The Godfather
, the 1972 film directed by renowned filmmaker
Francis Ford Coppola
, is an undisputed classic.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzzo, who adapted the script together with the director.
As expected, it was not a simple task.
The book had 400 pages, and it had to be turned into a film that maintained the limited duration that had been agreed upon with the production company.
The director was forced to negotiate with Paramount Pictures to lengthen it to 175 minutes, which greatly exceeded the initial agreement.
The adaptation became so complicated for Puzzo and Coppola that they had to hire Robert Towne, a third scriptwriter who helped them polish the work they had so far and give greater dynamism to the plot.
Although the three tried to do it in the best possible way, they had to make some decisions in pursuit of the orders of Paramount Pictures.
And, one of them was to cut out several of the scenes they had filmed.
James Caan, Marlon Brando, al Pacino and John Cazale.
Unfortunately, one of those scenes involved Sonny Corleone, the character played by
James Caan
.
It seems that this son of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) did much more than what was shown on screen.
The deleted scene took place at the time when Sonny takes the reins of the family business while "The Godfather" was recovering after being shot five times by hitmen.
For James Caan, what was cut was essential to the plot.
So much so that when he noticed his absence at the first screening, he stood up and left the room.
Like in every family, there were fights
Francis Ford Coppola's films have, in essence, family as their common denominator.
In the exclusive interviews that appear in the Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD versions, the director of
The Godfather
confessed that for him it is very important that the ties between his protagonists look truly genuine.
James Caan, at the screening for the 50th anniversary of "The Godfather."
AFP Photo
To achieve this, he said that he made the main members of the family (Marlon Brando,
Al Pacino
, James Caan, Robert Duvall, John Cazale and Talia Shire) meet repeatedly for dinner at an Italian restaurant in New York so that they would come into contact with each other. character before filming.
With all that preparation, the director managed to make the film into the classic it is today, and it is logical that he ended up filming more material than he needed.
However, the cutting of James Caan's scenes was something the actor could never understand.
Before Caan passed away in July 2022, he spoke to
The Hollywood Reporter
about how this cut affected him.
"When Michael tells me he's going to take care of the cop and Sollozzo, and I'm like, 'You're going to get brains all over your niece's Ivy League suit.' There was a scene earlier, in the same room, where I was with Bobby (Duvall), which was like ten pages, and Francis cut it all out," James said.
In San Francisco, on the anniversary of the premiere of "The Godfather."
Alex Rocco, James Caan, Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, Gianni Russo, Talia Shire and Robert Duvall.
"I was so angry, I couldn't watch the rest of the movie," James recalled.
While he tried to smooth things over at the end of the interview, saying that it was still "a great honor" to be a part of the film, he clearly still harbored some resentment toward the Godfather director
for
the missing material.
Perhaps the anger lingered for so many years because, even when special editions including deleted material were screened, the scene did not appear.
It is speculated, however, that Caan's fury was unleashed not by one scene, but by several.
Apparently there was a lot more footage of Sonny trying to avenge the harsh attack on his father.
Although the scenes that James Caan so regretted were left out have never been screened, it is possible that at some point they will appear in a special anniversary edition.
POS