Godfather Script

I found an interesting site that has the full GF Script. It's pretty interesting reading and more detailed than the "transcript".

Godfather Script

I like that. How did you find this site?

I was searching Google for GF sites, and that one came up.

Looks more detailed in terms of the filming and camera/lighting work, but it doesn't translate some of the Italian in the film... Nice find nevertheless.

Good find, Just Lou!

I had seen this 3rd (and final) Revision Draft before, but now thanks to you I'll be able to readily find it whenever I want. The hard copy of the script that I bought, and the version most commonly sold, is the second revision, from which there were many changes.

This is the draft they used to shoot the movie (note the date - March 29, 1971 - the same week that filming started). It will settle some arguments here; the first one I confirmed is the speaker of the line, "Its a Sicilian message; it means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes". The one who uttered those words was, in fact, Clemenza (and NOT Tessio, as some here suggested).

Anyway, thanks again, Just Lou.

Hmmmmm.....here's something interesting:

The script is different in some ways from the movie, but one BIG insight into something I never noticed before is Zaluchi was supposed to be the FIFTH NEW YORK FAMILY!

The novel has Zaluchi as the Don from Detroit, and supposedly he's the one that spoke about keeping drugs in the black neighborhoods (in the big sitdown of all the Dons).

Below is copied a segment of the script near the end (describing Vito's wake):

CLEMENZA whispers into the ear of LAMPONE. LAMPONE
immediately arranges for the members of the Five New York
Families to pay their respects.

First CUNEO, then STRACHI and then ZALUCHI. Then PHILIP
TATTAGLIA, who merely passes by the Coffin.

Then BARZINI in a black homburg, standing a long time.

No problem. Every now and then I get bored and search for interesting things. I just happened to be watching the GF DVD, so I started to search for GF stuff. I was actually searching for some more GF locations in NYC, because I may go over there this weekend and take some pictures.

I also found the 2nd draft of GF II. I'm checking it out now.

Godfather II Script

Here's a short basic list that may give you some ideas:

Downtown

Mulberry Street, the heart of "Little Italy" figures prominently in the "Godfather" movies. At #263 Mulberry St. is the "Old" St. Pat's Cathedral, used in the christening scenes of Connie's son in Part I and some scenes in the beginning of Part III. A short distance away at Thompson and Bleecker Streets is the location used when Sonny left Lucy Mancini's apartment (surrounded by bodyguards as he left the building). Mott Street, one block away, was used as the background for the scene in which Vito was gunned down. At #128 Mott Street (on the fourth floor) is a loft used for the interiors of the Genco Olive Oil Co. (where Sollozzo met with the Family leaders). A few blocks south is the U.S. Courthouse (60 Centre Street) on whose steps Barzini tumbled down after being shot dead.

Midtown

At #314 Fifth Avenue (by 32nd Street) is a pizzeria that used to be Polk's Hobby Shop (where Tom Hagen was kidnapped by Sollozzo). Go up north some to The Edison Hotel (241 West 47 Street, just off Broadway). The Edison's restaurant was used as the bar in which Luca Brasi was killed. Two short blocks north on the west side of Broadway (between 49th and 50th Streets) WAS the home of Jack Dempsey's Restaurant, used as the backdrop in front of which Mike waited to be picked up by Sollozzo and McCluskey. Head east a few blocks to Radio City Music Hall at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street. Mike and Kay left there only to see the newspaper headlines that Vito was shot. Walk a block east to #645 Fifth Avenue (at 51st Street), now the Olympic Tower Building. That WAS the former home of Best & Co., the department store from which Mike and Kay exited with their Christmas shopping. A few blocks up Fifth Avenue is The St. Regis Hotel (at 55th Street) in which Mike and Kay's hotel room scenes were filmed. 3/4 mile east of there is the 59th Street Bridge, used in Part I as the George Washington Bridge, over which Mike and Sollozzo drove on their way to Louis' Restaurant in The Bronx.

Other

The filming location for Sollozzo's murder scene was The Luna Restaurant (renamed "Louis' Restaurant" in the movie). It was at White Plains Rd. and Gun Hill Rd. (just under the "el" train). It is now the home to The Bethel Church of God. The restaurant went out of business a year after the movie was filmed.

The Corleone Mall (supposed to be in Long Beach) was actually filmed on Staten Island. The homes used are located at #110 and #120 Longfellow Avenue in the Emerson Hill section. There is no wall around the houses (it was built out of styrofoam for the movie), and the homes are privately owned, so you won't be able to go inside, but here are travel directions to see them from the outside: (from lower Manhattan) - Take the Staten Island Ferry from the terminal at Battery Park to St. George, Staten Island. The Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway will take you from the St. George Station, four stops to Grasmere. From there Clove Rd. runs north into Milford Drive and Ocean Terrace. Longfellow Rd. is a cul-de-sac running east from Ocean Terrace. #110-120 are the last houses at the end of the road.

The Cavalry Cemetery, just under the Long Island Expressway near Greenpoint Avenue (in Queens) was used to film Don Vito's funeral. The street address is 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd., Woodside, Queens. There are 3 million people buried there, so good luck in finding the gravesite used in the movie.


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I really have to update this list, but its a basic start.

Edited to correct the name of Jack Dempsey's Restaurant - Thanks, plaw!

Funny you should mention that.

Just yesterday I was thumbing throught the novel, and I came across yet another indication in the book that there were five families in addition to the Corleones.

In the scene where Bonasera is preparing to meet Vito at the funeral parlor, he is wondering what service the Corleone Family might require of him, and he muses

"For the last year the Corleone Family had waged war against the five great Mafia Families of New York...." (italics mine).

I was saving that quote for the semi-annual "Were there five or six families?" discussion, but since you mention it......

Thanks for the list.

I've noticed that the GFII script refers to a relationship between Tom Hagen and Sandra Corleone. In the DVD bonus disc Andy Garcia quotes Dean Tavoularis as saying that with FFC the script was "like a newspaper, a new one came out every day".

However, neither the novel, as published, or the film, as released, names the legendary fifth New York family. The only families named in addition to Corleone are Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci and Cuneo.

I have not read the novel, so wondering if Moe Green is the 5th? Before Michael kills carlo, he says "barzini is dead, so is philip tattaglia, moe green, stracci, cuneo......"

True....but we've already established that the Corleones aren't included in the Five Families.

The drafts of the scripts, even if not used, give us SOME insight into the writer's reasoning.

I guess I am wrong with the previous post. Moe Green was not present in the meeting with the heads of 5 families

And Moe Green wasn't a New Yorker--we see him strictly in Vegas.

Didn't know Michael kills Fabrizzio himself with a gun right after killing Carlo. That would've been a pretty cool scene, showing Michael get revenge for Apollonia's death. I remember seeing a pic with Michael shooting somebody(not the hand pistol with which he shot Sollozzo) and I knew there was no such scene in the GF. Others commented the picture was fake. But guess its not. Why would Cappola not include this scene?

Yes, the scripts are fascinating for the reason you said, SC. But we can't regard them as authoritative. If we did, then the next questions would be, "Which one (of many) is authoritative? Why didn't such-and-such make its way into the film?"
It's also true that the context of references to "the Five Families" gives a strong impression that there are five in addition to the Corleones. And yes, it looks like the Corleones don't include themselves among the Five (Hagen to the Don re. drugs: "If we don't get into it, someone else will--maybe one of the Five Families, maybe all of them"). This seems to imply that the Corleones don't include themselves among the Five Families, from which you can infer that there were five in addition to the Corleones.
But again: no other families are named besides Corleone, Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci and Cuneo. So, my conclusion is that it's either sloppy writing by Puzo and/or FFC, or perhaps that the Corleones are referring to the Five Families in a generic way, with themselves included.

Here we go again.....

Call it sloppy writing. Maybe bad editing.

There are just too many references in the novel to five other families.

All of those references, taken against the one and only single piece of evidence against the existence of five other families (the fact that the fifth family isn't named), makes too compelling a case for me.

In the Godfather Epic(out of production) there is a scene in which Fabrizzo is Killed. I haven't seen in a long time, but it was disscussed I think at the meeting the fam was having at the begining of the movie, like when he met John A(uncle junior)

In THIS case I think its interesting to note that the writers went out of their way to note that there was a fifth New York Family (not the Corleones). True, it doesn't match up with what Puzo wrote in the book, but its entirely possible he realized his mistake (of only naming four Families but otherwise referring to five) and attempted to fix that mistake (or, at least we know he was thinking about the error) by adding that Zaluchi was the 5th New York Family.

Is it authoritative? No, but it does show Puzo's attempt at covering a past mistake.

until I see this reference to Zaluchi as "the fifth family" I always thought that the Corleones "mentioned five families in a generic way, with themselves included", as Turnbull said. now I don't think so. anyway, this discussion will never end...

I wonder, why other members of the five families never attempted to revenge the death of thier heads, killed by Mike? Tattaglia had sons left. Others possibly too. But we never hear about any reaction on thier side!

We gotta have this discussion every few months or so.

Gets rid of the bad blood.

Hmmmm........

This script, though, has Zaluchi speaking the line

In my city I would try and keep the traffic among the dark people....the colored

The "In my city...." would indicate that he's not from New York.

I might be mistaken but in the movie (and the book) I think he was introduces as the Don of Detroit.

I thought the same thing when I first read the script but its not necessarily so. Remember - this was a national "convention" and by Zaluchi's saying, "in my city", it could be referring to New York, too.

I'm only suggesting that its POSSIBLE that Zaluchi was the fifth NY Family, and that Puzo was trying to "cover" his mistake in the novel.