HAGEN
Sollozzo’s the key. You get rid of him, everything falls into line. Now what about Luca? Sollozzo thinks he …
SONNY
I know if Luca sold out, we’re in a lotta trouble, believe me, a lotta trouble.
HAGEN
Has anyone been able to get in touch with Luca?
CLEMENZA
We’ve been tryin’ all night. He might be shacked up.
SONNY
Hey, Mikey, do me a favor—try … ringing Luca’s number.
MICHAEL gets up to light a cigarette and then, very tired, picks up the phone and dials a number.
HAGEN
Luca never sleeps over with a broad. He always goes home when he’s through.
SONNY
Well, Tom—you’re consigliere. What do we do if the old man dies, God forbid?
HAGEN
If we lose the old man—
CLEMENZA
(in background)
… Sollozzo, Philip Tattaglia …
HAGEN
—we lose the political contacts and half our strength. The other New York Families might wind up supporting Sollozzo just to avoid a long, destructive war. This is almost 1946. Nobody wants bloodshed anymore. If your father dies … you make the deal, Sonny.
SONNY
(angry)
You know, that’s easy for you to say, Tom; he’s not your father.
HAGEN
(quietly)
I was as much a son to him as you or Mike.
There is a timid knock on the door.
SONNY
What is it?
PAULIE GATTO looks in.
CLEMENZA
Hey, Paulie, I thought I tol’ you to stay put.
PAULIE
Well, the guy at the gate they—they say they got a package.
SONNY
Yeah? Well, all right. Tessio, go see what it is.
PAULIE
(coughs)
You want me to hang around?
TESSIO gets up, leaves.
SONNY
Yeah, hang around. You all right?
PAULIE
Yeah, I’m fine.
SONNY
Yeah? There’s some food in the icebox. You hungry or anything?
PAULIE
No, ‘at’s all right.
SONNY
How about a drink? Have a little brandy—it’s good, that’ll sweat it out.
PAULIE
All right …
SONNY
Go ahead, baby.
PAULIE
… that might be a good idea.
SONNY
Yeah, right.
PAULIE closes the door.
SONNY
I want you to take care of that sonofabitch right away. Paulie sold out the old man, that strunz. I don’t wanna see him again. Make that first thing on your list, understand?
CLEMENZA
Understood.
ITALIANISMS
The epithet strunz is derived from the Italian word stronzo, the vulgar translation for which is “piece of shit.” It’s also slang for numerous profane insults, such as “asshole.”
SONNY
Hey, Mikey, tomorrow, get a couple of guys; you go over to Luca’s apartment, hang around, wait for ‘im to show up.
HAGEN
Maybe we shouldn’t get Mike mixed up in this too directly.
SONNY
Yeah. Listen, hang around the house on the phone and be a big help, huh? Try Luca again, go ahead.
MICHAEL is embarrassed to be so protected. He picks up the phone again.
TESSIO comes back, carrying a package. He puts it in SONNY’s lap. SONNY unwraps it; there are two large dead fish wrapped in LUCA’S bulletproof vest.
SONNY
What the hell is this?
CLEMENZA
That’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.
MICHAEL hangs up the phone.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
In Puzo’s novel, it is Hagen who replies, “The fish means that Luca Brasi is sleeping on the bottom of the ocean. It’s an old Sicilian message.”
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
In both the preproduction shooting script and the book, the murder of Luca Brasi is structured as a flashback, occurring after the Corleones receive the dead fish.
“When you make a movie, there isn’t a human being on that set that doesn’t think they can make it better than you. Any movie, any set—even the electricians.”
—Coppola, 2007
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
“My idea was that … Clemenza’s house would have some suburban-Long Island look … the kind of neighborhood where these homes, although they’re nice, are all in a row. And he says hello to his neighbors every morning when he works in the garage. He’s got one of the few postwar cars, which he obviously paid under the table to get. It means a lot to him; he is the American Valacchi, the American successful man, who has a nice house and money and everything, and is a ‘good guy.’”
—Coppola, in a preproduction meeting
EXT DAY: CLEMENZA’S HOUSE
Morning in a simple Brooklyn suburb. There are rows of pleasant houses. ROCCO LAMPONE and CLEMENZA walk from the garage to the front door. MRS. CLEMENZA, in a hairnet, stands by the door and sees them off.
CLEMENZA
I’m goin’ now.
MRS. CLEMENZA
What time are you gonna be home tonight?
CLEMENZA
I don’t know, probably late.
MRS. CLEMENZA makes a kissing sound. CLEMENZA exits.
MRS. CLEMENZA
Don’t forget the cannoli.
CLEMENZA
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.
CAST AND CREW
Richard Castellano’s (Clemenza’s) real-life wife, Ardell Sheridan, played Mrs. Clemenza.
The two men enter the car. GATTO is driving. He’s a bit nervous, like he doesn’t know what is up. LAMPONE gets in the rear seat, CLEMENZA in the front. PAULIE flinches a little when he sees LAMPONE will ride behind him; he half turns.
PAULIE
Rocco, sit on the other side; you block the rearview mirror.
CLEMENZA
That Sonny’s runnin’ wild. He’s thinking of goin’ to the mattresses already. We gotta find a spot over on the West Side. You try Three-Oh-Nine West Forty-third Street. You know any good spots on the West Side?
ITALIANISMS
“Whenever a war between the Families became bitterly intense, the opponents would set up headquarters in secret apartments where the ‘soldiers’ could sleep on mattresses scattered through the rooms. This was not so much to keep their families out of danger, their wives and little children, since any attack on noncombatants was undreamed of. All parties were too vulnerable to similar retaliation. But it was always smarter to live in some secret place where your everyday movements could not be charted either by your opponents or by some police who might arbitrarily decide to meddle.”
—Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, defining “going to the mattresses”
CLEMENZA takes out a notebook and glances at it.
PAULIE
Yeah, I’ll think about it.
PAULIE relaxes a bit; he thinks he’s off any possible hook he was on. Also, there’s the money he can make by selling SOLLOZZO a secret location.
CLEMENZA
Well, think about it while you’re drivin’, will ya? I wanna hit New York sometime this month. And watch out for the kids when you’re backin’ out.
The car pulls out.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
For the exterior shot of the car driving through the city, the crew examined stock 1940s footage. They settled on footage of a car going under the 3rd Avenue El (elevated train), and then located a car to match it.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: STREET UNDER EL TRACKS
The car turns onto a street under
the El tracks.
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
Hey, Paulie, I want you to go down Thirty-ninth Street—Carlo Santos—you pick up eighteen mattresses for the guys to sleep on while you bring me the bill.
PAULIE’S VOICE
Uh-huh. Yeah, all right.
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
Now make sure that they’re clean because those guys are gonna be stuck up in there for a long time, you know.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: PAULIE’S CAR ON NEW YORK STREET
PAULIE’S VOICE
They’re clean. They told me they exterminate them.
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
(laughs)
Exterminate, that’s a bad word to use! Exterminate, get this guy!
LAMPONE’S VOICE
(chuckles)
Yeah.
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
Watch out we don’t exterminate you!
LAMPONE’S VOICE
That’s funny, all right.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Several scenes leading up to Paulie’s murder were filmed but don’t appear in the 1972 film: Clemenza gives Rocco Lampone a .22 soft-nosed load for the job and tells him he will “make his bones on Paulie.” In the car, Clemenza tells Paulie and Rocco he has to call Sonny, and then proceeds to enjoy a meal in a restaurant and pick up the cannoli. These scenes were included in The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980.
A DELETED SCENE OF CLEMENZA BUYING THE FAMED CANNOLIS.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: PAULIE’S CAR ON TURNPIKE
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
Hey, Paulie. (SPEAKS ITALIAN)
PAULIE’S VOICE
(SPEAKS ITALIAN)
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
Hey, pull over, will ya? I gotta take a leak.
FILMING PAULIE GATTO’S ASSASSINATION SCENE.
EXT DAY: PAULIE’S CAR ON CAUSEWAY
The car moves along the reedy beach area of the causeway (with the Statue of Liberty in the background) and stops. CLEMENZA steps out of the car, OUR VIEW MOVING with him. He turns his back three-quarters from us (we can no longer see the car), unzips, and we hear the SOUND OF URINE HITTING THE GROUND.
In the car, LAMPONE raises his gun to PAULIE’s head, and then there are two GUNSHOTS. CLEMENZA, reacting slightly to the sound, finishes his leak, zips up, and turns, moving back toward the car. PAULIE is dead—his head on the steering wheel, bleeding from the forehead. The windshield is shattered.
CLEMENZA
Leave the gun. Take the cannolis.
LAMPONE retrieves the box from the backseat, hands it to CLEMENZA. CLEMENZA shuts the back door and they exit.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
No cannolis are mentioned in the book or shooting script, but Coppola included the detail from his memories of the particular white boxes of cannolis his own father would bring home after work. Richard Castellano, as Clemenza, made movie history by improvising the now famous utterance: “Take the cannoli.” The line is cited as a favorite from many cast and crew, such as Michael Chapman, a camera operator on The Godfather who went on to become a cinematographer on many great films, including Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
In Puzo’s book, it is clear that Clemenza and Lampone leave Paulie in the car to make his murder more exposed—to frighten would-be traitors and prove that the Corleone Family had not gone soft.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
An “A” coupon for gas rationing from World War II is displayed in the car window.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: MALL / THE DON’S YARD
MICHAEL sits alone on a bench in the rear yard. He is bundled in a warm marine coat. Then, a shout from the house.
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
Hey, Mike. Hey, Mikey!
MICHAEL
Yeah.
CLEMENZA’S VOICE
You’re wanted on the telephone.
INT DAY: DON’S KITCHEN
CLEMENZA is in the kitchen, cooking over an enormous pot. Five BUTTON MEN are seated around the table. MICHAEL enters the kitchen.
MICHAEL
Who is it?
CLEMENZA
Some girl.
MICHAEL picks up the phone.
MICHAEL
Hello, Kay?
KAY’S VOICE
(on phone)
How is your father?
MICHAEL
He’s good; he’s gonna make it.
KAY’S VOICE
(on phone)
I love you.
MICHAEL
Huh?
He glances at the THUGS in the kitchen.
KAY’S VOICE
(on phone)
I LOVE YOU. Michael?
MICHAEL
Yeah, I know.
KAY’S VOICE
(on phone)
Tell me you love me.
MICHAEL
I can’t talk.
KAY’S VOICE
(on phone)
Can’t you say it?
MICHAEL glances at the HOODS at the kitchen table.
MICHAEL
I’ll see you tonight, hmm?
KAY’S VOICE
(on phone)
All right.
MICHAEL hangs up the phone. CLEMENZA is making a tomato sauce for all the BUTTON MEN stationed around the house.
CLEMENZA
Hey, Mikey, why don’t you tell that nice girl you love ‘er?
(SINGS) I LOVE YOU WITH ALL-A MY HEART … IF I DON’T SEE YOU AGAIN SOON I’M-A GONNA DIE …
(laughs)
Come over here, kid, learn somethin’. You never know, you might have to cook for twenty guys someday. You see? You start out with a little bit of oil, and you fry some garlic. Then you t’row in some tomatoes, some tomato paste. You fry it, you make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to a boil. You shove in all your sausage and your meatballs. Eh? Add a little bit o’ wine and a little bit o’ sugar, and that’s my trick.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Coppola wanted to get an entire recipe in all of his films. An example of the Puzo/Coppola writing collaboration: when Coppola first wrote “Brown some sausage,” Puzo countered with “Gangsters don’t brown, gangsters fry.”
SONNY enters the kitchen; sees CLEMENZA.
SONNY
Why don’t you cut the crap? I got more important things for you to do. How’s Paulie?
CLEMENZA
Aw Paulie, you won’t see him no more.
MICHAEL starts to leave.
SONNY
Where you goin’?
MICHAEL
To the city.
SONNY
Oh.
(to CLEMENZA)
Well send some bodyguards with him, right?
MICHAEL
No, I’m just going to the hospital to see—
SONNY
(overlaps)
Never mind. Send somebody with him.
CLEMENZA
Oh, he’ll be all right. Sollozzo knows he’s a civilian.
SONNY
Hmm, be careful, huh?
MICHAEL
Yes, sir.
MICHAEL exits.
SONNY
(to CLEMENZA as he dips bread into the sauce)
Send somebody with him anyway.
INT NIGHT: CAR
MICHAEL sits in the rear seat, calmly, as he is being driven into the city. THREE BUTTON MEN are crowded into the front seat.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
Michael and Kay’s hotel scenes were filmed at the St. Regis Hotel, on East 55th Street at 5th Avenue, Manhattan.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT NIGHT: HOTEL
MICHAEL and KAY eating a quiet dinner at the hotel. He is preoccupied, she’s concerned. He rises and puts on his coat.
MICHAEL
I have to go.
KAY
Can I go w
ith you?
MICHAEL
No, Kay. There’s gonna be detectives there—people from the press.
KAY
Well, I’ll ride in the cab.
MICHAEL
I don’t want you to get involved.
MICHAEL sits down again.
KAY
When will I see you again?
MICHAEL
(pauses)
Go back to New Hampshire, and I’ll call you at your parents’ house.
KAY
When will I see you again, Michael?
MICHAEL
I don’t know.
MICHAEL rises. He leans over her, kisses her. Quietly, he moves out the door.
INT NIGHT: HOTEL LOBBY
MICHAEL crosses the lobby, past lines of servicemen trying to book rooms.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
The hospital scenes were filmed at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on East 14th Street at 2nd Avenue, Manhattan. The production rented two floors of the hospital, and doctors and nurses kept sneaking through for a peek at Brando.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
In a preproduction meeting, Coppola characterized this hospital sequence as a “Hitchcock suspense scene. It’s a scene of revelation. At each step, you learn more and more how dangerous the situation is.” The shots of empty corridors, used to heighten suspense, were an afterthought. According to Coppola, it was his friend George Lucas who helped him problem-solve the lack of filmed empty corridors by using the ends of shots that had been filmed after Coppola had called, “Cut!”
EXT NIGHT: DON’S HOSPITAL
A taxi pulls up in front of a hospital. MICHAEL steps out. He sees the hospital in the night, but it is deserted. He is the only one on the street. There are gay, twinkling Christmas decorations all over the building. He hesitates, looks around. This area is empty. He walks up the steps.
INT NIGHT: HOSPITAL CORRIDOR
MICHAEL walks into an absolutely empty hospital. He looks to the left; there is a long, empty corridor. To the right: the same.
MICHAEL looks into a nurse’s station, no one is there. He moves quickly to an open door. He looks onto the desk: there is a half-eaten sandwich and a half-drunk cup of coffee.
The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay with Commentary on Every Scene, Interviews, and Little-Known Facts Page 10