Review of LEAVE THE GUN, TAKE THE CANNOLI: The Epic Story of the Making of “The Godfather”
Leave your life, read this book, watch the film ...
Occasionally a book makes you feel great. Occasionally a book affirms that you were right. Occasionally a book will forgive you for your obsession. Occasionally a book sacrifices itself at the feet of the something greater.
I have obsessed on this film for my entire life since I first saw it the summer before my junior year. I helped organize our boarding school into four Mafia families – one for each grade level. After one too many “hits” during a class, martial law was imposed, and order was restored. I have certainly watched it over a dozen times since and believe it is THE great American film. I screened it at the end of my American History classes and required that students write about it in their final exam. I hummed its theme song each time I walked into class holding a very difficult test in my hand. I can never hum it on demand. It just arrived, each time, spontaneously as I was about to unleash a bit of hell on my beloved students.
So many things shine at the end of this book: Coppola’s genius and determination, the unbelievable casting, the even more unbelievable mixture of fact and fiction and, in the end, the film itself. I do not want to reveal a thing. If “The Godfather” is your movie, this is your book. Leave all you are doing, take this book.
Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of “The Godfather”
Mark Seal
201 448 pages (including notes)