Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli

What’s left to say about “The Godfather"? Upon the film’s release in 1972, it almost instantly became a byword for the best Hollywood has to offer. It minted a new generation of stars, earned hundreds of millions of dollars, established Francis Ford Coppola as one of the best directors of his generation, and changed the way Americans viewed the mafia—and cinema—forever.    And yet, “The Godfather” almost never got made, with meddling studio executives and vindictive members of the real-life mafia trying to smother the movie at every turn. During production, location permits were revoked, war was waged over casting decis...