“He makes the guy look like an iceman. That's not right.”

-- Italian Mafioso on the set of “The Godfather” in 1971, complaining about Marlon Brando's lack of bling as Vito Corelone, as recounted in The New York Times Magazine in August 1971.

On the set, April 12, 1971. 

Here's more: “Neither of them had been impressed when they heard Brando was to play the godfather, so they watched his performance critically. They volunteered to grips, cameramen and extras that they would have preferred Ernest Borgnine or Anthony Quinn.”

Another good bit, about how popular Mario Puzo's novel was among the Mafia when it was released in 1969: “In Las Vegas, [Puzo] found that a gambling debt he had run up was somehow marked paid. When Puzo protested he was told, 'It's a certain party's pleasure.'” 

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