Trivia for
Analyze This (1999) More at IMDbPro »

• Billy Crystal's character has a dream spoofing The Godfather (1972). Robert De Niro was in The Godfather: Part II (1974).
  
  
• The water fountain Paul Vitti gives Dr. Sobel as a wedding present is 40 feet tall and has a diameter of 24 feet.
  
  
• Robert De Niro suggested Chazz Palminteri for the role of Primo Sidone, having worked together on A Bronx Tale (1993).
  
  
• Martin Scorsese was first approached to direct the film but turned it down.
  
  
• Originally, the scene in which the couple is discussing their problems in bed with Dr. Sobel (Billy Crystal) was supposed to include only the woman and Dr. Sobel, but Crystal thought it would be funnier if the two of them were present. The man playing the husband is the head of the sound department for the movie, Les Lazarowitz, who being a heavyset guy made the scene even more comical. He deferred the sound mixing duties to his assistant while this scene was being filmed. Ironically, Lazarowitz was the boom operator (uncredited) in the fruit stand scene of The Godfather (1972), when they try to kill Vito Corleone. That same scene was parodied in Analyze This.
  
  
• The prison scenes at the end were actually filmed at the Sing Sing prison. The prisoners seen walking down the corridor at the beginning of the scene are real prisoners who belonged to the prison's drama club. The shooting at Sing Sing took only one day.
  
  
• The character of Paul Vitti was loosely inspired by real life mobster John Gotti.
  
  
• In the original script, there were more scenes in which Dr. Sobel (Billy Crystal) receives gifts from Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro). In one of them, former Yankee great Phil Rizzuto, at the request of his friend Paul Vitti, would give Dr. Sobel his spike shoes because Dr. Sobel is a Yankess' fan (Billy Crystal is a Yankees' fan in real life).
  
  
• Robert De Niro picked out the shirt collars used by Vitti and his crew.
  
  
• The scene towards the end in which all the Mafia bosses meet was filmed twice. The first filming occurred in Queens, New York. After watching the scene, Robert De Niro offered some suggestions, including that Dr. Sobel (Billy Crystal) "really belt" Jelly (Joe Viterelli). So the scene was filmed again, this time in Miami, Florida. In the final cut, the two scenes were merged. The shots of the scene in which a room full of people can be seen were taken in Queens whereas the shots in which Dr. Sobel is talking to Primo Sidone (Chazz Palminteri) and slapping Jelly were shot in Miami. There are only two or three people in the room for the scene that was shot in Miami.
  
  
• It was very important to Robert De Niro that the movie felt authentic. He and director 'Harold Ramis (I)' would drive around Little Italy in New York looking for real people to cast for the movie.
  
  
• According to Robert De Niro, he and Billy Crystal briefly toyed with the idea of co-directing the movie before deciding to offer it to 'Harold Ramis (I)', who accepted.
  
  
• Every restaurant interior in the movie was the site of a gangland hit, with the exception of Sparks' Steakhouse, where the hit took place outside.
  
  

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