Subplots in GFII that were cut

Been reading the draft script for Part II which contains a much beefier role for Tom Hagen, an affair with Sandra Corleone and losing Kay and the kids from the compound and going to New England to get them back.

I've got the book called 'The Godfather Family Album' and there is a shot of Tom and Kay talking and its not from a scene in the film...so this is evidence that this stuff was shot.

Do you think these scenes should have been included? Tom did seem a bit underwritten in the movie.

HF, there must be an absolute treasure-trove in Paramount's vaults of film from scenes that didn't make the final cuts of the three movies. The 45 minutes (total) of deleted scenes from I and II that are included in the DVD sets and in the "Saga" version are themselves great treasures. But, all three movies were very long by commercial standards. Scenes had to be cut to bring them into manageable length.

Also, some of those (unseen) deleted scenes or subplots would have run contrary to the final plot. Here's an example:

Some years ago, an alert poster here spotted the Senate lawyer Questadt sitting behind Roth in the meeting with the Cuban president. Another alert poster found an earlier script treatment in which Michael was to meet with Questadt. Evidently FFC actually shot that subplot, then decided that it'd be better to introduce Questadt at the Senate hearing, and to have Michael learn, from Fredo, that he "belongs to Roth"--a very different treatment. So, why did FFC leave Questadt (however briefly) in the Havana meeting shot? Probably because all the Havana scenes were shot on location in the Dominican Republic. FFC probably liked that particular shot, but wasn't about to go back to the Dominican Republic to reshoot just to get Questadt's three seconds out of the scene. So, I'm guessing, he left it in, thinking that no one would notice Questadt. He didn't count on people like us.

Good points TB. As I've posted in another thread, director's use the resources at hand whether its actors, locations, equipment, etc. Those resources can impose constraints. Your example is an excellent one. Post-production adjustments have their limitations. Of course, GFII was not based on a novel; it was ad hoc. So, FFC could range as far as he wanted in representing the post-Vito Corleone family adventures. But that range was also a burden since he would have to decide on relevance.

But doesn't part of you want to know what was being planned?

Sure! If I had my wishes, Paramount would cut another GF movie or two based on those outtakes. I wouldn't even need a plot--I'd just like to see the scenes, with commentary from FFC.

Me too TB. I would just like to view the scenes. That would be great.

You think they would have done something like this for the blue ray discs.