The Godfather 40th Anniversary Week
Monday, February 27 - Saturday, March 3

http://www.amctv.com/movie-event/the-godfather-40th-anniversary-week

I was watching the GF last night, the scene where Michael et al enter the suite for the meeting with Green and Fontane. Remember the girls at the table? They'd all be about 60 now.

How time flies.

I wish we had TV Listings here....

While watching the GFII flashback scene, I wondered what class of deferment Vito got for Michael since college students were not then deferred.

Also, while both Sonny and Tom reamed Michael for joining the Marines, it was only Fredo who congratulated him. How the worm turns.

My father was rejected for having an undescended testicle. Didn't stop him from having four kids. You could bet that Vito found out what all the deferments were and then picked the mostl believable for Michael.

This movie franchise is just so terrific. I find myself stopping on AMC any time it is on. I always seem to notice something new or another question pops up in my head regarding story line, etc. I agree, MC - Vito used any and every trick/favor/promise he could get to keep those boys out of harm's way!

Expect some exploitation this year. Maybe another special edition of the films. I will probably buy that too.

I'm watching it now; I've watched it each night so far and will the rest of the week. I can't get enough of it. As you say, there are things in it unnoticed before.

Watching also......... while glancing at the DVD trilogy on the shelf below the TV......... What a wonderful world we've discovered!

Also....... cant wait for the 'new fully restored "chronologically ordered" television debut on Saturday!!!..........

When Sonny attacks the photographer, do you think he is FBI or newspaper?

Newspaper. He would never attack an FBI agent, that would be plain stupid.

How would he know? Also, the photographer could be an FBI contractor and not an employee.

I don't think FFC would have made it that complicated. It's evidently shown that these FBI agents weren't shy to show themselves and I think Sonny probably sensed the photographer was not an agent. Also, if he was an agent, he would have shown his badge without hesitation and not acting so afraid.

That's a very good point. If he were an agent, he would have tried to provoke Sonny into hitting him. The Feds were famous for that even back then.

THE SAGA!! Airing all day Saturday, starting at 10AM ET on AMC!

An Offer You Shouldn't Resist - The Godfather Saga in HD on AMC

This is the one that started it all for me! This originally aired on network television in 1977 (?) and I was HOOKED! (Obviously not HD!) While my friends were getting hooked on Star Wars, The Godfather did it for me! I remember seeing the advertisements leading up to the movie and I will never forget the clips of Clemenza who looked a lot like my grandfather.

This is a very strong indication that it will be released on Blu-ray.

I'm not as optimistic. I hope you're right, but they've aired the saga for years without even releasing it on a standard dvd.

Related topic: I still have "The Godfather Epic" on vhs that I purchased in 1983!

When the Corleone house was for sale, the owner said during an interview that their own tapes they made during the production may become part of a 40th anniversary edition of the films.

In any case, now that it's being broadcasted in HD, Blu-ray or not, I will probably get my hands on it anyway.

Yeah, if you have the equipment and the patience, I understand it's not that difficult to convert television broadcasts into your own dvds. I don't have the patience OR the knowhow, but I have a 16 year old son. And that's what teenaged sons are for .

16? By that age he should be able to hack into the AMC vault and download it with his eyes closed with one hand tied behind his back!

Did anyone notice this about the Saga? When Bonasera is telling his tale of woe to Vito, Vito answers by asking him a couple of questions. The first one is "why didn't you come to me first?" Vito's voice sounds quite different from the rest of the film. It sounds like they used a voiceover for Vito's first few lines. What do you think?

I noted that as well. Thought it was just something I'd overlooked before. I'll have to check my recordings of earlier "Saga" edits.

The voice is definitely different here than in most of the televised versions of "The Saga." The others are clearly Brando, but here it sounds like someone imitating Bogart! (I also found the variant voice in the Bravo TV version from 2007.)

What could account for using a different audio track here? Some damage to the original material? Did a stand--in read those lines during filming and somehow it got left in some prints? Fascinating.

After listening to this line over and over, on my DVR recording of the AMC viewing of the "Saga" edit, I AM CONVINCED this is Robert DeNiro doing the voice over!

Listen to it! Since this scene was placed in chronological order, right after the Don returning to Sicily, Copola must have asked DeNiro in 1976 to come in and dub the lines; for a transitional / continuity feel. This dubbed in line is literally a bridge between the younger Don and the old Don. So when the viewer is watching it for the first time (oh how I wish that was me again), he hears this line after seeing and hearing DeNiro play the role, all while Brando has the back of his head to us. He hears DeNiro's voice, so we know its still the Don, but when? Moments later we see an old Don and maybe or maybe not the viewers are not shocked by the change of the actors and/or simply swept up in the transition.

Can there be ANY other logical reason? It is clearly not Brando's voice, why on earth do this??? Copolla's reasoning for this only makes sense watching this in the "Saga" version.

Has anyone ever addressed this? They say that for every foot of screen film, 2-3 feet hit the cutting room floor. I wonder if that footage or a good part of it still exists and if FFC would release it. The extra footage in the Saga is great, but there's got to be much more. If it is, I'd watch a 24 hour Saga. What do you think?

"The Godfather" turns 40
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10011610.html

Could this be the result of sound editors trying to mask the cat's loud purring over Brando's actual voice? Perhaps they did have someone else voice over Brando's lines?

Well, it doesn't happen in the theatrical or tv releases.