Godfather Legacy - Shooting Locations

Originally posted by J Geoff:
Another question - the Penn Central Railroad on the 32nd floor above Grand Central Station - is that gone now, or is that the Pam Am / MetLife building?

Originally posted by J Geoff:
OMG, the Helmsley is where my old dentist was when I was working up there! You mean all this time I was wondering what bldg it was, and I was in it numerous times??

Originally posted by SC:
Your dentist wasn't in Room 925, was he? Thats where Marranzano "got drilled".

Originally posted by The Italian Stallionette:
SC, as far as the Edison, we walked down the hallway there that Luca did remember? Also, the restaurant/lounge you refer to is next door (not the lounge where we all met)isn't it? It was Sophia's I think.

Originally posted by J Geoff:
(Incidently, David Letterman went to the same dentist )

Originally posted by J Geoff:
He did confirm one thing for me: That the Woltz estate WAS shot at the Harold Lloyd Estate (Beverly Hills), and not the Guggenheim Estate in Long Island.

Originally posted by J Geoff:
And, if you didn't realize... those exterior shots of Tom and Woltz were played by doubles!

Originally posted by The Italian Stallionette:
that picture of the "doubles", doesn't look like Tom, yet I can't say I picked it up in the movie.

Originally posted by J Geoff:
And, if you didn't realize... those exterior shots of Tom and Woltz were played by doubles!

Originally posted by MaryCas:
I'd like to know the site of the "leave the gun, take the cannolis" scene. I'm surmising that it is on or near the site of Liberty State Park in New Jersey. The scene shows the back of the Statue of Liberty, which would make the shot from Jersey.

Originally posted by plawrence:
There's no 16B. I never thought of it, but it could be 16W (my exit).

Originally posted by Just Lou:
I'm pretty sure it's not 16W, although 16W has similar features and area. From the view of NYC, I don't think it can be 14B either. The view is too far North.

Originally posted by Just Lou:
I'm pretty sure it's not 16W, although 16W has similar features and area. From the view of NYC, I don't think it can be 14B either. The view is too far North.

Originally posted by SC:
What is the exit that has three letters (14??). One of them is the one that goes to Liberty State Park.

Originally posted by plawrence:

Quote

Originally posted by SC:
[b] What is the exit that has three letters (14??). One of them is the one that goes to Liberty State Park.

I don't think any of the exits have three letters.[/b]

Originally posted by plawrence:

Maybe I'll put the movie on and check the scene out and then go for a ride.

Originally posted by plawrence:

Quote

Originally posted by SC:
[b] What is the exit that has three letters (14??). One of them is the one that goes to Liberty State Park.

I don't think any of the exits have three letters.

After the Turnpike splits off into the Eastern and Western Spurs, all the exits are labeled with an "E" or "W", depending on the spur.

14W immediately leads into Route 78 West. 14E is really "78 East" because it takes you into Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel and then onto the BQE, which is 278.

[/b]

Originally posted by SC:

Quote

Originally posted by Just Lou:
[b] I'm pretty sure it's not 16W, although 16W has similar features and area. From the view of NYC, I don't think it can be 14B either. The view is too far North.

Looking at it again, 14B probably IS too far south for this view. Here's a shot from a Hoboken camera (a little farther north) that looks a little more like the correct angle (meaning Exit 16 is more likely):
[/b]

Originally posted by Just Lou:
"14E" "14W"??
You sure you live in NJ??

Originally posted by Don Cardi:
There are several reasons that a studio would use a stand in back then. The most common reason would be for a situation like this one; The scene at Woltz's place may have already been shot and now Duvall is over shooting another scene at a totally different location.

Originally posted by Just Lou:
"14E" "14W"??
You sure you live in NJ??

Originally posted by plawrence:
But when they pull over so Clemenza can take a leak and Paulie can get shot, the only thing visible in the backround is the Statue of Liberty, which would be too far south to be seen from exit 16W.

Originally posted by plawrence:


But when they pull over so Clemenza can take a leak and Paulie can get shot, the only thing visible in the backround is the Statue of Liberty, which would be too far south to be seen from exit 16W.

Originally posted by plawrence:
It's not 14E and 14W?

Originally posted by plawrence:
Maybe I'll put the movie on and check the scene out and then go for a ride.

Originally posted by fathersson:
.....if that is all you have to do tonight, Go for it.

Originally posted by plawrence:

Quote

Originally posted by Just Lou:
[b]"14E" "14W"??
You sure you live in NJ??

It's not 14E and 14W? [/b]

Originally posted by plawrence:
Are you sure that when you are traveling south and get off at exit 14, once you're on the exit ramp they don't label it 14E for Manhattan and 14W for Route 78 West?

Originally posted by Just Lou:

Originally posted by Don Cardi:

As for the east and west exits that you guys are trying to figure out, isn't it 17E to go to Manhatten?

Originally posted by MaryCas:
Notice the shadow of the car on the ground. If that was the JOisey side the sun would be from the North - can't be, not even a Summer Solstice sunrise. The sun is in the southwest sky, making the "gotta leak" scene shot on the east side of Manhattan. Then the "take the cannoli" scene is shot from Joisey (Liberty Park).

I

Originally posted by J Geoff:
Okay, people - I just got a call from Harlan Lebo, the Godfather Legacy author, who's preparing his book for a re-release next Fall.

He wanted me to confirm the location of Sonny's killing because the location has been contested on the Shooting Locations Page of the GF Site.

Anyone confirm whether that was shot at Floyd Bennet Field (Brooklyn) or Mitchel Field in (Mineola, Long Island) or elsewhere?

I know Scene Locations have been posted here before, but I wanted to present this opportunity to also present any other factual mistakes that MAY have occurred in The Godfather Legacy book.

He did confirm one thing for me: That the Woltz estate WAS shot at the Harold Lloyd Estate (Beverly Hills), and not the Guggenheim Estate in Long Island.

Any other errors you find on This Page would be greatly appreciated, as Harlan has looked there, and plans to again. It's just unfortunate many of the inaccuracies came from Zuckerman's GF Journal book.

Please post ASAP -- Grazie! If y'all do a good job, I'll invite Harlan to another chat or even BB appearance...

Originally posted by bklynfabiano:
The scene at the toll booth was shot in Brooklyn at Floyd Bennett Field. The billboard blocked the view of an unfinished high rise, that was built with mob cement and declared unsafe and never completed

Originally posted by bklynfabiano:
Anyone have any info on the coreleone compound. it was shot on Staten Island, off Ocean Terrace. I went there when they were shooting, but I cannot remember where it is today, to much new development

Originally posted by SC:
You wrote that it was Clemenza'a car. Shouldn't it have been Tessio's??

Geoff:

That's a good question about Clemenza's car. I know there was a reason why I specified that it was Clemenza's car, but I'll have to check in my original notes for why I specified a car. More to come on that.

H

Geoff:

Thanks so much for your help, and for posting my question about the shooting of Sonny. I did a survey of all of the photos I have of the shooting scene, plus 60 years of aerial photos, and you and your users are right: it was Mitchel Field that was used for this scene.

I haven't had a chance to talk with Gray Frederickson about it yet, but I can only assume that the reason that Al Ruddy was quoted saying in 1972 (and when I interviewed him in 1996) that they used Floyd Bennett Field was because they had originally planned to use it, but the plans fell through. I'm sorry I included this detail in my first addition.

So, I was able to produce the revisions I need for the book on very short notice. I'm adding more than 7,000 words of new material, especially extra details about the production and writing the script, along with many new quotes. I'm also adding a new afterword that brings the story up to date.

I've also reviewed every detail of the the primary source material (including such things as the site of Sonny's shooting) to "sanitize" the book. And, we're getting a new cover -- an extra-nice shot of Brando.

It was great fun to relive this project, and to flesh out the quotes and details that I had always wanted to include, but the timing of the oriignal writing schedule (and Coppola's non-availability for interviews because he was directing "Jack.") got in the way. Now, the book has that added dimension I always wanted.

So, more to come. We should see the new addition in late October, and we can talk more about it online with everyone, if you like.

Again -- thanks so much for your help. The next time I'm in New York, I owe you an anisette.

Cheers,

Harlan

Geoff:

One more thing: I was just reading the board and I may have given you the wrong impression on one point: for the Woltz estate, it was the EXTERIORS that were shot at the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills. All of the Woltz interiors were indeed shot on location at the Guggenehim place on Long Island, as originally reported.

I include some extra material about this in the revisions of my Godfather book that will be published in October.

The Lloyd Estate is in the heart of the actual hills of Beverly Hills (north of Sunset Boulevard). The address is no secret -- either 1040 Angelo Drive, or 1740 Green Acres Place, depending on how you look at it. (Drive by, but of course, don't bother the occupants.) Here is a nice photo of the main house, taken in 1984.

The grounds were huge -- originally 22 acres of some of the most valuable property on Earth -- and included a nine-hole golf course and a canoe stream! You can see the drive up to the house from the street at the beginning of the movie "Harper," when Paul Newman goes up a narrow drive to the mansion of a client. Most of the grounds have been subdivided into large lots for other homes, but I believe (although I'm not sure) that the main house looks pretty much as it did in 1971.

One of your BB correspondents asked if this was the only scene from the Godfather shot in California. No -- the other shot in the film done in California was the re-uniting of Michael and Kaye at her school. This scene was shot in Ross -- a suburb in Marin County, California. But hey -- if your writer read my book, she would know this!

FYI -- when Coppola talks about shooting some scenes with Michael and Enzo in front of the hospital, he mentions that some inserts were shot in Los Angeles. I don't think he is remembering that correctly. I talked with Al Ruddy about this point, and also checked the scenes very carefully -- I think this is Coppola simply misremembering some of the shots handled in post-production.

H

OK, here's the deal on Clemenza's car picking up Michael: I went back to my notes, and remembered that I had done a review of all of the cars in the movie, to see who belonged with what car. I was wondering, at one point, if given the rarity of big vintage automobiles in 1971, if some cars were used more than once in the movie when they shouldn't have been -- like if the car Paulie gets killed in suddenly reappeared later in a prominent role being driven by someone else (it didn't -- unless it was used in a background scene or at the funeral).

Anyway, it turns out that the car that picked up Michael after the shooting is seen earlier parked in front of the Clemenza house when he leaves with Rocco and Paulie. That's why I called it as Clemenza's car.

Of course, we know from a scene in the Godfather Trilogy that Clemenza's personal and beloved car is the one in his garage -- he complains about it to Rocco because "stupid Dee-troit" shipped it without bumpers because of war shortages. However, this could have been only his "personal" car, and the car in front of the house was his "business" car.

Any other questions coming up? I'm glad to answer them.

Harlan

You're probably right. Of course, it could indeed have been Tessio's car, and identical to Clemenza's -- maybe FFC had a view that all capos used the same model car! Seriously, I think I chould eliminate the reference to "Clemenza's car"; Given that Sonny made it explicit in the film that Tessio should pick up Michael.

I'm always glad to answer questions that come in -- feel free to send me the puzzlers. I'll try to keep track of the board, too, but if there are ever any festering factual questions that come in and I haven't checked in for a while, go ahead and send them. It's perfectly fine to pass along my e-mail address; the only type of question I can't answer fall into the category of "why didn't FFC do this or that....." I can't read his mind!

Cheers,

H

Originally posted by SC:
I think I'll have to check out one of your other books - "Casablanca - Behind the Scenes".

Originally posted by Don Cardi:
Pretty good stuff there Goeff! Maybe he'll make honorable mention in his updated book of you and the boards!

It would be great if he joined us for a discussion.

Hey, maybe you can ask him who the old man was that was singing at Connie's wedding! Still say it's Nazorine's father.


Don Cardi

Originally posted by J Geoff:
The Ellis Island scenes were actually shot in Italy. The Statue of Liberty was superimposed on the window. [see p. 239 ]

Originally posted by plawrence:
Maybe we can finally answer the age old question:

"Who's that eating the Chinese food with Michael, Sonny, Tom, Tessio, and Clemenza?" in the scene where they are waiting to find out where the Sollozzo meeting will take place.

Some here say it's Rocco, but others think it looks nothing like him.

Originally posted by Harlan via J Geoff:
I think I chould eliminate the reference to "Clemenza's car"; Given that Sonny made it explicit in the film that Tessio should pick up Michael.

Originally posted by J Geoff:

Originally posted by SC:
Has anyone considered the possibility that it was SUPPOSED to be Rocco but they filmed the scene with a "double"? Maybe Rocco wasn't available that day of filming (i.e. he was taking acting lessons).

Originally posted by SC:
Another view. This guy definitely is NOT Rocco:

BTW - watch the scene carefully.... there were a few other "no-names" there (although they weren't sitting at the table). I wouldn't lose any sleep over this - its just an oversight or a mistake or one of those things that simply doesn't have an answer. Coppola isn't God and he's entitled to "make a mistake".

Originally posted by SC:
Another view. This guy definitely is NOT Rocco:

Originally posted by DonMichaelCorleone:
even the balding (if that's a word lol) is exactly the same in the pictures

Originally posted by plawrence:
Well, I have to say that as the one who raised this topic originally way back when, after looking closely at all of this evidence it appears to me now that it may be Rocco, perhaps with a hair piece.