THIS I ALWAYS WONDERED....

are there any people on this board, who read the Mario Puzo novel "The Godfather" before seeing any of the Godfather movies by Paramount?

If so, what were you're thoughts? Was it what you expected? It must have been cool to see some dialogues literarely taken from the book, but how did you feel about other stuff left out, etc. etc.

tell me, I'm interested in it.

I'm letting my girlfriend, who sais she doesn't really like movies, and who's a better reader than I am, read the novel in a few weeks, and after that we're going to watch the movies together, so she can tell me what she thinks of it.

I also have the same interest in people's feelings when they see "Memento" the first time..I can't really recall my exact thoughts when watching that movie for the first time, so it's always interesting...

so tell me, folks!

I read the book first, when it originally came out. I suspect that I'm in the minority, here. For some reason I don't think that many of the members were old enough to have read the book first, or even seen the first two films when they originally came out. Don't forget, the book came out more than 30 years ago. By no means is that a put down on anybody's age, BTW.

Anyway, I loved the book, and really didn't care for the movie the first time I saw it.

I hear you plawrence, about the ages from the members.... I'll bet all my money you're a minority in this case!!!

cool to see you couldn't care less about the movie at first, thanks for replying "dude"!

I read the novel when it was first published in 1969. Like most other readers, I was blown away. I probably read it 200 times before the film came out. I loved the film, especially Brando's performance. But bear in mind that this was way before affordable VCRs, and before GF became available on tape. I was only able to appreciate the film from a single viewing. So I continued to reread the novel--probably another 400 times. After I bought a VCR and taped the "Saga" version (GF and II chronologically spliced, with 45 minutes of deleted scenes), the films took over because I began to appreciate the details and the other performances that make the Trilogy the supreme achievement. Sure, there are things in the novel I'd love to have seen in the films (like the Bocchicchios, Neri's recruitment, the Don's first war), but I've never, ever been disappointed with the films.

(suddenly feeling very old)

I, too, read the novel when it was first published (I had just graduated high school). I LOVED it!!

I had read a book review of the novel (a link to that review is below), and decided that would be one of my summer "reads" before going off to college. I honestly didn't think of it being made into a movie but I'm sure glad it was

GODFATHER Book Review

I first saw the movie 5 times and then I read the book two times. One in English one in Dutch.

Wow Turnbull, Plawrence, SC, you guys are so lucky. I wouldve loved to have experienced reading the book first and then seeing it become a masterpiece on screen as well.

WOW, Turnbull, you've read the book all that many times *whistles*

I've read the book once, and that was like only last yr. I'm going to have a re-read tho when I've started and finished The Sicilian

FH