The Bonus Disc:
In time for the first film’s 50th anniversary, this 4K UHD package combines all three Godfather flicks in one place. This becomes their 4K UHD debut.
For full information on the individual movies, please consult my separate reviews of 1972’s The Godfather, 1974’s The Godfather Part II, and 1990’s The Godfather Part III. Please note that the picture and sound grades found at the top of this article represent an average for the three movies. Please check out the full reviews to get the details.
Though this article covers the boxed set as a whole, I want to concentrate mainly on the package’s supplements platter. Called simply “Bonus Materials”, this disc includes a wealth of Godfather information.
Most significant of these is The Godfather Family: A Look Inside, a documentary about the trilogy. Created to accompany The Godfather Part III, this 1991 program runs one hour, 13 minutes, 29 seconds.
It includes clips from all three films, footage from the various sets, and interview snippets with a mix of participants, most of which appear to have been recorded during the filming of Part III.
Although I find this to be a generally interesting documentary, the focus on Part III makes it less effective. Roughly the first half of the program explores the genesis of the series and discusses Godfather and Part II.
This is where the best material resides. We see parts of Marlon Brando’s original makeup test as Vito Corleone, Pacino’s auditions, and even tryouts for others.
We get to watch De Niro go for the role as Sonny, and both James Caan and Martin Sheet attempt Michael! All of this seems fascinating to see, although it goes by far too quickly.
Additionally, interviews add to the discussion of the first two films, and these provide some good information. Really, most of this material sticks with Godfather, and even then we hear mostly about the casting.
Most of the show’s second half deals with Part III. Occasional tidbits about the other movies crop up, and the program can be rather disjointed as it leapt between eras.
Admittedly, some of the information about Part III feels interesting, and I enjoyed a lot of the shots from the set. A scene in which Garcia really chomps at Mantegna’s ear is terrific.
However, the concentration on Part III seems fairly superficial, and the program comes across like it mainly intended to promote that film. We don’t get a lot of insight into it, and the preponderance of film clips becomes tiresome. Overall, “A Look Inside” has some good moments, but it fails to become a truly engaging and informative piece.
Next we find On Location, a six-minute, 56-second featurette that follows production designer Dean Tavoularis as he revisits the original shooting settings. It’s moderately fun to get an updated look at these locales and to hear about how the areas were changed for the movie.
The program also includes some documentary footage shot for Part II, which adds a nice layer of depth to the piece. It’s too bad more of this material doesn’t make the disc.
Francis Coppola’s Notebook offers a very compelling discussion of the director’s preparation for the first movie, as he took the Mario Puzo novel and extensively annotated it. During this 10-minute, 13-second program, Coppola goes through the notebook and mentions many of his comments.
The piece particularly focuses on the scene in which Michael kills Sollozzo and the police captain, with additional information about the violence aimed at Apollonia and Vito. It’s a terrific little featurette that provides some great information.
Music of The Godfather gives us some notes about the two composers involved in the series. The section about Nino Rota (5:30) comes from an audiotape Coppola made of a January 1972 meeting between the two men.
We hear demo versions of many Godfather themes as well as some remarks from Rota and Coppola during this cool snippet. This becomes one place we can check out the unused “Going to Los Angeles” music discussed during Coppola’s audio commentary for Godfather.
Another area talks about Carmine Coppola. In the three-minute, 17-second piece, we see shots from a November 1990 scoring session conducted by Carmine, and we also hear comments from him and director son Francis. It’s a superficial piece but it becomes mildly interesting.
Coppola and Puzo On Screenwriting offers exactly what the title implied. During this eight-minute, seven-second program, we find more Part III vintage interviews with Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, and they go through issues dealt with for all three movies. It’s a good discussion of the general concerns, and I was very interested to hear Puzo’s idea for Godfather IV.
During Gordon Willis On Cinematography, we get some insight into his photographic techniques for the three films. In addition to his comments - which include an admission that he may have made some parts of Part II too dark - we hear from fellow cinematographers Michael Chapman, Conrad Hall, and William A. Fraker in this three-minute, 45-second featurette. Despite its brevity, I found this to be a very compelling little piece.
Two separate sections provide looks at Storyboards. For The Godfather Part II, we find a stillframe presentation that covered 24 boards, mainly from the scene in which Vito murders Fanucci.
The boards from The Godfather Part III use more of an animatic format, as a narrator describes the filmed action, and some others act out the parts during this four minute, 25 second piece. It’s an interesting way to check out the material, which covers three different scenes but mainly focuses on the break-in at Vincent’s apartment.
Lastly, we get The Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971. This eight-minute, 56-second program offers a puff piece similar to the promotional featurettes that accompany modern films.
However, it does provide short interview snippets with a few performers who usually don’t make the cut. In addition to big names Caan and Pacino, we hear from Al Martino, Morgana King and Richard Castellano.
One cool aspect of the “Behind the Scenes” area: if you let the menus run, you’ll hear what appear to be outtakes from Godfather rehearsals. Click on them more than once, as different snippets pop up at various times. I’ve heard at least four, and there may be more.
The next big area of the disc is the Additional Scenes department. There we find a whopping 34 unused snippets from all three of the movies, though Part III only includes one piece, as its video version features extra footage reintegrated, so there was less to provide here.
The different clips run between 20 seconds and six minutes, 40 seconds for a total of 55 minutes, 37 seconds of material. Each scene starts with a text introduction that tells us a little about the segment and places it within the films’ continuity.
Although the vast majority of the clips are quite short, they’re fascinating to see. Actually, many have already been viewed because they appeared during TV versions of the first two films.
In any case, almost none are crucial material, but considering the stature of the movies, it’s a delight to check them out, and they’re consistently interesting. Very few belonged in the film, but I also believe that almost none of them would have been inappropriate.
Personally, I’d argue that the Godfather II footage that follows Michael’s pursuit of Fabrizio - Apollonia’s killer from the first film - should have made the cut, but I’m very glad they omitted some shots of Kay as she lights candles for Michael’s soul.
Otherwise, I could go either way with the rest of the clips. They clearly weren’t necessary, but they would have been interesting additions nonetheless. I appreciate the inclusion of the text to set up all of the clips, as those notes help add context.
When we move to the Filmmakers department, we encounter decent text biographies for some key participants. There are listings for Francis Coppola, Puzo, Willis, Tavoularis, Rota, and Carmine Coppola.
One nice touch: click on the filmmaker’s name at the top of each screen and you can link to the appropriate featurettes that appear in the “Behind the Scenes” area.
The Corleone Family Tree offers additional fun text material, as we get short biographies for a slew of characters. These radiate out from the main Corleones: Vito, Michael, Sonny, Connie, and Fredo as well as Tom Hagen.
From there we find information about those characters as well as spouses and children. The entries are short but sufficient and interesting. A little sloppiness appears, such as conflicting dates for Carlo’s death, as the main page says 1954, while the full text mentions 1955. Nonetheless, this is a cool little extra.
In addition, the “Family Tree” provides biographies for many of the actors. If you click on their portraits at the top of the pages, you can access text similar to that offered for the filmmakers. Again, these are brief listings, but they add some depth to the proceedings and are a nice touch.
Under Crime Organization Chart, we get something similar. This splits into “Corleone Crime Family” and “Rivals & Associates”.
Under each, we locate many entries for various movie characters. These provide basics about the characters, with most of the details listed under “Rap Sheets”.
This turns into a surprisingly cool extra. I thought it’d be a lame graphic, but it delivers nice synopses of the different participants.
In the “Galleries” area, we find a few sections, and a Photo Gallery that includes 106 stills. These offer a nice mix of publicity shots and behind the scenes images.
In addition, we get a Rogues’ Gallery. An odd choice, this one shows 10 publicity shots of some of the trilogy’s bad guys. The “Photo Gallery” is much more interesting, but I didn’t mind the addition to the other set as well.
More photos show up under Connie and Carlo’s Wedding Album. It delivers 25 photos from the shoot for the first movie. It doesn’t really need to be on its own, but it’s still a decent collection.
We see Trailers for all three of the movies. We get one per film. The clip for The Godfather was surprisingly bad; it provided just a series of stills and offered a slew of spoilers.
The Part II piece came after the Oscars. Actually, it was unclear if this was one long trailer or two; I think it was just one, but it seemed hard to tell.
The Acclaim and Response part of the “Galleries” adds some additional interesting pieces. There we find a listing of some of the Oscars won by the films.
It charts the Best Screenplay and Best Picture victories for The Godfather as well as the Best Director and Best Picture triumphs for II. However, these aren’t just mentioned in text, so if you click on them, you’ll find the appropriate excerpts from the awards ceremony.
It’s too bad the infamous acceptance of Brando’s award by “Sacheen Littlefeather” - an actress who pretended to be a Native American - doesn’t appear, but I think this becomes a very cool touch nonetheless.
In addition, we get a one-minute, 35-second 1974 Network TV Introduction. This preceded the first television showing of The Godfather and showed Coppola at work on Part II as he explained some modifications made to the first film to allow it to appear on network TV.
It’s a fun piece of history that I enjoyed. Lastly, this area adds a traditional text listing of Awards and Nominations.
Godfather World runs 11 minutes, 19 seconds as it presents notes from Mantegna, Coppola, Sopranos creator David Chase, filmmakers William Friedkin, Guillermo del Toro, and Steven Spielberg, film critic Mick LaSalle, South Park co-creator Trey Parker, actors Steven Van Zandt, Richard Belzer, and Alec Baldwin, Take the Cannoli author Sarah Vowell, and The Godfadda Workout creator Seth Isler.
“World” looks at the way the Godfather films permeated pop culture. It boasts some decent insights, but it’s most fun just to see so many movie and TV sequences influenced by the flicks collected all in one place.
For some glimpses behind the scenes, we head to The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t. The 29-minute, 46-second show features Francis Coppola, LaSalle, Friedkin, Spielberg, Belzer, Parker, Chase, Mantegna, Baldwin, del Toro, American Zoetrope co-founders/filmmakers Walter Murch and George Lucas, former Paramount Pictures VP Production Peter Bart, former Paramount production chief Robert Evans, filmmaker Kimberly Peirce, film critic Kenneth Turan, and actor John Turturro.
“Wasn’t” examines the movie culture of the late 1960s and the dismal situation at Paramount Pictures. From there we hear about studio qualms related to the development of Godfather into a feature film, issues at Coppola’s Zoetrope, and all the obstacles that came along the way. We also get info about the movie’s reception and legacy.
Inevitably, “Wasn’t” repeats some information heard elsewhere, as the commentaries and other elements covered a lot of territory. Nonetheless, it gives us some different perspectives along the way. It proves to be another involving piece.
…when the shooting stopped goes for 14 minutes, 18 seconds. It involves Lucas, Coppola, Murch, Spielberg, and co-editor Richard Marks. “stopped” examines editing, score and audio, story issues for Part II, and a few related subjects.
It throws out some good notes, but it lacks much focus. It’s the kind of material that would better fit into a broader examination of the trilogy.
Next comes the 19-minute, five-second Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather. In it, we hear from Coppola, Spielberg, director of photography Gordon Willis, consulting restoration cinematographer Allen Daviau, film archivist Robert A. Harris, Paramount Post Production executive VP Martin Cohen, MPI senior technical advisor Daniel Rosen, MPI scanning technician Chris Gillaspie, senior digital artist Steven A. Sanchez, digital artist Valerie V. McMahon, and MPI technical director and senior colorist Jan Yarbrough.
“Rescue” offers some notes about the original cinematography but it mainly concentrates on the restoration of the films. Like most programs of this one’s ilk, “Rescue” can be rather self-congratulatory, but it includes a decent number of interesting facts as well.
The Godfather On the Red Carpet fills four minutes, three seconds. It solicits the opinions of folks on the Cloverfield entrance line, and they tell us their thoughts about the Godfather flicks.
Why? I don’t know. The featurette lacks much to make it interesting.
Next we go with Four Short Films on The Godfather. These last a total of seven minutes, 20 seconds and include “”GF vs. GF Part II”, “Riffing on the Riffing”, “Cannoli” and “Clemenza”.
These are essentially very short featurettes that discuss the subjects mentioned in their titles. We hear from Turan, LaSalle, Chase, Marks, Vowell, Turturro, Belzer, Isler, and Coppola. They provide some moderately intriguing odds and ends.
Four components appear under “Additional Material”. James Caan Screen Test fills 39 seconds and amuses because Caan does a Brando impersonation.
The Sopranos lasts one minute, 34 seconds and shows Tony and company as they try to watch the Godfather DVD. It offers more entertainment.
Next comes Puzo “For the Money”. It goes a whopping six seconds, as Puzo explains why he wrote the original novel. The joke gets telegraphed in the clip’s title.
The Godfather Around the World occupies 47 seconds and gives us some scenes dubbed into non-English languages. It’s fun but too short.
Finally, Cosa Nostra and Coppola spans one minute, 53 seconds and includes comments from Francis Coppola and George Lucas. We learn a bit about Coppola’s knowledge – or lack thereof – about historical Mafia families. It gives us some decent insights.
While all the aforementioned materials appeared on prior releases, we also find some 4K package exclusives
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“Circle” looks at issues related to the restoration of the films. I find these programs to be a little too self-congratulatory, but this one nonetheless offers some good info about the work involved.
When I gave this package its “bonus” grade, I also considered the supplements found on the movie discs themselves. While the bulk of the materials appeared on the fourth disc, each film included an audio commentary from director Francis Ford Coppola. Overall, these were strong pieces, and please consult the individual film reviews for more information about those tracks.
This “Trilogy” package includes all three of those movies along with ample bonus materials. The movies have never looked better, so this becomes a highly desirable set.
