Godfather

Carmine Coppola, an Academy Award-winning composer and conductor who wrote the theme music for several Hollywood films, died Friday in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke. He was 80. Mr. Coppola, the father of director Francis Ford Coppola, shared an Academy Award with Nino Rota in 1974 for best original dramatic score for "Godfather II," the second of three "Godfather" movies made by the younger Mr. Coppola. He also wrote the theme music for the original "Godfather" and scored three other of his son's films, "Apocalypse Now," "The Outsiders" and "Gardens of Stone."

James Brown. The name conjures images of a man possessed by his own music - sweat dripping, conked hair fallen, feet shuffling to a relentless groove. Then there's the voice, a powerful instrument that can - in a heartbeat - go from a sensual, caramel-smooth whisper to a primal, cloud-moving scream. He's the Godfather of Soul, Mr. Dynamite, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Soul Brother No. 1 and on and on. In 40 years, Brown has amassed 116 R&B hits and 96 pop hits, placing him second behind Elvis with most charted singles.

WENT TO THE movies ("Godfather III") the other night and found it to be an unsettling experience, reaffirming once again why video rentals are going through the roof.Our first stop was the candy counter, where we agonized over whether to get the grain silo-sized tub of popcorn or the oil drum-sized version, which feeds only 27 and yet does not have to be hauled into the theater itself via a crane.This is probably showing my age, but I remember when popcorn cost 25 cents and came in these little white paper bags.

It would take almost an entire day to watch the three latest films released in Warner Home Video's' two-disc Special Edition series, and that's without delving into the copious extras. George Stevens' Hollywood epic Giant; Philip Kaufman's 1983 chronicle of the NASA space program, The Right Stuff; and Sergio Leone's stylized dream of a gangster saga, Once Upon a Time in America, each run more than three hours. And all are worth the investment of both time and money (each is list-priced at $26.99)

MOVIES''The Godfather III'' has the same texture, intensity and passion as the two "Godfather" films that preceded it. At times the action is a bit melodramatic, but the film never bores, particularly the finale, which takes place at the Palermo Opera House -- the action in the loges matches the activity on stage. Al Pacino, right, continues as Michael Corleone, who is now a legitimate businessman. His past, however, catches up with him. The cast includes Diane Keaton, George Hamilton and Andy Garcia.

W. R. Carr, 80, 'Godfather of Nightlife'Walter R. Carr, the founder of the Nitelifer magazine who was known as the "Godfather of Nightlife," died Sept. 22 of heart failure at Maryland General Hospital. He was 80.In 1960, he founded the Nitelifer, a lively weekly guide to Baltimore's inner-city clubs and bars. He used the editorial space to comment on issues of importance to blacks."You can stick it in your hip pocket or in an inside jacket pocket," Mr. Carr said of the Nitelifer in a 1981 interview.

A movie date, it turns out, can be more than a picture show. A psychologist at the University of Michigan has found that certain movies can crank up our hormone levels and perhaps alter our behavior. A romantic flick such as The Bridges of Madison County can increase our biochemical readiness to cuddle. But a violent The Godfather II can fire up a guy's testosterone, unleashing his assertive instincts and his libido. "Movies, like good books, arouse our emotions," said Oliver C. Schultheiss, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

We're being taken for a ride again. We've been made an offer we can't refuse. Mother of God, is this the beginning of a cycle?Yes, it is. In one of its periodic, perhaps whimsical, shifts in subject matter, the American film industry has reinvented a hallowed figure from its own storied past, the gangster.Right now, in a limited fall film market, at least three gangster movies are in release: "GoodFellas," Martin Scorsese's vivid look at a tribe of low-ranking Long Island mafiosi; "State of Grace," about the Westies, an Irish thug subset that tried to strike an accord with the Italians on New York's West Side in the mid-'70s; and, less seriously, "Marked for Death," in which martial arts star Steven Seagal is matched against highly organized Jamaican drug posses in the suburbs of Chicago.

Jervis S. Finney can precisely recall making the offer. Bob Ehrlich remembers exactly where he was when he was floored by it. In early October, 30 days before the election, Finney - former state senator, U.S. attorney, corporate defense lawyer and GOP gray eminence - telephoned Ehrlich to tell him he would delay retirement. "I said, `After all this is over, if we prevail, I will do whatever you like, for the rest of my working career,'" recalls Finney. Ehrlich was astounded. Mentor was telling protege he would sell the family homestead, move to Annapolis and return to public service.

MARIO VAN PEEBLES laughed when he was asked if the press tour he was doing was tiring. ''Tiring? Being put up in four-star hotels? Getting a bathrobe with the room? That's not tiring. I love it,'' he said.Van Peebles is the son of Melvin Van Peebles, who made black-oriented films back in the '60s. The son has just done his first film as a director, and according to Mario, Melvin is one happy man.''He's very proud, but I owe it all to him,'' he said. ''I once told him that growing up with him was like growing up with James Brown.