Here are my quick notes listening to the GF2 commentary track...

> FFC insisted that GF2 be called "The Godfather, Part II"; the sudio didn't want it. He claims it started the whole "[Movie] Part [#]" trend. Alternately, when it came to GF3, the studio wanted "The Godfather, Part III" but FFC wanted "The Death of Michael Corleone" - the studio won this time
> A fish market in Trieste, Italy, stood in for Ellis Island
> The tag on the Vito child represented FFC's lucky number 7
> The song the boys choir sings at Lake Tahoe is called "Mr Wonderful"
> The Lake Tahoe scenes were filmed at the Kaiser Estate there, interiors and exteriors
> FFC's grandfather, Fransesco Pennini, wrote the opereta Senza Mama
> Neri killed the hooker
> Amerigo Tot, who played Michael's bodyguard in Miami and Cuba, was really a renowned stone sculptor
> The interiors of Young Vito's scenes were shot in LA
> There's an ADT security tag on the Lake Tahoe gate - gotta see if they were around then
> Most of the Senate committee members were business acquantences such as lawyers and industry people
> The proper way to address a Don is using his first name - that is, Don Vito - rather than Don Corleone. FFC said Mario got it wrong, but kept it as it became so familiar
> The questionable "Anthony's friends are your buttonmen!" line that Kay screams isn't written in the subtitles
> Pentangeli is based in part on Valachi
> The whole abortion things was Talia Shire's idea (FFC's sister, who played Connie)
> Michael screams "Bitch!" when he slaps Kay
> The younger Tomassino in GF2 was played by a production manager who FFC thought looked like the actor from GF1, but younger
> FFC's own mother laid in Mama's casket as no one else would, thinking it was bad luck
> Oranges! FFC said it's symbol for death was accidental in the beginning, but did admit they represented "forbodding death". It was also a symbol of Sicily
> FFC really used the Hail Mary to catch fish as a youth, and it worked - he caught "26 fish after saying Hail Mary's when no one else caught anything"
> FFC tells how De Niro is waving the child Michael's hand on the train ride ("wave goodbye") like a pupeteer (see the GF logo)

Interesting stuff...!

JG

Ill have to see Part II soon.

"FFC insisted that GF2 be called "The Godfather, Part II"; the sudio didn't want it. He claims it started the whole "[Movie] Part [#]" trend. Alternately, when it came to GF3, the studio wanted "The Godfather, Part III" but FFC wanted "The Death of Michael Corleone" - the studio won this time"

Wow! Sometimes the studios right!

The "Death" of Michael Corleone would've been a terrible title.

However, The Fall of Michael Corleone might not have been so bad. In any case, after naming Part II the way he did, FFC couldn't have named Part III in any other way. The studio definitely DID make the right decision.

Apple

'The Fall of the House of Corleone'.

That abortion issue was not a good idea. I wonder what FFC was drinking when he decided to listen to Talia? For a person (Kay) who has spent most of parts II and III protecting her children, then on the other hand aborting unborn children isn't being consistant with character.

Yes it is consistent with Kay, if you consider that she was by now disgusted with the whole "Sicilian Thingggggg..."; listen to her "abortion" speech. She had hated this life for years, hated that her son was in danger of being dragged into it, and it makes total sense that the one thing she had the power to do not bring another of Michael's sons into the world. Not that it didn't break her heart to do it...

So I say, good thinking on Talia's part; they were probably trying to figure out a way of getting Kay out of the marriage, and this was the only way Michael would let her go.

Apple

I think the perfect title for Part III would be 'The Tragedy of Michael Corleone'. Part III, I mean, how many successfull Part III's have you seen? Rocky III, Rambo III, Police Academy III, etc... ugh.
nuf said, time to go watch
~FFA~

Return of the Jedi?

[ October 12, 2001: Message edited by: Don Rico ]

Actually a part 6. Part 3 comes out in 2005

"You understand everything!"


anyone want to take bets on the title for Eppy 3? "The Dark Times" is what I thought Eppy 2'd be called. How cr@ppy is "Attack of the clones"????

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

good movie.

"We named the dog 'Indiana'!" (funny b/c the character was named after George Lucas' dog)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

noledge