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doctor-rumack t1_j0vkcya wrote

Sinatra had a point. Everyone assumed Johnny Fontaine was based on him, because Sinatra was well known to associate with mobsters throughout his career, especially in the 60's when the novel was written.

Sinatra's bigger problem with being associated with the character (outside of the mob association) was that in the book, Johnny Fontaine was a spineless and degenerate loser. It was a good thing that Puzo and Coppola downplayed the character in the film to appease Sinatra and the mob, because Fontaine was so dislikable in the book.

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StellarTitz t1_j0vti8a wrote

This makes so much more sense.. I'm not mad because you made a book about me, I'm mad cause you made me a spineless degenerate. How dare you!

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angry_old_dude t1_j0xq7zy wrote

> Everyone assumed Johnny Fontaine was based on him, because Sinatra was well known to associate with mobsters throughout his career, especially in the 60's when the novel was written.

There's also a story that a mobster held a gun to Tommy Dorsey's head and threatened to blow his brains out if he didn't let Sinatra out of his contract. In the first film, when Michael and Kay are talking about Fontane during the wedding, Michael explains something about a contract and what "making an offer he can't refuse" is really about. The Sinatra story is doubtful, but it definitely informed that scene.

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doctor-rumack t1_j0xrskh wrote

Jack Woltz (the studio head who owns Johnny’s contract) also alludes to that in the dinner scene with Tom Hagen - "And if that goombah tries any rough stuff, you tell him i ain’t no bandleader. Yeah, I heard that story."

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drrockso20 t1_j11whez wrote

Which is also brought up in the book, mind you the book version of Woltz is also an outright pedophile

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drrockso20 t1_j11w5fx wrote

That's not really how Johnny Fontaine's character in the book goes at all except right at the very beginning of the book when his life is at it's lowest, indeed the book points out multiple times that Johnny has many of the same "Donnish" qualities that Michael Corleone has and that's why Vito holds him so dearly even beyond being Johnny's godfather

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