He then delivers the news to his mother before demanding that Tessio get “fifty good men” over to the house: While the expectation is that Sonny, who could never control his temper, would fly into a rage, he actually remains relatively calm, not because he wants to be like his father, but because he’s so frightened that he’s nearly paralyzed: Two other important scenes focus on when Sonny gets the news that Vito has been shot (and presumably killed). One of the best deleted scenes – and one that adds both depth and texture to the film and the characters – is when Don Vito and his sons visit his old friend, his first consigliere, as he lay dying in the hospital: Genco Abbandando is a major character in the novel, but is only referenced in The Godfather. Nearly forty deleted scenes can be found on this YouTube playlist, but I’ll just include a few more of my favorites. Since The Saga was broadcast on four separate evenings, each part had its own opening credits scene that mixed important points of the film with new scenes that show the aftermath of the events of the end of Part II, from the dilapidation of the Lake Tahoe estate to Michael having only Connie by his side. When it first aired in 1977, The Godfather Saga was introduced on television by Talia Shire, who played Connie Corleone and is also Francis Ford Coppola’s sister: While these versions eliminated one of the greatest aspects of Part II – the artistic, operatic portrayal of the family’s fate, juxtaposed between Vito’s rise to power and Michael’s corruption by it – they did provide additional footage that had never before been seen, resulting in nearly 75 extra minutes of new scenes, some of these have been included in the various DVD releases, but certainly not all of them. The original Godfather Saga was only broadcast on television one other time, in March of 2012 when AMC showed it to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of The Godfather.Ĭoppola’s annotation of Mario Puzo’s novel Related: In Defense of The Godfather Part III There were other cuts – a showing titled The Godfather Novella played on television in 1982 and another version that USA Network created and aired 1997. For the most part, if you didn’t see a film in the theater, you probably never saw it again.įour years later, a shorter version was ultimately released on home video, titled The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic, and finally, in 1992, another iteration that included Part III was released on video titled The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980. The VCR was still a brand new concept in America. This was a big deal, not only because it rearranged the order, but more so because most people had no opportunity to watch movies at their discretion. In November, 1977, NBC aired a miniseries over four nights titled The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television. However, it was not the first time this had been done. In January, a big deal was made when HBO began braodcasting The Godfather Epic, a film that combined The Godfather and The Godfather Part II into a single film told in chronological order, from Vito’s early childhood to Fredo’s death.