Last night, while watching The Godfather, I noticed something missing from one of the scenes. I've watched this movie a zillion times and never realized this: At the Don's burial, Fredo is NO where to be found! Now I know that he was in Las Vegas, "learning" the casino business, but c'mon now, his father has died and Fredo is not flown in to his own father's funeral? I find that very hard to beleive. No matter what the circumstances or what was taking place, Vito loved Fredo and Fredo adored Vito. Was this an oversight on Coppola's part? Or did I overlook Fredo in the scene?


Don Cardi

We've discussed this before on the boards and you're right.... Fredo was NOT at the funeral. Its been suggested that he was too distraught to attend the services (although the novel had him attending).

Yes SC, now that you say that, I do remember discussions about this in the past. Sorry for posting the same subject again.


Don Cardi

John Cazale was most likely not available on the day the cemetary scene was filmed.

No big deal in my opinion, at this point Fredo is not the main focus of the story.

Incidentally, in a past thread on this subject somebody (I forget who) claimed that Fredo CAN be seen somewhere near Connie if you look very quickly before they cut away to another shot. I'm not sure how accurate this is as I've never been able to catch a glimpse of him. Not that I tried more than maybe once...not really too important an issue in my opinion.

Apple

I also seem to remember a quick shot of Fredo at the funeral scene.

Thats it, second by second replay of the funeral. I'll let you know my findings.

Don Sonny I did that and I couldn't find him....


Although I did spot Waldo TWICE....that was weird! lol

Bump


don Sonny did you find anything?

Nope,Freddie most definately ISNT there. I freeze framed the entire thing. In the first shot of all the guys lined up to put flowers on the coffin, at quick glance there is a guy who somewhat resembles Fredo, if you're a bit tipsy. But upon a second look its not him.All I found was a guy who looks like Joe Pesci.

Watching and re-watching the funeral scene, I have yet to see Fredo anywhere. However, I still do see the evil ghost lady quite often.

Yes Fredo is there. I post the sighting on the thread in October 2001, when the DVD collection box set came out. I'll have to get it out and later post an update...But Fredo is there next to Connie

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by KayVoy (on 11/4/01):
<strong> Okay you guys, I had to put on disc 5 and play it
again so that I could give you exact info. On disc
5 Behind the Sceen page 2, click on The Godfather
behind the sceens 1971. Fast forward to the part were Mama Corleone is speaking about Marlon Brando's excellent acting ability in the role of
Don Corleone. The Don is dead and at the funeral
you will see a lady throw a red rose on the casket
and if you look closely there sits John Gazale
aka Fredo. Next to him is Connie, then his mother,Michael and Tom. His twin nieces are setting directly behind him,now I don't know how can make this any plainer. Check it out, happy looking.

In any event, this scene wasn't in the final cut.

I'm with Apple on this. I seem to remember reading/hearing something about John Cazale not being available for the shooting of the funeral scene.

KayVoy, that is not the cut used in the final edit of the movie, but I will check it out tonight.
BTW- It is possible for Cazale to have been on the set one time and not the next, because I heard somewhere FFC had shot all day, and was loosing light, and was so frusterated they werent going to give him another shooting day that he was actually crying. Maybe they gave him another day, and Cazale wasnt there that time. Didnt look to me like they were loosing light in the movie.Just a thought

Here's the shot showing Fredo at the funeral.... it was NOT in the movie, though (ie. it was a deleted scene).

Al Pacino was saying that to Chris Nolan in documentary of Insomnia. He was talking about how director sees different views of a set. He mentioned while he was all happy that day and shooting of that scene was over, he saw FFC that was literally crying, sobbing, and asked him what was wrong and he said they don't give him another set for that scene and it was not good enough the way he wanted it.

I went back to the dvd version and could NOT find Fredo. In my mind, I thought he was wearing sun glasses, but I must have been thinking of Neri.

So it looks like more of a minor filming schedule issue, rather than a note to the plot.

It was NEVER a note to the plot.

It was ALWAYS a filming issue.

Of course in real life Fredo would've been present at his own father's funeral (as SC's really COOL still indicates).

But in 'reel' life things just don't always work out that way.



Apple

Damn you SC you beat me to it. You stole all my glory. I found the exact time when you need to hit the pause button and everything
I checked last night and saw him (for a split second)Good eye Kay Voy. Salud

I had always suspected he was mapping things out with the Tahoe assassins.