Originally posted by AppleOnYa:
Well...what do you suppose it would've added to the movie, having little Santino following his daddy across those rooftops?
Not much. In fact it would've slowed down the scene tremendously, and taken much of the audience attention away from Vito where it should be and onto this little tyke nearly killing himself.
Apple
In fact, it's one of the best and most intensely focused scenes in the entire movie. Adding Santino to it would have weakened it considerably.
I always thought that Sonny's little speech about having seen Vito kill Fanucci was contrived. Vito's response--in effect, "I can't lecture you on how to behave"--was way out of character. He more likely would have said, "If you don't want to grow up to be a killer and a ganster like me, go to law school. Then you can be a killer and a gangster with a license to steal."
