Remembering John Cazale: The Forgotten Corleone

As the 1972 film ‘The Godfather’ directed by Francis Ford Coppola completes fifty years of its release this year, there will be countless threads and forums, discussing the various things that make it, arguably, one of the best movies of all times, across different departments, including its screenplay to its direction and of course the impeccable cast. Rightly so, while Marlon Brando and Al Pacino won the audience’s hearts with portrayal of Vito and Michael Corleone respectively, two characters, who were almost at the extreme end, in the way they went about “their business”. 

But amidst all the great performances, the masterful direction, is a performance, so underrated because of the way blends in the story, was the performance of Freddo Corleone, the doomed and the weak-minded middle child of Vito Corleone. Played by John Cazale, he blended in with the character so well, that his seamless casting as Freddo, almost goes unnoticed.  

But it wasn’t only Freddo Corleone, that went unnoticed but was highly impressionable, thanks to Cazale’s acting skills. In a rather short movie career that lasted for six years until his unfortunate death due to lung cancer in 78, all five films Cazale was part of, received the Best Picture nominations at the Oscars, along with nods in the ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actor’ categories with three films winning all the three categories, as well.  

While Cazale never got recognised for any of his performances in the films by the academy at that point in time, his peers were well aware of his craft. In a documentary about the actor, ‘ I Knew It Was You: Remembering John Cazale’, which released in 2009, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola recalled the almost perfect casting of Cazale as Freddo Corleone.   

Referring to the scene in ‘The Godfather 2’, just before the fateful event in the boat, in the room with Michael, where Freddo finally realises his fate and accepts it. Coppola recalls that while, the only words that the script mentions are “Freddo sits”, it was Cazale who conveys all the meaning to the audience, without uttering a word. “He used that chair in a way that I had never anticipated and in that I knew it was one of those moments which had just come to life!” Coppola said in the documentary.  

Sandwiched, between the Two ‘Godfather’ films, is the mystery-thriller film ‘The Conversation’, again directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film, which might remind many about the reigning Pegasus controversy, revolves around a surveillance expert and the moral dilemma he faces when his recordings reveal a potential murder, and Cazale plays one of Hackman’s colleagues who have been tasked with bugging the conversation of a couple as they walk through crowded market Square in San Francisco. 

If Coppola was the director he most worked with, Al Pacino was the actor, who Cazale most starred with. After the first two ‘Godfather’ films, the two went onto feature in the Oscar winning film, ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, directed by Sidney Lumet, which was inspired by the true events based on a magazine article about a man who decided to rob a local Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover's operation, but is forced to take hostages after the heist does not go as planned. Critics love the chemistry between the two actors, with Pacino as the energetic, brash youngster determined to get some money for the operation, while Cazale exuded a more pessimistic, impulsive scared and almost deadpan death-wish personality.  

In 1977, Cazale was diagnosed with lung cancer, and at the time he was shooting for his fifth and final film of his career ‘The Deer Hunter’, which saw him collaborate with another actor, who is now considered a living legend in Hollywood, actor Robert De Niro.

‘Casting for ‘The Deer Hunter’ proved to be a big coup for the film’s director, since DeNiro brought on Cazale, who in-turn brought the now-celebrated actress Meryl Streep, who had been dating Cazale since the two starred in 1976 play, and had decided to stay by him in his final days.