ITALIANISMS
James Caan used his interactions with real Mafia members to craft some of his mannerisms and dialogue. Sonny’s parlance here was the inspiration for the name of the strip club featured in The Sopranos, the Bada Bing!
SONNY walks over to MICHAEL, leaning in.
SONNY
Hey, whatta ya gonna do? Nice college boy, eh? Didn’t want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain, what, because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is, the army, where you shoot ‘em a mile away? You gotta get up close, like this—bada bing! You blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.
C’mere.
MICHAEL holds up a hand in defense. SONNY kisses MICHAEL emphatically on his head.
MICHAEL
(overlaps)
Sonny!
SONNY
Myah! You’re takin’ this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is takin’ it very, very personal.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Puzo’s novel paints a slightly more nuanced portrait of Sonny Corleone, as more than just a hothead. When Michael confronts him for laughing at him, Sonny replies perceptively, “I know you can do it. I wasn’t laughing at what you said. I was just laughing at how funny things turn out. I always said you were the toughest one in the Family, tougher than the Don himself. You were the only one who could stand off the old man.”
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
In Puzo’s novel, the personal-versus-business dialogue takes on a different tone. Michael more directly asserts himself within the family by challenging the notion that it’s just “business”: “It’s all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it’s personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That’s what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal. Like God.”
MICHAEL
Where does it say that you can’t kill a cop?
HAGEN
(smiling)
Come on, Mikey!
MICHAEL
Tom, wait a minute. I’m talking about a cop that’s mixed up in drugs. I’m talking about a—a dishonest cop—a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That’s a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don’t we, Tom?
(HAGEN nods)
And they might like a story like that.
HAGEN
They might, they just might.
MICHAEL
It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.
“I feel it should be somewhere homey and warm; like being with a favorite uncle in his workshop, and having him explain how to do this or that. Except here, it’s how to kill a man.”
—Coppola’s notebook
INT DAY: CLEMENZA’S CELLAR
CLOSE-UP on a revolver.
CLEMENZA
It’s as cold as they come. Impossible to trace, so you don’t worry about prints, Mike; I put a special tape on the trigger and the butt. Here, try it.
He hands the gun to another pair of hands.
CLEMENZA
Whatsa matter, the trigger too tight?
It fires: very LOUD.
MICHAEL is alone with CLEMENZA in a cellar workshop.
MICHAEL
Marone, my ears.
CLEMENZA
Yeah, I left it noisy, that way it scares any pain-in-the-ass innocent bystanders away. All right, you shot ‘em both, now what do you do?
MICHAEL
Sit down, finish my dinner.
CLEMENZA
Come on, kid, don’t fool around. Just let your hand drop to your side, and let the gun slip out. Everybody’ll still think you got it. They’re gonna be starin’ at your face, Mike. So walk outta the place real fast, but you don’t run. Don’t look nobody directly in the eye, but you don’t look away either. Hey, they gonna be scared stiff o’ you, believe me, so don’t worry about nothin’. You know, you’re gonna turn out all right. You’re takin’ a long vacation—nobody knows where—and we’re gonna catch the hell.
MICHAEL
How bad do you think it’s gonna be?
CLEMENZA
Pretty goddamn bad. Probably all the other Families will line up against us. That’s all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so—ten years—helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one. You know you gotta stop ‘em at the beginning, like they shoulda stopped Hitler at Munich. They shoulda never let him get away with that. They were just askin’ for big trouble. You know, Mike, we was all proud o’ you. Bein’ a hero and all. Your father too.
MICHAEL takes back the gun; he practices pulling the trigger.
GOOFS, GAFFES, AND BLOOPERS
A cigarette jumps from Clemenza’s mouth to his hand when he is instructing Michael.
INT NIGHT: DON’S LIVING ROOM
TESSIO, SONNY, CLEMENZA, and LAMPONE are all eating out of white Chinese food containers around the table. MICHAEL simply smokes. HAGEN enters.
HAGEN
Nothing. Not a hint. Absolutely nothing. Even Sollozzo’s people don’t know where the meeting’s gonna be held.
MICHAEL
How much time do we have?
SONNY
They’re gonna pick you up in front of Jack Dempsey’s joint in an hour and a half. Exactly an hour and a half.
CLEMENZA
We could put a tail on ‘em an’ see how it turns out.
SONNY
Sollozzo’d lose our ass goin’ around the block!
HAGEN
What about the negotiator?
CLEMENZA
He’s over at my place playin’ pinochle with a couple o’ my men. He’s happy; they’re lettin’ ‘im win.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
The Godfather novel explains what Hagen means by “the negotiator.” The Bocchicchio Family, once a particularly brutal branch of the Mafia in Sicily, became peace brokers in the United States. They utilized their only great assets, honor and ferocity, to serve a unique function. In a time of war, the head of a Family would handle the initial negotiations and arrange for a hostage from the Bocchicchio family. For example, when Michael contacted Sollozzo, a Bocchicchio (paid for by Sollozzo) was left with the Corleones. If Sollozzo were to kill Michael, then the Corleones would in turn kill the Bocchicchio hostage. Consequently, the Bocchicchios would take out their vengeance on Sollozzo as the cause of their clansman’s death. They were so primitive, they never let anything dissuade them from their vengeance, so having a Bocchicchio hostage was the ultimate insurance. Later on in the novel, it happens to be a Bocchicchio already on death row who takes the rap for Sollozzo’s murder, allowing Michael to return to the country.
HAGEN
This is too much of a risk for Mike; maybe we oughta call it off, Sonny.
CLEMENZA
The negotiator keeps on playing cards until Mike comes back safe and sound.
SONNY
So why don’t he just blast whoever’s in the goddamn car?!
CLEMENZA
Too dangerous; they’ll be lookin’ for that.
HAGEN
Sollozzo might not even be in the car, Sonny!
The phone RINGS.
SONNY
I’ll get it.
(hurries to get the phone)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks.
(hangs up the phone and comes back to the table)
Louis’ Restaurant in the Bronx.
HAGEN
Well, is it reliable?
SONNY
That’s my man in McCluskey’s precinct. A police captain’s gotta be on call twenty-four hours a day. He signed out at that number between eight and ten. Anybody kno
w this joint?
TESSIO
Yeah, sure, I do. It’s perfect for us. A small, family place, good food. Everyone minds his business. It’s perfect. Pete, they got an old-fashion toilet. You know, the box-and-the-chain thing. We might be able to tape the gun behind it.
CLEMENZA
All right. Mike, you go to the restaurant, ya eat, ya talk for a while, you relax. You make them relax. Then you get up and you go take a leak. No, better still, you ask for permission to go. Then, when you come back, ya come out blastin’, and don’t take any chances. Two shots in the head apiece.
SONNY
Listen, I want somebody good, and I mean very good, to plant that gun. I don’t want my brother comin’ out of that toilet with just his dick in his hands, all right?
CLEMENZA
The gun’ll be there.
SONNY
All right.
(to TESSIO)
Listen, you drive ‘im, and you pick ‘im up after the job, okay?
CLEMENZA
Come on. Let’s move.
They all stand up and walk to the door. HAGEN helps MICHAEL get his coat on. SONNY puts his arm around MICHAEL.
SONNY
Did he tell you to drop the gun right away?
MICHAEL
Yeah. A million times.
CLEMENZA
You don’t forget, two shots apiece in the head, soon as you come out the door, right?
MICHAEL
(to SONNY)
How long do you think it’ll be before I can come back?
SONNY
At least a year, Mike.
(warmly)
Listen, I’ll square it with Mom—y’know, you’re not seeing her before you leave. And I’ll get a message to that girlfriend, when I think the time is right.
SONNY and MICHAEL embrace. MICHAEL kisses SONNY.
SONNY
Take care, huh?
MICHAEL and HAGEN embrace.
HAGEN
Take care, Mike.
MICHAEL
Tom …
MICHAEL moves out.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Coppola inserted the detail of the men eating out of white Chinese takeout containers—a memory from his childhood.
CAST AND CREW: DEAN TAVOULARIS
“There is so much invention in that man, it’s just incredible.”
—Arthur Penn, director of Bonnie and Clyde, on Dean Tavoularis, in Variety, 1997
The cinematic feel of Little Big Man and Bonnie and Clyde impressed Coppola, so he chose Dean Tavoularis to do the production design for The Godfather. It turned out to be a fantastic collaboration for all. “A film set is a great bouillabaisse of people and taste,” cinematographer Gordon Willis said in Variety. “I felt very early on when we worked together on The Godfather that Dean Tavoularis had a great touch and wonderful taste. He was a very valuable contributor who was hanging these great canvasses for me to shoot.”
A production designer is an architect of worlds; he is responsible for creating the visual look of a film—basically everything you see onscreen except for the actors. Tavoularis’s work on The Godfather was meticulous. He created painstakingly accurate 1940s touches and richly evocative sets. In the opening scene, his set—along with Willis’s camera work—created a powerful contrast between the light mood of the wedding and the heavy atmosphere of the Don’s study. The study was dark with wood and pink tones, like a church, and he wanted to evoke the feeling of invigoration that comes from leaving a church by making the wedding a contrastingly bright, sunny, and festive affair. Throughout the scenes in the Don’s study, one is aware of the other world of the wedding nearby—the shuttered light peeks through the windows, and the energetic music invades the quiet, somber tones.
Tavoularis would go on to be Coppola’s trusted production designer on virtually all of his films. He even met his wife on the set of Apocalypse Now; she played a role that was edited out of the movie. He has worked with a variety of renowned directors including Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders, Warren Beatty, and Roman Polanski. He has received Oscar® nominations for five films and won for The Godfather: Part II, for which he transformed an entire New York City street into an early-twentieth-century thoroughfare. In 2007, Tavoularis was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 11th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards.
EXAMPLES OF DEAN TAVOULARIS’ ARCHITECTURAL PLANS FOR THE CORLEONE HOUSE SET (COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN ZOETROPE RESEARCH LIBRARY).
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT NIGHT: JACK DEMPSEY’S RESTAURANT
The enormous “Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant” sign. Below it stands MICHAEL, dressed in a warm overcoat. A long black car pulls up and slows before him. The DRIVER, leaning over, opens the front door. MICHAEL gets in, and the car drives off.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
The pick up scene was shot in front of the now-bygone Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant, on Broadway between 49th and 50th streets, Manhattan. An American institution, it was located at the site of the old car barn across from the original Madison Square Garden, and was owned by world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey. The restaurant was open from 1935 to 1974, and Dempsey himself would often be there to greet patrons. After the scene wrapped, members of the crew stayed behind to drink at the bar.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Coppola wanted to film Michael waiting under the Camel cigarettes sign in Times Square but, for budgetary reasons, this idea was scrapped. It would have cost a reported $5,000 to reconstruct the famous sign. In the novel, as in the final film, Michael waits under the Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant sign.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The interior of the car scene was shot in an empty sound stage (they’re not really moving).
INT NIGHT: SOLLOZZO’S CAR
Inside the car, SOLLOZZO reaches his hand over the backseat and pats MICHAEL’s shoulder. McCLUSKEY sits next to SOLLOZZO.
SOLLOZZO
I’m glad you came, Mike. I hope we can straighten everything out. I mean, this is terrible; it’s not the way I wanted things to go at all. It should’ve never happened.
MICHAEL
I’m gonna straighten everything out tonight. I don’t want my father bothered anymore.
SOLLOZZO
He won’t be, Mike; I swear on my children he won’t be. But you gotta keep an open mind when we talk. I mean, I hope you’re not a hothead like your brother Sonny. You can’t talk business with him. (SPEAKS ITALIAN)
McCLUSKEY reaches his hand over the backseat to shake MICHAEL’s hand.
McCLUSKEY
Ah, he’s a good kid. I’m sorry about the other night, Mike. I gotta frisk ya so turn around, huh? On your knees facing me.
MICHAEL takes off his hat and turns around. McCLUSKEY gives MICHAEL a thorough frisk.
McCLUSKEY
I guess I’m getting too old for my job. Too grouchy. Can’t stand the aggravation. You know how it is. He’s clean.
MICHAEL puts his hat back on.
BEHIND THE SCENES
“Most of the scenes involving cops and wiseguys Francis would discuss with me the night before. While the scene in the car was being shot, I hear Sterling [Hayden] say, ‘Why don’t we ask the expert?’ They wanted to know how to go about searching Pacino in the car. I wanted to say, ‘You never search a man when he’s already in the car,’ but I was trying to keep my job as technical advisor, so I just let it go. I got behind Pacino, who was in the front seat, Sterling got on the other side of me, and the driver (a kid from my neighborhood) got behind the wheel. I wanted to scream, ‘I don’t know!’ Most of what a cop does is improvise, so I told Pacino, ‘Turn around, on your knees, pull your arms up.’ I searched him on top and down his waist, with his arms draped over the front seats, and I told the driver to do his legs and ankles.”
—Sonny Grosso, technical advisor, about the somewhat awkward frisk of Michael
INT NIGHT: SOLLOZZO’S CAR, WEST SIDE HIGHWAY
MICHAEL looks at the DRIVER and then ahead to see where they’re heading. The car takes the George Washington Bridge. MICHAEL is concerned.
MICHAEL
Goin’ to Jersey?
SOLLOZZO
(sly)
Maybe.
EXT NIGHT: SOLLOZZO’S CAR ON G. W. BRIDGE
The car speeds along the George Washington Bridge on its way to New Jersey. Then suddenly it hits the divider, temporarily lifts into the air, and bounces over into the lanes going back to New York. It then accelerates very fast, on the way back to the city.
INT NIGHT: SOLLOZZO’S CAR
SOLLOZZO leans to the DRIVER.
SOLLOZZO
Nice work, Lou.
MICHAEL is relieved.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
The scene in Sollozzo’s car was shot on the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, popularized by Simon & Garfunkel’s “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” as well as by many scenes from movies, television series, and books. The 59th Street Bridge spans the East River, connecting Manhattan and Queens. However, the plot indicates that they were originally heading to New Jersey. So, in reality, they would have to be traveling on the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River and connects Manhattan and New Jersey.
EXT NIGHT: LOUIS’ RESTAURANT
The car pulls up in front of a little family restaurant in the Bronx: “LOUIS’ ITALIAN-AMERICAN RESTAURANT.” There is no one on the street. SOLLOZZO, McCLUSKEY, and MICHAEL get out; the DRIVER remains leaning against the car. They enter the restaurant.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS: PRODUCTION DETAIL
Louis’ Restaurant was actually Old Luna Restaurant, on White Plains Road near Gun Hill Road, the Bronx. The restaurant’s windows are covered to block out daylight and the crowds. The restaurant owner and his wife play themselves, and Coppola’s parents portray diners. With each new take, all of the dinners in the restaurant had to be reset and the floor cleaned of blood. The restaurant was actually situated in close proximity to the elevated train. The El’s blast is an effectively jarring and memorable sound effect in the scene. The idea of utilizing this specific sound was mentioned in a preproduction meeting between Coppola, Tavoularis, Willis, and costume designer Johnny Johnstone. However, Tavoularis had originally conceived of using the sound of the Brooklyn El train during the scene where Sonny beats up Carlo. Tavoularis: “The whole idea of the sequence would make this particularly frightening—the slowness of it and the deliberateness, and the professional aspect of it.”
The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay with Commentary on Every Scene, Interviews, and Little-Known Facts Page 12