The NeverEnding Story

There's a website devoted to The Godfather enthusiasts I found about six years ago. Wait, I take that back. An enthusiast is somebody who appreciates and finds a connection and understanding with the book and subsequent cinematic trilogy. This website is for those Cosa Nostra wannabes who think about The Godfather every waking minute.

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. I was first introduced to the novel when I was about 13 or 14. I was rummaging through my parent's attic when I came across a box of old books. I rifled through the box and pulled the dusty copy out; I sat in the attic and read as far as I could in that one sitting.

I've read the book a dozen times or so since then and have seen the movies countless times. [I won't even bring up the The Godfather III debate.] For a while, I was a member of forementioned website (sporting the screenname "Omerta", thank you) until it became flooded with oft-repeated inane questions. I salt my conversations with Godfather lines (see previous post) and can have a Godfather experience at Schlotzsky's (see previous post from January).

Anyway, in Part II, Pentangeli has a meeting with the Rosato brothers to settle a territorial dispute. The Rosato brothers decide to settle it their way - with a garrote. As it is thrown around Pentangeli's throat, the hitman (played by Danny Aiello) says, "Michael Corleone says 'hello'".

Those four words triggered a veritable cottage-industry for Godfather scholars. Did Michael really order the hit on Frankie Five Angels even thought the brothers were affiliated with Roth, Michael's enemy? Was it an untruth uttered so that Frankie would die thinking he'd been betrayed? What further complicates matters and enriches the plot is that a beat cop unwittingly interrupts the hit, which prompts Pentangeli to testify against Michael at a Senate committee hearing.

Truth is, Aiello's line was unscripted. He thought it would be cool to insert in the dialogue, so he ad-libbed it without consulting Coppola. Come back off the knoll, guys, there's no conspiracy here.

I've just been thinking about unintended consequences. Which is odd since I don't have a real life example to provide. The Pentangeli hit is the best I got. Nothing of consequence has happened lately that was the unintended result of another action. Just thoughts.

That's all.