Without a doubt, one of the most important American filmmakers in the history of the medium is Francis Ford Coppola. A third-generation Italian-American, Coppola studied at UCLA and was one of many directors of the era that came up under B-movie maestro Roger Corman before being embraced by the cinematic establishment after winning an Oscar for co-writing “Patton” and directing megahit “The Godfather,” often named as one of the greatest films ever.
With that achievement, Coppola became the first among the movie brats, which included pals like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, to go onto great success for the rest of the 1970s, with two Best Picture Oscars (plus another nomination), and two Palme D’or trophies at Cannes. The 1980s were more mixed, and the 1990s even moreso, before Coppola took an extended break from filmmaking (though still stood as the scion of a filmmaking family that includes children Sofia and Roman, nephews Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman, and granddaughter Gia), before returning in the late 2000s with some bold experimental work.
Few directors have had such varied, tumultuous and fascinating careers, and with Coppola turning 75 this year and one of his finest achievements, “The Godfather Part II,” turning 40 next month, it seemed like the perfect time to do something we’ve wanted to do forever: namely, to look back over his work in detail. Below you’ll find our gift to you for the Thanksgiving weekend: our retrospective of the films of Francis Ford Coppola. Let us know your favorites in the comments section.
“Tonight For Sure” (1962)
Every filmmaker needs to start somewhere, and some starts are more ignominious than others: for every “Reservoir Dogs,” there’s a “Piranha 2.” Coppola’s first official directing credit, 1962’s “Tonight For Sure” (made when he was only 22) is firmly in the later category, a creaky hour-long cheapo sexploitation picture that doesn’t even vaguely hint at the filmmaking chops to come. Co-written, produced and directed by Coppola (with his father Carmen scoring and future Tarantino favorite Jack Hill, helmer of “Switchblade Sisters,” serving as DP), it’s an excuse to show as many breasts as possible, framed around a cowboy and a society higher-up who team up to shut down a burlesque club, who tell stories of vice and sin as they sit in the club and wait for the bomb to blow. The framing of a softcore picture around two Moral Majority-type heroes is a reasonably amusing one, but this is definitely a director at the beginning of his career: shots and scenes go on way longer than they should, the photography’s pretty dim, and the budget is minimal at best. Fair play to Coppola for taking advantage of an opportunity and getting something made, but this barely even has any value as a curio for the hardcore Coppola fans. [F]