Latest / DISGRACELAND / Al Pacino: Good and Evil, Attempted Robbery, and the Role of a Lifetime

Transcript

Al Pacino: Good and Evil, Attempted Robbery, and the Role of a Lifetime · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is the
0:15
Speaker 1: story about one of the greatest actors of all time,
0:19
Speaker 1: al Pacino. It's also a story about one of the
0:22
Speaker 1: greatest movies of all time, The Godfather. But this is
0:26
Speaker 1: also a story about the death of a neighborhood friend,
0:30
Speaker 1: about a violent robbery that almost went completely wrong. That
0:34
Speaker 1: about the role of a lifetime a role al Pacino
0:37
Speaker 1: starred in as a young man, a role that wasn't
0:40
Speaker 1: on stage or screen, but that played out in front
0:43
Speaker 1: of a couple detectives and a district attorney. This is
0:47
Speaker 1: a story about good and evil, about the road not taken,
0:52
Speaker 1: The road not Taken, a theme the Beach Boys lifted
0:56
Speaker 1: from poet Robert Frost for their song all This Is
0:59
Speaker 1: That for their most excellent nineteen seventy two album, Carl
1:03
Speaker 1: and the Passions So Tough, great music, Unlike that music
1:08
Speaker 1: I played for you at the top of the show.
1:10
Speaker 1: That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from
1:14
Speaker 1: my melotron called on Heaven's Beach MK.
1:18
Speaker 2: One.
1:20
Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
1:22
Speaker 1: rights to Are You Lonesome Tonight? By Elvis Presley and
1:26
Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of Shall
1:29
Speaker 1: I Come Back Again?
1:30
Speaker 2: Cheese? Could I afford it?
1:33
Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on
1:37
Speaker 1: January seventh, nineteen sixty one, And that was the day
1:41
Speaker 1: that a young al Pacino was arrested in a small
1:43
Speaker 1: city in Rhode Island, an arrest that would later be
1:46
Speaker 1: used to inform one of the most incredible performances in
1:49
Speaker 1: Hollywood history. On this episode dead Friends, stick Ups Gone Wrong,
1:56
Speaker 1: the performance of a lifetime in al Pacino, I'm Jake Brennan.
2:01
Speaker 2: And this this disgrace lamb.
2:36
Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, Francis Ford Coppola began production on
2:40
Speaker 1: his mafia epic The Godfather, in my humble opinion, the
2:44
Speaker 1: first truly great movie ever made. Yes, I know that's
2:49
Speaker 1: a bold statement, one that sounds like some bullshit hot take,
2:52
Speaker 1: but I think it's the kind of take that an
2:56
Speaker 1: artist and visionary like Francis Ford Coppola would reci The
3:01
Speaker 1: director himself was all about hot takes. Coppola's generation, the
3:05
Speaker 1: film School generation quote unquote New Hollywood, Scorsese, Spielberg, de Palma.
3:12
Speaker 1: Their entire objective was to subvert the norm, to upend
3:16
Speaker 1: the way things have been done for decades, how movies
3:19
Speaker 1: were shot, how stories were told, Coppola telling the head
3:23
Speaker 1: of Paramount Pictures, Robert Evans, the five foot seven al Pacino,
3:27
Speaker 1: a virtual unknown, should play in Michael Corleone and The
3:30
Speaker 1: Godfather over more conventional, bankable stars like Ryan O'Neill or
3:35
Speaker 1: Robert Redford. Now that was a hot take. Robert Evans
3:40
Speaker 1: was old school, high collared dress shirts, cashmere sweaters, a
3:45
Speaker 1: cigar by the pool with a phone receiver up to
3:48
Speaker 1: each ear. So, of course, Robert Evans did not respond
3:52
Speaker 1: warmly to Francis Ford Coppola's bold new Hollywood choice. Absolutely not,
3:58
Speaker 1: he said, Michael Corey.
4:00
Speaker 2: Leon will not be played by al Pacino.
4:04
Speaker 1: The story about Coppola fighting to cast al Pacino against
4:07
Speaker 1: all odds, about Coppola's pigheadedness about his balls, the kind
4:12
Speaker 1: of unwavering faith that he had, and the thirty one
4:14
Speaker 1: year old actor, the kind of faith that al Pacino
4:17
Speaker 1: didn't even have it himself at the time. It's a
4:19
Speaker 1: well told tale that I'm not going to get into here.
4:22
Speaker 1: Suffice to say that after auditioning forty different Michael Corleones,
4:27
Speaker 1: after seeing early footage of Pacino in the film The
4:30
Speaker 1: Panic and Needle Park, and after enduring Coppola's tireless insistence,
4:35
Speaker 1: Robert Evans, much to his alpha male dismay, changed his
4:40
Speaker 1: mind and the kid stayed in the picture. As it were,
4:44
Speaker 1: for al Pacino, it was a real chance. If the
4:47
Speaker 1: film was a hit, that would mean no more borrowing
4:50
Speaker 1: cab fair to get around New York, no more CouchSurfing
4:53
Speaker 1: in his friend's apartments. He'd recently won a Tony Award,
4:56
Speaker 1: but the Godfather the.
4:58
Speaker 2: Movies paramount, this was way.
5:00
Speaker 1: Bigger than Broadway Right now, However, al Pacino wasn't thinking
5:05
Speaker 1: about his career so much as he was thinking about.
5:07
Speaker 2: How much pain he was in it.
5:09
Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about his face, even though the
5:12
Speaker 1: entire left side of his jaw appeared to be completely swollen.
5:16
Speaker 2: The pain was in his ankle.
5:18
Speaker 1: He'd rolled it on set shooting scene in which he
5:20
Speaker 1: ran a little too fast and a little too hard,
5:23
Speaker 1: and a mishap meant that he was now walking around
5:25
Speaker 1: with a cane. His face, meanwhile, only looked like a
5:29
Speaker 1: hurt because the makeup guy was really good at his job,
5:33
Speaker 1: and his job been wired shut and a prosthetic lump
5:36
Speaker 1: was stuck to his cheek in order to make it
5:38
Speaker 1: look like he'd been punched by a dirty cop and
5:42
Speaker 1: the Godfather. His character, Michael Corleone gets clocked by an
5:46
Speaker 1: NYPD captain named McCluskey, who's played was entitled Prick Gusto
5:51
Speaker 1: by Sterling Hayden, and this happens after Michael accuses McCluskey
5:55
Speaker 1: of being on the take from Virgil Salazzo aka the
5:58
Speaker 1: Turk and Narco man, who just put Michael's father, mafia
6:02
Speaker 1: don Vito Corleon played by Marlon Brando, in the hospital
6:07
Speaker 1: Al Pacino. As Michael Corleon was sitting in a big
6:10
Speaker 1: leather chair inside the Corleone compound and the real pain
6:13
Speaker 1: throbbing in his ankle. It helped him portray the fake
6:17
Speaker 1: pain that was so clearly visible on his face in
6:19
Speaker 1: the scene. The film crew was ready, Coppola called action
6:25
Speaker 1: and the camera rolled and this was it. The scene,
6:29
Speaker 1: the best scene in the whole movie. There's Michael sitting quietly,
6:35
Speaker 1: calm reserved, taking it all in better to remain silent
6:40
Speaker 1: and be thought a fool, or speak and remove all
6:43
Speaker 1: doubt or.
6:43
Speaker 2: Something like that. Also quiet.
6:46
Speaker 1: Artessio and Clemenza, two Corleone family capos, one tall, one short,
6:52
Speaker 1: both capable men with ways and means. Meanwhile, James Kahn,
6:57
Speaker 1: playing Michael's big brother Sonny, is the whole opposite of Michael.
7:01
Speaker 1: He's volcanic, antsy, talking with his hands about a being
7:04
Speaker 1: bout a boo, and he's arguing with Robert Duval as
7:07
Speaker 1: Tom Haigen, the Corleone family's Concieri fixer, an attorney, Tom
7:12
Speaker 1: trying to talk some sense into the eldest Corleone that yes,
7:15
Speaker 1: we understand your need for revenge, that you want to
7:18
Speaker 1: go out there and bam put a bullet in Salatto's
7:20
Speaker 1: head because that piece of shit put a hit out
7:22
Speaker 1: on your pops. But listen, it's not personal, Sonny. It's
7:26
Speaker 1: just business. A tough pill to swallow, I know, but
7:29
Speaker 1: it's the truth. And never mind killing a cop, he'd
7:32
Speaker 1: be starting a war, one which the Corleones would lose
7:36
Speaker 1: very quickly. As the argument continued, al Paccino, the actor
7:41
Speaker 1: remained stoic. His character was a private man, a marine
7:46
Speaker 1: just back from the war, distance from the family, both
7:49
Speaker 1: in emotion and in business. He didn't put his feelings
7:53
Speaker 1: out there like his big brother Sonny or his other
7:55
Speaker 1: big brother Fredo. But the wheels were turning inside the
7:59
Speaker 1: head of the young is Corleone. And in this scene,
8:02
Speaker 1: in this incredible scene, somehow you can see those wheels turning.
8:08
Speaker 1: Al Pacino, the actor Michael Corleone, the character.
8:12
Speaker 3: He didn't let anyone know.
8:13
Speaker 1: What was going on in his mind, but you knew
8:16
Speaker 1: something was going on. And Michael Corleone, al Pacino saw
8:21
Speaker 1: a mirror image of himself, a shy, introverted kid drawn
8:26
Speaker 1: into a world of violence, crime and despair, a man
8:30
Speaker 1: forced to choose between the paths of good and evil,
8:34
Speaker 1: a decision that al Pacino knew.
8:36
Speaker 2: All too well.
9:11
Speaker 1: I said, what are you looking at, he scrowny little punk.
9:16
Speaker 1: The question was followed by a blow to the head,
9:20
Speaker 1: an open handed slap that knocked him to the ground
9:22
Speaker 1: and left his ear drums ringing. He could taste blood
9:25
Speaker 1: mixed with tears in the back of his mouth, and
9:28
Speaker 1: he just lay there, curled into a ball, with his.
9:31
Speaker 2: Hands over his face. His assailant was laughing.
9:34
Speaker 1: Now that's right, you little mama's boy. Either in the
9:38
Speaker 1: dirt or with that. The nine year old girl turned
9:41
Speaker 1: on her heels and walked away, leaving six year old
9:45
Speaker 1: al Pacino bleeding.
9:46
Speaker 2: On the ground.
9:50
Speaker 1: Nineteen forty six. The South Bronx was rough even thirty
9:54
Speaker 1: years before its urban decay was portrayed so vividly by
9:57
Speaker 1: hip hop pioneers like Cool Herk and Graham Master Flash.
10:01
Speaker 2: It was made even rougher by World War Two.
10:04
Speaker 3: Kids lost their fathers.
10:06
Speaker 1: Others were killed on the battlefield, and some, like young
10:09
Speaker 1: Alfred Puccino's dad, returned from service.
10:13
Speaker 2: No longer fit for family.
10:14
Speaker 1: Life, Alfredo and his mother moved into his grandparents cramped
10:19
Speaker 1: tenement apartment, a three room unit they also shared with
10:23
Speaker 1: the odd aunt or uncle, whoever was able to pay the.
10:26
Speaker 2: Rent that month.
10:27
Speaker 1: His mother made ends meet working at a local movie theater.
10:31
Speaker 1: He loved visiting her at work, staring at a bright
10:34
Speaker 1: screen in a darkened room, transported out of New York
10:38
Speaker 1: City and into a completely new world. He'd give anything
10:41
Speaker 1: to be there right now. Instead, he was wiping the
10:44
Speaker 1: blood from his nose and struggling to rise from the
10:47
Speaker 1: asphalt to one knee. It was bad enough that he
10:50
Speaker 1: just had the ship beat out of him by a girl,
10:53
Speaker 1: but a group of boys watched it happen, A group
10:55
Speaker 1: that now had him surrounded. At first no one said
10:59
Speaker 1: a word, and then one boy stepped forward and offered
11:03
Speaker 1: a hand. And that boy was Cliff, age seven, one
11:08
Speaker 1: year older than the rest of them, tougher too, more
11:11
Speaker 1: likely to dish out a beating rather than receive one.
11:14
Speaker 1: Al took the outstretched hand and pulled himself up.
11:17
Speaker 2: Hey, Cliff said, why do.
11:19
Speaker 1: You let her smack you around like that? Little Alfreda
11:22
Speaker 1: looked around at all those eyes staring at him, waiting
11:25
Speaker 1: for an answer. He had to say something, anything, so
11:29
Speaker 1: he did what came naturally. He acted. He told him
11:32
Speaker 1: his dad was a mobster. He said his old man
11:35
Speaker 1: didn't like when he fought at school.
11:37
Speaker 2: It drew too much attention.
11:39
Speaker 1: That his dad had these two huge German shepherds locked
11:41
Speaker 1: behind a gate. If Al said one word to him
11:44
Speaker 1: about what had happened today, his dad would feed that
11:46
Speaker 1: girl with those mutts. And two seconds flat, the story
11:51
Speaker 1: hung in the air. The boys kept staring. Al wondered
11:55
Speaker 1: if they bought it. Cliff began to chuckle, and then
11:58
Speaker 1: the whole group was laughing. Eight years later, the group
12:05
Speaker 1: was still laughing, only now they were teenagers and the
12:08
Speaker 1: laughs were courtesy is some low grade weed, crumbled up
12:11
Speaker 1: and mixed with a pinch tobacco. Cliff was still a
12:14
Speaker 1: year older, still tougher, rocking full on rebel regalia. Black
12:19
Speaker 1: leather jacket, black motorcycle boots, didn't matter. They had never
12:23
Speaker 1: been on a motorcycle in his life. He had gotten
12:25
Speaker 1: laid though, a fact which made Cliff the group's undisputed
12:29
Speaker 1: leader and thus made his word gospel. Al Pacino or
12:34
Speaker 1: Sonny as he was known to his friends. But I
12:36
Speaker 1: don't want to call him Sonny because it's just going
12:38
Speaker 1: to get confusing, since Sonny Corleone is a character and
12:40
Speaker 1: the Godfather and all that we were just discussing. The
12:43
Speaker 1: fourteen year old al Pacino stood next to his best
12:46
Speaker 1: friend Cliff, eagerly awaiting a hit. Smoking a joint was
12:50
Speaker 1: their standard.
12:50
Speaker 2: After school ritual.
12:52
Speaker 1: That and a couple of bottles of Schlitz that they
12:54
Speaker 1: could convince one of the neighborhood's older guys to buy
12:56
Speaker 1: it for them. Today was one of those days. Fifteen minutes,
13:00
Speaker 1: the beer and the bud had taken effect, and they
13:03
Speaker 1: left the empty bottles behind the dumpster and then left
13:05
Speaker 1: the alley. Al cracked him up with his over the
13:08
Speaker 1: top impersonations of his snooty drama school teachers. They all
13:12
Speaker 1: had to stick up their ass about the process, and
13:15
Speaker 1: it sucked all the joy out of acting. Then suddenly
13:18
Speaker 1: it hit him, shit, today was Wednesday. He was supposed
13:23
Speaker 1: to be at work. The job wasn't much, sorting fruits
13:27
Speaker 1: and vegetables, and the pay wasn't much either, but it
13:30
Speaker 1: put a little cash in his pocket, and part of
13:32
Speaker 1: him just enjoyed the work. He liked the feeling of
13:35
Speaker 1: completion when he sorted a palette of tomatoes until nothing
13:38
Speaker 1: was left but the.
13:39
Speaker 2: Bear wood underneath.
13:41
Speaker 1: So he managed to keep it up for three months
13:43
Speaker 1: without being late for a single shift until today. I
13:47
Speaker 1: got to get to work, he told the group, and
13:49
Speaker 1: turned to walk in the other direction. Cliff jumped in
13:53
Speaker 1: front of him before he could leave. Why did Al
13:55
Speaker 1: bother with that penny?
13:56
Speaker 2: Any job? Come on? Cliff? Al told him, I'm saving up.
14:00
Speaker 2: I need new shoes.
14:02
Speaker 1: As he said this, he pointed at the window shoe
14:04
Speaker 1: display in the shop that they were walking past. Cliff
14:07
Speaker 1: thought the job was bullshit, and he said so. In
14:11
Speaker 1: this neighborhood, people didn't get ahead by working at a
14:13
Speaker 1: fruit stand. They got ahead by taking what they wanted,
14:17
Speaker 1: working a square job that was for suckers. Cliff turned
14:22
Speaker 1: towards the shoe display. You want some shoes, you want
14:25
Speaker 1: some fucking shoes. I'll get you some shoes. Cliff stepped
14:29
Speaker 1: up to the display window, raised his black motorcycle boot,
14:33
Speaker 1: and without hesitation, smashed it directly through the glass. He
14:37
Speaker 1: grabbed a pair of shoes and turned to walk back
14:39
Speaker 1: to Al and the others, and right then an NYPD
14:42
Speaker 1: patrolman round at the corner, and the cop took one
14:46
Speaker 1: look at the busted window and another look at Cliff
14:47
Speaker 1: with the shoes in his hands, and he ordered all
14:50
Speaker 1: the boys up against the wall. Cliff tried to take
14:53
Speaker 1: the blame, he said, the other guys had nothing to
14:55
Speaker 1: do with it. The cop wasn't buying it. The crowd
14:59
Speaker 1: began again, like the crowd that had gathered when Alec
15:02
Speaker 1: and his face rearranged by a girl some eight years prior.
15:06
Speaker 1: When Al's mother arrived on the scene, she placated the
15:09
Speaker 1: store on her while Cliff promised to pay for the damages,
15:12
Speaker 1: and only then did the cop let them go. Al
15:15
Speaker 1: Pacino's mom forced him to head to work and explained
15:18
Speaker 1: to his boss what had happened and why he was late?
15:21
Speaker 1: And he walked into the vegetable market, his eyes red
15:24
Speaker 1: and bleary, the effects of the weed long gone, and
15:27
Speaker 1: the market's owner, a man Al's mother had convinced to
15:30
Speaker 1: give him this job, looked back at this juvenile, the
15:32
Speaker 1: linquid employee with disappointment. He let out into the back
15:36
Speaker 1: room among pallets of tomatoes, onions, and peppers. But Aut
15:40
Speaker 1: didn't start sorting vegetables as usual. Instead, his boss rolled
15:44
Speaker 1: out a blackboard they used to keep track of the
15:46
Speaker 1: shipments and wiped it clean. He spoke about the farm
15:49
Speaker 1: where these crops grew. He drew out trees, vines, and
15:52
Speaker 1: rolling hills, and through the farm he sketched out two paths.
15:57
Speaker 1: He explained that in life, there are only two paths,
16:01
Speaker 1: and you, my friend, are on the wrong one. Weeks later,
16:07
Speaker 1: those words were still bouncing around Al's head as he
16:10
Speaker 1: was walking home. It was Sunday evening. He couldn't believe
16:15
Speaker 1: the performance he just witnessed. A traveling theater troupe performed
16:18
Speaker 1: chech Us the Seagull for an audience of probably twenty people.
16:23
Speaker 1: But he was only there as a school requirement. But
16:25
Speaker 1: what he saw transformed him. The way these actors brought
16:29
Speaker 1: the Russian melodrama to life so vividly blew his mind
16:33
Speaker 1: was nothing like the joyless acting exercises at school. Here
16:37
Speaker 1: was something real, something meaningful, a level of acting ability
16:41
Speaker 1: that he had never experienced before, and he wanted that
16:44
Speaker 1: ability for himself. Cliff, meanwhile, just wanted to keep taking
16:49
Speaker 1: whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, which, as the years
16:53
Speaker 1: went on, meant more bags of white powder than those
16:56
Speaker 1: baggies gave Al an uneasy feeling actually seeing Cliff's eyes
17:01
Speaker 1: when he was on it, all wild and unfocused. Al
17:05
Speaker 1: steered clear of Cliff's temptations. He eventually dropped out of
17:09
Speaker 1: high school. What he kept putting in work as a janitor,
17:12
Speaker 1: a busboy, a messenger. He also put in the work
17:15
Speaker 1: at a local acting studio. One night, he cut through
17:19
Speaker 1: an alley after rehearsal. Usually the alley was empty, but
17:23
Speaker 1: on this evening, a small group of people stood in
17:25
Speaker 1: a semicircle, just like Al and his friends used to
17:28
Speaker 1: do when they'd pass.
17:29
Speaker 2: Around a joint. But there was no joint.
17:32
Speaker 1: There was just a body lying stiff on the ground,
17:36
Speaker 1: arms covered in bruises and track marks. Cliff was dead
17:41
Speaker 1: from an overdose at just nineteen years old. Soon more
17:47
Speaker 1: friends from the neighborhood succumbed to addiction to crime. More
17:51
Speaker 1: than ever, Al was determined to escape that fate. He
17:55
Speaker 1: stopped using drugs and he rarely drank. Acting kept him
17:59
Speaker 1: busy and kept him out of trey trouble, and by
18:01
Speaker 1: the time he turned nineteen, he left that old neighborhood,
18:04
Speaker 1: the old friends, and that old sonny nickname. On stage,
18:09
Speaker 1: he was Al Pacino. But to the rest of the world,
18:12
Speaker 1: and more importantly to the police, he was still that
18:14
Speaker 1: same scrawny Italian hoodlum from the South Bronx, and it
18:18
Speaker 1: was about to take the performance of a lifetime to
18:21
Speaker 1: convince them otherwise.
18:28
Speaker 3: We'll be right back after this.
18:30
Speaker 2: We're We're, We're.
18:39
Speaker 1: January nineteen sixty one, the New York City streets were
18:43
Speaker 1: uncharacteristically quiet for a Saturday on account of the temperature.
18:47
Speaker 1: It was cold, real cold, and people were inside, but
18:52
Speaker 1: there was a lone figure standing on the corner, short, wiry,
18:57
Speaker 1: a shock of black hair and deep set soul eyes.
19:02
Speaker 1: A car pulled up near where the figure was standing
19:04
Speaker 1: in a window rolled down, and from inside the vehicle
19:06
Speaker 1: a voice called out you Al, twenty year old al
19:11
Speaker 1: Pacino just nodded his head and slid into the car's backseat.
19:15
Speaker 2: Up front, the owner of the.
19:16
Speaker 1: Voice looked back at him, same shock of black hair
19:20
Speaker 1: as Al. Another Italian kid from the Bronx. He introduced
19:24
Speaker 1: himself as Vincent. That's Bruce, Vincent said, nodding toward the driver. Anyway,
19:29
Speaker 1: thanks for doing this.
19:31
Speaker 3: We really need three.
19:31
Speaker 2: Guys on this job.
19:33
Speaker 1: Al knew Vincent from the neighborhood. They went to the
19:36
Speaker 1: same junior high, they went with the same girls, and
19:39
Speaker 1: they must have crossed paths one hundred times, but somehow
19:43
Speaker 1: they never officially met before today. They had one more
19:46
Speaker 1: thing in common too. They're both trying to break into acting.
19:50
Speaker 1: At least that's what Vincent told Al on the phone
19:53
Speaker 1: a few days ago.
19:54
Speaker 2: Up north in Boston, a.
19:56
Speaker 1: Theater was putting on a new gangster play and they
19:58
Speaker 1: had parts for three young actors, preferably Italian. A mutual
20:03
Speaker 1: friend connected them, and when Vincent explained the part, al
20:06
Speaker 1: had to agree that.
20:07
Speaker 2: They were perfect for it. Bruce.
20:10
Speaker 1: The driver stepped on the gas and they departed the city,
20:13
Speaker 1: heading north.
20:15
Speaker 2: Once they made it to the freeway. Traffic was light.
20:18
Speaker 2: They made conversation.
20:20
Speaker 1: Al and Vincent laughed about the scams they pulled as teenagers,
20:23
Speaker 1: the trouble they caused him school Like Al, Vincent was
20:27
Speaker 1: at one time a troublemaker, that is until a short
20:30
Speaker 1: stint in Juvie for B and E convinced him to
20:33
Speaker 1: turn his life around.
20:34
Speaker 2: Or so we said.
20:36
Speaker 1: The miles took by, and soon they were in Rhode Island,
20:40
Speaker 1: only an hour away from their destination, and the car
20:43
Speaker 1: approached a split in the highway, but instead of continuing
20:46
Speaker 1: north as Al expected, Bruce.
20:48
Speaker 2: The driver took another pass.
20:50
Speaker 1: He turned the wheel and the car veered left, following
20:53
Speaker 1: a sign for wind socket. Sorry man, Bruce said, taking
20:58
Speaker 1: the exit. Gotta take the piss. As the car continued
21:01
Speaker 1: into town, Vincent began talking about the plan for their audition.
21:06
Speaker 1: He gave Al a mischievous grin. They want a Guido
21:08
Speaker 1: gangster for this part, he said, and I'm gonna give.
21:11
Speaker 2: Them the real deal.
21:13
Speaker 1: From a bag in the front seat, Vincent pulled out
21:16
Speaker 1: three black ski masks, and he slid one over his
21:19
Speaker 1: head and laughed. Check it out, he said, reaching in
21:21
Speaker 1: to the back, I even brought a heater. Al felt
21:25
Speaker 1: his body tense up as Vincent pulled a handgun out
21:28
Speaker 1: of a brown paper bag, and Vincent told him to relax.
21:31
Speaker 2: It was just a prop.
21:33
Speaker 1: The gun wasn't even loaded. Vincent and Bruce both laughed.
21:37
Speaker 1: Al smiled, but inside his heart was pounding. Vincent calmly
21:42
Speaker 1: explained that he and Bruce liked to stop in this
21:44
Speaker 1: town on their way to Boston. They knew a great
21:47
Speaker 1: spot to grab a few burgers and maybe a couple
21:49
Speaker 1: of beers for the road before they pulled into Beantown.
21:53
Speaker 1: As they drove through Won Socket, Bruce pulled the car
21:56
Speaker 1: off the main dragon into a seatier part of town.
21:59
Speaker 1: Vincent still had the black ski mask over his head.
22:02
Speaker 1: He toyed with the gun in his hand and in
22:05
Speaker 1: the back seat. Al didn't know if he should play
22:07
Speaker 1: a cool or throw open the door and run.
22:10
Speaker 2: The car slowed.
22:12
Speaker 1: Vincent pointed out the spot, a rundown bar on the
22:15
Speaker 1: corner out front. The parking spaces were full, so they
22:19
Speaker 1: circled around the block.
22:20
Speaker 2: And came back.
22:22
Speaker 1: Bruce and Vincent had both grown quiet now. Al sat
22:26
Speaker 1: in the back seat, waiting to see what would unfold.
22:29
Speaker 1: They came up on the bar a second time, and
22:31
Speaker 1: this time they found a spot to park. Bruce backed
22:34
Speaker 1: the car in and then looked back at Al. We'll
22:37
Speaker 1: grab the food and be right back, he said mine,
22:40
Speaker 1: watching the car for a few minutes. In the front,
22:43
Speaker 1: Vincent and Bruce reached for their door handles. Al's heart
22:46
Speaker 1: felt like it was about the pound right out of
22:48
Speaker 1: his chest. The ski masks, the gun. Vincent said they
22:52
Speaker 1: were props, but Al was beginning to think otherwise. He
22:55
Speaker 1: was frozen with terror, no idea what was about to
22:58
Speaker 1: go down, or exactly what he'd signed up for. And then,
23:02
Speaker 1: just before Vincent and Bruce made their exit, just up
23:05
Speaker 1: ahead of them a burst of blue and red lights.
23:08
Speaker 1: That Irish cop, his hair as red as Al's nose
23:10
Speaker 1: and the cold air, stepped out of a squad car
23:13
Speaker 1: and walked toward them. He was fixated on their black
23:16
Speaker 1: hair in New York plates, and the cop got closer.
23:19
Speaker 1: Vincent looked back at Al, we're on away to an
23:22
Speaker 1: audition right now, nodded yes. The cop looked in the
23:26
Speaker 1: car and saw the ski masks and the gun. He
23:29
Speaker 1: told them all to get out of the car, and
23:31
Speaker 1: the Bronx addresses on their ideas confirmed the officer's suspicions.
23:35
Speaker 1: Three Guido punks coming to cause trouble in his quiet town.
23:39
Speaker 1: I'm not on his watch. He's going to lock them
23:41
Speaker 1: up and throw away the key. And that's exactly what happened.
23:48
Speaker 1: Al Pacino and his traveling companions were arrested for attempted
23:52
Speaker 1: robbery in a legal possession of a firearm, charges that
23:55
Speaker 1: could land them a decade in jail. They spent the
23:58
Speaker 1: weekend behind bars. Al woke up on Monday morning to
24:03
Speaker 1: the sound of a cell door sliding open. A cop
24:06
Speaker 1: called him out into the hallway, and as he stepped forward,
24:09
Speaker 1: Vincent and Bruce both shot him a look that said,
24:11
Speaker 1: stick to the story. Al knew he needed to do
24:14
Speaker 1: more than stick to his story to.
24:16
Speaker 2: Get him out of this mess.
24:17
Speaker 1: He needed to harness every ounce of his acting chops
24:20
Speaker 1: to convince these Irish cops that, even though they looked
24:23
Speaker 1: like Italian hoodlums from the city, there were actually good
24:25
Speaker 1: kids want to be artists with maybe a little bit
24:29
Speaker 1: more enthusiasm than common sense. And the audience for this
24:32
Speaker 1: performance was small, just two cops in the da and
24:36
Speaker 1: the scenery was bare. A table a couple of chairs
24:40
Speaker 1: in a single spotlight shining down from the ceiling. Al
24:44
Speaker 1: closed his eyes and centered his mind on the character
24:47
Speaker 1: he wanted to play, a mama's boy, a fruit stand worker,
24:51
Speaker 1: a square. They stepped into the room and it was showtime.
24:56
Speaker 1: Over the next ninety minutes, al Pacino gave a powerhouse
24:59
Speaker 1: per performance. He swore the masts and the gun were
25:03
Speaker 1: just props for their audition. The gun wasn't loaded after all, right,
25:07
Speaker 1: at least, he prayed to God it wasn't loaded.
25:09
Speaker 2: Fortunately, the DA.
25:11
Speaker 1: Nodded his head in agreement, and Al's confidence grew.
25:15
Speaker 2: He pulled out all the stops.
25:16
Speaker 1: He cried tears while telling them how ashamed his mother
25:19
Speaker 1: would be if she knew he was arrested. He begged
25:21
Speaker 1: them to call the theater in Boston, which he hoped
25:23
Speaker 1: really was holding auditions, like Vincent said. By the end
25:28
Speaker 1: of the interrogation, both the DA and the cops were
25:31
Speaker 1: shaking Al's hand, and by the end of the day, Al,
25:35
Speaker 1: Vincent and Bruce were released. Al's performance, plus a phone
25:41
Speaker 1: call to the playhouse to confirm the auditions, convinced the
25:44
Speaker 1: cops to drop all charges, but the trio didn't head
25:48
Speaker 1: on to Boston. Instead, they turned around and went back
25:51
Speaker 1: to New York. Al never knew exactly what happened in
25:55
Speaker 1: Rhode Island. Did he almost unwittingly take part in a robbery?
26:00
Speaker 1: There were three want to be actors goofing around and
26:02
Speaker 1: getting into character. But whatever the case, once they arrived
26:06
Speaker 1: back in the city, they went their separate ways and
26:10
Speaker 1: now never heard from Vincent or Bruce again. The world,
26:13
Speaker 1: on the other hand, was about to hear from al.
26:16
Speaker 4: Pacino stroller.
26:34
Speaker 1: Slower nineteen seventy one, ten years after his brush with
26:50
Speaker 1: the law on Windsocket, Rhode Island, and al Pacino was
26:53
Speaker 1: once again performing for.
26:54
Speaker 2: A small crowd.
26:56
Speaker 1: This time, however, the performance wasn't happening in a police
26:59
Speaker 1: and irrigation room. He was on the set of The
27:03
Speaker 1: Godfather in the Corleone compound, sitting quietly in that big
27:07
Speaker 1: leather chair. His jaw and cheek were made up to
27:10
Speaker 1: look like he'd gotten smacked, when in fact the real
27:12
Speaker 1: pain was, as I mentioned before, throbbing in his sprained ankle.
27:17
Speaker 1: Francis FOURD. Coppola's camera rolled in. The director called action.
27:22
Speaker 1: James Kahn as Michael's brother Sonny and Robert duval as
27:26
Speaker 1: the Corleone family attorney Tom Hagen.
27:28
Speaker 3: Again, we're arguing over the pros.
27:29
Speaker 1: And cons of killing not only Salazzo.
27:31
Speaker 2: The narcotics man who put the godfather.
27:34
Speaker 1: Himself, Don Corleone, in the hospital, but of also killing McCluskey,
27:38
Speaker 1: the crooked cop protecting Salazzo. Sonny Corleone was a loud
27:43
Speaker 1: mouth and a hothead. He was also the eldest of
27:46
Speaker 1: Don Corleone's children, and thus it was taken for granted
27:49
Speaker 1: that he would be in control of the family in
27:52
Speaker 1: his father's absence. Michael Corleone, on the other hand, was
27:57
Speaker 1: the dark horse, the silent type, the guy you never
28:01
Speaker 1: saw coming. In Michael Corleone, al Pacino saw a mirror
28:05
Speaker 1: image of himself, that shy, introverted kid that was drawn
28:10
Speaker 1: into a world of violence, a world of crime and
28:13
Speaker 1: of despair, that man who was forced to choose between
28:17
Speaker 1: the paths of good and evil.
28:20
Speaker 2: Michael Corleone didn't do evil, at least that was what
28:24
Speaker 2: you were made to believe. He was a good.
28:26
Speaker 1: Man, a fair man, a veteran of World War Two
28:29
Speaker 1: who had no interest in the family business. But al
28:33
Speaker 1: Pacino knew something that many didn't he knew something. No
28:37
Speaker 1: One watching the film for the first time when it
28:39
Speaker 1: was initially released in March of nineteen seventy two would
28:42
Speaker 1: ever suspect al Pacino knew that Michael Corleone was evil,
28:49
Speaker 1: That evil laid dormant inside of him, just waiting for
28:53
Speaker 1: a reason to come out.
28:55
Speaker 3: That Michael Corleone now.
28:57
Speaker 1: Had his reason, the attempted assassination of his father and
29:00
Speaker 1: the resulting struggle for control.
29:03
Speaker 3: Michael would fill.
29:04
Speaker 1: That power vacuum, and then doing so would set the
29:07
Speaker 1: chorus for one of the greatest villain character arcs in
29:10
Speaker 1: movie history. It was al Pacino's job to portray this transition,
29:15
Speaker 1: this turn in Michael's character, to play it so well
29:18
Speaker 1: that every audience in every theater around the country would
29:21
Speaker 1: buy it, just like the cops in wond Socket bought
29:23
Speaker 1: his performance some ten years prior. But Michael Corleone was
29:28
Speaker 1: not al Pacino. Michael Corleone chose a different path. Francis
29:33
Speaker 1: Ford Coppola's director of photography, Gordon Willis, didn't want to
29:37
Speaker 1: move the camera around for the scene.
29:39
Speaker 3: He wanted all the shots.
29:40
Speaker 1: And the Godfather to be still, to look like paintings.
29:44
Speaker 1: But Coppola was bringing that new Hollywood energy again. He
29:48
Speaker 1: defied Gordon Willis's very capable instincts, just like he defied
29:52
Speaker 1: producer Robert Evans's casting choices Coppola had. Gordon Willis slowly
29:58
Speaker 1: tracked the camera closer to alp Puccino as his character
30:01
Speaker 1: Michael began to speak in this scene, and there were
30:05
Speaker 1: no cuts, just a long slow shot that moves in
30:10
Speaker 1: on Michael as he finally reveals his plan to a
30:14
Speaker 1: room of family members and associates stunned into silence.
30:20
Speaker 2: They wanted to have a.
30:20
Speaker 1: Meeting with him, Right with Michael, Okay, they'd have the meeting.
30:25
Speaker 1: It would be him, McClusky, and Salazzo. The Corleone's informants
30:31
Speaker 1: would find out where the meeting would be held, right
30:33
Speaker 1: or make it a public place, a bar, a restaurant,
30:37
Speaker 1: somewhere with people, somewhere Michael could feel safe. He'd probably
30:41
Speaker 1: be searched when he came in, so he wouldn't be
30:44
Speaker 1: carrying a weapon. But if they could figure out a
30:48
Speaker 1: way to have a weapon planted there for then he
30:52
Speaker 1: killed him both and by doing so, by playing the
30:57
Speaker 1: role of Michael Corleone, al Pacino took the path he
31:01
Speaker 1: could never take on his own, the path of disgrace.
31:06
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in this this Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created
31:31
Speaker 1: by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership.
31:33
Speaker 3: With Double Elvis.
31:35
Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show
31:37
Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelamdpod dot com. If you're listening as
31:41
Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.
31:44
Speaker 3: We really appreciate it.
31:46
Speaker 1: And if not, you can become a member right now
31:48
Speaker 1: by going to disgracelampod dot com Slash Membership. Members can
31:53
Speaker 1: listen to every episode of Disgraceland ad free, Plus you'll
31:56
Speaker 1: get one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted
32:01
Speaker 1: bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access to merchandise
32:05
Speaker 1: and events. Visit disgraceslampod dot com slash membership for details,
32:10
Speaker 1: rate and review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok,
32:13
Speaker 1: Twitter and Facebook at disgraceslampod and on YouTube at YouTube
32:17
Speaker 1: dot com slash at disgracelampod.
32:20
Speaker 2: Rock a Rolla
32:23
Speaker 4: He the bed Down Man