(lifts a glass of wine)
Salud.
We can HEAR SCREAMING.
DON CORLEONE
What is that outside?
EXT DAY: MALL
JOHNNY FONTANE has arrived at the MALL. He is mobbed by screaming young girls wanting his autograph as he makes his way into the crowd.
CONNIE
(runs and embraces JOHNNY)
Johnny! Johnny! I love you!
CONNIE leads JOHNNY to the dais.
INT DAY: DON’S OFFICE
DON CORLEONE at the window, looks through the blinds to see who has arrived.
MANY WEDDING SCENES WERE SHOT AND LEFT ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR.
DON CORLEONE
(pleased)
He came all the way from California to come to the wedding. I told ya he was goin’ to come.
HAGEN
It’s been two years; he’s probably in trouble again.
DON CORLEONE
He’s a good godson.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
The novel devotes many pages to the Johnny Fontane story line: his relationship with women; Woltz’s vendetta against him; getting into the producing game; and inviting an Italian singing buddy from the neighborhood to work with him in Hollywood.
EXT DAY: MALL
MAMA
Johnny! Johnny!
(SPEAKS ITALIAN)
… then sing a song!
The crowd shouts and applauds JOHNNY.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
Despite the fading light, Coppola was under orders from the studio to keep shooting. The shots in which Michael appears to the right of Kay were all shot at night, with lamps blazing down to keep continuity with the bright sunlight in the other shots. To cinematographer Gordon Willis’s credit, the transitions are fairly seamless.
KAY
(at her table with MICHAEL)
Michael, you never told me you knew Johnny Fontane.
MICHAEL
Sure. You want to meet him?
KAY
Huh? Oh, ah … sure.
MICHAEL
(takes her hand)
My father helped him with his career.
JOHNNY
O Marenariello.
KAY
He did? How?
JOHNNY FONTANE is on the bandstand, singing to the delight and excitement of the wedding guests.
JOHNNY
(amid intermittent girlish screams)
(SINGS) I HAVE BUT ONE HEART …
MICHAEL
Let’s listen to the song.
KAY
No, Michael.
JOHNNY
(SINGS) THIS HEART I BRING YOU
I HAVE BUT ONE HEART
TO SHARE WITH YOU
I HAVE BUT ONE DREAM
THAT I CAN CLING TO
YOU ARE THE ONE DREAM
I PRAY COMES TRUE
KAY
Please, Michael, tell me.
JOHNNY
(SINGS) MY DARLING, UNTIL I SAW YOU …
MICHAEL
(over Johnny’s song)
Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to this … personal service contract, with a big bandleader. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. Now Johnny is my father’s godson. And my father went to see this bandleader. And he offered him ten thousand dollars to let Johnny go. The bandleader said no. So the next day, my father went to see him, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour he signed a release for a certified check of one thousand dollars.
JOHNNY
(singing through MICHAEL’s speech)
… VICINO MARE …
MARIO PUZO’S ENCOUNTER WITH FRANK SINATRA
The Johnny Fontane character is seemingly inspired by Frank Sinatra, an Italian singer whose career was also revived by a movie role (From Here to Eternity). After The Godfather was published, Puzo went to a birthday party at Chasen’s. When the millionaire host insisted on introducing him to Sinatra, all hell broke loose. Puzo chronicled the famous encounter in his book The Godfather Papers: and Other Confessions: “… Sinatra started to shout abuse. … But what hurt was that there he was, a Northern Italian, threatening me, a Southern Italian, with physical violence. This was roughly equivalent to Einstein pulling a knife on Al Capone. It just wasn’t done. Northern Italians never mess with Southern Italians except to get them put in jail or deported to some desert island. Sinatra kept up his abuse and I kept staring at him. He kept staring down at his plate. Yelling. He never looked up.” Some reports suggest that John Wayne, seated nearby, offered to punch Puzo if necessary.
KAY
How did he do that?
MICHAEL
My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
BEHIND THE SCENES
“Make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Variations on the famous line, which Puzo penned, appear in three other places in the film: the Don says it to Johnny about Woltz; Sonny says it to Michael about the Tattaglias’ offer; and Michael says it to Fredo about buying out Moe Greene. The American Film Institute cited it as number 2 on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time.
KAY
What was that?
MICHAEL
Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.
(pauses)
That’s a true story.
JOHNNY
(SINGS) MA P’ALLEREZZA
STONG’A MURI …
KAY is silent.
MICHAEL
That’s my family, Kay; it’s not me.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Michael’s disturbing description of how his father launched Johnny’s career was not in the shooting script written prior to filming. Neither was the comical scene of Fredo’s introduction.
JOHNNY finishes the song and the CROWD screams with delight.
MAMA
Beautiful.
VOICE
Bravo!
THE DON and HAGEN walk outside amid the applause, and THE DON embraces JOHNNY. The crowd raise their glasses in a toast.
THE DON indicates for JOHNNY to come with him to the office so that no one will notice. He turns to HAGEN, as the music starts again.
DON CORLEONE
Tom … I want you to find Santino. Tell him to come to the office.
They go, leaving HAGEN scanning the party looking for SONNY.
A drunken FREDO approaches MICHAEL and KAY’s table, surprising MICHAEL. He drops onto his knees, down to their level.
MICHAEL
How are you, Fredo?
(to KAY)
Fredo? My brother Fredo, this is Kay Adams.
KAY
Oh. Hi.
FREDO
(leaning in to kiss KAY)
How do you do?
KAY
(laughs)
Hello.
FREDO
This is my brother Mike.
MICHAEL
Are ya having a good time?
FREDO
Huh? Yeah. This is your friend, huh?
INT DAY: DON’S OFFICE
THE DON is at his desk, listening to JOHNNY.
JOHNNY
I don’t know what to do. My voice is … is weak. It’s weak. Anyway, if I had this part in the picture, you know? It puts me right back up on top again. But this—this man out there, he—he won’t give it to me, the head of the studio.
DON CORLEONE
What’s his name?
JOHNNY
Woltz. Woltz, he—he won’t give it to me, and he says there’s no chance. No chance.
INT DAY: DON’S HALLWAY
HAGEN glances up the staircase.
HAGEN
Sonny? Sonny!
Then he goes up.
CAST AND CREW: JEANNIE LINERO
Jeannie Linero was a dancer before appearing as Lucy Mancini in The Godfather, her first film.
INT DAY: DON’S UPSTAIRS ROOM
SONNY and LUCY are in a room upstairs; he has lifted her gown’s skirts up and has her standing up against the door. Her face peeks out from the layers of petticoats around it, like a flower in ecstasy.
LUCY
(gasping)
Uh uh uh …
Her head is bouncing against the door with the rhythm of her body. But there is a knocking as well. They stop; freeze in that position.
HAGEN
(from hallway)
Sonny. Sonny, you in there?
SONNY
What?
INT DAY: DON’S UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
Outside, HAGEN by the door.
HAGEN
The old man wants to see you.
INT DAY: DON’S UPSTAIRS ROOM
SONNY
Yeah. One minute.
INT DAY: DON’S UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
HAGEN hesitates. We hear LUCY’s HEAD bouncing against the door again. TOM smiles and leaves.
LUCY
(grunts)
Oh oh oh … Oh, Sonneeee! Oh oh oh …
BEHIND THE SCENES
While Sonny was having his way with Lucy, Coppola’s wife, Eleanor, went into labor with their third child. After the scene was completed, Coppola went to the hospital, and future filmmaker Sofia was born. The movie spawn of the Sonny/Lucy union was Vincent, portrayed by Andy Garcia in The Godfather: Part III, who becomes involved with Michael’s daughter, Mary—played by none other than the grown-up Sofia Coppola.
SET-UP FOR THE SONNY AND LUCY SEX SCENE. COPPOLA LIKED THE IMAGE FROM PUZO’S NOVEL OF LUCY’S PETTICOATS LIFTED IN THE AIR.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
The novel’s extensive Lucy Mancini plotline is all but eliminated from the film. In the book, her affair with Sonny is described in great detail. With the Corleone family’s help, she eventually moves to Las Vegas. She embarks on a relationship with Jules Segal, a doctor who eagerly helps her correct a weakening of her pelvic floor—although Puzo most often describes her condition, aka her “large box,” in sexual rather than medical terms. Coppola viewed the story line as extraneous, and such salacious descriptions initially dissuaded him from accepting the project.
CAST AND CREW: JOHNNY FONTANE
Coppola wanted a real Italian singer for the role of Johnny Fontane, such as Frankie Avalon or Bobby Vinton. Vic Damone was originally cast, but dropped out, ostensibly because he could not in good conscience play a character so anti–Italian American. Later, he admitted it was because of the poor pay. Al Martino, Robert Evans’s choice for the role, was a recording and nightclub star who actually had to leave the country at one time due to pressure from the Mafia. He had several hits, including eleven Top Forty songs in the United States in the sixties and seventies.
Martino had a rough shoot—because of his inability to conjure up emotion, his lines were constantly being rewritten, most of his scenes were shot from behind, and Brando had to slap him in their scene together (as Martino wore a toupee, it was a replacement action for the Don grabbing him by the hair).
EXT DAY: MALL
WOMAN
(SINGS ITALIAN ARIA)
INT DAY: DON’S OFFICE
HAGEN enters THE DON’s office silently, while JOHNNY speaks.
JOHNNY
A month ago he bought the movie rights to this book, the bestseller. And the main character is a guy just like me. Why, y’know, I wouldn’t even have to act—just be myself.
JOHNNY buries his head in his hands.
JOHNNY
But, oh, Godfather, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.
THE DON erupts out of his chair, grabs JOHNNY’s hands, and slaps his face.
DON CORLEONE
You can act like a man! What’s the matter with you?! Is this how you turned out? A Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman? (IMITATES CRYING) What can I do, what can I do? What is that nonsense? Ridiculous.
ITALIANISMS
Finocchio is a derogatory term for a homosexual.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Alex Rocco, who played the part of Moe Greene, was on the set the day of this scene between Johnny and the Don. He reports that Al Martino (Johnny Fontane) approached Marlon Brando before the scene, obsequiously calling him a great actor and asking for pointers on how to bring out his emotion for the scene. Brando told him not to worry, “I’ll help you.” When they proceeded to shoot the scene, Brando gave Martino a real whack across the face—which indeed helped bring tears to Martino’s eyes.
Both HAGEN and JOHNNY cannot refrain from laughing. THE DON smiles. SONNY enters as noiselessly as possible, still adjusting his clothes. THE DON glances at SONNY, who makes himself as inconspicuous as possible. THE DON is stern.
DON CORLEONE
You spend time with your family?
JOHNNY
Sure I do.
DON CORLEONE
Good. Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man. C’mere. You look terrible. I want you to eat, I want you to rest well and a month from now this Hollywood big shot’s gonna give you what you want.
JOHNNY
That’s too late; they start shooting in a week.
DON CORLEONE
I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.
He takes JOHNNY to the door.
DON CORLEONE
Now you go outside, enjoy yourself and … I want you to leave it all to me.
GOOFS, GAFFES, AND BLOOPERS
As Johnny leaves the Don’s office, watch for a female extra who appears in the doorway, smiles nervously, and steps back out of sight.
JOHNNY
All right.
They embrace, and THE DON closes the door.
DON CORLEONE
Well …
COPPOLA DISCUSSES THE SCENE WITH DUVALL AND BRANDO.
EXT DAY: MALL
Now all the wedding GUESTS excitedly clap their hands over the entrance of the cake: NAZORINE is beaming as he wheels in a serving table containing the biggest, gaudiest, most extravagant wedding cake ever baked—an incredible monument of his gratitude. The CROWD is favorably impressed: they begin to clink their knives or forks against their glasses, in the traditional request for the bride to cut the cake and kiss the groom.
INT DAY: DON’S OFFICE
DON CORLEONE
What time does my daughter leave with the bridegroom?
HAGEN
(checks his watch)
In a few minutes; right after they cut the cake. Now, your new son-in-law … do we give him something important?
DON CORLEONE
Never. Give him a living but never discuss the Family business with him. What else?
HAGEN
Virgil Sollozzo called. Now we’re gonna have to give him a day sometime next week.
DON CORLEONE
We’ll discuss him when you come back from California.
HAGEN
(chuckles)
When am I goin’ to California?
DON CORLEONE
I want you to go tonight. I want you to talk to this movie big shot and settle this business for Johnny. Now if there’s nothing else, I’d like to go to my daughter’s wedding.
“Every character, every major character in the book should get some [introduction], except Sollozzo, who is impossible. But even he is introduced in the wedding in a line. To get some little memorable introduction so that later on when you see them, Martini or Clemenza or Tessio, you can always have that wedding where you first saw him to refer back to.”
—Coppola, in a preproduction meeting
EXT DAY: MALL
The FAMILY has assembled again to take the picture, this time with MICHAEL on the end.
MAMA
Carlo, we’re gonna take the picture.
MICHAEL
Wait a minute.
MICHAEL walks swiftly to KAY, grabbing her hand and bringing her into the group.
KAY<
br />
(protesting)
No, Michael, not me.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Okay, that’s it; just like that now; hold it.
DISSOLVE TO:
THE DON leads CONNIE onto the dance floor. They dance as the guests applaud.
FADE OUT.
MOON OVER NEW YORK: PRACTICAL JOKES ON THE SET OF THE GODFATHER
Practical jokes were rampant, but the most legendary was mooning (the exposing of one’s naked behind), which became almost tradition on set. In the first such display James Caan and Robert Duvall mooned Coppola, Brando, and Salvatore Corsitto in an effort to break some tension during a rehearsal for the first scene of the film. While their impish antics were predominantly met with disapproving stares and silence, somehow they caught on. James Caan in Time, 1972: “My best moon was on Second Avenue. Bob Duvall and I were in one car and Brando was in another, so we drove up beside him and I pulled down my pants and stuck my ass out of the window. Brando fell down in the car with laughter.” Richard Bright (Al Neri) said that it got to the point where every time you opened a door you expected to see someone’s behind. Even the reserved and uptight Pacino got in on the act, as he reported in Ladies’ Home Journal, 1972: “In a scene where I sit behind the desk, wardrobe made this big fuss about getting me a shirt with a smaller collar. So while everyone was looking at the shirt, I took off my pants. When I came out from behind the desk, I got a laugh, even though we had to do the scene over.” The ultimate moon came during the wedding-photo shot, for which Brando and Duvall mooned 400 cast and crew members. They planned it carefully, and Caan, who overheard their scheming, started to shout, “No, no, not here!” Everyone working on the production, and most of the extras crowd roared with delight (some of the older ladies didn’t appreciate the view). Caan, who had started the whole mooning fad, tried to distance himself from the embarrassing duo. Eventually, the Don himself—Brando—was crowned best prankster, designated by a heavyweight-style leather belt emblazoned with the title “Moon Champion.”
DELETED SCENE
The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay with Commentary on Every Scene, Interviews, and Little-Known Facts Page 5