# The Godfather Epic on HBO (deleted scenes)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 21, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815 "2016-01-21T20:17:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/21 "2016-01-26T17:10:35Z")

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> [@jsc1953](#):
>
> I just noticed (after god knows how many viewings)…
> 
> Godfather begins with a wedding, ends with a baptism.  
> Godfather 2 (Vito) begins with a funeral  
> Godfather 2 (Michael) begins with a First Communion.
> 
> They’ve practically got all the sacraments covered.

To nitpick, the funeral isn’t really a sacrament, the anointing of the sick is. I believe we don’t see that nor do we see Holy Orders, and I’m not sure we see Confirmation.

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/22 "2016-01-27T15:05:31Z")

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> [@Doyle](#):
>
> I haven’t seen the entire Godfather Epic yet. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t remember the scene where Fredo and Deanna arrive at Anthony’s communion party in the Godfather Saga. Deanna looks fabulous.

Yeah I don’t remember that scene from before either. Comcast has the Eoic it on demand for free with HBO subscription 🆒. I started to watch it last night and also noticed(or may have failed to notice the first few viewings) when Vito goes back to Sicily he doesn’t just carve up Ciccio, but he also avenges his mother by killing the two guys that stopped by his house to fetch him. Those two were the guys that shot his mother as he was running away from Ciccio’s villa. Vito catches one of the guys sleeping and cuts his throat, the other he beats to death with an oar of his boat on the water.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/23 "2016-01-27T16:09:56Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> To nitpick, the funeral isn’t really a sacrament, the anointing of the sick is. I believe we don’t see that nor do we see Holy Orders, and I’m not sure we see Confirmation.

Yeah, I was stretching to make a point. (To establish my bona fides: when I was a kid, the sacrament was called Extreme Unction, pronounced more like “Extra Munction”.)

Definitely no Confirmations in the Epic. Doesn’t someone become a priest in G 3?

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/24 "2016-01-27T16:24:38Z")

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> [@SaharaTea](#):
>
> It wasn’t a necessary scene, but I did find it interesting how completely unshocked and matter-of-factly Mama Corleone reacted to the news of her husband’s shooting. Especially compared to how Connie reacted to her husband’s death, and her husband was an abusive a-hole.

And how upset Sonny was. Mama was the calm one.

A scene from the novel that I wish had been filmed was when Connie went to her parents because of Carlo beating her. They were significantly less than sympathetic, basically telling her “We told you not to marry him”, and refusing to speak with him or otherwise use “influence”. When she asks Vito if he ever beat Carmella they both sort of laugh and he says no, because she never gave him any reason to beat her.

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/25 "2016-01-27T16:29:38Z")

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I would love to know what the lyrics are to the song that Mama Corleone and the old man sing at the wedding. It’s apparently pretty bawdy.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/26 "2016-01-27T16:32:36Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> I would love to know what the lyrics are to the song that Mama Corleone and the old man sing at the wedding. It’s apparently pretty bawdy.

> **[Dean Martin - Luna Mezzo Mare Lyrics | Lyrics.com](https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/5033006)**
>
> Luna Mezzo Mare Lyrics by Dean Martin from the Italian Love Songs album- including song video, artist biography, translations and more: ...

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**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/27 "2016-01-27T17:17:49Z")

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> **[Italian Folk - Cc'è la luna n menzu ô mari lyrics + English translation](https://lyricstranslate.com/en/c039e-la-luna-mezz039o-mare-theres-moon-middle-sea.html)**
>
> Translation of 'Cc'è la luna n menzu ô mari' by Italian Folk (M

With English translation. I would have guessed it was a bawdy song too, but it seems not.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/28 "2016-01-27T17:34:03Z")

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Not bawdy?  
“He’ll plough you oh my daughter”  
“He’ll sausage you oh my daughter”  
“He’ll cucumber you oh my daughter”

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/29 "2016-01-27T17:57:21Z")

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> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Not bawdy?  
> “He’ll plough you oh my daughter”  
> “He’ll sausage you oh my daughter”  
> “He’ll cucumber you oh my daughter”

Plus the “holds a \_\_\_ in his hands” is done with suggestive gestures.  
It reminds me of the English song Follow the Band where the words are innocent on the surface but bawdy at the same time due to delivery.

[http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Follow\_the\_Band.htm](http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Follow_the_Band.htm)

Thanks for the lyrics!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/30 "2016-01-27T18:06:36Z")

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> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Not bawdy?  
> “He’ll plough you oh my daughter”  
> “He’ll sausage you oh my daughter”  
> “He’ll cucumber you oh my daughter”

Not so much, no.

“He’ll razor you oh my daughter.”  
“He’ll plane you oh my daughter.”  
“He’ll hammer you oh my daughter.”  
“He’ll fish you oh my daughter.”

Those sound either like abuse or just nonsensical.

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**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/31 "2016-01-27T18:47:29Z")

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I just finished it. It’s a terrible way to watch these movies for the first time, but if you’ve seen them 100 times, it’s fun. The chronological order gimmick is done soon after the halfway point, obviously, because then it’s just the Pacino part of GFII from then on.

None of the deleted scenes is all that necessary, but they’re fun to see scattered throughout. Somehow the additional Fredo scene with his awful wife made him a bit more sympathetic as a guy who just has no control of his life.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/32 "2016-01-27T19:26:49Z")

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Does anybody know what kind of car that was Fredo was driving in the deleted scene? It had gull wing doors, which I didn’t realize existed in the '50s.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/33 "2016-01-27T20:26:18Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Does anybody know what kind of car that was Fredo was driving in the deleted scene? It had gull wing doors, which I didn’t realize existed in the '50s.

Probably a [Mercedes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_300_SL). I’m no car guy, but I know they had a gull-wing in the 50s.

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**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/34 "2016-01-27T22:07:50Z")

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I’ve seen the Epic before on NBC many years ago and remember Michael saying that Vito had forsworn vengeance, not Michael. What I don’t remember from that viewing was this exchange about the peace:

Michael: “Won’t they take that as a sign of weakness?”

Vito: “Yes, because it is.”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/35 "2016-01-27T22:28:57Z")

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> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> I’ve seen the Epic before on NBC many years ago and remember Michael saying that Vito had forsworn vengeance, not Michael. What I don’t remember from that viewing was this exchange about the peace:
> 
> Michael: “Won’t they take that as a sign of weakness?”
> 
> Vito: “Yes, because it is.”

That struck me as some dishonorable bullshit there. Vito is trying to be this honorable gangster, but ends up basing his strategy on the semantics of whether his promise extends to his son as well.

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/36 "2016-01-27T22:49:42Z")

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> [@Fiveyearlurker](#):
>
> That struck me as some dishonorable bullshit there. Vito is trying to be this honorable gangster, but ends up basing his strategy on the semantics of whether his promise extends to his son as well.

Which is kind of the point - there are no honorable gangsters. Only more honorable and less honorable on a sliding scale of criminality and they all lie to themselves. It’s like when the bosses are meeting and the one makes a big deal about “regulating” the drug business to keep it away from kids and good white folk. It’s clearly self-serving bullshit and we are meant to see it as self-serving bullshit, but these are the lies many of them tell themselves to pretend they are moral business men.

Vito is no different in kind, just degree. He thinks drugs is a “dirty business”, but hey gambling ( rigged, usually ) and prostitution ( coerced, frequently ) are just fine. He threatens and kills people with barely a qualm. Basically he’s a monster, just a slightly fluffier monster than most of his peers.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/37 "2016-01-27T22:58:22Z")

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> [@Scumpup](#):
>
> Not so much, no.
> 
> “He’ll razor you oh my daughter.”  
> “He’ll plane you oh my daughter.”  
> “He’ll hammer you oh my daughter.”  
> “He’ll fish you oh my daughter.”
> 
> Those sound either like abuse or just nonsensical.

As Sampiro say, since they include “hold his \_\_\_\_ in his hands,” they’re pretty obviously intended as double entendres. All the objects are either tools used with a back and forth motion, or are phallic in shape.

> [@](#):
>
> IF I GIVE YOU THE BARBER  
> HE WILL COME AND HE WILL GO,  
> BUT HE’LL ALWAYS HOLD HIS RAZOR IN HIS HANDS…  
> IF HE LIKES THE IDEA  
> HE’LL RAZOR YOU OH MY DAUGHTER.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/38 "2016-01-27T23:21:50Z")

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> [@Fiveyearlurker](#):
>
> That struck me as some dishonorable bullshit there. Vito is trying to be this honorable gangster, but ends up basing his strategy on the semantics of whether his promise extends to his son as well.

King David did almost [identically](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nuPVTU4Z4) the same thing in the Old Testament, swearing not to take vengeance on those who had aided his son Absalom’s rebellion but telling Solomon “soon as I’m cold, waste them”. I’ve wondered if Puzo based the Corleone vendetta torch pass on David.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/39 "2016-01-28T21:57:57Z")

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I haven’t read the novel in a long time so I don’t remember how he was portrayed in there, but Bonasera the undertaker really comes across as a whiney little bitch when you add the deleted scene.

The faux pas and desperation he shows in the opening scene of the first movie can be overlooked somewhat because he’s a furious and grieving father, though even then he comes across as something of a jerk. But when he’s waiting for the Godfather to arrive and telling his wife that he curses the day she ever met Carmela Corleone I want to go Vito on him and slap him around: “You can act like a man!” He’s blaming his wife for the fact that he owes a favor to a crime lord for asking him to kill the boys who tried to rape his daughter?  
Yeah, be nervous, you have no idea what he’s going to ask, but, man up. You asked for this, payment’s due. And I’d have probably made the same deal, but hopefully a bit more respectfully.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-epic-on-hbo-deleted-scenes/743815/40 "2016-01-29T22:35:53Z")

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Bonasera _is_ a weak, sniveling, whiner. In the book, in the original, and in the epic. I don’t see a change in personality.

Vito clearly displays disgust with Bonasera’s pleadings, especially in the conversation afterwards with Tom.

The book covers Bonasera’s dread on how he was to repay the favor to his Godfather. The extra bit with his wife nicely covers that.

OTOH, great character name, especially for an undertaker.

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