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DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, editor of the website TV Worth Watching, sitting in for Terry Gross. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Mario Puzo's "The Godfather." A new edition has just been released with an introduction by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola and Puzo co-wrote the screenplays for...

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In the late 1960s, Mario Puzo retreated to the basement nook that served as his office to work on a new book. The broom-closet-like space beneath his Long Island house had enough room for a desk, a typewriter and little more. The basement also held a pool table, and while Puzo typed away, his five children would come down and play loud games, forci...

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Carmen Argenziano, an actor on Stargate SG-1, has died. He was 75. Argenziano’s rep confirmed his death to PEOPLE on Monday. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Event Horizon Talent announced the death of Argenziano, who worked as an actor for more than four decades. “It is with a heavy heart and more sadness than anyone can realize right now that I anno...

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The Pickwick Film Classics series plans to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s film, “The Godfather II,” with special showings on the Pickwick’s new Megatheatre screen on Jan. 19 at 5 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge. Show times will be at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. The evening show will include a 6:30 p.m. performance on the Wurlitzer orga...

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Hands down, The Godfather is one of the most iconic films in history. Its individual performances are among the most-admired, its lines are among the most-quoted and its themes, among the most-imitated. It was nominated for 10-total Oscars, winning three, including Best Picture and Best Actor, on the heels of a brilliant performance by Marlon Brand...

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The 45th anniversary of “The Godfather” has brought us another Blu-Ray box set and another round of critical reappraisal of the mafia movie classic. The secret of the film’s enduring appeal, however, might be found in its opening line: “I believe in America.” It is often said that “The Godfather” is an ironic commentary on the American Dream. That...

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People sometimes forget that the most famous line in The Godfather — “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” — didn’t originate with the formidable Don Corleone, played into rumbling infamy by a cotton-mouthed Marlon Brando. Michael Corleone, played by pre-stardom Al Pacino, has brought his girlfriend, Kay (a wide-eyed Diane Keaton), to a family p...

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The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films in Hollywood history. At an epic night at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday, director Francis Ford Coppola and members of his cast – including Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and James Caan, with Robert De Niro, who appeared in the 1974 sequel – g...

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When actor Alex Rocco died in July 2015, I felt a twinge of sadness for the passing of the man who was a key part in my favorite scene from The Godfather (1972). While the movie impacts everyone differently, there was something hilarious yet awesome in Rocco’s portrayal of Moe Green and his righteous indignation when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) of...

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The Godfather is one of the greatest movies of all time. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, it was made on a $6 million budget, completed ahead of schedule and was the first film in history to take in a million bucks a day. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, won three and changed cinema forever. That seismic cinematic shift would never have happened if...

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