Also. In the book, the Corleones were called the Irish Gang only because of Hagen
Come to think of it, what ever happened to his nephew? Connie and Carlo’s son? Michael’s own godson, baptized during the final “Sicilian Vespers” scene of The Godfather? I don’t recall him being even mentioned in the later films. Not even in GIII, when Michael is looking around for a successor and his son Antonio will have none of it.
In GF2 Michael tells Connie that one of her sons (I don’t remember if it was the younger or older one) got arrested for shoplifting while she was off somewhere with her boyfriend Merle Johnson (who was played by Troy Donahue whose real name was Merle Johnson). He basically calls her an unfit mother, which seems to be true; after Carlo’s death she marries and divorces at least once then begins dating Merle who Michael and Mama C. suspect of being a loser. (I ain’t saying he’s a gold digger, but he wasn’t dealing with no broke broke.) She’s drinking too much and pretty much leaving her kids to the care of nannies and family. By the end of the movie she’s calmed down and tells Michael she’ll always be there for him.
They’re not mentioned at all in GF3 but they are represented in the family group shot on the stairs. (Trivia: Sonny’s twins in that scene, even though they don’t have speaking roles, are played by the actresses who played his twins in GF2; some other family members are also played by actors who’d played them previously.) The little girl who dances with Michael and his daughter (in real life Coppola’s granddaughter by his son who was killed) is referred to in the credits as “Connie’s granddaughter”, so apparently they lived and at least one reproduced. By GF3 Connie is a matronly somber sort but also fanatically devoted to Michael and to her illegitimate nephew (who the book makes absolutely clear never existed in the original story- you learn all you could possible want to know about Lucy Mancini’s womanly parts), so I’m guessing her kids are civilians since she’d surely favor them over Vincent when Michael is ill.
No idea if they’re mentioned in the Winegardner books. One of the twins is a major character in the first book- I didn’t read the next one and don’t accept those as canon anyway even if they are authorized by the Puzo estate (the literary copyrights of which are evidently administered by Merle Johnson and Associates).
I agree that it was needless to have Vincent as a bastardo when Michael had several legitimate nephews and in-laws. It might even have been interesting to see Tom Hagen’s son (who in the third movie is a priest) try to become a [del]muggle[/del] mixed blood head of a Sicilian mob family.
“He” went on to play “Child on Ship” in Godfather II, Mary Corleone in Godfather III, as well as direct one of my favorite films, “Lost in Translation.”
Sofiia Coppela appearing in all three Godfather movies should win a few trivia contests for you…
Fanwanking, but Michael probably would have had problems with Michael Francis coming to power. The big one would have been that he was Carlo’s son - Michael would not have been willing to trust him not to seek revenge for his father’s death.
Second, Michael and Connie’s relationship was troubled. Mainly because Michael’s relationship with everyone became troubled if they were around long enough. Michael almost certainly would have ended up fighting with Sonny except Sonny had died early, so he was safe in Michael’s memory.
Third, Michael may have had some idea of Salic Law. A child who, even though illegitimate, came through a male line may have seemed a better successor than one who came through a female line.
German, if memory serves. Something like Brandau, originally. But you’re right that he disappeared into the role.
The book was never clear on how this was done. Tom Hagen went to see Jack Wolz, to ask him to give Johnny the film part. When Wolz indignantly refuses, how does Tom get back to the Don? Surely, the Don must have had people inside Wolz’s estate-how to you hack off the head, place it in the bed, etc., within hours of Tom Hagen’s departure?
In the timeline of the book, Hagan comes back on Tuesday and reports to the Don. Then Wednesday afternoon, the Don gives Hagan instructions on what to do about Woltz. Wednesday evening, Woltz calls Hagan, and the horsehead is in his bed on Thursday morning. So, I assume the Don told Tom on Wednesday afternoon what to do if Woltz refused, and he made the arrangements then, which “consumed the rest of Hagan’s working day”.
Which punch was that?
One of the punches that Sonny throws at Carlo when he was beating Carlo up. It was a standard fake punch, but they used a bad camera angle so it clearly didn’t land. An impact sound was still mixed in though making it even more noticable.
In addition to the book, the Saga version also shows more of the interaction involving Woltz and Tom. E.g., Tom seeing the young actress at the mansion, reporting back to Vito about this infamnia, etc. Tom clearly was helping to set up Woltz. Since this occurs early in the older Vito storyline, it helps make it plain that Tom is well aware of, and has no problem with, the dirtier parts of the business. Tom is as ruthless as the rest.
An irony of the punch that didn’t connect was that several of the “fake” punches did connect. Gianni Russo, who played Carlo, said he had bruises for a long time after that scene because James Caan really got lost in the “Psycho Sonny” scenes, even actually biting his hand and actually hitting him with the trashcan. Caan apologized to him when he “came down” from the character, but Coppola loved the look of authenticity while somehow missing that punch.
She was underage as well- I think it was her 15th birthday. Like the part based on Sinatra and From Here to Eternity, the part with the starlet was based on the (almost certainly false) rumors that Shirley Temple was Louis B. Mayer’s mistress which is how she kept making movies after she was no longer the adorable curly haired little girl. (Temple doesn’t speak to the issues, though she does say that several execs did start chasing her when she entered her teens and Mayer did make passes at her mom several times.)
Trivia: When Godfather came out Sinatra went ballistic because of the Tony Fontaine character. Coppola said that Sinatra trapped him in a Palm Springs restaurant and verbally assaulted him for almost an hour and he was afraid he was going to beat the crap out of him (but he didn’t). When Godfather 3 was announced, Sinatra lobbied him hard for the role of Don Altobello, even offering to work for scale or donate his salary to Coppola’s favorite charity; by that time the same mob members who had condemned Godfather now revered it as near gospel.