"Watch out we don’t exterminate you!" Spoken by Richard Castellano's Corleogne capo Peter Clemenza, this jokey line foreshadowed one of The Godfather's many deaths, but it was a line from earlier in the film that set up the most memorable quote from Paulie Gatto's death scene: "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."
While perhaps not as easily applicable in life as "an offer he can't refuse" or "sleeping with the fishes," it's brilliant all the same, and legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola joined ReelBlend to talk his passion project Megalopolis and shine some light on what inspired that dessert-infused line. As it turns out, it came from Castellano himself, but only because of the ally oop that Coppola added to an earlier scene. As he put it:
You know the great line that Clemenza says, 'Leave the gun, take the cannoli.' He made that line up. I did the part where his wife says, 'Don't forget the cannoli,' so they wouldn't have been a cannoli without me. But he said that line. . . . A lot of great things that happen in your films is not because you did it - [laughs] - unfortunately,
Some of the in the funniest TV shows and movies of all time have been ad-libbed on the spot, but it wouldn't outwardly seem like that would also be the case for one of The Godfather's most quotable moments. I guess it helps that it's a funny one. Had he just improvised the line: "Be sure and grab that there dessert after making haste to dispose of your handgun, my friend," that probably wouldn't have made the final cut.
Even as small of a moment as that probably was on the day there were filming it, Coppola's anecdote is a solid example of how one choice can have such a massive effect for decades to come. I can imagine fans constantly asked Richard Castellano to say that line ahead of his 1988 death.
It's the kind of line that's makes Best Movie Quotes lists regularly, and has also inspired myriad variations and, of course, a Family Guy cutaway gag.
It's not clear at this point whether Megalopolis will spawn any repeatable lines with the longevity of "Leave the gun, take the cannoli," but it will almost definitely live in infamy for various other reasons. Time will make those reasons more obvious.
Check out Francis Ford Coppola himself sharing the story with ReelBlend below!
The Godfather will forever be a classic film that deserves rewatching and re-examining for new generations. We happen to think it deserves the top slot amongst all of Francis Ford Coppola's best films, and it's an opinion shared by star Al Pacino, so there's no arguing it, hoo-ahhh.
Megalopolis is currently in theaters around the country, though its box office take is unfortunately nowhere near the reported $160 million spent to make it.
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