In a bit of random serendipity, we watched two movies at opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum back to back: "The Godfather: Part II" and 1980's "Alligator." Both featured the raspy-voiced character actor Michael V. Gazzo.
Gazzo portrayed the pivotal Corleone capo Frank Pentangeli (below, right), the would-be turncoat who testifies before a Senate committee seeking to bring down Michael Corleone in the "Godfather" sequel. Six years later he hammed it up in the cliched role of the beleaguered police chief trying to corral a rogue detective (played by Robert Forster) and save the town from a giant rampaging reptile.
Gazzo fell back on a lot of TV work in the '70s and '80s before he died in 1994 at 71. I had no idea that he made his bones as a writer. In the 1950s, he wrote the play "Hatful of Rain," which was turned into a film a decade later, and the screenplay for Elvis Presley's "King Creole."
In the coming days, we will have reviews of both of the original "Godfather" movies and a double-feature tribute to Forster.
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