To be honest I would simply like to know what others feel is their most enjoyable moment of conflict within the GF trilogy? I've got to say mine was seeing McClusky shot, that acting was scarily realistic!

For me, Sonny's murder although it was in sharp contrast with what the novel portrayed. I especially enjoyed the camera work right after the murder.

Yes! What an iconic moment, I wonder what it would of been like if that didn't happen and he went on to be a don.

Is shooting a moment of conflict or rather its (poor) solution?
For me the best fight scene is where Manolo strangles his obnoxious nephew.

There are several of Manolo's scenes which qualify.

Zasa getting his, with the horse chase and the bullets coming through his body, was well done.

Fredo getting shot (off camera), with the reverberation of the shot and Michael's face, was well done.

As for fights, the best was when Sonny beat Carlo.

I think I go for the Atlantic City massacre. Although it isn't quite realistic, it's an impressive action scene and has very decent cinematography.

And ofcourse, like Tb mentioned, Zasa's killing along with his bodyguards. That first shotgun blast was pretty hardcore.

Ironically, these scenes are from Part III, the least favorite film. But even Part III still has some great scenes.

Kinda hard to pick a favorite. The Louis Restaurant scene is one of my favs in the entire Trilogy (let alone a shooting).

How about GF2, Vito's mom confronting Don Cicci and then getting blasted.

Regarding Zasa's murder, it should be noted that Corleone gunmen opened fire in a venue crowded with men, women, and children. Of course, one or more of them could have fell victim to the gunfire. Would Michael (or Vito) have approved of the assault taking place in that venue?

Best on-screen beating ever .

That scene was shot on Pleasant Avenue, right near the walkup apartment building that my Dad grew up in. When my grandmother died, in 1991, she was one of the last Italian born women living in that neighborhood. It's nearly 100% Latino today.

The exact spot where they were fighting is a hundred yards or so from the famous Rao's restaurant.

Who cares, it's a movie.



Obviously not. Later on in the film Michael condemned the shooting and explicitly said that he would have disapproved.

I think it's not a moral but a cineastic question.
To me the most surprising fighting/shooting scene is Vincent and the burglars. The killing of the first gangster is quite shocking. And when we believe that the second guy survives, he gets shot too.

Kind of funny is the killing of the second twin in the opera. We and the second twin believe that Mosca has been strangled. The next moment he stabs. Ouch!

Interesting that GFIII, the least-liked of the Trilogy, is seemingly the most violent. Correlation?

Not in my mind. Part III was least liked because it sucked.

I think FFC choose to use a sort of violence not seen previously in the Trilogy to make up for everything that made Part III a lesser film.

In a comment about the Carlo/Connie fighting scene, FFC says, he was still about to be fired by the Paramount bosses. They had hired an fighting sequence specialist to supervise him. SO FFC shot the scene before the guy arrived and made it as fighting-like as he could.

I love Young Vito stabbing Don Ciccio and then slicing open his gut. That wasn't blood flowing, it was wine! LOL!

The best shooting scene on my opinion is when a young Vito kills Don Fanucci with the towel wrapped around the gun in GF2, i like how the towel sets on fire..

Yes, the towel scene was really good. And check out the look on young Vito's face!

FFC must have been paying homage to Arthur Penn when he made GF. Sonny's shooting obviously was modeled on the last scene of "Bonnie and Clyde," which caused a sensation at the time. But it was unrealistic. The Thompson submachine guns that mowed down Sonny fired .45 ACP handgun rounds. The .45 ACP is the proverbial "big slow round," designed for maximum knockdown power at short distance. Even one hit from a .45 ACP, even in a limb, would knock down or disable a person. Sonny would never have been able to do that artistic "dance of death" if even one round had hit him.

Similarly, why did FFC have Rocco and his associate machine-gun Tattaglia (and the hooker) at that range, when Rocco could have knifed or strangled Tatt with a lot less noise? And why did they use Danish military Madsen submachine guns, which were never used by the US military, at a time when the US had plenty of Thompsons and M3A1 "grease guns" lying around in armories?

It was a nice touch for Neri, a former cop, to don his old uniform in assassinating Barzini (and bodyguards and chauffeur). But he took a tremendous risk in using a standard six-shot S&W .38 police issue revolver for all those deaths. He could have kept the .38 in his holster for authenticity, and used a hidden Browning High Power 9mm (14 rounds) for the shooting.

And why have fat, wheezing Clemenza climb all those stairs, lugging a shotgun, to whack Stracci (and the other guy, and probably the elevator operator). And how did he know what floor the elevator would stop on?

Art and drama trump realism.

Fiction in a nutshell. In popularity contest, John Grisham trumps Scott Turow, and if you just want entertainment, then Grisham is for you. But for a more serious work in the legal genre, then Turow is your man.

As far as the Godfather goes, it sets out to entertain us before anything else. If realism needs to get bent a little, then why the hell not.

All good points TB. Of course, Clemenza doing the job: why? Why not send hitmen to do that? Why risk your only loyal capo? Of course, his bounding up those steps at 300 lbs. was quite a hat trick. I guess he also knew that only his targets would be inside and not civilians.

Well, as you state: drama trumps realism.

Neri had to use his .38 for 2 reasons - 1) it had to look like a " rogue " cop. If he used a .45 or something else, it would have drawn more attention from bystanders trying to look at his face or getaway vehilcle. 2) In his time as a cop, how many times do you think Neri fired that gun at the firing range at moving and non-moving targets, in all kinds of shooting positions ( theoretically of course). That shot he took at Barzini was what 150 - 200 feet away and what a 45 degree incline - Neri could make that shot with no problem at all.

speaking of sonny's murder...the guy that kicks his head...was he in the movie? or just an unknown soldier?? i've always admired that scene and the coolness of the way he's dressed...so gangster but classy! reminds me of my uncles in new york!