Fans of the legendary Godfather saga have just realised the reasoning behind the cast’s deliberate omission of a certain term throughout the celebrated movie trilogy.
Regarded as one of Hollywood’s finest productions, The Godfather depicts the life of a mafia family on American soil yet conspicuously sidesteps a few infamous mob-related phrases.
This calculated exclusion is reportedly due to alleged threats from actual mob leaders of the era.
Lenny Montana, an ex-wrestler turned actor who played the formidable enforcer Luca Brasi in The Godfather, was once associated with the Colombo crime family in real-life. His boss, Joe Colombo, had major qualms about parts of the movie.
Under the Italian-American Civil Rights League, the organised crime boss and crooner said they would refuse to back the film if the word “mafia” appeared in the script – a derogatory term to Italian-Americans.
In an encounter with a New York Times journalist back in 1971, Colombo questioned: “What is the Mafia? There is not a Mafia. Am I head of a family? Yes – my wife, four sons and a daughter. That’s my family.”
Subsequently, The Godfather’s producer Al Ruddy agreedwith the league and confirmed the contentious term “mafia” would be purged from the film dialogue.
Triggering a wave of fascination on Reddit, fans dissected this peculiar tidbit after it surfaced on the r/TodayILearned subreddit, sparking conversations over the strategic alterations in the script.
A user alleged: “In the movie The Godfather, the reason the word ‘mafia’ is not mentioned a single time is because mafia boss Joe Colombo threatened the films production and would only back the filming if they could change the script to their liking.”
Montana, who was an enforcer for Colombo, made his acting debut in The Godfather as a result of the lobbying efforts by the Civil Rights League.
The former enforcer turned actor was reportedly anxious about sharing screen space with Hollywood icon Marlon Brando, a fact that director Francis Ford Coppola cleverly incorporated into the film.
Another user commented: “This was Montana’s first role ever, and he was incredibly nervous to play the part against such a legend like Marlon Brando.
“So Coppola tricked him by saying this is only a rehearsal before the actual shoot and shot the rehearsal. Coppola later added to the script that Brasi was overwhelmed by the Don’s invitation to his daughter’s wedding to explain the nervousness of Montana in the scene.”
Canadian journalist and historian Malcolm Gladwell later confirmed that Ruddy agreed to the change as he knew the script only used the word “mafia” a few times.
Gladwell recounted in an episode of Revisionist History: “According to Ruddy, Colombo and three henchmen met with him because they thought the movie would be bad for the mafia.
“They couldn’t even take the time to read the script, so they made one request, ‘Take the word ‘mafia’ out of the script.’ Ruddy immediately obliged, letting them believe they had bullied him into submission and successfully neutered the film, but he secretly knew that mafia appeared only once in that draft of the script.”