What are your 1-3 greatest scenes from the trilogy

What's your pick of the 1-3 greatest (whatever your definition of that is) film scenes from the 3 Godfather films and please separately say why, for each fave scene named.

Where to begin?

1. The entire Connie's wedding sequence, because it superbly sets out the Corleones as a family, not just as a mob, at the same time establishing some of the range of Vito's power. It is, also, an absolutely authentic period piece.

2. The entire Havana sequence from II. FFC at the peak of his obsession with authenticity (professors of Cuban history urge their students to view it to get a feel for what Havana was like on the eve of Castro's overthrow). Also, a complex, tense, dramatic denouement of the Michael/Roth struggle--by the time of their last meeting, each knew that the other knew what was up--and they continued to hang tough: Michael to find out who the traitor was, Roth for his $2 million. Roth's soliloquey richly earned Strassberg his Oscar.

3. Fredo and Michael in the boathouse. John Cazale, a brilliant actor, was constrained by the "dumb Fredo" character in GF and II. Here he lets go with all of the pent-up frustration and rage that led him to betray his brother. A great, charged performance.

1) Sonny's murder as he coughs and chokes on his own blood and then finally gets out of the car only to be almost cut in half and die screaming. It was a very brutal scene, made more so by its abruptness and finality. Sonny did a lot of things wrong but it was always kinda poignant to me that he died on his way to try to protect his sister.

2) Michael's murders of Sollozzo and McCluskey when he literally can't hear anything that Sollozzo is saying. It's almost as if he's taking one last chance to still be a "civilian" and then it's all over.

3) The garden conversation between Michael and Vito in which Vito tries to find the words to apologize to Michael and Michael graciously refuses the apology. In its own way I thought that was a pretty good father-son moment. Vito probably didn't want Michael to be what he became but it was also obvious that Vito always thought Michael was the one.

If I had to pick one scene from each film, they would be the following:

1. The garden scene between Michael and Vito.

2. The boathouse scene between Michael and Fredo.

3. When Michael kneels at Don Tomassino's coffin. "Why were you so loved?"

For me, it's

In GF I, Neri closing the door on Kay at the end

In GF II, the flashback scene at the end

In GF III, the silent scream

1) When Michael “renounces” his sins in the church and at the same time his hitmen are killing everybody. In my opinion, a very powerful scene which shows well the mafia’s hypocrisy.

2) When Vito’s mother grabs that [censored] mafia godfather who wanted to kill Vito and points a gun at him to allow Vito to flee. I am impressed by this scene because it’s not easy for somebody who lived her whole life in a mafia-controlled territory to rebel against mafia rules, even for love towards family members.

3) When we discover Pentangeli is still alive.

1) The restaurant scene. It's my favourite performance of Al Pacino. It's intense as if we're inside his head. We feel his fear. Even more. we feel all kinds of fear: The nervousness before he goes to the bathroom, the empty terror when he doesn't find the gun first, the heart pounding inability to listen before he starts shooting. It's an extraordinary mix of strength and vulnerability. And we don't need to understand Sicilian to get a feel for the danger of Sollozzo.

2) The "a hundred button men on the street"-scene when they decide to kill Sollozzo. All the actors give their best at the same time.
- Sonny's temper going up and down all the time. Within a few seconds Caan delivers a range of extreme emotions: Sarcasm, pride, anger, indeciciveness, frustration. He seems to have to touch and slap everybody all the time. And of course the badda-beep and badda-bing improv are great
- Tom makes it clear how close and still different he and Sonny are. And for the first (and maybe only) time we see him getting really angry. His physical acting when he's explaining Sonny the situation ("payroll", "outcasts", "for cover") is brilliant.
- Just by sitting quiet in the armchair and making a decision, Michael makes it clear (for us) who the real new Don is.

3) The first scene. Marlon Brando shows us what all the film is about. The best high status performance I've ever seen. Everything's right: The camera, the performance of the other three actors, the improv with the cat, the darkness.

(From GF2 I love best the last scene when we see Michael alone. He has always tried to protect his family. By doing so he lost everything, he's finally become a monster. And he doesn't know why.)

1) The opening sequence of I. Nothing has ever "set up" an entire film the way this expository set of scenes did.

2) Roth's speech about Moe Green.

3)Clemenza teaching Michael how to shoot.

1) The whacking scene in the field with Clemenza..."Leave the gun...take the cannolis."

2) In GF II, when Vito takes out Don Fannucci, how he carefully unscrews the light bulb. That scene always chills me to the bone.

3) The meeting of the heads of the families in GF I. You can just feel the power and tension in the room.

^^^^ Sorry off topic, but I LOVE your user name and profile pic. I think it's so cute and clever!

Why thank you, Carmela!
I ripped it off from an old Mad TV skit. You can look
It up on YouTube. It's hilarious

There's actually 2 skits....one is called
"Raging Rudolph" and other is
"The Reinfather".

1) Scene in the GFII boathouse when Michael tells Fredo "your nothing to me now, not a brother, not a friend, I don't want to know you or anything you do".

2. Vito's revenge killing of Don Ciccio. I thought it was just an awesome scene.

3. Scene in Godfather 3 when Michael says the infamous line "just when I thought I was out they pull me back in"

1) The build up to young Vito killing Fanucci in Part 2

2)Michael's silent scream in Part 3

3) Michael and Kay's showdown in Part 2(it was an abortion Michael)

Too many great scenes in this trilogy and this list would probably change from day to day..

3) sonnys death
2) baptism scene
1) the scene in part 2 where Michael pretends to forgive fredo

1) Favorite scene is opening of 1 - Brando, bonasera and camera work is brilliant

2) Restaraunt scene with the Turk - still get nervous while watching

3) Michael talking bluntly to Connie and not acknowledging Merle is in the room - (Why don't you go to a travel agent?)

At the opera stairs. A lot of the scenes in this trilogy basically requires some sort of an explanation sometimes to get its real brilliance. This one does not demand any sort of complicated thinking or intelligence. Just that alone away from the whole point of it, contrasting with the other parts brilliance makes this masterly scene even greater! This scene is just the greatest I have ever seen. It's not just one of the very best scenes from a movie, but the feel it delivers when are watching it if you know the character of Michael. This and the following scene are basically the only ones that I really like of this film. - Part III.

At the back at the garden with the Godfather and the son.
- Part I.

Michael at the hospital. But specially when he finds him, and when he wakes up! - Part I.

I really do like this father & son thing The Godfather has.

There my favorite scenes of the films aswell

1) The scene where Kay tells Michael that she had an abortion. This is, imo, the single best performance Pacino ever gave.

2) The scene where Michael hears Fredo's slip up in the Cuban sex club and realizes Fredo was the traitor in his family. Another brilliantly acted scene by Pacino. You can actually see the life drain out of him as the realization dawns on him.

3) The scene where Michael is about to kill Sollozo in the restaurant. The way the scene builds is amazing.