I'm glad it actually went this way. Clemenza, as we got to know him in part one, was a real oldtimer and would never flip. That would have been very awkward.
Yes, it would be sad. But that's what the GF trilogy is all about. Nobody would wish that Sonny dies or that Tessio turns traitor. Or that Michael becomes a murderer. But it's a tragedy, so the terrible must happen.
Yes, but it must be plausible.
You raise a good point, Sonny.
Given the long history of Clemenza and the Corleones, and the differences between Clemenza's and Frankie's personalities, I don't think that simply substituting Clemenza into the Pentangeli plotline would have made for a plausible betrayal.
I think Clemenza's presence in the film would have required a very different tack to make the betrayal plausible and tragic.
