I dont get that line...Am I missing something from that scene?

What does that mean...I assume its continued from a deleted scene?

Kay notices the wrecked car and asks what happened.

Tom politely answers that it was an accident but nobody got hurt...and quickly changes the subject back to Michael.

Not sure what else there is to 'get'.

Are you saying why was it added to the scene in the first place?

No answer really, except as with many scenes in The Godfather Trilogy - this extra detail adds a depth that would not otherwise have been there. After all, we do know that while Kay is busy writing letters to Michael, there is an all out war going on because of a double murder that he committed.

It is probably quite typical of what might be seen in the driveway of a powerful organized crime Family in the 1940's.

Apple

i hav the book. While mikes away in corleone theres a war goin on between the 5 families and the blown up car was a bomb sent from 1 of the families.

Speaking of cars. I noticed last night that after the big meeting in the bank, Vito and Tom are riding home and you can clearly see the headlights of another car through their rear window and the car looks like its right on their bumper. But, a few seconds after that they show a rear shot of the Don's car moving on down the highway for near a hundred yards but no car trailing behind. Lack of continuity?

This has been discussed here earlier. If you look at the "accident but nobody was hurt" car closely, you'll see that the doors seem to have been removed carefully, not blown off. This suggests that maybe the car was used as a barrier inside the Mall at some time during the Five Families War. The novel says that, after Michael killed Sollozzo and McCluskey, a representative of the Five Families asked the Corleones to give up the murderer. When the Corleones refused, a bomb was thrown into the mall from a passing car. But it doesn't say that the bomb blew up a car inside the mall.

Yeah, sure...lack of continuity. So what.

Vito/Tom inside the car would've been filmed in a studio. Outside shot of cars on highway obviously edited in to provide an exit to the segment.

It's called making movies.

But I have to say if you're noticing headlights behind the characters instead of the dialogue going on inside the car, then you're attention may have been a little misplaced.



Apple

gotcha, now it makes sense...they never explain in the movie what happened to that car...

hey apple on ya, do u now see what i didnt "GET" ??

Not really.

Because I've been enjoying The Godfather for many years, and without benefit of having read the novel or hearing from others the background story behind the wrecked car...have never needed or asked for an explanation to either Kay's question or Tom's answer. It was to me just part of the scene and considering that this is after all a story about a family involved in organized crime, it made perfect sense. There was nothing not to 'get'.

Apple

I felt it was unecessary in the film. It may have been a small bit more interesting if Tom had mentioned that it was a car bomb attempt or something of a similar nature.

Just one of those things in the films that wasn't needed, but works out fine... kinda like Johnny Fontane

Except I don't think it would be appropriate for him to inform Kay of such things.

Personally, I always enjoyed the way he gently diverts her attention from the care without actually letting her know it's none of her business. Just think how quickly that scene would've gone without the little reference to the car.

You're right...it was certainly unnecessary but a nice touch just the same.

Apple

this probly was discussed before but has anyone noticed the sky view of the hit on vito,they keep shooting but it doesnt hit him.

Yeah they fire 9 shots but...."they hit him with 5 shots and he's still alive" Another screw-up, if you will, in that scene-Fredo stops running in the overhead shot, but then a cut to the eye level shot reveals Fredo still running. I personally dont consider that any kind of mistake, but apperntly some people do.

Don Sonny I look at that scene much differently. I look at the point when CLemenza tells Mike the gun is "accurate up to 4 feet" Thats the way I looked at it. Up close they were hitting him, and as they were running away they were firing but not hitting because the guns weren't accurate enough.

Just my opinion though

The presence of an obviously demolished car (bombed, burned, shot up--it hardly matters) is something "normal" people (ie, non mobsters) like Kay notice. So she asks about it. Tom, being the smart guy he is, sees the incongruity and chooses to respond quickly in terms she can understand: it was an accident.

Mobsters can accept the presence of such a hulk, non-mobsters get curious. Tom translates. I think that's about all there is to it.

The final script for the movie originally had a bomb crater in the compound as the focal point for that line spoken by Kay. For whatever reason, they changed that to a bombed-out car.

Here's the script's description:

EXT DAY: MALL (SPRING 1946)

HIGH ANGLE on the Corleone Mall. It is a gray, rainy day.
Young BUTTON MEN in raincoats stand in quiet groups of
various points around the main house and compound. Things
have changed; one house has been extensively enlarged; a new
and secure gate house has been built. Security measures
that had been make-shift and temporarily have now been made
a permanent part of the Mall, evolving it into a Medieval
Fortress. We notice a huge crater in the courtyard; the
result of a recent bomb attempt. The house nearest the
crater is damaged by fire.

A taxi arrives; KAY ADAMS steps out, huddled in a bright
yellow raincoat; she lets the cab go, and hurries to the
shelter of the gate house.

They are not expecting her, and ask her to wait while they
call the main house.

KAY looks at the imposing, depressing Mall, while rain still
runs down onto her face.

She notices the bomb crater, and the fire damage; and the
sullen faces of the BUTTON MEN.

TOM HAGEN exits the Main House, and hurries toward her.

HAGEN
Kay, we weren't expecting you. You
should call...

KAY
I've tried calling and writing. I
want to reach Michael.

HAGEN
Nobody knows where he is. We know
he's all right, but that's all.

KAY looks in the direction of the crater, filling with
rainwater.

KAY
What was that?

HAGEN
An accident. No one was hurt.

The thing that is weird about the incident is the way Tom says it. He says it while smiling, almost like in a joking/laughing matter. I always thought that was strange. Maybe it's just me though.

Well, afterall, Tom is a lawyer and is used to representing things in the best interests of his client. Given that he represents a gangster, he is probably used to lying to conduct that representation.