Francis Ford Coppola up with fellow Oscar-winning directors Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen for an anthology film called "New York Stories". Coppola directed the "Life Without Zoë" segment, starring his sister Talia Shire and also co-wrote the film with his daughter Sofia Coppola. "Life Without Zoë" was mostly panned by critics and was generally considered the segment that brought the film's overall quality down. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote a particularly scathing review, stating that "It's impossible to know what Francis Coppola's "Life Without Zoë" is. Co-written with his daughter Sofia, the film is a mystifying embarrassment; it's by far the
Francis Ford Coppola Lucas, who became his lifelong friend as well as production assistant in his next film "The Rain People" in 1969. It was written, directed and initially produced by Coppola himself, though as the movie advanced, he exceeded his budget and the studio had to underwrite the remainder of the movie. The film won the Golden Shell at the 1969 San Sebastian Film Festival. In 1969, Coppola took it upon himself to subvert the studio system which he felt had stifled his visions, intending to produce mainstream pictures to finance off-beat projects and give first-time directors their chance to direct. He