guys, i just watched the bonus dvd this weekend. i rented just the bonus dvd (which i didn't think possible). anyway, a couple scenes i can understand why they'd cut it....but a few of them...i was like....what the hell were they thinking!!!!!!!
i thought the whole sonny's reaction thing....when he gets the call at his place his father has been shot, tells his mom, calls luca....important information. also, under "michael gets involved"....ridiculous. why did they cut that....when he says "he's my father too" and "it can't be clemenza" or something like that. fannuci's attack needed to be in there, because that scene made me understand why he killed fannuci more easily.
basically there were a lot of scenes that should be have been in there. ridiculous. i actually liked the alternate beginning to godfather three better than the actual beginning. that's just me, though....reminded me just of godfather part I....which was neat.
oh, why did they cut the scene where he says it's okay for his niece to get married...that was a good scene. or genco's death, or fabrizio's. ridiculous. anywhoo...i've ranted now. i guess the godfather dvd collection is a must.

It would be great if they would have reinserted those scenes in the DVD, and made it available to watch with or without them.

I've thought the exact same thing.

I LOVED the part in "Michael gets involved" where he utters "not Clemenza...! I don't believe it..." Pacino shows such a sense of panic and disbelief, it's really incredible.

I also liked the scene with Neri and Klingman, the scene with Franchesca and Gardner, the ones with Sonny following Vito's shooting, and the one in which young Vito kills Don Ciccio's henchmen who tried to kill him. All of them are really incredibly well done, and should have stayed in the movies, in my opinion.

Nice Guy Eddie says it all, it would not surprise me if such a release will come within a few years


"We can't make a six hour movie"

I think most movies have material on the cutting room floor. Any movie that is long takes a chance on losing it's audience. I happen to agree that a 4 hour long Godfather is fine and dandy, but most movie goers won't sit that long, and then you can't sell tickets.

I remember that the movie Cleopatra had something like 11 hours of footage before they even started telling the story, so tons of film was left on the cutting room floor. Also, some movies have story changes such that scenes are deleted. It is rare that a storyboard is made before filming starts, and the storyboard is adhered to. In such a production, there would be no deleted scenes, only takes of the same scene that were discarded for a different take due to bloopers or director's preference.

Jay, all of the deleted scenes that have surfaced are wonderful, and every one of them enhance the Trilogy. You can understand why they were cut from the theatrical releases (FFC had already made films that were far longer than the usual Hollywood productions), but still--these were great scenes, every one of them!
The version of the "Saga" often shown on TV, spliced chronologically, includes the deleted scenes in the right sequence. That version is the best, IMO. I bet, down the road, there'll be a DVD version.

Had we never known about these deleted scenes, we would have and do love the movie just as it was released, and never question the director's decision. Now that we've seen them, we wonder why they were not in the original. Just consider it a true bonus to the DVD.

For what it's worth, I'm with TB, I really do like the chornological version the best, and if they do come out with a Chronological DVD, I definitely would get it. I think they show that version least on tv than any other

TIS

I loev the chronological order version, with the deleted scenes at all, but I think the Cuban sequences and overall plot of Part II lose their effect without the inter-cutting with the Young Vito scenes.

Mick

As long as we're doing a "wish list," I wish another feature of the DVD would be to select between watching it in chronological order or the released version, with the deleted scenes included.