The Horse Head

let me start by saying im new to the boards and that im sorry my first question is probably ridiculous to you. and im sure it has been asked and answered more times than you know..


i need to know who put the horse head in Woltz's bed. i have always wondered who, but maybe you can help me.

Hi and welcome to the boards. I'm more than happy to answer this one. From my knowledge, i believe it was Luca Brasi. I'm sure other members in here might have a different answer.

thank you much. should i have already known that or is it something i would have had to read?

i suggest you read the book you will get lots of details at the same time enjoying every page of it.

GoodFella

Someone told me that there's a deleted scene on the Godfather special features DVD, in which Don Corleone asks for Luca Brasi after hearing that Woltz isn't complying with the request to star Johhny Fontane in the new war movie. I believe Luca Brasi physically didn't put the horse head in the head. I belive Luca arranaged the head getting cut off and had someone who worked for woltz bribed and they did the job, Brasi was in charge of hiring the right men for the job this is my thought on who actually put the head in the blanket, had to be an inside job because a stranger would have been caught and kicked out of the house.

i will watch it later. and i do thank everyone for all their help. on another note....by watching hte movie....am i supposed to know who did it? or is it just left like that...i was thinking i was watching it wrong. if that makes any kind of sense.

thanks again.

Hi Capo Status, welcome.

One of the beautiful aspects of the GF story as told in film is the way Coppola tells the story. As an audience member, I find the things that we are NOT told or shown are as powerful as the things that are told or shown. The facial gesture that Vito makes after the horsehead scene tells more than any depiction of showing the head-hacker and seeing it placed in Woltz's bed. Its not important to know who did it, but that Vito Corleone had the power to have it done.

On the flip side, if you stay on these boards you will find that we enjoy the "what if" as much as the what was.

To the best of my knowledge (in my old and feeble memory), Don Vito, in the book, had Luca Brasi go to Hollywood and take care of Woltz.

Luca contacted a couple of locals and had people inside of Woltz employees, slip him a Mickey, thereby allowing Woltz to get a good nights sleep!

At which point, nay-nay-whinney-whiney....the rest is history.

And if I remember correctly, Tom Hagen was still in Hollywood at the time.(on this point I could be wrong).

Hey Turnbull....you out there? I know you could shed some light on this, buddy!


"I ain't no bandleader. Yeah, I heard that story."

Oh yeah. BTW, that was a real horsehead used in the scene.

FFC tried several times to use a prop but the problem was, that's what it always looked like in every take. So....a real one from a Connecticut slaughter house was used (with fake blood though)
and John Marley (Woltz) had to get severely drunk to do that scene, which took many, many takes.

And yes, the famous scene was actually filmed in upstate New York, not Hollywood, Cal.


"...And a man in my position cannot afford to be made to look ridiculous. Now you get the hell out of here!!!"

"Mr. Woltz, I want to thank you for a very pleasant evening. And now if your car can take me to the airport. Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately."

The novel says nothing about Luca being involved in the horse-hacking. When Hagen returns from California and tells Vito about Woltz, Vito pondered for a day. "On Wednesday afternoon he had called Hagen to his home and given him his instructions. The instructions had consumed th rest of Hagen's working day and left him dazed with admiration. There was no question in Hagen's mind that the Don had solved the problem..." No mention of Luca, though that doesn't mean he wasn't involved--he just isn't mentioned. Later, after Woltz's rude awakening, he thinks,"..the horse's body had obviously been heavily drugged before someone leisurely hacked the huge riangular head off witgh an ax. The men on nigh duty claimed that they had heard nothing. To Woltz this seemed impossible...they had been bought off..." Again, no mention of Luca, though he might have been involved.

Turnbull, I was reading thru and said to myself- I have to correct that about Luca and the head in the bed. I started to grab my book to get the wording right and then noticed the next post is yours with everything I wanted to say. I know this happens to many of us.
Keep up the good work. I guess next time I will read all the posts before getting an answer ready.

So, fathersson, I guess you were getting a head of yourself.

yeah I know in the novel for sure that Luca Brasi wasn't mentioned at all for the operation of the decapitation of the head of the horse. Turnbull, everyone seems to be saying your the leading authority on this scene, is it true that there is a deleted scene on the DVD where Vito asks for Luca after hearing about Woltz?

Yes, it is true. That's a scene in The Godfather Epic where Don Vito says to Tom: "Does this man have balls?", which was edited in that and the from the Godfather Trilogy on DVD. For further proof, check out Harlan Lebo's "Legacy" book and you'll see a picture where Duvall is holding a card for Brando to read, and another one where Brando is taping the card behind a wall.

Yes, that deleted scene appears in the TV "Saga" version. But, there's no mention of Luca in the novel.
There's a fascinating part of the novel that traces the Don's rise.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

He gets involved in a war with Maranzano, who asks Capone for help. Capone sends two gunsels, but Luca meets them at the train station, captures them at gunpoint, takes them to a warehouse--and uses an axe to chop off their legs! That's probably why so many people believe that Luca did in the horse. As I said in an earlier post: the fact that Luca wasn't mentioned in the novel in connection with the horse decapitation doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't involved.

yeah I think he organized the system of bribes and hiring the local help that was already in California.

Don Corleone did have some influence in Cali, remember in the book Billy Goff (I think was his name)was threatning Johnny with some union problems. He was found dead.

Thanks TB. We can always count on you. Sometimes when you're old like me, memories seemingly run together.

Having seen the movie in all of its version many times over the years, the stuff seems to get somewhat cloudy.

I knew Luca may have been involved in some way, just couldn't separate the junk in what is left of my mind.(Might be a good time to look into Aricept)!!!

"...And a man in my position cannot afford to be made to look ridiculous...Now you get the hell out of here!!"

Where is that from? I don't remember reading that in the book.

Pp. 217-218.

Eh goombahdi, isn't that the scene where Luca stuffs a towel in a guys mouth to keep him quiet and the guy swallows it?


"Eh, whatta ya gonna do, nice college boy, didn't wanna get mixed up in the family business. Now ya wanna gun down a police captain, why, 'cause he slapped in the face a little bit? This ain't the army where you shoot 'em from a mile away. Ya gotta get up close and BADA BING..ya blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit...You're taking this too personal. Tom, this man is taking this too personal!"

Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot that part. I read the book rather quickly so, I apologize for asking a dumb question.