Just a quick peek in to express my utter joy that at last, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II will be shown on Turner Classic Movies.

Back-to-back, uncut and commercial free on Sunday August 6th beginning 8pm EST. Part of Robert Duvall day during Summer Under the Stars month on TCM.

As many may guess...there was just nowhere else on earth where this could be appreciated.

Something even the asshole liberals can relate to.

Best,
AppleOnYa

ps - I enjoyed the Marx Bros. last night too, during Groucho Marx day. Summer Under the Stars can be quite fun, long as they happen to be highlighting one of your favorites!!

What, no GFIII?

The libs are really gonna be pissed.

So Apple, where have you been? Were you on vacation this summer?


Don Cardi

Just thought I'd bump this up in case anybody still didn't know about it - or had forgotten.

Signor V.

I'm ready to watch it. YEA!! Uncut and commercial free

I just watched the scene where the Family is eating Chinese food with Rocco (in case Plaw sees this) and Sonny didn't say that Michael was going to come out of the men's room with a stick in his hand!!

Ha ha...of all the "altered/edited" scenes that one has to be the most ridiculous. I would have rather they left the entire Sonny comment out than to have the laughable editing in that scene.

TIS

I can't believe they showed Appolonia's boobs too bad they didn't add deleted scenes

One word of warning about the TCM showing: both films are being shown in the "widescreen" version which, IMO, is a matter of taste. After seeing the films countless times, it is a bit disconcerting to see scenes I know (and love) so well missing part of the top and bottom of the image.

For more information, check out this link:

http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather/widescreen.html

While I am taping TCM's showings tonight, I now think I'll hold on to my worn VHS copies I taped from HBO around twenty (or so) years ago.

Edit: Actually, after looking at the above link, I have to say that there really wasn't any "extra" image at the left and right of my television screen, and the people were in the exact same proportion as on my old VHS tape. The TCM image had much less contrast and brightness, and had a distinctly yellow tinge. So, I guess it must have been the DVD that they used.

Signor V.

Yeah, we love you too.

While watching the abortion scene with Mike and Kay, my TV lost both audio and visual connection at various parts. What worries me is that I'm talking to my friend who's also watching the movie at his house (1st timer - he loves it!), and it also happened to him. I suppose it could be just some sort of local cable problem, but I wonder if it affected others/everyone? For that, I guess it'd have to be something wrong with TCM - is that possible? Anyway, just thought I'd mention it...

The abortion scene played fine on my television - at least the visual part (I had the volume turned way down).

I did notice a little problem in the first film when Hagen first meets Woltz at the studio. There was a few seconds of what I can only describe as a mosaic-like image breakdown, and there may have been a couple of other times where the image seemed to "freeze-frame" for a fraction of a second. Again, this was in the first film. Since I was taping, I really didn't pay absolute attention to every second of both films. I guess I'll find out anything additional when I sit down and actually watch the tape, start to finish.

Another thing I observed: my old tape from HBO had several minutes of intermission music midway through GFII. The film played straight through without a break on TCM.

Signor V.

I'm with you Vitelli, as far as the wide screen version goes. I can see the difference in the picture in the samples you posted, but it's always somewhat of a disappointment when I go to watch a movie and part of the picture is cut off. Like you say, a matter of taste I think.

TIS

Like most of you, I hope I die while watching the GFI. But I have to chime in about what I consider to be the denoument of our Nation's morality. There is no good reason to have shown Apollonia's breasts and for Sonny to say what he did about Micahel's anatomy. The TCM's is, for all practial purposes, a broadcast channel. It was unnecessary. Thos two scenes, if altered, take nothing away from the grandeur of the GF. I'm sure many of you will disagree, so let's hear it!

Thanks for the heads-up, AppleOnYa. I DVRed both of them, and watched them all the way through.

I just cannot watch it when they have commmercials and the language "cleaned up" for television. Especially that "Stick in his hands" thing.

Why would you change art?

For those who prefer the bowdlerized versions - and I am not one of them - there's always AMC.



Signor V.

Right. I'm going to go drive the kids to soccer-practice, and then we can go around destroying copies of Godfather DVDs.

The film was made that way. That Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo's vision of what the film should've been. Why change it? It's been there since 1972, why change it now?

OK, I work in the media and these indecency/obscenity issues that have reared their ugly heads since Janet Jackson are driving me up the wall. But I'll try to keep this short.

First of all, TCM is not at all a broadcast channel. People choose to pay to bring it into their homes. If they feel they cannot handle a split second of breast and an anatomical reference at 9:30pm, they can cancel cable and put the rabbit ears back on the TV.

Secondly, it always struck me as somewhat ironic that the same politicians who play the morality card when Godfather or Schindler's List is aired uncut also generally support policies deny people health care, kill innocent civilians, restrict civil liberties, etc. I guess that stuff is OK, but if a nipple isn't pixellated than the America is suddenly Sodom.

I agree. We Americans are so hung up on nudity that it approaches the absurd. The scene was not explicit in any way. They didn't show the couple rolling around humping. They showed a brief scene of a couple about to make love on their wedding night. The sexual innuendo on an episode of Friends, which was shown at 8:00 pm on regular broadcast television was, IMHO, far more exlicit.