I was watching the other day GF1 and GF2 in chronological order with deleted scenes.(not on the same day of course )
I was watching it for the 20th time with 2 of my friends who have never seen the GF movies.

First tape- 2:10 - mostly De Niro and the first part of GF1 -- My friends LOVED it.

Second tape - 2:20 - most of GF1 - they LOVED it even more!!!

Third tape - 2:30 - 1 or 2 scenes from GF1 but the rest is GF2 without the flashback scenes which were on the first tape.
so it was 2 hours and 30 minutes of Hyman Roth/Frank Pentangeli scenes and a little Fredo.
my 2 friends were DISAPPOINTED.they say that unlike the firts 2 tapes,this one was BORING.
they did like the parts with Fredo...but there arent many.

so anyway,it made me wonder about GF2 :

Do you think the movie would have been a success like it was without the flashback scenes?
do you think that it could even be a "failure" if the movie came out without the flashback scenes?

I was talking to another friend and he also told me that he likes the GF2 very much and the scenes in the present are "ok" but hes mostly waiting for the flashbacks...and they are only 1 hour of a 3 hours movie...makes you wonder just how great they are and make you wonder what would be GF2 today if it was a 2 hours movie without the flashbacks...it couldve been so,who knows.