Nope, it is set up with a previous scene of his wife reminding him to not forget the cannoli.
That doesn’t mean the line itself isn’t improvised. (And the execution scene could have been shot first, then the scene with his wife, and the cannoli line added to that.)
Why would you possibly post this when, more than 2 hours before you posted, engineer_comp_geek provided a link to an article that quotes Coppola saying the line was improvised by the actor?
So if it was improvised, why did they just happen to have a box of cannoli ready for the scene?
Too late to edit: I’m not questioning those in this thread who say it was improvised. I’m questioning Coppola’s claim that it was improvised, since they just happened to have the correct prop at the shooting site.
Perhaps there’s a difference between the scene being improvised and the specific line that was used being improvised.
Maybe they were going to make some reference about the cannoli, but the actor came up with such a great line they went with that.
Maybe they just all like cannoli and there was plenty of it around the set.
That’s what probably went down. My WAG: I’m sure they did at least a few takes, assuming the original line was only “Leave the gun”. Then in one take, the actor added the cannoli quip, Francis loved it, and had the prop guys get a pastry box for a final take.
Then again, us Sicilians are never caught anywhere without cannolis. They probably had a box or five at every shoot.
Of course, the idea was to send a message to the Tataglia mob-that Paulie was outed and dealt with. The car might have been a problem-though it was probably registered to somebody else. Paulie paid for his treachery, and leaving the (untraceable) gun was so the cops would realize it was an "internal matter’-so the investigation would go nowhere. No need to haul Paulie’s corpse to the undertaker and have it secretly buried.
I take it you’re not an Italian. 
An Italian without food around is in dire straits indeed, and your guests will be horribly offended. It might not be a cannoli, but it will be something.
Nothing to add except to mention (brag) that I’m in Sicily, and have been for the past five weeks.
(Oh, and this: Cannoli is the plural; Cannolo is the singular. Please don’t order cannolis with your cappucinos!)
Sounds like something from an episode of Cagney & Lacey, where they spend half of the episode making cannoli by hand (and arguing about it - one wanted to use chocolate chips as it was easier, but the other said it’s not really cannoli without chocolate shavings) for their lieutenant’s birthday…
“We made your favorite dessert!”
“Cheesecake?”
“No - cannoli!”
“Who told you that?”
“We overheard you telling someone about it”
“Oh - I was talking about canneloni”
Besides - didn’t somebody die from cannoli in The Godfather Part 3?
Wait a minute…how would I know what happened in Part 3 unless…unless I actually watched it?"
I’m Italian alright, and the longest, bitterest feud I can remember was between my grandmother and her brother - he had stopped by her house to drop something off, and in his rush to get to work, left before she had a chance to feed him. It lasted until both of them were in the ground. But I’ve also been to many workplaces full of Italians, and I never remember seeing a small bakery box at any of them.
In that previous scene, you see Clemenza saying goodbye to his wife, as she blows him a kiss. Then it cuts to Clemenza getting into the car, and off-screen you hear his wife say “Don’t forget the cannoli!” But you don’t actually see the actress speak the line.
The editing seems consistent with what Coppola has said–after Castellano ad-libbed the “Leave the gun–take the cannoli” line in the subsequent scene of Paulie’s assassination, Coppola went back and added the audio of the wife’s reminder to the earlier scene.
In the extended Godfather Saga, between leaving home and the causeway scene, there’s a lot of business that Clemenza, Pauli, and the other mook take care of. At one point we are “treated” to an good length shot of Clemenza eating lunch while the other two wait in the car outside.
Anyway, I think (not sure), that this included Clemenza buying the cannoli. Which, if I got it right, would suggest that Mrs. Clemenza’s line was intended to be in the film all along.
(The Godfather Saga has lots of interesting scenes left out from the first two films. Also, events are shown in order. But it isn’t aired anymore. It also has some cuts due to making it network TV friendly. A “restored” version with everything would be wonderful.)
He could have just taken the cannoli without saying anything about it. According to one site, the original line was just “Leave the gun.” Castellano added “Take the cannoli.”
That may have been where I went (don’t remember anymore), but hour long wait and it tasted like eating flavored sand.
I was very unimpressed with cannolis.
I may have had awful ones, but they taste like sand to me. I waited in line for over an hour from some place in Boston (it might that’s supposed to be famous for cannolis and the ones I got were inedible (to me).
Maybe I should try making them.
nm
The cannoli at Mike’s aren’t my favorite, but they’re still pretty good. You just got a bad one somehow.