Stracci,

Forgive me for being late on this, but I just joined the forum.

I have answers for your questions about Frank Pentangelli. 1) who strangled him & why, & 2) why was Frankie's brother brought to America & presented in the court. Both of my answers are based on early script outlines as well as conversations that I've had over the years with various people that were directly involved in the production. So, my answers are not based on heresay or opinion.

For the first question, please refer to "Turnbull"'s latest post on 10/14/08. He's exactly right. Coppola couldn't have put it any better (kudos, Turnbull).

The second question regarding Frankie's brother: His brother was brought in because Frankie had children living in the same town as Frankie's brother. The intended threat (to Frankie) was that, had Frankie testified against Michael, the brother would kill (or ordered killed) Frankie's children.

This was from an early script outline that was never fully developed or (to my knowledge) ever filmed.

One other thing, regarding Part 2, there was a tremendous amount of footage filmed that was never included in the final film. Probably an extra hour's worth. The rough cut was well over 4 1/2 hours. Lee Strasburg suggested that they keep all of the footage and put an intermissin in. In fact, there is a spot for the intermission, but right now, I forget where. I'll have to get back to you on that. Unfortunately, the studio didn't want a long movie because, since this was such an anticipated film, they wanted to show as many times per day as possible. So, the studio ordered Coppola to cut it down to what you see now. As far as I've been able to gather, nobody knows where all of that footage ended up. The people that I met that worked on the film that I've spoken to, didn't know. I guess Coppola would be the only one who knows.

Anyway, hope this helps clear things up.