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This is an old post of mine -- I dragged it out, and dusted it off for this thread. When I worked in New Jersey, I had a long drive to work every day. And I got the idea to copy the audio track of movies onto cassette and listen to the movie while in the car. I began with The Godfather. And while listening to the movie I came across a sequence of events that bothered me.

A Huge Flaw In The Godfather

The Shooting of Don Corleone

Looking at the sequence of events in the movie, this entire section doesn't make sense.. I've seen the movie dozens of times, but maybe I was too busy watching it instead of listening... Here goes...

1. Don Corleone is ready to leave the Genco Pura Olive Oil office. He tells Fredo to tell Paulie (unfortunately and eventually fatally sick) to get the car. Fredo says he doesn't mind and leaves to get the car himself.

2. Luca Brasi walks into a nightclub and meets with Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozo. They give him pre-war scotch, a knife through the hand, and a necktie.

3. Tom Hagen exits a store carrying a sled, finished with Christmas shopping. Sollozo and friends intercept him and kidnap him.

Assuming that the bar that Luca was in was also in Manhattan, that means Sollozo waited for Luca, witnessed his death, waited outside a store in Manhattan for Hagen to exit (and remember, he was Christmas Shopping on Christmas Eve, so there could've been long lines, but that's being too picky!)... But assuming some of that, isn't it reasonable to assume that numbers 2 and 3 above take AT LEAST an hour? OK.. to continue... next scene...

4. Don Corleone exits the Genco Pura Olive Oil building, buys some fruit and then buys some bullets in the street...

Now... Did it take Fredo an hour to find the car?? He's not dumb like people say, he's smart... but an hour to find his car? Don Corleone is a Mob Boss . . .you'd think he'd have a spot in front whenever he wanted!

OK.. next scene...

5. Michael and Kay exit the movie theater and Mike reads the newspaper detailing his father's shooting, and calls home. Nothing happening here, let's move on....

6. Sonny in the house taking phone calls, Sollozo tells Sonny that in about 3 hours Tom will be released AFTER he's heard their proposal...

7. Sollozo talks to Tom and mistakenly tells Tom that the Don is dead... he says they "got him" about an HOUR AFTER they picked Tom up.... Then they let him go and as they do, they find out the Don is still alive...

Conclusions:

If we look at Scenes 2 and 3 above, and assume an hour, and then we add in Sollozo's estimate that they shot Don Vito an hour AFTER they picked up Tom (Scene 3)... does that mean it took Don Vito Corleone TWO HOURS (at least) to get from inside the office to the car?????

BTW -- Not for nothing, but the novel should have been about the War Years, when the Corleones took on the Capones.

Life is too short.

Puzo was a great writer. And they are some great stories surrounding his life. Unfortunately, he'll be remembered for the Godfather, which is not his best work.

But Paulie wasn't sick. Remember, he was "sick" three days that month. Each time he was "sick" he got a phone call from the Tattaglias, apparently abortive hit attempts. That is how Sonny and Clemenza found him out.

I may be wrong, but I think your sequence is not correct.