let's get back into the show.

Filmmaker's Vision & Behind the Scenes
Reginald Titus Jr.: So we're here. We're talking about 1972's *The Godfather*, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The , what do you think about the commentary ?
Casey G. Smith: , it's a solid, it's a solid commentary. I like that, that, I like that he does it by himself.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: First and foremost.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Solo.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. And his, his memory, I don't know if he has notes in front of him, but his memory as far as remembering people's, people's names is really, really good. And but I, I don't, I don't think he, maybe he has stuff written down, but it seems like he just has good memory because the way he's talking, it doesn't feel like he's reading anything or, let me, let me find that note. No, he's able to say, okay, you know, my cinematographer, um,
Reginald Titus Jr.: He's prepared. How about that?
Casey G. Smith: Yes. Yes, he is. He is prepared. He does a good job of kind of just keeping, keeping it moving, keeping it flowing. Um, you know, talks quite a bit about his experience with, within the studio system.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: You know, gives some game, you know, and, and, and has a understanding of kind of what was going on and,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Studio politics.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, politics and, you know, them wanting to work with a young director so they could maybe them push him around. You could tell he has a, um, you know, friends he's connected with, you know, he mentions George Lucas several times, uh, and his, his, his help in, in helping finish the film. And, uh, yeah, I, I, I enjoyed it . How about you?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I'll say the same. Francis Ford Coppola, he's becoming one of my favorite, like, kind of go-to directors for commentaries. I'm liking like how insightful he is, highly intelligent. So he's able to get, and has like a, a teacher's spirit where it feels like, hey, man, you could do this. And, you know, I, I could say that for, um, some of the directors that have kids, you know, they, I think it's, you know, they seem to lean towards the teaching and like, hey, you do this and do that. I've noticed something different there.
Casey G. Smith: But he's also very, you know, he, very family-oriented. You know, a lot of his family is in the film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: True.
Casey G. Smith: And heck, his sister,
Reginald Titus Jr.: You got a point.
Casey G. Smith: Talia. Um, who I didn't realize. I didn't know that was his sister.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Me neither.
Casey G. Smith: You know, that's Adrian. I'm like, that's Adrian from the Rocky movies.
Reginald Titus Jr.: She getting beat up in this movie.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Terrible.
Casey G. Smith: Dadgum shame. And that's got to be, like I said, you know, he even mentions, it's hard to kind of watch that scene, you know, where she's, you know, being, you know, with the domestic violence. Um, but yeah, I mean, just, yeah, it's just great that he is able to share his insight and is relates it so much to his family. I mean, a lot of times it's come back to experiences from his family that he then incorporated into the film. Things that he remembered from his childhood and, uh, he, he was the right guy to direct this. He really was.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He was.
Casey G. Smith: For sure. Especially with the background, remembering all these things from the family and then how he can bring, um, like his dad, who was a, you know, was a music composer and able to bring that. And we learned that in, uh, the, in the, the Dracula, the Dracula film. *Bram Stoker's Dracula*.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.
Casey G. Smith: So yeah, I'm, I'm really digging his commentaries right now.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Awesome.
Casey G. Smith: I would highly recommend this for people that are filmmakers.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. And yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I wish, the only thing I wish, I wish there were more features on this, on this Blu-ray. You figure after all this time, as critically acclaimed as this film was, there's nothing.
Casey G. Smith: That's true.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All there is is the commentary.
Casey G. Smith: There's a, um, on the DVDs, and I guess it depends on, you know, what year they're released in. This one was released in 2007, the Blu-ray. But I think in the DVD, there's some more like behind the scenes, special features. Cause I was looking around shopping. But I was like, you know what? I want the Blu-ray. I don't want the DVD this time around.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I'll have to look for that because I'm like, man, I want, I want something. I mean, it's been around so long.
Casey G. Smith: It's got to be a tons of stuff.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I should I would figure featurettes going back in and, and, you know, revisiting. Uh, because these, these actors that are in here, where they came from, how they got involved, you know, the, the risk of, of, of having Brando in this. The fact that he had to fight, I mean, he had to fight for so many of his actors. Um, almost all of his main ones. He had to fight, he had to fight for Pacino. Uh, he had to, he had to fight for, uh, Marlon Brando. Um, you know, was, was almost, was hesitant almost to have his sister even audition for, for the role as well. Cause he thought he might be getting fired.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's crazy.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's the studio system, you know, dealing with the studio system. It's like, you know, especially when they were like just hammering, you do this or else type situation. Um, which means, you know, a lot of people like, you know what, we're just going to do it independently. It makes me think about, uh, Entourage when they did Medina.
Casey G. Smith: Medina.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Medina.
Casey G. Smith: Like how it could have went wrong, but, you know, this is the right way it goes. But then,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Medina.
Casey G. Smith: Ah, that's a deep cut. Nice, nice deep cut.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Francis Ford Coppola, he talks about like from the, you know, this is a studio film. He was saying like, if they're thinking about firing you, they'll fire you over the weekend. So there was like rumors of him about to be fired. So what he did was that he fired the, the first AD and a number of other people. And he called them traitors. So he was just like, I'm, I'm firing these traitors. And, um, it kind of threw everybody off. And he also reshuffled the scenes to the studio, one him to reshoot because he's like, well, I'll just shoot it this weekend or whatever. They're like, no, no, no, we're fine, you know. They're already planning on replacing him or whatever. But him firing those other people threw everything off. Threw off run the chain it.
Casey G. Smith: Man, that, and kudos to him because again, he was a young director, and 30 years old, right? 30?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, he said he was about, he was about 30 years old and just, just, man, just stepped up and said, hey, look, I've got this. He went for it. I mean, he fought, he fought for this movie. He said, I mean, Francis Ford went through it to make this film. He had no idea if it if it would succeed. He just fought tooth and nail, man. Tooth and nail. And so, you know, for you filmmakers out there, you'll go through some rough patches and you may, you may be faced with adversity like on every side. Um, and even from like your crew. Uh, cuz he even he mentions later on that even the crew in New York, like he was in the bathroom at one point, and a couple of the crew members came in, didn't know he was in the stalls. And they were like, how about this F'ing director? He doesn't know, you know, they were just, they were talking crap about him. And he said, he just felt so embarrassed. But, you know, he just kept his head down and he did his thing.
Casey G. Smith: There is a shot where he calls it the poor man's car shot. And basically, it's just, it's a vehicle on a stage with lights in the background kind of going past like on the, I guess to be like a fishing line or something like that. And they're just moving the car, pushing it and. But it works though.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I would not have, I would not have known. Would not have known. Still, I mean, I'm like, I can't tell. You really, you cannot tell. It's matter-of-fact.
Casey G. Smith: I know last episode, we were talking about David Fincher and, um, *Seven*. And they had to reshoot their scenes because they were shooting inside the car and it was loud and they were on the road and all that stuff. But I think David Fincher now what he does is he shoots, um, kind of like in that same style, but just like all green screen around the car. So you can kind of replace it with whatever background that you want.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That makes sense. You can get that, that, keep that performance, keep that audio.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Do as many takes as you need to, not fighting daylight. Not worried about traffic.
Casey G. Smith: And get good audio.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, sir. Yeah, I think he did that only once, and he realized like, I'm going to do this different next time.
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, the style that he shot in was like a more of a classic style, a classical style. Uh, I think they were shooting like a just a little bit below eye level, kind of slightly.
Casey G. Smith: Like three or four feet off the ground, something like that. Yeah. He thinks he mentioned, he gave a, a number.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But he mentioned that his cinematographer, Gordon Willis, was also very, very traditional, very old school and, and he would have to fight with him sometimes to get to get to go with some, some of the more non-traditional shots. Again, that shot of, of zooming in.
Casey G. Smith: The dolly shot in, coming in.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, they were like, no, we're not. I was like, let's move the camera. Come on, Gordon, let's move the camera a little bit.
Casey G. Smith: Like, no, stabilize it, you know, steady shots.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Even the scene when, uh, again, when Michael kills the, the two guys in the diner, the police chief and the, and the, and the Mafia. The camera is, is, is higher up.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it's a wider angle where you can see what you can see everything that's happening in the diner. You see the whole layout of the land.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, he had to fight for that. And no, I think we're going to mention like shooting at night, he wasn't happy about that.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, because Gordon was a DP, right? So there was a, there's a scene with, um, Michael and Kay, who's played by Al Pacino.
Casey G. Smith: And Diane Keaton.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's a cutaway shot at the, the wedding scene. So they're off to, and they're in their own world kind of talking about, you know, that's, you know, this is the family business, but that's not me. All that stuff. They're right next to Luca Bravo, where he's practicing his lines. That whole scene, they're blasting them with just hot, probably hot tonks and lights. God only knows how bright that light has to be to make it to to emulate the sun. Think about that's what you're doing. You're trying to emulate the sun. And you that's a lot of light that you have to put on people. Uh, but as a viewer, you can't tell. I, I didn't notice at all. And the fact they were kind of under a tree that had some shading there,
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: helps, helps out. Like, okay, there's a little darkness. Okay, that's the shade from the tree. So, yeah, again, the problem-solving, man.
Casey G. Smith: It, it's a, it's one of those things where we can't tell as an audience, but you're talking about a pissed off DP. Like a, that pisses off any DP that you can't shoot in the same environment that you shot the other shots in. Uh, that, that ruins their day.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Probably the week. How will, how will it match up and.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it just don't want to do it. It's like something that you, as a last, last, last resort, you don't want to do. You'll fight for another day to get the right shot to emulate that. Um, but yeah, but they were able to pull that off. Now, we were going, we were talking about the classical style. And another, um, example was when, um, when The Godfather got shot in the back and he had the oranges out and he went out to the wide shot then. And he said he knew Gordon would be mad. Like, cuz he's not sticking to the style that they, you know, kind of agreed on.
Casey G. Smith: The traditional.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It might have been like out of respect. And, and, um, Francis Ford Coppola just talks about like, it kind of was like, kind of like a little battle working with Gordon, but when he, when they developed and got to their, the second film, you know, it was more collaborative with him. Um, and sometimes it's like that. You know, you get nominated for 10 Oscars, like, I see I'm on something, you know what I mean?
Casey G. Smith: Could I work with you again?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. You know, he's winning, screenplay Oscars, he's got, you know, one won for the other film, like, come on. He's a truth. Also, you can write yourself out of a pickle. So, Marlo, Marlon Brando, Marlon, Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando. Wow. Uh, he decided not, he decided not to be in the second film like at the last minute. So, Francis had to write, write and figure, write him out of that jam.
Casey G. Smith: Well, he doesn't write him, he doesn't, he doesn't write him out. They had to, uh,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, you're saying, yeah, I've seen, I've seen the whole trailer. I've seen the whole trailer. What, so what did he change? What, what did he write differently because he knew that he wasn't going to be in the second film?
Casey G. Smith: So, it wasn't Marlon Brando, it was, um, Clemenza, uh, Richard Casan, Castellano, uh, who played Clemenza. He was the the heavier set guy who was kind of the main enforcer.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So there was, so there was two. I thought Marlon Bran, was Marlon Brando in the second one?
Casey G. Smith: Well, he, Marlon Brando's not in it, but his character is. Cause it deals with his, it deals with, uh, that's where Robert De Niro is, is, is playing Corleone and you, you're seeing his rise.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, okay.
Casey G. Smith: And I guess they were going to use Brando. Cuz I mean, cuz Brando, I mean, you know, they say, you know, he's, he's a, he's, he's not as old as the character he played in this film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He's like 40 years old.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. So, they could have used to make a, de-age him and, and shown, and shown his rise up. But instead, that's where Bob De Niro got cast. Um, but with, um, Clemenza, he had, he had put out that he wanted, uh, he, he would come back. He was kind of holding out with, with, you know, negotiations and, and wanted a clause in his contract that he would have somebody else write his lines.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. He's like, how can I do that? Like, that doesn't even make sense to that. So yeah, I had both of those examples, but, um, writing yourself out of a pickle. I thought he didn't say exactly what he wrote because he knew Marlon wasn't going to be in there in the second film. But he didn't say what he changed from a writing standpoint to get him to change, whatever he had to change because he knew that he wasn't going to be in there. I don't know, could it have been the age of the guy? I don't know. I don't know what it could have been.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm really curious. I'm sure, I'm sure there were some, some. He probably just didn't, didn't show anything of him like when he was much, much older. Um, just stuck to the earlier stuff. I'm not going to rewatch it and see because now that I've watched this one, I'm like, I, I'm, I'm really looking forward to rewatching the second one.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You said now that you said you are looking forward to watching it.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I'm looking forward to rewatch the second one. Okay, got it. You kind of have to now. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm there now.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm there now.
Casey G. Smith: The second one is, is really good too.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay, I'm going to check it out. I'm going to check that one out. So yeah, so you can write yourself out of a pickle. So, if somebody's like, hey, I want this person to write this dialogue for me and I want it in my contract. Well, don't you worry, we're going to write you out of this thing.
Casey G. Smith: There's going to be some writing going on.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You just won't be doing it. Um, so don't be, you know, people going to try to strong arm you and try to say, hey, you got to do this. And, uh, they think that you, they have you because that story includes them and all that. But hey, this is a medium where we can change stuff.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Actors serve the story. serve to serve the actors.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And that's also a thing about being, um, uh, a director that also writes. You know, it's, um, you can change things, um, when you need to. He also talks about how some of the most important things are those things that are unimportant.
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So like shooting empty rooms, like to create suspense in the hospital scene. Uh, George Lucas says, hey, man, you need some, you need some shots of some empty rooms to kind of create the suspense here.
Casey G. Smith: create the tension. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So how he was able to find those empty rooms because he would shoot an actor in that same scene. And then after he says cut, maybe the the actor will walk out of frame. And then you got maybe like three or four frames of an empty room. So you can take those little snippets and put it into your film and create some more space.
Casey G. Smith: Again, just man, effective, effective problem-solving.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I've had to do that before. I've done that with, uh, wrong girl.
Casey G. Smith: Nice. Cuz I had cut too quickly when she died. And, uh, spoiler alert. Uh, Um, just kind of use that frame with her eyes open and it was basically like a picture that hangs for like 10 or 15 seconds. Still, still shot.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. So there you go. Get those unimportant things. Cause you never know what you're going to need.
Casey G. Smith: It's fascinating when you're introduced to an actor later on in their career. And then sometimes getting to see some of their earlier work. Just how different they look. Man, I mean, a lot of these actors that I've seen for years, decades, look so long. I mean, Al Pacino looks so. He looks, when I first saw him, when he first appeared, I didn't, I was like, he looks different. Like it, like, like his face looks different.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, my wife didn't recognize him. I was like, that's Pacino. I know him. But I've, I've seen this face, the younger version of him, but maybe if I didn't see the younger version of him.
Casey G. Smith: The Brando's different because he hasn't really gone into, I'm Al Pacino. You know, he hasn't, he hasn't become the, the character Pacino.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. He's still finding himself. So it was different how he plays it.
Casey G. Smith: That's true. That's true. But particularly, and I just realized this time, um, James Caan, who played Sonny.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh. Right.
Casey G. Smith: The way he's walking around, like.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. That's the dude from Misery.
Casey G. Smith: Dang. Yeah, it is. It is.
Reginald Titus Jr.: When they said, when they said his name, I was like, I looked, I was like, man, that's the dude from Misery. What? It's just, yeah, man, uh, yeah, that kind of blew my mind. I'm like. Yeah, it's, it's, it's cool just seeing, seeing people in their element. And again, I didn't have no idea it was that, that was Diane Keaton, who's, who's playing that role. I mean, I've seen her in so many, so many things. Again, it's usually, you know, the older version of her. You know, like they didn't know Poms and all that. But, you know, when you introduce them at that place in their life,
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, and then they go back.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, and then they go back. Yeah, it's cool. It's fascinating, uh, journey. And you can see what other people saw. Like, oh, you're going to be a star one day, Pacino. You just wait.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, but yeah, you had to, he had to show them. I mean, that scene, again, I keep coming back to it, but the scene in the diner when that when the studio saw that scene and how he handled it, they were like, got something. Okay. Proceed. Visually show, this is you can show what your characters are thinking. So there's a shot where, uh, the baker is going to deliver flowers to the hospital to The Godfather. Al Pacino sees them there and needs some help on the outside of the hospital, kind of making the other gangsters stand down. And, um, we see that the baker, you know, he's not a gangster or anything like that. But, uh, Al Pacino is showing him how to pretend like he's, you know, got some heat on him, you know, like, hey, we're ready for whatever. When the baker pulls out a cigarette, lights a cigarette, he's shaking. His hands are visibly shaking. And Al Pacino notices his hands are shaking. Now, when I saw this originally, before the commentary, I didn't know what, uh, Al Pacino was thinking. I thought maybe he thought that the baker was a bad guy that was coming to kill, um, The Godfather or something like that. He's kind of, that's what I thought he was thinking. He's like, man, he might be, you know, on the other side trying to kill my dad or something like that. That's what I originally thought. But, he's actually seeing like, okay, he's, I'm kind of not built for this. Like, you know, I got the military training. I'm not shaking like, I can, I can deal with this kind of stuff. My hands are steady. Visually, this is how you can show what your character are thinking. Visually, always keep that in mind. It's a visual medium. Research, this is always important. Um, they wired Al Pacino's jaw shut. Not every actor is going to go for this, but, um, Al Pacino is that guy to do stuff like this. Mm-hm. And, um, he wired his jaw shut just to kind of, okay, how would a person, how would they talk, how would they feel if they're if their jaw was broken? And they discovered, you know, their jaw will be wired shut. And, um, they got somebody to do that for them and got a good performance from that. It it felt painful watching him go through it. Speak through that jaw.
Casey G. Smith: Man, yeah, just, watch him go through that healing process. Uh, and again, I think just even from a visual effects standpoint, this film, again, all practical effects, but I think they hold up, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They're the best. I like practical effects more than anything.
Casey G. Smith: I tend to agree. And, and again, this film in particular, I mean, we're talking again, 1973. So shot like in '72.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, '72, '73, yeah.
Casey G. Smith: And, man, so one of the, um, stunts, one of the, uh, special effects that really stands out, that really works is towards the end when they, when they shoot Moe Green.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Moe Green.
Casey G. Smith: Right in the, right in the eye. Right in the eye. And the glasses. So, you know, not only the glasses crack, but then the blood splatters. So they took, they took a, you know, spare glasses. They put two packets, um, that's not, that's not the right word. Uh, tubes. They had two sets of tubes on the glasses. On the front end, they had one with a little BB inside that would crack the glass. And then on the other side, they had a packet that would spray the blood. Uh, and so it was like, boom, setting those off at the right time to get them to have their desired, uh, effect.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It worked perfectly. And then like his reaction to it, like it's a real reaction because it's so close to his eye that he like jerks. I'm like, dead, son. You're dead. Blam. Killed you.
Casey G. Smith: One of the last, uh, tidbits is that, uh, what you will be fired for is also the same thing you'll be celebrated for 30 years later. And, um, you know, he was talking about just like his experience with this. It was not the greatest experience. You know, but from the outside looking in, you're like, oh, man, 10 Academy Awards. You got this, you got that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Nominated, made all this money. But it was hell for him to to create this masterpiece.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. But just, yeah, stick to your, stick to your guns. And not too many people. And not too many people just believed in him, you know. They were like, gun like saying he's an idiot. This, this and that. It's crazy how people change their tune once you just get a little, just get a W.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah.
Casey G. Smith: And even having, again, having, having some people that do support you.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: George, Yeah. George Lucas, man, was there giving feedback and input and kind of just, you know, hoping figuring out who you can trust, who you can listen to. Cause, uh, wasn't Francis Ford Coppola, was it like they're part of like the little film rat pack, where it was like, him, George Lucas, Spielberg and Brian De Palma, I think. Is it De Palma?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Maybe it's, it's De Palma. The fourth.
Casey G. Smith: I think it's a heck of a, heck of a crew, man. Man, like, you're trying to impress these people. Like, man, I wonder what Spielberg's going to say. Like that's the level. Like that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: That's, that's pretty powerful, man. That is pretty powerful.

Final Takeaways & Next Episode
Casey G. Smith: Uh, last thing I, I jotted down was that sometimes you have to keep the, the length. You know, it's a three-hour film. My God. And he, it's an epic. This is a three-hour, three hours. I don't know if I said this earlier, it might have been off, but it felt like I watched a season of *The Godfather*.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I binged watched it. That's what this movie is.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. It, yeah, it's, yeah, but, but so they tried to, uh, screen a shorter version. You know, he was, again, under pressure from the studio. He screened like a two hour and 15-minute version of it. And then the execs were mad. They were like, you took out the best parts and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the film needed all of its components to really breathe the way that it does. I mean, there's so much time that passes, uh, from the start of the film to the end. I mean, it's maybe a decade, maybe worth of time. Um, that passes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: The world may never know cuz they didn't tell us.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. So, I'm, I'm thinking maybe anywhere from five to 10 years. That, that would be my guess, five to 10 years, give or take. Um, it all, it all needed to be there. And though it's a lot, though it's long. Yeah. And there's nothing why I think about like all that that's wasted. Like it, it all has the, the scenes have, have purpose and they're moving along and it's building to the plots and the twists. Yeah, this is, this, this is to me this, this, this film's a masterpiece. It is like every, every bit of accolade and praise. And even in 2019, it's, uh, it's still incredible. And I think I'm glad I waited to watch it when I was older. Uh, I think that helped me have a better appreciation for it. I don't, I don't, I don't know if I would have had the bandwidth to sit through the whole thing. Even though I watched longer things before, but I'm glad I watched it when I was older.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, me too. I would have been out, son. Become, when that wedding was going, I was like, I'm done. I'm done here.
Casey G. Smith.: Finito.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You, that's the beginning of the film, a wedding. Yeah, I'm done. Yeah, as a younger kid, that was not going to happen.
Casey G. Smith: There you have it. That is the official title, of course, being Mario Puzo's The Godfather.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I wonder why like on the marketing they don't have that. They just have The Godfather. Um, you see, to find out alphabetically, less confusion for people who are putting them on the shelves. People are going to go to the, they're going to go look for The Godfather versus Mario Puzo's.
Casey G. Smith: Because like, The Godfather. Cause I've always known it as The Godfather, not the Mario thing. But when he did, you know, Bram Stoker's Dracula, like, you know it because of their marketing on the thing. So.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's true. That's very true.
Casey G. Smith: But in the, when the movie starts, it has the Mario, was it Mario Puzo? Mario Puzo. It has that in the, in the title sequence.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it totally does.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it totally does. And it's a little icon, but it's not on the.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, something that Francis Ford normally, uh, pushes for. Even now looking at the IMDb picture, it shows Brando and it just says The Godfather. So it alternates. It's not, uh, it's not consistent. No, it isn't. I think the studio made that decision. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: What are we getting into next week?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Next week, we will be tackling the film and the commentary of Ridley Scott's *Gladiator*.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Prepare to be entertained.
Casey G. Smith: Ridley never fails.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He's pretty good. I like his commentaries.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. So, thorough and detailed. Looking forward to that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And then you can also catch us where?
Casey G. Smith: Through Facebook at www.facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. Also, be sure to check us out on iTunes where you can like and subscribe and leave a review. If there is a film with commentary that you want us to check out and review, feel free to leave a comment on either of those pages or hit us up on Twitter, you can reach Reginald at Reggie Titus or on Instagram at Reginald Titus Jr. Or you can reach me simply at Casey G. Smith 32. And you can also find us on Instagram at Filmmaker Commentary.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Until next time. Peace.
Casey G. Smith: Peace.