The Last Don vs. The Godfather

The Last Don

The Godfather

I'm rereading The Last Don. What do you think of the two novels' treatments of Hollywood?

I always thought the GF novel's Hollywood chapters were moralistically lurid. It seemed like Puzo deliberately portrayed the leading men as closeted gays and the leading women as boozy sluts, so readers would get a false sense of superiority. Maybe that's what Puzo meant when he said he wrote GF "below my gifts."

I wonder if Puzo used The Last Don to vent his frustrations with Hollywood. Kind of how Blake Edwards used his bitter comedy "SOB" to vent about his experiences directing "Star!" and "Darling Lili."

But a good bunch of Hollywood actors are closet gays. And same with the women being sluts.

Do you think the Cross and Dante conflict was somewhat like the dichotomy between Michael and Sonny in GF? In both cases, one is the cunning thinker and the other is the bloodthirsty hothead. From my reading, that dichotomy runs through many mythological stories.

I doubt the percentage is that high, especially for the men, although I can't prove it. (I've come to the conclusion that I don't have gaydar.) I've noticed the phenomenon with music and sports as well--male celebrities who are adored by women are frequently accused of being gay. I think it's partly jealousy. I've seen it happen with actors like Tom Cruise, with groups like Duran Duran and the Backstreet Boys, and with sports stars like Jeff Garcia.

In any case, Puzo seemed to be playing to male readers' resentment of Hollywood. Nino seemed to be the readers' stand-in who expressed disgust at being treated like a male whore.

"The Last Don" was a thinly disguised effort by Puzo to show off all the stuff he learned about Hollywood. It bored me stiff. One of the reasons that the first movie was better than the novel (in addition to having always-good Danny Aiello in a starring role) was that the movie dispensed with a lot of the Hollywood crap.

I voted The Last Don because I loved the book I'm looking for the movie. The Godfathers great too but I guess its just I saw the movie millions of times before I read the book so I already knew the main parts of the story were in The Last Don I didn't know what was going to happen till it happend.

I voted for the Godfather because it was a better book, but the last Don was also a good book, but I think that it was sadly made into a bad movie.

This perhaps, I think a biased comparison. So I'll drop down some points I liked to both books since there's no basis for comparison here for me to vote.

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Storywise, I'll go to The Godfather.

Adventures and Drama, I'll go to both books.

Plot, I'll go to The Last Don.

Love Scenes, I'll go to The Last Don.

Values and Lessons Learned, I'll go both books.

Character wise, The Godfather.

THE LAST DON was a good story but I agree with Turnbull, way too much Hollywood crap.

The Cross-Dante conflict was great and Dante made a particularly unlikeable villain, but for me, Pippi and Giorgio were the best characters in the book and made it worth finishing.

I had a particularly hard time with some of the cheesy dialogue, the constant referral to the families as The Santadio and The Clericuzio, romantic lines such as "you are now the family's number one hammer" and so on. And what was with Dante and those silly hats ?

Still, a good story. As far as the movie, Part 1 anyway, Aiello and Mantegna were great as usual. Jason Gedrick can't ever seem to get over the hump of "b" Hollywood films and made for tv schmaltz. I don't understand, he's a decent actor.

Okay book, better movie. I haven't read it in 10 years, since it's initial paperback release in 1997. I think I'll give it another read in the near future.

The Godfather is better by far than The Last Don if we are discussing the novels. Although I did really enjoy The Last Don.

The Last Don movie or miniseries was pretty awful whereas The Godfather is one of the greatest movies of all time.

I also didn't care for the Hollywood stuff, but I also didn't think much of the Fontane storyline either.

...i'm about a third of the way into the last don and i can already tell it ain't the godfather. did puzo ever equal the godfather? he was on fire when he wrote it. the only thing that comes close that i know of is the godfather part 2 which he wrote/co-wrote with coppola. i like that the last don returns to the world of italian mafia and has impossibly powerful characters and gangsterism. the strokes are broad, not as finely precise as the godfather though, not realistic and the hollywood stuff that i've read slows it down. however, if you're looking for more mafia stuff you'll find it in the last don. curious to check out the show...

TALES OF WAR AND REVOLUTION

Puzo always felt that his pre-GF novels, especially "The Dark Arena" and "The Fortunate Pilgrim," were far superior to "The Godfather," which he said he dashed off to earn money to settle gambling debts. Many critics agree.

It's a very close call for me but I am going with The Godfather