The Godfather - Italian Restaurant Scene Subtitled & Translated
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
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If you're a fan of The Godfather, you may have wondered: "What were Michael and Sollozzo saying when they were speaking Sicilian in Louis' Italian Restaurant?" Gonna make you a caption you can't refuse... (subtitles). Like and Share
To this day ,I always frisk the person I'm having dinner with AFTER they leave the restroom.
Needless to say, this has ruined a lot of dates.
Chris Baranet VERY funny!
I bet you've frisked a thousand young punks
🤣🤣🤣 Good shit
@@kadafi4lyf 😂😂😂😂
YOU TOO!!!! And here I thought it was only me! 😁
That’s genius that the last thing Sollozzo says is that he wants the war to end... so Mike ends it. For Sollozzo, at least.
Actually, the killing of Sollozzo and McClusky escalated the war.
@@Rockhound6165
r/whooosh
@@Rockhound6165 yes you could easily say that at that point the Corleone and five families war had begun.
It's been said that the fastest way to end a war is to lose it!
First time I watched the movie, it was good. But when I watched it the 2nd time, it was a masterpiece.
I've watched it more than a dozen times and it's still a masterpiece.
There's not another movie on the planet that warrants a second watch more than The Godfather. When I saw it when I was younger , I was trying to follow the plot. After you've seen it, you appreciate the second time so much more. The same goes for Part II. even more so. Part III....no amount of viewings can help that thing
Exactly, you have to watch it at least twice before you can even begin to appreciate it.
It gets better EVERY time you see it. It IS a masterpiece.
You see the video that me brother did
"Gotta go you gotta go." Now there's some famous last words.
Yea famous last words of a fool
@ hahahha thats golden
Via cagare!
Jurassic Park
“Checked him. He’s clean.”
These subtitles are actually wrong. I speak Italian and a bit of Sicilian so I can clearly understand them. Here's what they're actually saying:
S: "I'm sorry about-"
M: "Forget it"
S: "You know what happened between me and your father was just business? I have great respect for your father, but your father is old-fashioned. He doesn't understand that I am a man of honor-"
M: "Don't tell me these things. I know."
S: "You know..? And you understand that I have helped the Tattaglia family. I think we can come to an agreement. I want peace. And we can drop all this crap."
M: "But I want.."
S: "What?"
M: "How do you say..?" What i want- (cut to after Michael exits the bathroom)
S: "You feel better?"
M: "Yes"
S: "Mike, you understand me, don't you? You're Italian, like your father. Your father is sick. When he gets better, we arrange a meeting, and put everything in place. This foolishness must end."
And then bang, bang. Dead.
vasily thank you for your translation. I am a Romance linguist and your translation seems to fit the dialogues very well. Just wondering: they don't speak standard Italian, right? There is a mixture of standard Italian and dialects, and if so, which dialects do they use? I know Sicilian pretty well and their dialogues don't sound like Sicilian to me.
vasily tuo padre pensa antica = your father thinks ancient
vasily It is basically the same thing
It's not strict Sicilian dialect, which is almost unintelligible to most Italians. It's more like regular Italian with a deliberately thick Sicilian accent.
As an Italian who's part Sicilian but doesn't speak the dialect, I never had a problem understanding them, so that figures.
"pensa ALL'antica [maniera]" = thinks the ancient [way]
I know people argue it's better without the subtitles, but I actually disagree. Yes, I can agree with the fact that it highlights Pacino's acting, which is very good. However, what Sollozzo says to Michael really brings a lot of context to this world. The way that people justify things and play games. He doesn't even really feign regret, he plays the victim and might actually see himself in that light.
Seeing the villian try to justify the action of attempting to murder Michael's father, to his face and then just trying to brush it aside and move it along like "business" really shows what kind of person not just he is, but what kind of people run these criminal organizations.
You could say that what he says doesn't really matter but it does. I always got the sense that Michael himself was not sure if he would actually go through with it, but seeing what kind of man Sollozzo is sealed his own fate in a sense.
But even Michael isn't really paying attention to what Sollozzo is saying. Pacino is giving a brilliant portrayal of a man completely in his own head, contemplating a decision that will change his life. After Sollozzo failed to give Michael a guarantee that no more attempts would be made on his father's life, whatever Sollozzo said afterward was irrelevant. It was just Sollozzo trying to bullshit Michael into agreeing to his "deal." As an audience, we don't need to understand Sollozzo's feigned concern for the Corleone's and not wanting violence because we already know it's false. What's important is Michael's decision and the internal struggle he's undergoing in the moment.
That, and he knew S. wasn’t going to stop trying until he was in the ground.
Hence he knew what he needed to do. *It was personal, like always.*
Thank u so much i was always wondering what they were saying in that scene .. Thank u again
Michael is genius ... he waits until the passing train is making the most noise when he shoots, so that the gunshot is "muffled" by the train noise ... anyone outside the restaurant would not hear the gunshot as clearly
Well, that was not by design. He was given specific instructions to "come out shooting", but in the novel it says that while he was in the restroom, he felt that they might be expecting him to come out blazing, so he made a decision to allow them to relax a little more by coming out and sitting back down. When he sits, his eyes start darting back and forth, a sign that he's thinking, he's looking for the right moment. Then he hears the train coming and voilà! He sees his opportunity. This showed good instincts on his part and good last minute decision-making.
I agree
Oscar B
Expression: Voila
Origin: French
Pronunciation: vwa-la
Angel Deville As they say, "Please excuse my French". Corrected! Thanks!
LOL, "good decision-making"... guess you didn't watch the rest of the films. This was Michael's last chance to walk away from self-destruction.
I always admired the work of the actor playing Solazo, guy was great without being over the top. The part where he whinces when Michael says he needs to go to the bathroom says ot all, " what are you up to"?
Thank you for the subtitles. I don't care if it was meaningless. It was nice knowing what they were talking about.
Sterling Hayden (Captain McClusky) was the first choice to play Captain Quint in Jaws. He would have been great but Robert Shaw was also. Fun fact!
interesting !
He wouldn't have been better than Shaw. Nobody else could play Quint.
The way Al Pacino played this whole scene was masterful. He was emoting everything the character of Michael Corleone was thinking and feeling and you saw that in his face and body language. One thing that often gets overlooked is how the train is used to mask the gunshots when Michael starts shooting. And the haphazard and nonchalant way in which he just throws the gun down is like the ultimate “it’s done” gesture. I don’t know how much Francis Ford Coppola directed this performance or if it was all Pacino deciding how to play it but it’s acting genius.
The scene is extremely close to the novel, and the bit about very deliberately throwing down the gun is in the original. Puzo was great--and Coppola/Pacino realize the scene perfectly.
The death train had arrived...All aboard !!!
Good one! There is an elevated train going by that Michael uses to mask the noise from the outside.
It's also the sound of adrenaline before a crime
The Uptown Express, to The Bronx-coming through. Michael, however, is about to take McClosky and Sollozzo, 'Downtown'.
The train screeching through was brilliant 👏.
The actor playing Sollozzo with his gestures made it somewhat understandable for those of us who only speak English..
"padre" we knew he was talking about his father "respecto" pretty obvious and "antique" with the gesture to his head easily deciphered to old fashioned thinking..
Larry Perry you re right, sollozzo speak a bad italian
He is speaking sicilian
Biziness
Al Lettieri played Virgil 'Turk' Sollozzo. An excellent actor, gone too soon, at age 47. He was real good in The Getaway, with Steve McQueen. Also, good in Mr. Majestyk, with Charles Bronson.
If you were born in an Italian family, the first thing you learn are the gestures...
Thanks. I been waiting almost 50 yrs to know what he said.... now l can rest in peace !!
Better late than never.....
Art Robledo yes
A few years back on the MAX cable network they broadcast the GF1, GF2 and the early years of the father in one movie and all the uncut scenes in the director version. With the movie opening with the Father's brother and being laid to rest and everything happening from then on. Small little parts shown to make people more understand the overall the feelings and emotions of each character. I think you can buy that version it was really good.
One of the best scenes in the history of movie making. He left the cannoli. :). Thank you for that.
sunkissed748 what is this joke about the cannolis?
Appreciate you for this translation
I can't wait for the 50th anniversary edition of this classic movie to hit theatres next year.
Never thought of that but yeah, that would be awesome. Plus a new release in the theatres if and when they reopen. What I'd like to see is the whole saga with all the out takes but that would have to be on DVD I suppose.
If we *HAVE* theaters next year. :)
I loved how you amplified the sound of the gunshots at the end. That way, it scares away any pain-in-the-ass innocent bystanders! Lol
He didn't take the Cannoli, he took the Veal that Mcclusky didn't finish! 🤣
I always watched these movies with my dad as a kid. My dad has seen these films probably hundreds of times, so he memorized the translations for every line of dialogue in italian. I fondly remember him interpreting each and every line to me in english as some scenes like this lacked subtitles.
Great way to end this! Very classy and funny. Bravo 😂
What I loved most about this scene is that Sollozzo completely missed Michael's look at 0:54. He should have realized at that point that Michael wanted him dead.
Sollozzo never missed Michael's look. Actually, if Michael didn't show his anger and thirst in his eyes, then Sollozzo would've been more doubtful of Michael. Here, Sollozzo get the idea,by Michael's look,that Michael is really very angry about Sollozzo's deeds,but should not react for the sake of peace.
Sollozzo and the gangsters of his like never considered a war-hero like Michael as 'incompetent'. But they never look him as a 'threat' because they believe a moral civilian like Michael would never get his hands dirty. But Michael proved them wrong
@@ameennasar2583 Don Vito Corleone was especially upset at his youngest son joining the family business- although only to protect it.. he got more involved when his older brother Sonny was killed.
Ha ha! Love the shots at the end. And thank you for the Sollozzo translation
2:54 Solozzo dies in italian
😂
The first time I saw this scene, I was on the edge of my seat.
Thanks so much for this. I thought my movie was glitching out and not showing me subtitles the entire scene 😂
My takeaway from this is that the subtitles weren't needed because Sollozzo's just bullshitting. "Yeah, I put a hit on your dad and all, but whatever, business is business. Let's forget this whole thing and be friends, okay?" Michael switches back to English to indicate that this isn't some little misunderstanding that they can politely sweep under the rug. Sollozzo gets defensive and makes excuses. That's as much as Michael can stand. When he comes back, he doesn't seem to listen to Sollozzo's nonsense at all.
The Italian dialogue is all Sollozzo dancing around the issue with disingenuous pleasantries and Michael humoring him while thinking about the real reason he's there. The English dialogue gives us all the information we need: Michael wants his family safe, Sollozzo can't even apologize properly let alone make any promises, so that's that.
Good point, Solozzo might have only cared about getting his drug business going and Vito was only important to the extent he was being an obstacle, but for Barzini getting rid of Vito was the whole point.
Everything in this play is perfect. A masterpiece.
He's speaking Sicilian. It's close to Italian, which I speak. Ho capito piu' meno, e' molto uguale all'italiano.
As an Italian, I don't understand strict Sicilian dialect, but I never had a problem with this scene. It's basically regular Italian with a heavy Sicilian accent.
At first I thought it was one of the southern dialects/languages, but it really is just Italian with Sicilian accent and nuances.
Jon Cerri Wilkinson I can understand him 100% but his accent is very noticeable, but all the words he said are in Italian.
@@bling-blingmachine6063 You caught the point. Ascuta a mia 😉
I speak some Spanish, so I do catch a few words that are similar.
Thanks for the english translation! I guess for the movie it was all academic as to how things were going to go. But someone mentioned the look in Michael's eyes, to help carry the scene! Good artistic licence!
In the novel, before shooting sollozzo, michael didnt understand a word sollozzo was saying, in the film there were no subtitles, just to put the final moments of the scene into context
In the novel they "speak rapid Sicilian". Michael also speaks directly to Senor Vitelli in the novel rather than having Fabrizio translate
thank you. you are a gentleman
Michael: can you excuse me for a moment? I need to get my shine box
I understand the reasoning in not including subtitles. The point isn't what's said, but the tension Michael feels leading up to the shooting, but the interesting bit I missed was that Michael's Italian is rusty. It's another example of how out-of-touch he is with his family and his people. He spent most of his young adult life distancing himself from it all: Showing disgust in explaining the family business to Kate, joining the Marine Corps, etc. The next time we see him after this scene, he's in Italy; reconnecting with his roots. He leaves the wayward son and returns a Corleone.
Sallazo and Michael’s facial expressions make up for the language barrier. Michael knowing everything he’s being told is complete BS, and Sollazo thinking he’s gotten over on Michael and that he’s so much smarter and has it all figured out
Idea of making negotiation a bloodbath was Mike's idea and he executed it ruthlessly.
If anyones seen the series to the making of this movie. The Director purposely hid the gun a lot higher in the toilet that Al Pachino was told. You’ll notice him reaching everywhere for a few moments, looking for the gun. They did that for a more natural reaction of “fuck where is the gun”
I remember we had a version we taped off of HBO around’79-‘80 that had English subtitles in this scene. Only time I ever saw it until now.
I always wondered what they said. Thanks for posting!
Thanks a Ton.
Yo u funny af for the ending..." Michael took the cannoli"🤣🤣😂😂
I'd like to know what McClusky tried to say when Mike shot him in the throat with the first shot. I think I heard him say the veal is tough.
Ed Crown Funny!
he was asking for a glass of anisette
Lol. But, nah, that veal looked really good. Veal in NYC, esp in a quaint, family owned Italian restaurant, like in the scene, would be amazing. McCluskey, unbeknownst to himself, at least chose his last meal, well. Mangia!
He wasn’t asking anything, he was actually telling Michael he’ll never have the makings of a varsity athlete
Hardee har har har MF,good
Awesome. Thanks for doing this.
Sollozzo says "I'm not that clever" & shortly afterwards Michael proves him right. LOL!
Godfather was an epic movie and i personally loved it..This movie was remade in India by the name Rajneeti with an indian flavour of romance and music...
Yeah it was Sarkar actually
Thank you very much for this subtible. It's been 30 (40?) years I didn't know what they are talking about. All I know is suddenly Michael turn the table and shoots both of them.
He's a damn hot house flower, that one.
Good work Ray, I would like to shed some light on some of the dialog between 0:57 and 1:11, as I am fluent with the Siciliano and Calabrese dialects, as well as the national Italian language.
0:51 - waiter comes to deliver plates [most of the following dialog is a mix of both dialects and proper Italian]…
0:57 - tu hai sapiri, ca eo [Calabrese dialect for the pronoun “I” is ‘eo’. Sicilians say ‘io’], aiutatu la famiglia Tataglia. - You have the know that I have helped the Tataglia family.
1:04 - Io credo che, ci putimu mettere d’accordu. Io voglio pace. - I believe we can reach an agreement. I want peace.
1:11 - e lasciamu perderi tutti sti cazzati! - And let’s drop all this bullshit!
It’s interesting the Sicilian accent. When they say “come se dice” which means how do you say, in say, in Spanish it sounds like:
Como say dee-say
In Italian it sounds like:
Como say dee-chay
It's the same for Italians from the mainland. I heard it a lot from both sets of grandparents. One side is from the mainland & the other is from Sicily.
@@pizzaman5169 and Catalonia, I noticed the lisp sound is really pronounced
@@SuperFosterMom Thats where Salvador Dali was . He spoke Catalan w/ French accent ..
Some may say whatever Sollozo said means nothing. But actually there’s a hint of irony to it.
“You must help me end it.” Famous last words.
“You’ve gotta help me end this.”
“I’m going to end your part in this, Right Now.”
Thank you 🙏🏾
Thanks, always wanted to know what Sollozzo said , now I know.
Arguably the best shooting scene ever!
Clemenza says that the restaurant has one of those old toilets with the chain. Considering it was in 1945/46, you would have thought that was modern.
One of the best scenes ever. The book is amazing too.
Technically, he didn't take no cannoli...
When I first saw this movie, and he didn't "come out blasting" as Clemenza and Sonny advised him, I thought something was gonna go horribly wrong.
He also dropped the gun wrong.
I like the way Michael draws out saying "I understand". In the books, when he suggests he be the one to kill Sollozzo and they kill the cop anyway, he is told not to take it personally, and he comes back at Tom Hagen telling him that it's bullshit, that the reason why Don Corleone is so successful is that he takes EVERYTHING personally. And you see that in the movie. When someone says "Hey, it's just business," that never works. The loyalty of Tom, of Luca Brasi, of Clemenza, and even of Michael despite his initial objections to the crimes, these are all personal loyalties. The undertaker Bonasera is reduced to a quivering wreck because Don Corleone takes his rejection of their association personally. The Don helps the baker as a gesture of friendship, rather than a cold-blooded exchange of services, and as a result, Enzo, the helper & son-in-law risks his life to protect Vito in the hospital. The Don tells Sollozzo that his rejection is just business, not personal, but Sollozzo tries to kill him. Trying to convince Sonny that making a deal with Sollozzo and the Tattaglias is the smart business move does not work. Acquiescing to the demands of the Five Families, because it's a good business deal leads to the Barzinis running roughshod over the Corleones for the rest of the Don's life. But when Vito gets up at the meeting and says he will take it personally if anything happens to Michael, they listen and he comes home safely. Michael recognizes the business logic in Tessio's betrayal at the end, but it doesn't save him, even though he is sincere and believable when he claims it was not personal and that he liked Michael. Going to the Hollywood producer with a business offer does not work, and he in turn wants to do business with the Corleones. The reason their business offer does not work is because he takes Johnny's transgression personally. So the Corleones make it personal by destroying his most valuable and beloved possession. Trying buy out Moe Greene, by claiming it's a purely business decision does not work, and Moe is only put on the defensive when Michael gets testy about how he was treating Fredo.
Above all else, the Dons Corleone are hypocrites, and the catchphrase popularized by this movie, "just business, nothing personal" is one of their biggest hypocrisies.
thx been wondering for along time
Best film ever I have watched it about 29 times x
When Michael asked for Sollozzo to guarantee that there would be no further attemtps on his father's life, Sollozzo diverts instead of providing a guarantee. Back home, Michael, Sonny and Tom most likely discussed a potential truce if Sollozzo offered the guarantee. You can see that the moment he diverts and doesn't provide the guarantee, that is basically when Michael knows that he has to definitely kill Sollozzo.
1:41 Micheal knew he was right about Sollozzo’s intentions right then and there
I like how this video looks like it was published 10 years ago, right down to the slo mo.
One of many scenes in the movie that where powerful. Actions speak louder than words.
Don Corleone was too smart.
He knew that if he made the deal, his nearest allies would become his enemies, and that Solozzo was gonna betray him sooner or later.
The studio was going to replace Coppola but decided not to after seeing the footage from this scene.
Coppola realized this. So he showed them the scene, saving his job and Pacinos
Now a movie is being made about Coppola struggles in making the film
Lmao I do love that little ending "he took the canolil" perfect
Michael's injury on his cheek foreshadowed he would become the next mob leader.....his mouth is literally moving like his dad.
I really like how the book did this scene at first it translates Sollozzo and Michael. After Michael comes back from the bathroom it doesn't because it doesn't matter anymore and it just focuses on Mike's mind and how he's feeling it's great. It's a really great adaptation of the scene and not translating it the entire time is kind of a better choice and having them say the really important lines in english.
I always thought it looked suspect AF when he asked to go to the bathroom at that time.
I thought they would have known something was up
Mcklosky's job, as enforcer, was to follow Michael to the restroom, and not to feed his face.
Many times I have watched The Godfather and everytime there is something new or interesting that you might miss it's just a classic Movie 🎥a Masterclass
Their view of honour is seriously warped.
Yes , at the moment he said what guarantees can i give you ? It was clear he was gonna try again to kill his father , otherwise he d say ok no more attempts
I do think they'd have frisked him again.
Solozzo is an experienced gangster.
He'd have been aware Michael could have a gun hidden somewhere.
I never understood why they didn't have subtitiles in this scene,they did in Sicily.
Never in a million years would Sollozzo have met with Michael just days after trying to kill Vito.
That actor must be a first language speaker. His accent sounds so cool.
McCluskey didn’t even get to finish his veal. It was the best in the city
Solozzo was a great character. What I loved about the first 2 films "not ever mentioning the 3rd" is that anybody could be killed. It made the stakes realistic. Not like your safe generic fake death mcu films
Gabagool? Ova here!!
Shoulda ordered the gabagoo
Well, he ate some of it
Hahahahaha
Read the book. When Sollozo avoided the guarantee, Michael knew Sollozo was going to kill his father no matter what he said that nite. Any doubts he harbored about the hit were erased.
Furthermore, he made a tactical decision to return from the bathroom and sit rather than come out shooting as Clemenza had instructed. He reasoned the two might be looking for him to come out shooting and sitting down would make them relax.
I've never read the book. Thank you for that insight.
The screeching elevated train noise as it reaches the station near by while Michael's adrenaline is pumping hard -- He used the train noise to mask the gunshots or was it Coppola cinematic genius to explain the concurrence of on coming train to reach crescendo as Michael blasts away?
@@RoodJood I believe the train noise was a coincidence Mike wasn't really planning for it to mask the noise. Remember Clemenza said he left the gun noisy to scare off any innocent bystanders.
I dont think Michael needed any more reason to kill them.
He went there with the decision already taken.
Michael is conflicted because he feels that once he crosses that line, there is no turning back, he is becoming something else, something worse.
And he is right.
I think the movie hinted that perfectly. When Michael said he wanted a guarantee, and Sollozzo said "what guarantees can I give you? I'm the hunted one", Michael's facial expression sold it completely. He was going to kill Sollozzo.
And you could see from from Michael's facial expression when he came from the toilet that he was deciding whether to shoot them there, or do it at another opportunity. Al Pacino's acting and the camera work in this scene was superb.
I love how the train is used to build the tension in the scene right when he shoots
I agree with you 100%. The train background noise built up so much tension! 🙈🙉🙊
it also covers up the sound of the gunshots for anyone outside the restaurant
he definitely used the train to conceal the gunshots and the train arrived at an opportune moment in the scene
I read an interview with Coppola about the train sound. He said that, in actuality, there was no train. The screeching train sound was a metaphor for Michael's entire life going off the rails. Before the shooting he was a student at Dartmouth. After the shooting he was a gangster. In the movie, you will also notice that the second Michael fires the first shot, the train noise stops.
@@LoudounDemocrat
Seriously..."Dartmouth"? That's in New Hampshire. I thought he would want to stay closer to New York than that.
It's gotta be well over 200 miles, and as far away from home as he was during the war it seems like he'd want to re-enroll at Fordham.
Not that it wouldn't be awesome to go there... (it's my favorite of the Iveys)
When Sollozzo said he was not that clever, Michael proved him right.
Hmm...true
@Torino Herrera.... 'You give me too much credit Mike... I'm the hunted one.... for example you're about to kill me in a few moments Mike'
Mike knew he was lying. In the car mike said to sollozo "I dont want my father bothered anymore" to which Sollozo said "he wont be". Then at the table Sollozo says "what guarantees can I give". He knew he couldnt work anything out with him. He had to come out blasting.
Sollozzo's entire tack in the scene is kind of stupid. He reached out to Michael basically to get one of Vito's sons to advocate peace with him. And he chose Michael on the idea that Michael would have more influence.
See the cognitive dissonance? He chooses Michael because he thinks, Michael being an outsider, would not want vengeance on Sollozzo. But at the same time, he thinks Michael's counsel would call off any attempt on Sollozzo's life.
Either Sollozzo was a really lousy gangster who was gonna get himself killed sooner or later. Or more plausibly, he was so aware that the Corleones were gonna get to him soon that this was a ploy out of desperation. Either way, Sollozzo was dead the moment he tried to kill Boss Corleone.
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool." Shakespeare
i've always felt that the scene was much more powerful NOT understanding what they're saying. it removes the focus from what sollozo wants and forces you to square in on mike, his anxiety and his anger.
Precisely. The whole scene was about body language rather than vocal language.
I get the same vibe from watching operas in foreign languages.
Joey Clemenza Absolutely spot on, I heard somewhere that that actually WAS the intention of the dialogue. It was telling the audience that the words were insignificant and meant very little to Michael in that stressful moment
Joey Clemenza Exactly--you could figure out about what they were saying, but the best acting in this scene is in the facial expressions, eye contact & body language. Hey Joey, you know any good espots on the West Side? Think about it while you're drivin', huh?
Brinson Harris The studio didn't want Pacino for the part but Francis ford Coppola wanted the part for Pacino so he shot this scene before everything else to show the studio big shots Pacino's talent. And they become satisfied when they saw this and never question him.
You can tell Pacino does not speak Italian in real life but the actor who played Solozzzo spoke it fluently. Even Michael went back to English showing he is an American who only knows a little Italian. Even in Sicily he had people translating for him.
It ain't Italian they're speaking. It's some dialect of southern Italy.
Sicilian is it's own language, not a dialect
Al Lettieri
Coppola used subtitles when Luca Brasi met Bruno Tattaglia & Sollozzo. Why not here? I believe it’s to show Michael is a new breed of mafioso, completely American (a decorated veteran!) untethered from old Sicilian ways. All the rest find themselves at his Americanized ruthlessness in the end.
@Justified Freely The language Scots (old English) is different to British English lol
The acting is so good you can understand the interaction perfectly without knowing the words.
Exactly
For me, it's all in Al Pacino's eyes.
@EastEndery No you.
Why didn't you subtitle Sollozzo?...
- Because we don't all speak Italian. But we all speak 'bullshit.'
He didn't die. We saw him in some other movies!!!!
The actor who played Sollozzo was fabulous. Very realistic look, attitude & talk.
I agree! Brando, Pacino et al. still get heaps of praise, but this guy played his role perfectly in every scene he was in.
His name is Al Lettieri. Having close relatives in the Genovese crime family surely helped him get into character.
Lettieri died of a heart attack in 1975, aged 47, in New York City.
@@gl3605He was a top notch actor on the verge of being the top bad guy in the movies.
It doesn't matter. Nothing Sollozzo said was going to change the outcome of this meeting. That's one big reason for no subtitles, the conversation is meaningless.
I agree with the artistic reason, but it's nice to hear out what was said after the fact.
Blake Harris But the tone of the voices, the body language...
@Blake Agreed/upvoted. You might as well listen to the train screeching in the background, time it just right, aaaand ACTION
the godfather and Godfather 2 are both masterpieces there is no filler anywhere
Curiousity
I remember as a kid watching this with my Sicilian father and having him tell me what Solozzo was saying. Best movie ever made.
i bet u 2 felt like gangs, badass memory
Michael king of treachery treachery within treachery@@Enlazador9
I have a question - so, they ARE speaking Sicilian? It makes sense that they would be, but my ear is very bad - half the time here in NYC I think people speaking Spanish are speaking Italian. This is a serious question for something I'm writing, I really appreciate your answer. Thank you.
@@tomangelo5939 My father grew up speaking Sicilian (his parents were both from Messina and only spoke Sicilian), so I always assumed it was. My father didn’t speak Italian very well but was fluent in Sicilian. I never asked which one it was they were speaking to be honest. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
My grandfather is Sicilian too. I'm 3rd gen. He didnt like the movie when it first came out because it made Sicilians look like murderous gangsters (which he later said was "almost" true) . Took him well into the late 80's before he passed away to watch it. The irony here is that Lucky Luciano aka Lucana is a direct relative of ours.
Knowing what Sollozo is saying makes it apparent how much smarter than Michael he thought he was. It was a costly mistake. Even Sonny, Tessio and Clemenza underestimated Mike as the soft college boy of the family without realizing that as a Marine in the Pacific, he most likely killed more men at close range than all of them put together.
But sunny says to Michael: 'this ain't the army where you shoot from far away, you gotta go right up their face and blam'
Perhaps he went hand-to-hand with the enemy? *Close enough to get messy?* Or maybe he shot them up close, to the cheers of “Tenno Heiko Banzai!” (Sp?)
This sort of thing was not unheard of (in the pacific theater) when dealing with an enemy who was deep into edged weapons.
@@jajabinx35 yes, it showed Sonny’s ignorance of what the fighting was like in the war. The Imperial Japanese Army used human wave charges in which hundreds of men would keep throwing themselves at the American Marines. Oftentimes it came down to shooting men up close as they neared your position or even running them through with a bayonet. Michael had Silver Star and Navy Cross medals which are usually given for gallantry during action against the enemy and a Purple Heart which is given for being wounded in combat. By that point Michael has probably seen death up close and had more blood on his uniform than the other men.
@@mattpope1746 Michael was awarded a Silver Star. He did not get that by shooting the enemy from "a mile away". He would have had to get as close to the enemy as Sonny describes.
@@KeithSeiwell I believe Michael had a Navy Cross, Just short of a MOH.
Coppola was so smart in using the train noise as the soundtrack of Michael heightened sense of anxiety, better than any music. When you are under pressure you notice things you otherwise would not care about. The loudness of the passing train was sublime film making
Al Letteiri was epic in these scenes as Sollazo. He epitomised the quintessential Italian mobster like no other character in the film. Should have had an Oscar for his role.
If there were Oscars awarded to everyone that deserved one... _according to UA-cam experts_ .... then the Academy Awards show would last for 3 days and nights.
Too bad he died a few years later. RIP
Sono d'accordo,Al Lettieri l'avrebbe dovuto avere l'oscar perché ha interpretato il mafioso alla perfezione,purtroppo ci ha lasciati troppo presto rip goodbye Al.
Francis Ford Coppola has said that the film wouldn't have worked like it did without Lettieri's stellar performance. Pacino has said similar things. If you watch all of Lettieri's other films, he was actually cast against type in this one. All his other roles are of loud, violent, belligerent criminals.
Like all great films, every role was amazing
The ten seconds leading up to Michael shooting Sollozzo, he's thinking: "This SOB tried to kill my father." "What if the cop shoots me after I shoot Sollozzo?" "What if the gun jams?" "What will happen to my family if I die tonight?" "Why didn't I order the antipasti? It looked good and I'm starving."
That's best acting I hv ever seen. Face says it all
@Jack... This is where Michael erred a little.As he was coming back from the bathroom he had the advantage of Sollozzo's back being turned to him.Granted,McCluskey could still get a view of him but all Michael had to do was not pause like he did.. but merely just walk up aim a metre or 2 from Sollozzo's head and 1 bullet would've been enough.Then turn to the cop and do the same... Just one to the brain.
nb: Clemenza gave him explicit instructions to give them both '2 shots in the head a piece'... He gave 1 to Sollozzo in the head.. and then fired a shot at the cop to throat.. and then the head.It wasn't clinical,and per instructions... but eventually he got the job done.
What I've never bought was Tessio saying that they could "tape the gun behind the toilet" A toilet tank is going to be pretty moist from condensation and what kind of tape existed in 1947 that would stick to it? Duct tape and packing tape didn't exist. I would think a hook made from a coat hanger would work better. Trivial I know but what the hell.
@GamerKat'71 I did not know that. Thanks!
Revolvers don’t jam.
Once when I was a kid, we had the family over for a spaghetti dinner. I got up to go to my room real quick, and I grabbed a toy gun i had that used those cap rings that made a loud bang. When I came back to the dining room, I started shooting my toy cap pistol while everyone was still eating. Nobody knew what the heck I was doing, but my mother and brother did because they were fans of the film as I was, and bless their hearts, they played along by pretending to be dead, with me dropping my toy gun to the floor as I walked out. Most of the family there had a puzzled look on their faces, but thank God for my mother and brother's warped sense of humor. We laughed so much the rest of that evening 😂
The Funniest Reenactment story to one of the best scenes of the Godfather trilogy. Kudos to you man.
How many people were at that table, and most importantly, how many of them did u scare the shit out of when that POP went off during a nice dinner 🤣?
I know I woulda jumped from that sudden, very unexpected LOUDNESS LOL
@@masterrserch3971 Toy cap guns are as loud as popping the cork off a champagne bottle.
Did you hide in your hometown after that?
Good times when kids had toy guns and pretend to murder their family
When Godfather casting was being done everyone was against Al Pacino playing Michael except Coppola. It was after this scene that Al shut all mouths!
@Randy White That's right. Marlon knew talent, if Robert Evans didn't. Not right away, anyway. But, it was Coppola's support, that was key. He didn't back down to Paramount. He stood up and insisted on both Brando and Pacino. The one the studio was most against, was Pacino. Fortunately, Coppola and Al prevailed and, of course, he and Brando were brilliant. The entire cast was brilliant. Love this scene. Lettieri and Hayden are amazing, as well as Pacino. What a great moment in film.
Yeah, just imagine Ryan O'Neil as Michael (the original actor the director wanted to cast for the part). I hate Ryan O'Neil.
@Randy White Director, studio, who cares, the point is the people in control wanted some asshole shitheel to play Michael.
@Randy White Oh FFS, could they have found three guys who looked and acted less Italian than those three? Then again James Caan is Jewish-German but at least he has the attitude.
kritika nautiyal Can you imagine O’Neal, Redford or Beatty ad Michael? Hahahaha - what an awful, miscast movie it would have been with no Part 2, which was brilliant❣️
It took a long time to shoot this scene because Pacino had trouble speaking Italian ,Sicilian the cop Sterling Hayden was tired off eating spaghetti
Mack Reed 😂😂
He should’ve used a spit bucket
Sterling Hayden may have understood a lot of Italian. He was an OSS agent in Europe during World War Two. I do not recall his given name but he was as legit a tough guy as any. Operating in occupied territory takes serious courage.
Well that's what he gets for breaking Mikes jaw.☺
Chuck Johannessen My father spoke seven European languages fluently. Also was an engineer and worked with the OSS. I wonder if they knew each other.
I really enjoy the accurate portrayal of Michael as a heritage speaker of Italian in this scene- his Italian gets better when he goes to Sicily too which seems pretty accurate
Both speak Sicilian, which is rather different from Italian
both in vocabulary and grammar.
@@AudieHolland apparently Pacinos grandparents were from Palermo
@@derekbowyer236 His maternal grandparents are from Palermo while his father was an immigrant from Salt Frattelo
My grandfather spoke English very well but would almost immediately slip right back to Low German when they were overseas visiting relatives as he had often done with his family
He likened it to riding a bicycle in that once around those who spoke the dialect, he’d vividly remember no matter how much time had passed
If ten speakers of Sicilian were asked to translate the dialogue, you will get ten different opinions.
I doubt it. It's a latin based language. I don't know any Sicilian but there are key words that translate easily because of their specific latin origins. As another posted just below, the choice of such specific, familiar words and context of why they're meeting also helps.
billybob lillybob your a poop head
Let me tell you guys. The translation is completely wrong.
@@ronanodonnell7145 Don't make me make you an offer you can't refuse...
Maybe not, i speak Spanish, well not too fluently but i understood what they were saying because scillian and spanish share alot of words plus i dramatically followed the plots of this masterpiece leading up to this infamous and most favorite scenes of all time for all, not so hard to understand DUH!