Cinema History: When a Classic was Challenged by the Mafia By Zayd Mohammed

March 28, 2022

Every Cinephile agrees that the 1970 movie “The Godfather” based on Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name is a Classic. However, it’s also really well known that the film went through many struggles before its release in 1972. A struggle that not many people are aware about is the run in with the “Italian-American Civil Rights League”, led by mobster Joseph Colombo.

The league was originally formed by Joseph Colombo in 1970 to go against what he thought was racism targeted towards Italian Americans. It is however, true that Italians were subject to prejudice and racism during the time, although this had eased off during the 70s. What Colombo’s group wanted to do was censor the word “Mafia” from the media. So the film “The Godfather”- originally titled “The Mafia”- definitely got their attention. They took action by following producer Al Ruddy’s car and leaving threatening notes, as well as making threatening phone calls to producer Robert Evans.

_{Joseph Colombo}

In the end, Al Ruddy took a meeting with Joe Colombo and they came to an agreement. The one and only time the word “Mafia” was used in the script, would be omitted. Hence, why the word “Family” is usually used to address what would otherwise be known as the mafia in the film. This made Colombo in full support of the film and the meetings between Al Ruddy and Joe Colombo made to the front page of the newspaper (Al Ruddy was shortly fired from production as he clearly failed to keep things discreet).

The Mob continued to be involved during the production of the film by influencing casting and showing up at Marlon Brando’s trailer to swap stories. However, Joseph Colombo would never get to see the film released.

Colombo enjoyed being the star of the show. He would frequently be seen on the TV and was definitely not being discreet as the typical mobster was supposed to be. The Five Families decided to assassinate him on his rally in 1971. Al Ruddy was supposed to attend the rally but was warned not to come. Joe Colombo was shot in the head 3 times by Jerome Johnsen, who was also shot down immediately by the men working for Colombo.

Surprisingly The Godfather was shooting just a few miles away. Ironically, the scene being filmed was when Michael (The Protagonist) orders the assassination of the heads of Five Families.

Even after the release of the film, the Italian-American Unification Council of Greater Kansas City were against the film. They felt it was so harmful that they spent their own money buying every ticket of the film’s premiere to keep the cinemas empty.

The efforts by the mafia were undoubtedly unsuccessful and the film is still a classic despite all these shortcomings