Half a century has passed since the historic ceremony of the Oscars in which The Godfather and Cabaret shared most of the statuettes with which the Academy of Hollywood watered that unrepeatable harvest, which also rewarded The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie of Buñuel. The series The Offer, which broadcasts in Spain SkyShowtime, tells the ins and outs of the filming that made Francis Ford Coppola famous, resurrected Marlon Brando and launched the career of Al Pacino, although the protagonist of the story is here the producer Albert S. Ruddy, played by Miller Teller, whom the public will remember especially for the movie Whiplash.

Many still think that The Godfather is the best movie of all time. Few dispute the condition of masterpiece and some less know the odyssey that lived Coppola, Ruddy, Brando, Pacino, Duvall and a long etcetera of stars then in question. It was an exciting shoot, which needed the approval of organized crime and recently novelized by Iván Reguera.

The Spanish writer, by the way, is one of those who feel "horrified" by the series, "because he has the audacity to say that The Godfather is the work of a great secretary." "Everything about the Mafia is nonsense," adds the author of The Man Who Could Make Miracles, edited by Roca. Reguera is also angry that the authors of the script did not even consult Coppola and Peter Bart (vice president of creative affairs at Paramount), among other testimonies still alive that would have enriched the story and specified the shot. The series relies on the memories, probably embellished, of Albert S. Ruddy, who on the other hand deserves the greatest respect because more than three decades later he won a second Oscar for Million Dollar Baby.

Book and series differ in some of the episodes they relate and in the point of view, but they coincide in the idea of moving away from the genres of the documentary and the essay, probably less risky.

Coppola's false epilepsy

Both prefer to fictionalize often implausible facts. "I realized that the subject was so crazy, so crazy, that it was better to tell it in a novel. Why not discuss it?" asked Reguera, who says, for example, that Coppola faked an epileptic seizure in a particularly complicated meeting with Paramount executives.

The series draws attention to the radical division it has caused among critics, some of whom have been primed with the production created by Leslie Greif and Michael Tolkin. "If The Godfather took a cheap novel by Mario Puzo and gave it prestige, The Offer takes a prestige movie and downgrades it cheap," writes Daniel Fienberg in The Hollywood Reporter. "It's so bad it's criminal," says another review. Defenders are in a clear minority.

And despite everything, viewers who have already seen its ten episodes seem to have had a good time. The series received an 8.7 rating on IMDb and a 7.8 on FilmAffinity. The Metacritic portal is another good reflection of the abyss that separates experts and fans: a suspense by the hair of the former contrasts with the 8.3 of the public. Who is right? Time is the best judge, but in order not to wait, let's play Roy Bean for a moment.

Virtues and defects

What the SkyShowtime series does not fail in is the sacred commandment to entertain the public, not only because the raw material is unbeatable. The facts that are narrated are fascinating and many of them little known, about a work that has managed to become part of popular culture. It also reflects well the anguished suffering of visionaries, director and producer, embarked on a titanic battle against some of their bosses.

It is a defense of art against the industry that suffers a small contradiction, however, because it conveys the greatness of the artist's yearnings without being able to elevate itself. Greif and Tolkien are two experienced authors, but a creator of greater height would have known better to ride on the back of that dream. Isabella Summers' music reflects well the utopia of the project. His music is resultant and contains inspired passages, but pales if we compare it with the score that Nino Rota wrote for the film. Who can blame her for it?

Miles Teller, Juno Temple and Dan Fogler, on the set of 'The offer'NICOLE WILDER

Transferred to the cast, the crack grows dangerously. Shine Miles Teller as Ruddy and Matthew Goode as Robert Evans, as well as Juno Temple in the role of secretary and then some. Neither are Colin Hanks in the role of Pepito Grillo of Paramount and Giovanni Ribisi in the skin of mobster Joe Colombo. Patrick Gallo also gives the hit as Mario Puzo, but, despite the undoubted effort, everything is more debatable when we talk about the cast that gives life to the cast. Not to mention Francis Ford. It's not just that the physique of all of them is better known.

Almost no one cares too much that the faces behind the camera resemble those of the real characters, but Dan Fogler looks like a scale caricature of Coppola, while Justin Chambers aptly copies some gestures of Marlon Brando, although they were passed with UVA rays and makeup. Anthony Ippolito doesn't offer much more than the physical resemblance to Al Pacino, without a drop of his charisma. We will not cite other specific examples so as not to offend, but a general problem of the cast, something especially evident on the female side, is that almost all are uglier than the originals, just the opposite of what usually happens when fiction recreates real stories.

In the end, The Offer is followed with some emotion even at the unshown ceremony of the 1973 Oscars. It will help to be young and not remember the result. There is also talk, by the way, of Paramount's next big project, the movie Chinatown. From the outset, we already know that Ben Affleck has bought the rights to the book: "The Great Goodbye: Chinatown and the Twilight of Old Hollywood", by Sam Wasson.

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