Friday, June 8, 2012

Article: TV News, Nov 12 1977

Here's another article about the Saga from a midwestern TV Guide clone entitled TV News. The two page spread doesn't offer much in the way of new info, but what the heck- this is the Godfather Museum after all, and we thrive on meaningless trivia!

Keep clicking the pics to get to full size. Depending on your browser settings, you may have to right click and hit "View Image" and go from there. 


The first thing you notice about the cover is that it's not drawn (painted?) very well. One thing about all of these regional TV weeklies is that they never seem to have a very good cover artist. Why didn't they just run a still from the film instead? Reminds me of all those Monster Mags from the 60's and 70's who couldn't afford to hire Basil Gogos, so they would commission art from high school students and pay them a few cents for the rights. The better mags just stuck with color stills.

As far as I know, TV Week was only distributed throughout Indiana and Illinois. Its cover price was .25, a whole nickel cheaper than TV Guide.


I've never seen that classification before- "Mostly re-run." Despite The Saga being an all-new project, and Godfather I comprising less than half of the running time, it's mostly re-run. I guess this sounds better than saying "partially comprised of a film that was shown in a different format a couple of years ago."

I threw this back cover in just for fun. I've always had a fascination with the address labels on old magazines. Who was this person? Is Willis L. Draper still alive? How many times did Willis L. Draper read this issue before tossing it in a box in the closet? 35 years later, who found it and put it on Ebay? Oh, and completely off topic- but who would order a toupée from the back of a TV Week? Obviously not Willis L. Draper, since the coupon is still intact.



Now on to the comments. We just had one from last week:


What a great read, thanks very much for scanning and posting it. I wish they were able to show the original NBC Saga in its entirety on AMC. It's a piece of television history.

I'd really love to see all that lost footage from Godfather I and II, I'm sure it was cut for a reason but I'd love to see any extension to the story. Coppola should recover those scenes before it's too late, although I think the chances are about as slim as seeing an official release of the 5-and-a-half hour long cut of Apocalypse Now (which if there's a God in movie heaven we'll get to see in better quality one day).

Any tentative release date for the Complete Epic Trilogy? Your poster says spring 2012 and summer is nearing lol not to rush what I'm sure is a very rigorous project, but just very anxious to see it.



Thanks for writing! We were anticipating a release last month but both of us got caught up in family/work/life routines that have kept us from finalizing anything yet. We're realistically shooting for a late summer release now. We have our fingers crossed!

We too would love to see a complete, better quality Apocalypse Now restoration. I thought about doing an epic cut of that film as well, but the workprint is just so bad that I don't think any amount of restoration would make it sync up with the other footage.

There's so many "holy grails" of lost footage out there from films that I'd love to find. The lost "giant spider" scene from the original King Kong. The workprints from the Evil Dead trilogy. The original five hour rough cut of The Wild Bunch. I've never given up faith that one day, somebody somewhere will turn up some of these missing relics. In my lifetime, I've been able to witness the unearthing of Edison's 1910 Frankenstein adaptation, the (mostly complete) Metropolis, The Bat Whispers, the original version of Shadows, The World's Greatest Sinner-- all of these films that I grew up reading were lost for good eventually turned up. I'm hoping that one day, the same can be said for Francis Ford Coppola's films and fragments.



Next week, probably another article scanned and reprinted. Take care!



12 comments:

  1. Thanks for answering my comment, I figured I'd put my name in this time since this is my third or fourth comment anyway.

    In case you didn't know, the Evil Dead 2 workprint has leaked online.
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=geVDoobCc0U
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuZZkMObgV4
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVRP1O8rHxY
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tYk_ne8LSY
    It's only about 40 minutes of footage from the movie, but there are noticeable differences. You can probably find it in better quality than that, I just knew it was on YouTube.
    The workprints for Evil Dead 1 or Army of Darkness haven't surfaced yet, but there's a fanedit of Army of Darkness called the Primitive Screwhead Edition by RidgeShark that is the most complete version available (clocking in at 104 minutes compared to the 81 minute theatrical cut).

    The way I see it, movies in today's age are going downhill and there's a demand for original or alternate versions of classic movies. I see that it's starting to be noticed by filmmakers who are acting on it, such as Ridley Scott releasing the workprint of Blade Runner along with every other version and Joe Dante screening the workprint of Gremlins. Even Little Shop of Horrors is getting a Blu-Ray release this year with the original ending fully restored. I still have faith we'll see a lot more surprises in the following years.

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  2. Anyone knows where can I get The Godfather: A Novel for Television (the AMC rip) ??? It's around 420 min long...

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  3. I got my 720p version from a torrent, which unfortunately is from a private tracker called tv-vault.me. I know there was one on hdvnbits.org but I don't know how well seeded it is. However, I'm about to get access to a 1080p version being uploaded soon.

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  4. The seed on hdvnbits.org is dead unfortunately :( I have also no invitation on tv-vault.me :( so maybe you could give me one please or if you'll upload your 1080p version soon that would be fabulous :)
    my e-mail: eryx82@wp.pl
    please let me know buddy cause I just can’t wait to see it :)
    I simply love Godfather saga!!!
    Take care!

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  5. I'm the same dude you been talkin to on workprints.info haha my 1080p source isn't looking too good but I'm still in the process of uploading my 720p Saga. It'll be posted on workprints.info when I'm finished.

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  6. haha I knew that is you buddy ;) thanks a lot, so I'll try to be patiently :)
    take care :)

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  7. Newly uploaded, AMC's restoration of The Saga in 1080i with extras such as TV spots for The Saga and the rare television opening of GF3 in HD. Figured you guys might need it for your edit.
    http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7384104/DF021__The_Godfather_Saga_%281080i_AMC%29___Bonus

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  8. Anxiously awaiting your release!!

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  9. hope this is still happening!

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  10. Any Word on Release?

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  11. do you anticipate it being available via usenet?

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  12. An update, an update, all my kingdom for an update!

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