Amidst the acclaim that The Godfather received from all fronts, there was one influential critic of the movie — Frank Sinatra. The beef between Sinatra and the film began even before the start of filming. The singer and actor believed that one character in Mario Puzo’s novel, that of Johnny Fontaine, was modeled after him. On one occasion, Sinatra had a heated confrontation about this with Puzo where he threatened the author.
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather
However, his threats on another occasion did not seem to bother singer Al Martino, who played the brief role of Johnny Fontaine in the film. In the end, all the efforts of Frank Sinatra to ruin The Godfather became futile as the movie became the biggest hit in Hollywood upon release.
Frank Sinatra Failed To Threaten One Actor Away From The Godfather Role
Guys and Dolls actor Frank Sinatra failed...
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather
However, his threats on another occasion did not seem to bother singer Al Martino, who played the brief role of Johnny Fontaine in the film. In the end, all the efforts of Frank Sinatra to ruin The Godfather became futile as the movie became the biggest hit in Hollywood upon release.
Frank Sinatra Failed To Threaten One Actor Away From The Godfather Role
Guys and Dolls actor Frank Sinatra failed...
- 3/15/2024
- by Hashim Asraff
- FandomWire
It's hard to believe it's been 70 years since Fred Zinneman's "From Here to Eternity" came out. Not that we were all there of course, but time has been really kind to the all-star, Best Picture-winning drama. Unlike many of the rah-rah war films emerging from America during and post-World War II, "From Here to Eternity" argues not that war is hell — since most of the movie takes place during peace time — but that men, even in the army, are subconsciously determined to make life hell whether there's a war on or not.
Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...
Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...
- 8/6/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
Pat Cooper, the famously fast-talking and angry stand-up comedian who often appeared on Ed Sullivan and Howard Stern’s shows, died Tuesday in Las Vegas. He was 93.
Cooper appeared on “Seinfeld” in the Friars Club episode, playing himself. He also appeared with Robert DeNiro in the 1999 film “Analyze This” as Salvatore Masiello and reprised his role in “Analyze That.”
He was a frequent guest host on the Mike Douglas Show in the 1970s, and appeared many times on the Howard Stern show throughout the 1990s and 2000s, where he was known for his cranky persona.
Born Pasquale Caputo to an Italian family in Brooklyn, he started out playing local New York clubs. In 1963, he landed a spot on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” and then began performing at the Copacabana, where he opened for acts including the Four Seasons and Jimmy Roselli.
Cooper went on to perform at clubs across the country,...
Cooper appeared on “Seinfeld” in the Friars Club episode, playing himself. He also appeared with Robert DeNiro in the 1999 film “Analyze This” as Salvatore Masiello and reprised his role in “Analyze That.”
He was a frequent guest host on the Mike Douglas Show in the 1970s, and appeared many times on the Howard Stern show throughout the 1990s and 2000s, where he was known for his cranky persona.
Born Pasquale Caputo to an Italian family in Brooklyn, he started out playing local New York clubs. In 1963, he landed a spot on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” and then began performing at the Copacabana, where he opened for acts including the Four Seasons and Jimmy Roselli.
Cooper went on to perform at clubs across the country,...
- 6/7/2023
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Kacey Musgraves has recorded a version of the 1961 Elvis Presley classic “Can’t Help Falling in Love” for the upcoming soundtrack to director Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” biopic, the singer has revealed.
The country-pop star noted that she had covered the song Monday while walking the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala. Musgraves was there with Luhrmann, Priscilla Presley and members of the film’s cast.
Details on the soundtrack have been hard to come by before now, with little publicly revealed beyond the fact that the first single from the album, Doja Cat’s “Vegas,” which includes an interpolation of the Presley hit “Hound Dog.” will be out this Friday. Doja Cat premiered a partial version of the song live at her two April Coachella appearances.
Beyond that, all that has been officially said about the soundtrack is that it will be on RCA,...
The country-pop star noted that she had covered the song Monday while walking the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala. Musgraves was there with Luhrmann, Priscilla Presley and members of the film’s cast.
Details on the soundtrack have been hard to come by before now, with little publicly revealed beyond the fact that the first single from the album, Doja Cat’s “Vegas,” which includes an interpolation of the Presley hit “Hound Dog.” will be out this Friday. Doja Cat premiered a partial version of the song live at her two April Coachella appearances.
Beyond that, all that has been officially said about the soundtrack is that it will be on RCA,...
- 5/2/2022
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
The Godfather, which opened 50 years ago on March 24, 1972, is the premiere gangster film of all time, elevating the genre to high art and taking all of filmmaking with it. Francis Ford Coppola adapted Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel to tell the story of an immigrant family crashing the dance of the American dream. The singer is Johnny Fontane, paying homage to his benefactor, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). The character may also be something less than a tribute to The Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.
“Frank, I make fun of you, but what could you do to me,” Don Rickles asked Sinatra from the stage at his 80th Birthday Celebration in 1995. Audiences and investigative agencies have been asking the same question for years! Jokes and gossip about Ol Blue Eyes’ ties to organized crime are legendary. But is Frank Sinatra an actual Og?
The Godfather never uses the word...
“Frank, I make fun of you, but what could you do to me,” Don Rickles asked Sinatra from the stage at his 80th Birthday Celebration in 1995. Audiences and investigative agencies have been asking the same question for years! Jokes and gossip about Ol Blue Eyes’ ties to organized crime are legendary. But is Frank Sinatra an actual Og?
The Godfather never uses the word...
- 3/26/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
This article contains The Batman spoilers.
“Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me,” Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) tells the funeral director who seeks revenge on the men who assaulted his daughter in The Godfather. “But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.”
In a pivotal scene in director Matt Reeves’ The Batman, it appears the godfather of Gotham City has lit up a similar Bat-Signal.
The new film is more noir drama than your typical superhero movie; gangsters run Gotham City, and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) is the top crime boss. Every fortune begins with a crime, and even the wealthy eccentric Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) accepts (barely) that his murdered father, the surgeon Thomas Wayne (Luke Roberts), knew some colorful characters in his own wild youth, even stitching up a...
“Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me,” Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) tells the funeral director who seeks revenge on the men who assaulted his daughter in The Godfather. “But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.”
In a pivotal scene in director Matt Reeves’ The Batman, it appears the godfather of Gotham City has lit up a similar Bat-Signal.
The new film is more noir drama than your typical superhero movie; gangsters run Gotham City, and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) is the top crime boss. Every fortune begins with a crime, and even the wealthy eccentric Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) accepts (barely) that his murdered father, the surgeon Thomas Wayne (Luke Roberts), knew some colorful characters in his own wild youth, even stitching up a...
- 3/7/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
This article marks Part 9 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the Academy Awards winners.
The 1964 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:
“Dear Heart” from “Dear Heart”
“Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte” from “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte”
“Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins”
“My Kind of Town” from “Robin and the 7 Hoods”
“Where Love Has Gone” from “Where Love Has Gone”
Won: “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins”
Should’ve won: “Dear Heart” from “Dear Heart”
1964 is one of the more aggravating years at the Oscars, that time “My Fair Lady” crushed the brilliant likes of “Becket” and “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” across the board. Rex Harrison defeated Richard Burton,...
The 1964 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:
“Dear Heart” from “Dear Heart”
“Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte” from “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte”
“Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins”
“My Kind of Town” from “Robin and the 7 Hoods”
“Where Love Has Gone” from “Where Love Has Gone”
Won: “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins”
Should’ve won: “Dear Heart” from “Dear Heart”
1964 is one of the more aggravating years at the Oscars, that time “My Fair Lady” crushed the brilliant likes of “Becket” and “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” across the board. Rex Harrison defeated Richard Burton,...
- 10/1/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
In this edition of Canon Of Film, we take a look back at Francis Ford Coppola‘s masterpiece, ‘The Godfather‘. For the story behind the genesis of the Canon, you can click here.
The Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay: Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola based on the novel by Mario Puzo
I’ve noticed how, The Godfather doesn’t get the same appreciation outside of the U.S. as it does here, lately. People even start discussing the entire trilogy as one film sometimes to justify their ranking of it so high, an act which would’ve been unheard by most, as we typically never considered The Godfather Part III legitimate, despite it showing amazing moments of greatness. And you know, as an American, an Italian-American at that, it be can hard to defend The Godfather at times to people who confront it. Some say Apocalypse Now was better,...
The Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay: Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola based on the novel by Mario Puzo
I’ve noticed how, The Godfather doesn’t get the same appreciation outside of the U.S. as it does here, lately. People even start discussing the entire trilogy as one film sometimes to justify their ranking of it so high, an act which would’ve been unheard by most, as we typically never considered The Godfather Part III legitimate, despite it showing amazing moments of greatness. And you know, as an American, an Italian-American at that, it be can hard to defend The Godfather at times to people who confront it. Some say Apocalypse Now was better,...
- 4/30/2018
- by David Baruffi
- Age of the Nerd
Al Martino was a popular crooner from the 1950s who sang the haunting them for the 1964 psychological horror film Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. The song refers to Charlotte’s lover, who loses a hand and his head to a hatchet wielding maniac in the film. The title tune, with music by Frank DeVol and lyrics by Mack David, earned an Academy Award nomination, and later became a popular recording for Patti Page.
Martino was born Alfred Cini in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 7, 1927, the son of Italian immigrants. He was a popular recording artist in England and the United States from the early 1950s. He became best known for his role in the 1972 Oscar-winning film The Godfather as Johnny Fontane, a mob-connected singer thought to be based on Frank Sinatra, but with significant parallels to Martino’s own career. The character’s career was...
Martino was born Alfred Cini in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 7, 1927, the son of Italian immigrants. He was a popular recording artist in England and the United States from the early 1950s. He became best known for his role in the 1972 Oscar-winning film The Godfather as Johnny Fontane, a mob-connected singer thought to be based on Frank Sinatra, but with significant parallels to Martino’s own career. The character’s career was...
- 11/6/2009
- by Harris Lentz
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Al Martino, a crooner who played Johnny Fontane in the 1970s Godfather movies, died Tuesday at his childhood home in Springfield, Pa. He was 82.He was born Alfred Cini on 7 October, 1927, in South Philadelphia. Martino began his singing career in the late 1940s. His single Here in My Heart hit No. 1 in the U.K. in 1952 and stayed on top for a record nine weeks.Martino had a run of chart singles through 1953, but his career stalled with the advent of rock 'n' roll. He became popular again in 1963 with the Top 5 hit I Love You Because; it was the first of six ...
- 10/14/2009
- BusinessofCinema
Los Angeles - Al Martino, the singer of 1960's hits such as Spanish Eyes and Volare, died aged 82 in his home town of Philadelphia, according to a statement from his publicist Wednesday. Along with his musical career, Martino also appeared with Marlon Brando in the 1972 film The Godfather, in which he played Johnny Fontane, a singer with Mafia connections. Born Alfred Cini in Philadelphia in 1927, he was an apprentice bricklayer in his youth and had been expected to go into his family's successful masonry business. But his strong baritone helped him break into the music business. After he adopted his grandfather's surname...
- 10/14/2009
- Monsters and Critics
Springfield, Pa. . Singer Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather," died Tuesday afternoon at his childhood home. He was 82.Publicist Sandy Friedman, of the Rogers & Cowan public relations firm, confirmed Martino's death in the Philadelphia suburb of Springfield, in Delaware County, but didn't cite a cause.Starting in 1952, Martino was known for hit songs including "Here in My Heart," "Spanish Eyes," "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Volare."Besides acting in the Marlon Brando classic "The Godfather," Martino sang the 1972 film's title score, "The Love Theme From The Godfather." His Fontane character is a singer and occasional actor and is the godson of Brando's Mafia boss character, Don Vito Corleone.Martino was born in South Philadelphia as Alfred Cini and was a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, Calif.Philadelphia radio and television personality...
- 10/14/2009
- by AP
- Huffington Post
'Here In My Heart' singer Al Martino has passed away in Philadelphia, aged 82. The American, who was born Alfred Cini, famously scored the first UK No.1 when the charts were introduced by the New Musical Express in 1952. 'Here In My Heart' spent nine weeks at number one, a record which has only been beaten four times since. Despite falling out of commercial favour during the rise of rock 'n' roll, he continued to score Billboard chart success in the '60s and his most recent album Style was released in 2000. Martino's other hits included 'Spanish Eyes', 'Volare' and 'Can't Help Falling In Love'. (more)...
- 10/14/2009
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
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