Higher learning is such an empty phrase these days.  A recent lecture at my local community college should have billed the event as “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”  Instead, it was “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.” Jesus would have been jealous.

The guest lecturer, a filmmaker and film historian, was an expert on The Godfather series and was able to enlightened his audience with chapter & verse (plus anecdotes) of Francis Ford Coppola’s gift to the ages.  As the flyer explained, the lecture was to cover “the cultural and cinematic legacy of The Godfather.”  With open minds, I and my colleague Joseph Graziose jumped at the chance to hear an erudite assessment of the blockbuster that launched the Hollywood-Mafia Industry.  Surely, academia would explore the totality of America’s seduction by the first movie with no good guys in it.

After two hours of glorious film clips, famous movie quotes, and behind-the-scenes insights, the message was clear:  we should have brought kneepads to worship this cinematic marvel.  The difficulties to be overcome in making the film were also addressed.  As Joe and I agreed, Jesus had it easier fending off the Sanhedrin than Coppola and Pacino had feuding with their bosses at Paramount Studios.  In fact, the movie could have been stillborn a number of times had not Coppola stuck to his guns (no pun) and his producer Al Ruddy not conned civic leader Joe Colombo while filming in New York City.  Nothing new here for us old-time Italic Institute guys, but it’s gospel now.

At the end of this 2-hour Immaculate Perception, I asked the lecturer if he had another hour in his lecture to explain how The Godfather destroyed our image and gave birth to hundreds of movies and shows about Italian American thieves and murderers?  His answer was no.  So, how was this really about the “cultural legacy” when the negative effects are omitted? Where is the higher learning?

Was this the intent of the community college and the Italian American sponsors—to glorify a movie that vilifies the Italic people?  Who’s defending our reputation?  Even screenings of Gone with the Wind are introduced with a host warning of Black stereotypes and the misrepresentation of slavery.  Academia needs a refresher course in what defamation looks like.  Haven’t they realized that The Godfather put us on the road to self-deprecation, literally dumbing down two generations and adding a Scarlet Vowel to our surnames. 

One audience member suggested we off-set the effects of mob movies with closer ties to Italy.  That’s when Joe Graziose questioned even Italy’s sincerity when they give Robert DeNiro citizenship and make Martin Scorsese honorary president of their Oscar Committee.  Certainly, the Italian government and artistic community could care less about our image than that of a coven of defamers.

There is so much that academia and the Italian American organizations on America’s campuses can do to really teach film history.  No scholar has a problem judging Nazi-filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl as a propagandist with Triumph of the Will and Olympia.  She made Nazis look like supermen, much as Coppola made thieves and murderers into men of respect and honor.  There were no “Dese, dem, and dose.” Theyspeak Biblically: “[Don Corleone] must let us draw the water from the well.” –Don Barzini.  “Whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor.” –Don Corleone.

From a religious perspective, one of the most insulting scenes in The Godfather is the baptism, when Michael eliminates his rivals on the steps of the church during this sacred ceremony.  Perhaps, instead of “renouncing Satan in all his forms” we should renounce mafia movies in all their forms.

One good thing came out of this lecture; it was poorly attended and had no one under 50.  When I asked the speaker if the new generations have embraced “mafia” movies, he opined that they have not.  Still, that means until all the Boomers and Gen Xs leave this Earth, Mafia Madness will continue in the media.  –JLM