Marlon Bundo from his cage. Before this, Bundo was "just another scrappy Chicago bunny". Pence texted Bundo's owner to ask how much the rabbit cost, and the owner replied, "Make me an offer." In Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather" and the 1972 film of the same name, Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone says, "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." Pence's friend, a Brando fan, noticed the similarity between the seller and Corleone, and suggested naming the rabbit Marlon Brando. Pence finally decided to name him Marlon Bundo. Speaking to "The Chicago Tribune" Charlotte recalled: We drove out to the
Marlon Brando in turn raised his voice, and acted with great power and passion. "It was marvelous," a cast member recalled. "Everybody hugged him and kissed him. He came ambling offstage and said to me, 'They don't think you can act unless you can yell.'" Critics were not as kind, however. A review of Brando's performance in the opening assessed that Brando was "still building his character, but at present fails to impress." One Boston critic remarked of Brando's prolonged death scene, "Brando looked like a car in midtown Manhattan searching for a parking space." He received better reviews at subsequent tour