hi, i'm new to this board so if you've discussed this already, forgive me. i'm sure many of you have read puzo's godfather, last don, and omerta. the first godfather follows the godfather of course. the second godfather film takes away many themes from the last don. the casino business (which was a huge part of II)...a member of his family betraying the main character (fredo and dante). the godfather part III had elements of what was to be the novel omerta. omerta was pretty much about a man trying to go legit. his children are full grown, don't want to have to deal with the business....and a nephew (he is referred to as the don's nephew several times even though he is not by blood) who becomes a suitable successor. i mean the parallels are so obvious.

having not read (or seen) The Last Don, or Omerta, that kind of surprises me since I thought Mario & Francis created original storylines for GFII & III. On the other hand, none of all of the material from The Godfather novel was really original, since Puzo based a lot of it on actual events from organized crime history, so it seems logical in hindsight he used elements from his other works to complete the Godfather trilogy it eventually became.

oh and in omerta, there are these two twins.....and there are those two twins in godfather part III as well.
also astore violla who takes over the family business when the past don is killed.....moves to sicily (like michael does at the end of gf3).
yeah i guess i would use my books to make those movies as well, or vice versa.
instead of making different books about different books....it may have been nice to make three books on the corleone family.

the whole Godfather "thing" is based on real facts and Mario Puzo's stories are connected with each other (I heard that Michael Corleone appears in another MP's book). many things in the trilogy are based on real facts, like the the organization of the Corleone family and the other families, Fanucci and the Black Hand, the shot on Moe Greene (I know some real mobster was shot in a barbershop, but I don't remember who) and many other things that many of you know better than me (I just started reading about real life mafia).
so I believe the storylines from GF2 and 3 are original but with a lot of quotations to other stuff.

PS: anyone see some connection between John Gotti and Joey Zasa? them both took over criminal empires (Gambino and Corleone family), didn't last too much with the power and were celebrities.

Sorry if my post was a little (or totally) off topic

Yeah Michael is in the Sicilian. It's a very good book, well recommended if you loved the Godfather novel.

and how could i forget one huge similarity. in the third book of his mafia trilogy, omerta....there are these two assassin twins....just like the third part of the godfather (you know those twins that connie asks, "are they as good as they look?").

Jay,

You are so right about the twins. Remember in the book they also get wacked just like the movie.

thanks mignon. parallels can be drawn easily between characters too. think about cross de lena in the last don. he was a pretty nice guy in the beginning of the book, but as the story progresses more and more, it reminds me of how michael turned very dark in gfII. and of course don raymond aprile reminds me of michael in gfIII.

Jay, I'm sorry to say I haven't read The Last Don yet. I'm almost done reading Omerta maybe that one will be next. Is it any good?

Well actually a lot of what is in part to is in the Godfather Novel like when it shows De Niro when the towel is lit on fire because of it

I was talking about the 1959 part