MICHAEL, CALO, and FABRIZIO watch this fantasy-like scene.
The MEN speak in Italian with SUBTITLES:
FABRIZIO
(referring to the GIRL in front)
Mamma mía, what a beauty.
APOLLONIA
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
Just short of the grove, she stops, startled. Her large, oval-shaped eyes catch the view of the THREE MEN. She stands there on her toes, about to run.
MICHAEL sees her; now face-to-face. He looks. Her face—incredibly beautiful—with olive skin, brown hair, and a rich mouth.
FABRIZIO
(to MICHAEL)
I think you got hit by the thunderbolt.
MICHAEL takes a few steps towards her. Quickly, she turns and walks away.
CALO
Michele, in Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.
The GIRLS continue walking; APOLLONIA looks back toward MICHAEL.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Coppola reports that actor Robert De Niro came in among the hordes of screen tests and gave what would now be considered a typical De Niro/Scorsese–type test: “very thrilling.” Coppola definitely wanted him in the picture, so he gave him the role of the secondary character Paulie Gatto. When Pacino dropped out of The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight to be in The Godfather, De Niro approached Coppola; he wanted to try out for it but worried about losing his Godfather part. Coppola offered to hold Paulie Gatto for him, but De Niro got the Gang part and dropped out of The Godfather. The great boon to film lovers from this situation: because DeNiro relinquished the role of Paulie Gatto, he was subsequently able to give his Oscar-winning® performance as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II.
DISSOLVE TO:
MICHAEL, flanked by his BODYGUARDS, moves into the central square, to an outdoor café. The proprietor of the café, VITELLI, is a short burly man. He greets them cheerfully.
“You can smell the garlic coming off the screen.”
—Casting director Fred Roos, 2007
CALO
(to VITELLI)
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
EXT DAY: BARONIAL VILLAGE
VITELLI
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
Did you have a good hunt?
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
You know all the girls around here? We saw some real beauties.
VITELLI pulls out a chair and sits down at the table with the THREE MEN.
VITELLI
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
FABRIZIO points at MICHAEL, who dabs his nose with a handkerchief.
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
One of them struck our friend like a thunderbolt.
VITELLI gives a knowing laugh and looks at MICHAEL with new interest. A waiter brings a bottle of wine and three glasses. MICHAEL pours the wine as they talk.
VITELLI
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
She would tempt the devil himself.
CALO
(ECHOES IN SICILIAN)
VITELLI
(gesturing)
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
Really put together, eh, Calo?
CALO
(ECHOES IN SICILIAN)
VITELLI
(makes an hourglass shape with his hands)
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
Such hair, such mouth!
CALO
A bocca.
VITELLI
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
The girls around here are beautiful … but virtuous.
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
This one had a purple dress …
As FABRIZIO describes her, VITELLI stops laughing, until he wears a scowl.
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
And a purple ribbon in her hair.
CALO
(ECHOES IN SICILIAN)
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
A type more Greek than Italian.
CALO
Piu Grega che Italiana.
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
Do you know her?
VITELLI
No!
Abruptly, VITELLI stands up.
VITELLI
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
There’s no girl like that in this town.
Then he curtly leaves them and walks into the back room.
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
My God, I understand!
FABRIZIO goes into the back room after the innkeeper, amid VITELLI’s shouting.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
In the shooting script, Michael participates in the conversation describing Apollonia. As Pacino didn’t speak Italian, Coppola adjusted the scene so that only the bodyguards speak. The effect of this change works better in the scene: not only does the Sicilian translation add a nice rhythm to the scene, but it also makes Michael seem classier for not objectifying Apollonia.
THE PRODUCTION: CASTING (OR, NOW WITH REAL ITALIANS!)
At the end of September 1970, Paramount held a Godfather press conference with Bob Evans, producer Albert S. Ruddy, and newly hired director Francis Coppola. In it, Evans discussed the film’s casting course. Variety had already printed his proclamation, “I want this film to be made with real Italians!” and the trade also reported his press conference vow: “We’re going to cast real faces, people who are not names, nor are we going ‘Hollywood Italian.’”
The statements had numerous repercussions.
Ruddy recalled that anyone with an ounce of Italian in his blood or who had ever eaten spaghetti contacted the production. According to the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, “every Italian singer in the business—except Sinatra—put in a bid on” the part of Johnny Fontane. One Italian actor staged a billboard in San Francisco, which read “Alioto is the Godfather.” Another sent his own personal photograph album to verify his Sicilian heritage. Yet another had business cards made up to read “Michael Corleone.” Ruddy even got calls to his office asking if they wanted anyone “hurt.” Ruddy said in The Hollywood Reporter that opportunistic “talent schools” approached people on the street and videotaped them under the auspices of doing screen tests for The Godfather. They would then charge a $100 fee.
Casting director Fred Roos recounts that very early in the casting process he and Coppola resolved to make every effort to cast every role in the script that was Italian or Italian-American with a likewise Italian or Italian-American actor. According to Roos, “I set about meeting every Italian or Italian-American actor in Los Angeles and New York. It wasn’t hard to meet me. I mean, some people would lie and say they were Italian and get an interview, and I’d figure out that they weren’t really. I truly made every effort to meet every Italian actor that had an agent—and even some that didn’t have agents. We would spend long days just testing, interviewing actors for all these different parts, and after all the months and months of doing this in both L.A. and New York, and eventually in Italy as well, we did pretty well on our resolve, with the exceptions of Marlon Brando and Jimmy Caan.” Once the casting choices were announced, the public’s scrutiny of the production’s casting intensified. Variety derided the studio’s choice for the titular character of the film with the headline: “No Stars for ‘Godfather’ Cast—Just Someone Named Brando.” Picketers showed up at Paramount with signs that read “Indians for Indian Roles, Mexicans for Mexican Roles, Italians for Italian roles,” and
“More
Advantages
For
Italian
Actors”
Ultimately, as Roos suggests, Italians and Italian Americans were indeed hired: namely, Al Pacino, who had grandparents from Sicily. O
thers of Italian heritage in the cast included Salvatore Corsitto (Bonasera), Richard Conte (Barzini), Al Lettieri (Sollozzo), John Cazale (Fredo), Al Martino (Johnny Fontane), Morgana King (Mama Corleone), Vito Scotti (Nazarine), Talia Shire (Connie), and Richard Castellano (Clemenza), who claimed to have relatives in the real Mafia—not to mention the Italian actors hired in Italy for the Sicilian scenes. Gianni Russo and Lenny Montana were rumored to be Mafia-affiliated. Even Alex Rocco (who plays the Jewish Moe Greene) is actually Italian. Roos explains, “It was Francis’s theory that being Italian, if you grow up in an Italian-American community or family, there are locked-in, hardwired behavioral things that are just in you that will come out in performance—without even having to be directed—and he was hoping to get that. I think that he did, and it was successful. It’s a subtle thing, but it’s there. As I like to say about the Godfather movies: you can smell the garlic coming off the screen.”
MICHAEL
(in Italian; to CALO; subtitled)
What’s wrong?
CALO shrugs. FABRIZIO returns and gulps down his wine.
FABRIZIO
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
Let’s go. It’s his daughter.
FABRIZIO starts to leave, but MICHAEL doesn’t move. MICHAEL turns to FABRIZIO with his cold authority.
MICHAEL
(in Italian; subtitled)
Tell him to come here.
FABRIZIO
(protesting in SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
(overlaps)
(SPEAKS ITALIAN) No, no, no, no …
(subtitled)
Call him.
FABRIZIO shoulders his lupara and disappears into the back room. CALO also picks up his lupara. In a moment, FABRIZIO returns with the red-faced VITELLI and two young men.
ITALIANISMS
A lupara is a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun that is often homemade. It’s a traditional Cosa Nostra weapon in Sicily.
MICHAEL
(in Sicilian; subtitled)
Fabrizio, you translate.
FABRIZIO
Si, signor.
MICHAEL
(to VITELLI)
I apologize if I offended you.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
I am a stranger in this country.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
And I meant no disrespect to you or your daughter.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
VITELLI
(SPEAKS SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
I am an American—hiding in Sicily.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
My name is Michael Corleone.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
There are people who’d pay a lot of money for that information.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
But then your daughter would lose a father …
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
… instead of gaining a husband.
FABRIZIO pauses a moment, stupefied, and MICHAEL motions him to continue.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
VITELLI
Ah. (SPEAKS SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
I want to meet your daughter …
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
… with your permission …
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
… and under the supervision of your family.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
MICHAEL
With all respect.
FABRIZIO
(TRANSLATES IN SICILIAN)
VITELLI
(pulling up his suspenders formally; in Sicilian; subtitled)
Come to my house Sunday morning. My name is Vitelli.
MICHAEL stands up to shake VITELLI’s hand.
MICHAEL
Grazie.
(in Italian; subtitled)
What’s her name?
VITELLI
Apollonia.
MICHAEL
(smiling)
Bene.
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION SCHEDULE FOR SICILY SCENES. INCLEMENT WEATHER MADE FOR A LONGER SHOOT. (COURTESY OF AMERICAN ZOETROPE RESEARCH LIBRARY)
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
The novel delves into the roots and history of the Sicilian Mafia: Corleone had the highest murder rate in the world. In Puzo’s own first draft of a screenplay (dated August 10, 1970), Apollonia gives Michael a running commentary on the ways of the Sicilian Mafia as they walk through the region.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
In many of the Sicily scenes, Michael wipes his nose with a handkerchief. The novel explains that McCluskey’s punch did damage to Michael’s sinuses.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: TOMMASINO COURTYARD
MUSIC comes up as MICHAEL, dressed in new clothes from Palermo, carries a stack of wrapped gifts and hands them to FABRIZIO. CALO and FABRIZIO are each dressed in their Sunday best, with their luparas on their shoulders.
They all get into an Alfa Romeo.
DON TOMMASINO waves at them as the car drives off, rocking and bouncing on the dirt road.
COPPOLA SETS THE SCENE OF MICHAEL’S WOOING OF APOLLONIA.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: VITELLI HOUSE
MICHAEL is presented to each of the Vitelli relatives, by the yard of their little hilltop house—the BROTHERS, the MOTHER, who is given a gift, and several UNCLES and AUNTS. Finally APOLLONIA enters, dressed beautifully in appropriate Sunday clothing.
VITELLI
(introducing them)
Et cuesta mia figlia. Apollonia—cuesto Michele Corleone.
They shake hands. Now he presents the wrapped gift to APOLLONIA. She looks at her MOTHER, who with a nod, gives her permission to open it. She unwraps it. Her eyes light up at the sight of a heavy gold chain, to be worn as a necklace. She looks at him.
APOLLONIA
Grazia.
MICHAEL
(softly)
Prego.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: VITELLI CAFE
Now the little Alfa drives into the village near VITELLI’s café.
MICHAEL is, as ever, accompanied by his two BODYGUARDS, though they are all dressed differently.
They sit at the café with VITELLI, who is talking and talking.
MICHAEL looks at APOLLONIA, who sits, respectfully quiet. She wears the gold necklace around her neck. She fingers the necklace, and they smile at each other across the table.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT DAY: HILLTOP NEAR VITELLI HOME
MICHAEL and APOLLONIA are walking through a hilltop path, seemingly alone, although a respectful distance apart.
As the VIEW PANS with them, we notice that her MOTHER and half a dozen AUNTS are twenty paces behind them, and ten paces further behind are CALO and FABRIZIO, their luparas on their shoulders.
Further up the hill, APOLLONIA stumbles on a loose stone and falls briefly onto MICHAEL’s arm. She modestly regains her balance, and they continue walking.
Behind them, her MOTHER giggles.
ADAPTATION AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
The novel gives a poignant backdrop to the scene on the hilltop. The women giggle because Apollonia has walked these uneven roads her whole life—she obviously does not stumble because she loses her footing, but to brush against Michael.
GOOFS, GAFFES, AND BLOOPERS
Check out the same two men (one with a red shirt, one with a white one) passing behind Apollonia two different times.
EXT DAY: MANCINI BUILDING
Several cars are parked in front of a pleasant New York apartment building. We recognize a couple of SONNY’S BODYGUARDS loafing by the cars, pitching coins against the curb.
INT DAY: APARTMENT BUILDING
Inside the building, a BODYGUARD waits quietly by the rows of brass mailboxes; ANOTHER sits at the foot of the interior steps reading a newspaper; ONE stands with his chin resting in his hand; up one flight of stairs, a single MAN sits on the step. They have been there quite a while.
We hear the SOUND OF A DOOR OPENING. SONNY backs out of an apartment, the arms of LUCY MANCINI wrapped around him.
SONNY
I’m gonna knock you dizzy.
He playfully cuffs her and leaves, adjusting his clothes. She smiles after him. He jauntily skips down the steps, trailed by the bodyguards.
SONNY
(to READING BODYGUARD)
Save it for the lib’ary.
SONNY
(to the BODYGUARD by the mailboxes)
Come on, we gotta go pick up my sister, let’s go.
INT DAY: CONNIE’S HALL
CONNIE unlocks the front door for SONNY. As SONNY enters, CONNIE quickly moves into the hallway, her back to him.
SONNY
(tenderly)
Whatsa matter? Huh? Whatsa matter?
He turns her around. Her face is swollen and bruised; and we can tell from her rough, red eyes that she has been crying for a long time. As soon as he realizes what’s happened, his face goes red and he bites his knuckles with rage. She sees it coming and clings to him, preventing him from running out of the apartment.
CONNIE
(desperately)
It was my fault!
SONNY
Where is he?
CONNIE
Sonny, please, it was my fault. Sonny, it was my fault! I hit ‘im; I started a fight with him. Please lemme me … I hit him so he hit me. I didn’t … I …
SONNY listens and calms himself. He touches her shoulder; the thin silk robe. Then he kisses her on the top of her head reassuringly.
SONNY
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh. Okay. I’m—I’m just—I’m just gonna get a doctor to come and take a look at you, right?
He starts to leave.
CONNIE
Sonny, please don’t do anything, please don’t do anything!
The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay with Commentary on Every Scene, Interviews, and Little-Known Facts Page 15