What do you think of Puzo's portrayal of the movie business in The Godfather vs. The Last Don?

After reading GF, I understood why the film didn't include the Johnny Fontaine/Nino Valenti material. Although I'm not in the movie business, GF's portrayal of Hollywood just seemed too cartoonish to me. Check out Nino's encounter with Deanna Dunn. It's the one major flaw in an otherwise great book. I found it sad because Puzo didn't need to rehash the old legends of Hollywood depravity; he was too good of an author for that.

Now, Puzo wrote The Last Don after getting some actual Hollywood experience. I'm only midway through the book (No Spoilers, please!) and I notice that driving force in this Hollywood is simple greed, not lechery. Sex seems to be another commodity. I don't know if all this is true to life, but it definitely holds together in the context of the story.

Welcome to the boards, Carstonio! Looking forward to many thoughtful posts from you, like the one you debuted with.
I've said this before, so please bear with me if you've read it here: Puzo was a bit like Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, in that he could never resist passing on any knowledge or erudition he picked up along the way. Fleming had a pithy way of doing it that made you feel he was letting you in on a secret. (For example, in "Thunderball," he describes Blofeld's hydrofoil yacht as employing "the Scherzel-Sachesenberg system" of lift, whatever that is). But Puzo was more wordy. In the GF, consider the detail he went into to describe Lucy Mancini's gynecological operation. Did Puzo have one? By the time he wrote "The Last Don," he'd had lots more Hollywood experience than when he wrote GF, so we got page after page...after page...of Hollywood stuff that was, to put it charitably, real boring and, I thought, basically superfluous.

I agree. I wonder if Puzo had an aborted child? Dr. Keendy. kay Adams. Jules Segal. Luca Brasi. he mentions that alot!

I'm suprised Puzo didn't have sidestories about Marcantinoi's hollywood business in Omerta.

I like hearing abut Deanna's "Verbal" sklls espeically after seeing her in Gf2! She's SMOKIN!

The "Paula???" lawyer in Last Don wasn't very entertaining, At first thought I thought Ernest Vail was dumb, but he turned out pretty interesting.

Turnbull, thanks for the welcome and for your praise of my post! I just finished the Last Don and I agree that Puzo went overboard with the Hollywood material. The heart of the story was really the Cross/Dante feud, and I wish Puzo had highlighted that more. I missed the miniseries when it first ran, and I'm going to see if the video store has it. I want to see if the TV version focused more on the cousins.

I noticed that Don Clericuzio's top goal was making his Family completely legitimate. Of course, that was Michael's goal for the Corleones, too. The message I picked up from GF1 and GF2 was that Michael was trapped in the edifice that his father had built. The Corleone Family couldn't go legit without losing its power and becoming vulnerable to its enemies. I think Don Clericuzio realized how much Family power would be a burden for his descendants. The Clericuzio Family could be legitimate, or powerful, but not both.

I'd be interested to know your reaction to the miniseries of "The Last Don," if you can find it. I thought it was much superior to the novel, mainly because of Danny Aiello (always good) and Joe Mantegna.
Many on these boards would agree with you that Michael was trapped in the family edifice (nicely put!). However, it wasn't what Don Corleone wanted for Michael--"Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone..." He clearly regretted Michael's involvement in the family business. The Don lacked the wherewithal to bring the family into the "legitimate" world. But he was aware of, and approved of, Michael's plan to leave the "olive oil business" and re-establish the family in Nevada in the "legitimate" world.

Danny Aiello from hit man in GF to Mafia Don in The Last Don.....talk about moving up uh?