ved the significance he felt they deserved. In the concept of The Godfather, which at the time was only one hundred pages completed, Puzo saw a theme and story that he believed held market potential, enough to hopefully earn him a decent income. Bart recounts Puzo asserting, ôI'm writing this book to make money. This isn't War and Peace,ö (Bart 445).
This focus on money as a creative force may sound contrary to what most perceive to be an artist's authentic inspiration: the pursuit of human truth and meaning. However, money talks. Specifically, it speaks the language of efficacy; money follows what works. What worked in late 1960's and early 1970's cinema was a new model for heroism. Gangster movies of the 1930's had focused on the gangster as a criminal without redeeming qualities. The heroes in these films were police and detectives who brought gangsters to justice. The Western movies and romantic musicals that were popular before the 1960's lost their appeal during a decade of counter-culture movements. Furthermore, with the advent of TV, old movies could now be seen in people's living rooms (Rowley, ôIdentifying heroesàö). The simplicity of earlier movies was beginning to be the stuff of parodies. New models were called for that resonated with the younger generation. The War in Vietnam and Civil Rights Movement spawned a mistrust of the police and sympathy for the causes of Native Americans that made the cowboy, military, and police heroes nf previous eras seem out-of-date. A new type of heroic figure who could appeal to mainstream audience members and at the same time capture the spirit of counterculture innovators would have the best chance of receiving wide recognition and box-office dollars.
Puzo's book and the movie that succeeded it present an interesting combination of mainstream and counterculture identity. The protagonists are the Corleones, one of the Five Families of the Italian-American Mafia. The head of the ...