Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli

since then he and his friends had watched movies in his bed. I followed him to the master bedroom. In his heyday, Evans entertained so many starlets here that his housekeeper would place the name of the previous evening's date on a card beside his coffee cup the next morning, so he could address her properly at the breakfast table. He had become production chief of Paramount Pictures in 1966, at the tender age of thirty-six, resuscitating the moribund studio and guiding it from the grave to its former glory with hits like Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, and The Godfather. He helped propel the career of his close pal Jack Nicholson, who starred in his studio's 1974 production of Chinatown. His ex-wives numbered seven, including the actresses Ali MacGraw, Leslie Ann Woodward, Catherine Oxenberg, and Miss America Phyllis George.

Now, Robert Evans, a master of staging and seduction, was leveling his immense powers of persuasion on me. The butler arrived with food and drink, and a large television screen was readied to run parts of The Godfather.

"Take those shoes off," Evans commanded as I hovered next to the bed, which was very large and covered in fur. There was a story he wanted to tell, and it might take a while.

So I climbed into bed with Robert Evans to hear the story of the film that had both made him and destroyed him. Today the movie features prominently in virtually every list of the all-time greats, a masterpiece that, upon each viewing, reveals some new jewel or fresh truth. But the process of ma

entertaining look at the behind-the-scenes machinations of Francis Ford Coppola's epic film. Masterpiece yields masterpiece with this exuberant page-turner."
- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A ne plus ultra page-turner on the making of the ultimate mafia movie."
- The Globe and Mail

"Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli captured me with its joyful energy, extensive research and breathless enthusiasm."
- Glenn Frankel, The Washington Post

"In his detail rich and decidedly definitive saga . . . [Seal] has done a remarkable job of transforming this crazy patchwork quilt into a solidly structured narrative that's almost as astounding as what Mario Puzo got on the page and Coppola on the screen."
- Tom Zito, Alta

"If you think the 1972 movie The Godfather is dramatic, wait until you hear its backstory-from how Mario Puzo wrote his 1969 novel (the basis for the film) in a desperate frenzy to pay off his many debts, to the filmmakers' battles with real-life mobsters. It's a fitting tribute on the cusp of the great film's 50th anniversary in March."
- Christina Ianzito, AARP The Magazine

". . . a thorough, detailed, and beautifully written account of the creation of a masterpiece, as much of a page-turner as the novel that inspired it all."
- Jason Bailey, The Playlist

"Combining extensive research with insightful new interviews, this chronicle of The Godfather could be the definitive look at the making of an American classic."
- Library Journal, starred review

"[Seal] makes us an offer we can't refuse with this detailed, fascinating, and frequently surprising look at the origins and filming of The Godfather ... Few movies have had such tumultuous origins and turned out to be undisputed classics, and Seal does a superb job of telling us exactly how this happened. For fans of books about moviemaking, this is a definite must read."
- David Pitt, Booklist

"A wickedly pacey page-turner, stuffed like Vito's cheeks with character and detail."
- Kevin Harley, Total Film

"A colorful new book ... that tells you everything you thought you knew about the making of The Godfather but didn't ... such a page-turner.
- Michael Granberry, The Dallas Morning News

"Lives up to the title and delivers epic indeed. Written by the veteran reporter Mark Seal, even if you think you knew it all about the making of this classic, there's plenty of surprises still left."
- Richard Rushfield, The Ankler

"Engaging, informative, and fast-paced . . . a great deal of fun-gossipy and gulpable."
- Kyle Smith, Claremont Review of Books

"A blow by blow, bullet by bullet account of the way it went down . . .The Godfather is a film about whose making you can never grow tired of hearing, fact or legend. Seal has, in this book, reminded us exactly why and perhaps added to the list of the best film books ever written."
- The Comic Crush

"Seal...catalogues old findings better than anyone else before him. The book not only covers the making of the movie but also the writing of the novel, the life and career of its author Mario Puzo, and the history of the Profaci crime family, whose boss Joe Colombo tried to keep the film from reaching theaters, fearing it would make the mafia look bad."
- Graham Daseler, Quillette

"Among the very best accounts of the actual making of the film..."
- Stephen Loosley, Spectator Australia