The Godfather Papers & Other Confessions

by Mario Puzo

Mario Puzo's tantalizing look behind the scenes in the writing and production of The Godfather.

Genres: Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Crime

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Puzo was born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. After graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to his poor eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties but made him a public relations officer stationed in Germany. In 1950, his first short story, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard. After the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955.

At periods in the 1950s and early 1960s, Puzo worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company. Puzo, along with other writers like Bruce Jay Friedman, worked for the company line of men's magazines, pulp titles like Male, True Action, and Swank. Under the pseudonym Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote World War II adventure features for True Action.

Puzo's most famous work, The Godfather, was first published in 1969 after he had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism. He later said in an interview with Larry King that his principal motivation was to make money. He had already, after all, written two books that had received great reviews, yet had not amounted to much. As a government clerk with five children, he was looking to write something that would appeal to the masses. With a number one bestseller for months on the New York Times Best Seller List, Mario Puzo had found his target audience. The book was later developed into the film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie received 11 Academy Award nominations, winning three, including an Oscar for Puzo for Best Adapted Screenplay. Coppola and Puzo collaborated then to work on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III.

Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, which he was unable to continue working on due to his commitment to The Godfather Part II. Puzo also co-wrote Richard Donner's Superman and the original draft for Superman II. He also collaborated on the stories for the 1982 film A Time to Die and the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola film The Cotton Club.

Puzo never saw the publication of his penultimate book, Omertà, but the manuscript was finished before his death, as was the manuscript for The Family. However, in a review originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jules Siegel, who had worked closely with Puzo at Magazine Management Company, speculated that Omertà may have been completed by "some talentless hack." Siegel also acknowledges the temptation to "rationalize avoiding what is probably the correct analysis -- that [Puzo] wrote it and it is terrible."

Puzo died of heart failure on July 2, 1999 at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. His family now lives in East Islip, New York.

Reviews

[Asghar Abbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting inside look at the man behind the typewriter.
A man who wanted to be remembered for more than just his mafia stories. Ultimately, sadly that’s all most people remember him for, rather than for his widely talented range.

A book that bears testimony to the man’s perseverance for his dream while accepting that sometimes dreams can be nightmares too.

[Joseph Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read most of this after reading the review of “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli” in the Claremont Review of Books. Its mostly a collection of some of Puzo’s book reviews and essays, and a short story, an excerpt from a children’s book and two anecdotes by George Mandel, a contemporary novelist of Puzo’s. Being only interested in “The Godfather” I didn’t read most of these but did enjoy an irreverent Paris Review interview, actually a book review, and his put down of Norman Mailer.

The Godfather part takes up thirty-seven pages plus a three page postscript. It was written before Puzo had seen the movie. Later that year, 1972, he published another book about the famous movie.

One thing that was poignant and ironic was that Puzo says he wrote the novel and Coppola directed the movie as a way to finance the important projects that they each really wanted to do.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura interesante que nos permite tener un vistazo del hombre que fue Mario Puzo en sus propias palabras. Un vistazo, aclaro, honesto y sin disfraces. Conocemos detalles sobre su infancia, matrimonio, inicios en el mundo de las letras, así como pormenores de la realización de la película El Padrino y pequeños retazos de su obra (ensayos, cuentos, entrevistas y reseñas a otros autores) que nos permiten tener una perspectiva fresca del hombre carismático, honesto, caprichoso y empatico detrás de una de las historias más populares de la cultura moderna.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another strictly-for-the-cash Puzo book. But they all have their own charm and this one may be the best of the rest with the brief early autobiography at the beginning and the diary of his role helping out together the first ‘Godfather’ film. The two greats are obviously ‘Fools Die’ and ‘The Godfather’, with ‘The Dark Arena’ and ‘The Fortunate Pilgrim’ in the Puzo second tier.

[Metalfist · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hoewel er in de periode waarin The Godfather (zowel boek als film) uitkwam nog geen sprake van ondergetekende was, heb ik altijd het gevoel gehad dat die culturele lawine pas echt zijn start kende bij het uitkomen van de film in 1972. Het boek kwam weliswaar 3 jaar eerder uit in het gezegende jaar 1969 (even terzijde: waanzin wat er toen allemaal is gebeurd! Woodstock, de eerste man op de maan, …), maar het verraste me dat Mario Puzo anno 1972 de mogelijkheid kreeg om een soort van bijhorend compendium te schrijven over zijn beslommeringen met de film.

Althans, dat werd me toch beloond in de Nederlandse vertaling die sowieso het stukje “and Other Confessions” weglaat in de titel. Ik vermoed dat in het Nederlandse taalgebied weinig interesse was in die andere confessies. Terecht, want die zijn achteraf gezien wel bijzonder taai. The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions doet an sich wel wat het beloofd te doen: we krijgen in het eerste hoofdstuk inzicht op hoe de film tot stand is gekomen en dit is veruit het meest interessante stuk. Nadien volgt er nog onder andere een stukje over een boek dat uiteindelijk de inspiratiebron voor Fools Die zou worden, maar wanneer Puzo boeken begint te reviewen die vandaag de dag compleet door het stof des tijds bedekt zijn? Dan wordt het al heel wat minder interessant. De dagboekfragmenten aan het einde tonen vooral een heel getormenteerde en depressieve schrijver en lijken vooral bedoeld te zijn als een “alles komt goed” mantra. Dan had ik eerlijk gezegd gewoon meer verhalen van/over George Mandel met zijn ijzeren plaat in zijn hoofd willen horen. Puzo's samenvattingen waarin hij een aantal gokspellen ontleedt bijvoorbeeld heeft ook vrij weinig toegevoegde waarde, al wil ik zijn tips om Blackjack te spelen wel ter harte nemen.

Veel essays dus die gedateerd zijn en het stuk dat echt rond The Godfather draait, is bovendien vrij kort. Je moet dus al een grote liefhebber van Puzo zijn om je hier door te worstelen. En worstelen is echt wat ik heb gedaan, het zelfbeklag in de dagboekfragmenten werd me zelfs even wat te veel en heb ik eerlijk gezegd meer diagonaal doorlezen.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Or, How I got Conned into Selling My Novel THE GODFATHER to Paramount for $50,000. Puzo reflects on Hollywood, not a place for children or authors, his failed "intellectual novel", THE FORTUNATE PILGRIM, and "How the Mafia Makes for a Better America". No report on his feud with Frank Sinatra, though.

[Brad · Rating 1 out of 5]

The name is very misleading. Not much to do with The Godfather here. I found this book to be an uninspiring, rambling mess.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an interesting read into the personal life of Mario Puzo as he struggles to make it in the literary profession & filmmaking in Hollywood.

[Reads At · Rating 5 out of 5]

Background on Puzo’s experience writing the Godfather book. Some insights can be gleaned about the writing experience. Short story chapters are also strong.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

convinced mario was a gambler who accidentally became a writer

[Walt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not understand how other people who have written reviews for this book can claim "if you liked the Godfather, you will like this book." The Godfather is barely mentioned in this babbling work. All it shows is that Americans' fascination with organized crime will buy anything that appears related to the topic. In order to save some folks who may consider reading this, Puzo says four things about the Godfather in this book. One, he thinks the Godfather is his worst novel and he does not care for it. Two, the move belong to the studio, not him. Three, the most famous quote from the book (A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more money than 1,000 robbers with guns) was left out of the movie despite the support of studio executives to include it. Four, The novel parallels the Vietnam War. Too bad he does not elaborate on this fourth point, he merely comments on a single reviewer who thought there were parallels. Puzo says the parallels were intentional.

So, what does Puzo talk about in this book? He talks about how to gamble. He talks about how a failed writer barely supported his family. He talks about how families should go through bankruptcy. In fact, a good portion of the book is devoted to personal bankruptcy, but not his own. Puzo became rich from the Godfather, a novel he barely edited or revised. He talks about sexual mores. I enjoyed the his comparison of diamonds to zirconiums with dildos to the real thing. In between he has brief little stories about a Vietnam veteran who suffered head trauma. Each story ends with the punchline, "....you wold think so to, if you were shot in the head." Ultimately, I guess this book compares gambling to the Vietnam War in such a way that I cannot understand.

[Demetrius Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The essay How Crime Keeps America Healthy, Wealthy, Cleaner and More Beautiful is one of the more important pieces in the book. The essay was written before The Godfather and Puzo states in an introduction that The Godfather and his other works have been misinterpreted and that the essay addresses several issues.
One issue addressed was that Puzo was accused of glorifying the mafia. So this essay explains that he was "on the side of the good guys" all along. Another issue addressed was one that irritated Puzo. It's that critics missed the irony and meaning of The Godfather. Therefore, the essay was needed to explain what he was saying.
Puzo titles one essay as "A Modest Proposal," the same title as Swift's classic satirical essay, and his doing so, along with writing the "How Crime Keeps America Healthy " piece, seems to support the idea that some critics missed the Godfather's meaning and attacked the book and movie as mindless violence.
If you are a fan of The Godfather read the Godfather Papers for Puzo's Crime essay, A Modest Proposal and the others on his experiences in Hollywood and the results of writing such a book as The Godfather.
The remaining essays on non-Godfather topics though, seem to be included so that the book wouldn't be too short, and I can understand people's attacking them, but several essays are informative and important

[Owen Neumayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Godfather Papers offered me a very valuable insight into not only the writing of the Godfather, but the writing of many of Puzo’s other short stories and literary works. Mario Puzo is a very comedic, knowledgeable, and thorough writer. In this he gave the reader a behind-the-scenes look at how books and film scripts are written. The drama surrounding the writing, casting, and production of The Godfather film was the most interesting part of this book for me. I also enjoyed the constant comedic relief and the George Mandel “A Plate in the Head” Stories.

Puzo was a very humble man and was, more than anything else, a proud Italian. I really appreciated the personal tone Puzo used in this book and I also loved the bluntness with which he delivered the misgivings he experienced early in his career. Reading this book makes me eager to move on to more of his novels, such as The Fortunate Pilgrim and maybe even The Last Don (The Godfather #3). Although he’s been deceased for almost 25 years, Puzo is still provoking thoughts and ideas in young readers like myself. RIP Mario Puzo and shoutout to him for sticking to his morals throughout his whole career.

[Du · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I were in a good mood, I would give this 1.5 stars. It was a waste. Puzo writes in the introduction that he basically was forced to write this book, and the essays contained within it, feel that way. I am not sure who is more at fault the publisher taking advantage of the success of the Godfather book, and at the time pending movie, or Puzo for being such a dink about it.

He is a passionate blow hard who revels in revealing that he blows through money like it is air, and then looks to get loans, he may or may not have intention of repaying, from friends and family, or in some cases his publisher. He has little positive to say about anyone or thing, and overall seems like a sad uninteresting person.

What a waste of paper.

[Tony Tower · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woof. Cash-grab from Puzo. One decent essay from him about the genesis of THE GODFATHER, and then a bunch of middling essays that might have been relevant in 1973 but held little value today. The short stories aren't bad, though.

[Lisístrata · Rating 1 out of 5]

Decidí leerlo porque creía que hablaría especialmente de El Padrino, y como me gustó tanto, pues para saber curiosidades. Pero vamos, que ha sido una pérdida tremenda de tiempo. Estaba deseando terminarlo. No me ha gustado nada.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays about writing, publishing, movies, family, gangsters, and being Italian.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is not the Godfather but I found it enjoyable.

[Jolene Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth reading. Can't get enough Godfather?

[Gaurav Chaturvedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dude owns....
Like his writing style

[Shawna Massengill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a read if you loved The Godfather novel or movie.