i used to write for a magazine in order to keep up my standard of living during college (i am still in college, just not writing)....so i have a tendency to say that books are generally better than their movie counterpart. you can get more lost in them.
this is a rare exception. it's not because i watched the movie first...because i have watched many movies first and still liked the book better. the movie had more of a classic style to it than the book. the book was far more coarse. puzo is an AMAZING story teller....but i don't think he is particularly an amazing author. i would say, though, that his best written book is the sicilian (though the story in the godfather was the most interesting to me). i would say there was too much information in the book about johnny, nino, and lucy...and yes it was written to show the don's reach....but i thought it had so little to do with the story it wasn't necessary. the book also painted a completely different picture of fredo...and even tom was a bit different. michael's lines in the books if said in the movie would have made it worse. like when sonny is laughing at him after he said he'd kill solozzo.....he said "i've killed japs before" or something to that effect....i was like...thank god that wasn't in the movie. the movie is a better movie than the book was a book....though both are enjoyable and should be experienced.

Jay, there is no reference to Japs in the movie or book, whats said by Sonny to Michael is: "What do you think this is the Army, where you shoot'em a mile away?
You've gotta get up close like this and bada-bing! you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit".

MP makes the contrast between cold blooded murder and wartime combat, even though combat can be an up-close experience at times. The point he makes is clear.

wil.

i beg to differ. the quote i was referring to was from michael to sonny. read that page in the book again. sonny laughs first, then the others laugh (according to the book for a different reason than sonny). the book states the others laughed because they thought sonny was laughing at michael's bravado and so they laughed along. sonny laughed according to puzo because in his words....he knew it was in michael's nature all along and he was waiting for him to drop this war hero, good kid b.s. michael obviously gets mad at the laughing, that's when he makes the allusions to the "japs" he kills....then sonny explains why he actually is laughing. re-read that page in the book...it is a bit different than what happened in the movie. though your quote was right on in accordance with the movie.

Sorry Jay, on page 132 or 133 of the 30th Anniversary Edition of The Godfather, I do not see the word "Japs". Michael responds to Sonny's laughing by saying "Don't you think I can do it, you son of a bitch?"


wil.

if you're right, my fault. i remembered that vividly for some reason, but as you know the book probably as well if not better than myself....i will give you the benefit of the doubt. i'll read that part again...but i'll assume your right. but even the quote you gave....it's something michael never would have said in the movie.

Jay, very true. Michael later asks Sonny if Sollozzo has any mortars, air cover, or heavy artillery, even land mines. All references to his wartime combat experience, perhaps that dialogue is what you remember. Bottom line, wether or not he said "Japs" is no big deal, the contrast between fighting the Japanese and killing Sollozzo is implied. Thanks for the exchange. Take care.


wil.