CINEmelma: il padrino

Nell'arco di un paio di settimane sono finalmente riuscito a vedermi l'intera trilogia de Il Padrino.
Nell'insieme, raggiunge quasi la perfezione. Sulla qualità del primo credo nessuno abbia nulla da eccepire; volendo si può dire che il secondo (uscito 2 anni dopo) non sia altro che una integrazioni/proseguimento del primo, senza discostarsi in nulla dal predecessore; è vero poi che il terzo (prodotto a 18 anni di distanza dal primo), coerente con gli altri per regia e stile, sviluppa la trama in modo diverso, intrecciando il tentativo di Michael Corleone di rendere legali gli affari della famiglia con vicende reali, come il caso Calvi e la morte di due papi; non mancano in quest'ultima parte anche momenti un po' stonati, come l'alto prelato che precipita dalla scalinata dei palazzi vaticani, ma ci sono anche ottime cose (la confessione di Michael e la storia di Mary, per esempio).
Nonostante questo, a mio avviso i tre film meritano d'essere considerati (quasi) un corpus unico di qualità assoluta per quanto riguarda regia, recitazione, sceneggiatura e fotografia.

Voto: 10 e baciamo le mani, Don Coppola...

Coppola, Francis Ford

Nome di battesimo: Coppola, Francis Ford
Data di nascita: 7 April 1939
Altezza: 6' (1.83 m)
Coniuge: Eleanor Coppola::(February 1963 - present) 4 children

Ultimi lavori:

On the Road (2007) .... (executive producer) (producer) [produttore]
The Good Shepherd (2006) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
Marie-Antoinette (2006/I) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
Youth Without Youth (2006) .... (producer) [produttore]
"The 4400" (2004) .... [produttore]
Kinsey (2004) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
She Hate Me (2004) .... (thanks) [misc]
Jeepers Creepers II (2003) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
Lost in Translation (2003) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
"Platinum" (2003) .... [produttore]

Biografia:
He was born in 1939 in Detroit, USA, but he grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father was a composer and musician Carmine Coppola. His mother had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such capacities as soundman, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Dementia 13 (1963), Coppola's first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of This Property is Condemned, by Tennessee Williams (with Fred Coe and Edith Sommer), and screenplays for Is Paris Burning?, and Patton, the film for which Coppola won a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola's 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and George Lucas established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company's first project was THX 1138 (1971), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas. Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, American Graffiti (1973), in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture.In 1971, Coppola's film The Godfather (1972) became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. Following his work on the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), Coppola's next film was The Conversation (1974), which was honored with the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, The Godfather: Part II (1974). rivaled the success of The Godfather (1972), and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious film, Apocalypse Now (1979), a Vietnam War epic that was inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1994) (TV). Released in 1979, the acclaimed film won a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and two Academy Awards . Also that year, Coppola executive produced the hit The Black Stallion (1979). With George Lucas, Coppola executive produced Kagemusha, directed by Akira Kurosawa, and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, directed by Paul Schrader, and based on the life and writings of Yukio Mishima. Coppola also executive produced such films as The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982) The Black Stallion Returns (1983), Barfly (1987), Wind (1992), The Secret Garden (1993) etc.He helped to make a star of his nephew, Nicolas Cage. Personal tragedy hit in 1986 when his son Gio died in a boating accident. Francis Ford Coppola is one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.

Trivia random: Uncle of Matthew Orlando Shire, John Schwartzman and Stephanie Schwartzman. Grandfather of Gia Coppola. Father of Gian-Carlo Coppola. Great-uncle of Weston Coppola Cage.
Citazione random: [On his film, Apocalypse Now (1979), at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival] "My movie is not about Vietnam... my movie is Vietnam."

Pacino, Al

Nome di battesimo: Pacino, Alfredo James
Data di nascita: 25 April 1940
Altezza: 5' 7" (1.70 m)

Ultimi lavori:

Rififi (2007) .... [attore]
88 Minutes (2006) .... Jack Graham [attore]
Torch (2006) .... [attore]
Based on a True Story (2005) .... (thanks) [misc]
Two for the Money (2005) .... Walter Abrams [attore]
The Merchant of Venice (2004) .... Shylock [attore]
"Angels in America" (2003) (mini) .... Roy Marcus Cohn [attore]
Gigli (2003) .... Starkman [attore]
The Recruit (2003) .... Walter Burke [attore]
Insomnia (2002) .... Detective Will Dormer [attore]

Biografia:
One of the greatest actors in all of film history, Al Pacino established himself during one of film's greatest decades, the 70s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American movies. Born on April 25th, 1940 in the South Bronx, New York, Pacino's parents (Salvatore and Rose) divorced when he was young. His mother moved them into his grandparents' house. Pacino found himself often repeating the plots and voices of characters who he had seen in the movies, one of his favorite activities. Bored and unmotivated in school, the young Al Pacino found a haven in school plays, and his interest soon blossomed into a full-time career. Starting on the stage, Pacino went through a lengthy period of depression and poverty, sometimes having to borrow bus fare to make it to auditions. He made it into the prestigious Actors Studio in 1966, studying under the legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg, creator of the Method Approach that would become the trademark of many 70s era actors. Making appearances in various plays, Pacino finally hit it big with "The Indian Wants the Bronx", winning an Obie award for the 1966-67 season. Gaining notoriety on the theater scene, Pacino then won the Tony Award for "Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie?". His first feature films made little departure from the gritty realistic stage performances that earned him respect: he played a junkie in The Panic in Needle Park (1971) after his film debut in Me, Natalie (1969). What came next would change his life forever. The part of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) was one of the most sought- after roles in film history. Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Ryan O'Neal, Robert De Niro, and a host of others were bandied about for the role, but director Francis Ford Coppola had his heart set on the unknown Italian Pacino. From the studio, to the producers, to the cast on down, nobody else wanted Al Pacino. Though Coppola won out through slick persuasion, Pacino was in constant fear of being fired and replaced at any minute during the hellish shoot. But the role was a career- making hit, and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Instead of taking on easier projects for money, Pacino threw his support behind tough important films, such as the true life crime drama Serpico (1973) and the tragic real life bank robbery film Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Pacino opened eyes around the film world for his brave choice of roles; and he was nominated three consecutive years for the "Best Actor" Academy Award. He faltered slightly with Bobby Deerfield (1977), but regained his stride with the law film ...And Justice for All (1979), for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. This would unfortunately signal one of the only bad points in his career, one that produced the flops Cruising (1980) and Author! Author! (1982). He took on another vicious gangster role and cemented his legendary status in the ultra-violent Scarface (1983), but a monumental mistake was about to follow. Revolution (1985) endured an endless and seemingly cursed shoot in which equipment was destroyed, weather was terrible, and Pacino became terribly ill with pneumonia. Constant changes in the script also further derailed an already terrible project. The Revolutionary War film is considered one of the worst films ever, gained Pacino his first truly awful reviews, and kept him out of movies for the next four years. Returning to the stage, Pacino has done much to give back and contribute to the theatre, which he considers his first love. He directed a film _Local Stigmatic, The (1989)_ but it remains unreleased to the public. His self-imposed exile lifted, he returned in striking form in Sea of Love (1989) as a hard-drinking cop. The film marks the second phase of Pacino's career, the first film to feature his now famous dark, owl eyes and hoarse, gravelly voice. Making a return to the Corleones, he made The Godfather: Part III (1990), and earned raves for his first comedic role in the colorful Dick Tracy (1990). This earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and, two years later, he was nominated for Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). He went into romantic mode for Frankie and Johnny (1991). In 1992, he finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his amazing performance in Scent of a Woman (1992). A mix of technical perfection (he plays a blind man) and charisma, the role was tailor-made for him, and remains a classic. The next few years would see Pacino becoming more comfortable with acting and movies as a business, turning out great roles in great films with more frequency and less of the demanding personal involvement of his wilder days. Carlito's Way (1993) proved another gangster classic, as did the epic crime drama Heat (1995) directed by Michael Mann. He returned to the director's chair for the highly acclaimed and quirky Shakespeare adaptation Looking for Richard (1996). City Hall (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), and The Devil's Advocate (1997) all came out in this period. Reteaming with Mann and then Oliver Stone, he gave two commanding performances in The Insider (1999) and Any Given Sunday (1999). In his personal life, Pacino is one of Hollywood's most enduring and notorious bachelors, having never been married. He has a daughter, Julie Marie, with acting teacher Jan Tarrant, and a new set of twins with long-time girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo. His romantic history includes a long-time romance with Godfather co-star Diane Keaton. With his intense and gritty performances, Pacino was an original in the acting profession. His Method approach would become the process of many actors throughout time, and his unbeatable number of classic roles has already made him a legend among film buffs and all aspiring actors and directors. His commitment to acting as a profession and his constant screen dominance has established him as one of movies' legends.

Trivia random: Al was so much into character (playing a plain-clothes NYC cop) while filming Serpico (1973) he actually pulled over and threatened to arrest a truck driver for exhaust pollution.
Citazione random: "I guess you find yourself repeating certain motifs. But at the heart of it all, I'm an actor, always looking for a role. And then you try to make things fresh."

giovedì 1 dicembre 2005

il padrino

Godfather, The (1972)

Coppola, Francis Ford

Il Padrino

Godfather: Part III, The (1990)

Pacino, Al

Godfather: Part II, The (1974)

Coppola, Sofia

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