Michael Cimino, the director (The Deer Hunter) is infamous for making long movies that were re-cut to shorten the running time.

If you are going to pick up the movie, make sure you get the unedited version. I have never seen either, but you always want to go with the version the director intended and not the studio.

About the book - I enjoyed it, but it suffered from reading most at one time, and then going back and finishing it a few months later. I did the same with Fools Die.

Again, Puzo isn't the best writer in the world but has a way with words to make the story come to life. The ending was pretty cliche, but it was a good read. A must for GF fans, since the book is sprinkled with references.