Restored Isolated Score: The Godfather

[Holko 9,526]

I've thought about doing this since I saw the film and the LLL tracklist with the tons of little stars marking unused material. The film drops multiple cues, some motifs entirely, removes clarinet solo sections, and switches usages of the Corleone and Michael themes around - overall, I can't say I disagree with most of the choices they made, even heavily agree with some exclusions, even if I like the cues they pretty much all make the film better with more dramatic weight or contemplative silence.

 

 

Main Title sets up the Corleone theme.
Corleone Waltz #1 continues with it as a piece of source music finishing the lengthy wedding sequence.
Hollywood A and B are unused in the film, but they'd have set up what I call the "travel theme" in these montages.
The Horse's Head is partially unused (opening was tracked over), it would have consistently (to me almost playfully) ominously scored the sequence of zooms.

 

 

 

Solozzo the Turk's opening is unused (it's dialed in when Vito asks about his prison record), so the film loses this nice clarinet introduction to the theme for the mafia politics.
Luca Brasi is a slow partial variation on the Corleone theme.
Christmas and Prelude to Murder are completely unused, the former's opening is partly replaced by a Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas needledrop. The cues alternate between 2 different Christmas motifs and the Politics motif for the cutaways to Luca Brasi. I can 100% agree with the decision to drop these, even if they're fun, regardless of the ominous Politics motif inclusions, their soundscape is completely alien to the rest of the score and seriously undercuts the tension and weight of the scenes.
The Aftermath is a short clarinet and mandolin Corleone lament for Vito.
Bad News starts with shocked Corleone fragments, then introduces Michael's theme as he rushes to the phone to get news, closing Kay out. The film only uses the first Corleone bits, and places them later, when Michael starts running for the phone - but I think this is a better placement for the entire cue.
Bad Luck starts with the tension motif, and changes to Michael's theme as he arrives. IMO the film starts it a bit later than it should.
Sicilian Message is a short reprise of Politics.
Meditation is a short unused bit of Michael's theme.

 

 

The Halls of Fear is based around the Tension theme and Michael's theme. The film only uses the first 2/3rds (dialed out before the brass Michael reprise) and a different mix.
Michael's Decision starts with the Corleone theme for him comforting Vito, then the Politics theme comes in as he takes charge. The film dials out the first half of the Corleone material and replaces Politics with tracked Tension material.
The Waiting Game starts with Politics again and transitions to a comforting Michael to seemingly resolve the scene until the cops arrive for more Politics. The film continues the Tension tracking from the previous cue over the Politics part of this one, but switches back for Michael.
Armed and Ready starts with a very different Politics segment and transitions to the latter, less often used part of the Corleone theme. The film replaces this Corleone bit with a part of Set the Meeting.
Set the Meeting is an ominous progression of Corleone, not used here as intended for this push in on Michael as he starts becoming the leader of the family.
Michael Takes Over is a slow sad Corleone for his temporary goodbye, not used here (though the tracklist indicates it is fully used so it might be tracked somewhere), the film instead tracks a Michael statement here.
The Pickup is a completely unused maybe too fun exploration of the Politics and Travel themes, for the very opening the film uses a short Tension part, otherwise it plays musicless.
The Getaway is a short brass cry of Michael's theme.

 

 

Sicilian Pastorale features a new, stuffy, hot, almost middle eastern one-off theme on clarinet, which is unused in the movie - the transition is scored by a tracked Love Theme statement, the score only enters when the Love Theme is first introduced as composed.
Love Theme From The Godfather is a wonderful orchestral exploration of the love theme for Michael and Apollonia's courtship.
Corleone's Waltz #2 is unused - my best guess is that it could have been planned to be used here at the wedding to tie Michael to Vito at the beginning (also waltzing at the previous wedding to Corleone Waltz #1), but ultimately it was replaced with Sicilian source music.
Apollonia - A guitar, mandolin and accordion rendition of the love theme.

 

 

Sonny's Dead is comprised of mournful Corleone fragments - the film dials it out when Vito takes the glass.
Reunion scores Vito's simultaneous threats and peace declaration with Corleone, the discussion in the car with Tension, and Michael's return with his theme. The film starts the cue at the end of the Tension bit, dials everything else out.
Marry Me, Kay tries its best to put the melancholy Michael material into a gentle and loving form.
Las Vegas Strip sees the return of the Travel motif, in a similar but more subdued rendition as in the Hollywoods. Completely unused, meaning this entire theme appearing in 4 cues is missing from the film entirely.
Too Little Time, for Vito's last words of guidance to Michael, starts with pained violin then transitions into quite a straight Corleone.

 

 

The Baptism is a lengthy organ variation on Corleone, intensifying in mood together with the picture. Completely unused, replaced with a Bach organ piece in the film, the tracklist is wrong in this case.
No Tears for Tessio starts with another standard solo Corleone, and finishes with Michael. The film only keeps the latter.
The New Godfather is completely unused, this is my best guess for it, underlying the growing ruthlessness of the business Michael's building.
Corleone Waltz #3 is completely unused - here my best guess is that it's just an album piece that was put here in the main program to present it separately? There's really no good place for it at this part of the film, but I tried nevertheless even if I don't really feel I succeeded.
Finale completely gives over the Corleone-ness to Michael and closes the door on his transformation.
For the End Credits I used the fuller take that starts with Michael, goes into the Love Theme, then finishes with a slowly ramped up Corleone, the film version removes the big loud Love Theme rendition in the middle.

 

 

And now for the alternates, Main Title (alternate) sets a much more ominous mood with this Corleone version.
In the final film, both Hollywood cues were replaced by this arrangement of Manhattan Serenade, both times only used partially, never using the final portion - here I just synced it up for the first one and let it run.
I also added the film edit of Horse's Head, which replaces the first part of the cue with a more standard Corleone solo.
Set the Meeting (alternate) creates a more uncomfortable mood with its offkey sections.
Halls of Fear Pt. 1 (film version) features a lot thinner orchestration and/or mix.
I thought I'd sync up the album version of Love Theme From The Godfather too, with its added percussion and choir.
In the final film, Las Vegas Strip was replaced by this Carmine Coppola piece, "Lucky".

[BrotherSound 2,242]

@Holko Excellent work once again! I love seeing these and getting a bit of insight into how the decision to drop or replace cues is made.

[Holko 9,526]

It could be especially interesting in this case, because Godfather is one of THE Films that's a beloved, much studied standard - and here even scholars can probably see a lot of surprises, including some very weird early approaches that were dropped undoubtedly for the better.

[Richard Penna 3,690]

This is a weird case of my having seen and heard absolutely nothing whatsoever from any of the films, except for the waltz.

 

I have to say that my first impressions from skimming a few of those clips are not good - the intended music very much feels like overscoring the movie and for me dates it considerably earlier than the early 70s. It's a different era of film and scoring than where my tastes are.

[Holko 9,526]

26 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

the intended music very much feels like overscoring the movie

While I do agree that many cues definitely overscore their scenes, I also want to say that not counting source music it's an hour of score for a 3hour movie, and by a very rough off the top of my head estimate 10-20 minutes of that hour were left unused without being replaced.

[Richard Penna 3,690]

I agree that in terms of quantity that's sparse scoring, but I think style is just as affective, and having a very front and centre orchestra for this sort of character movie doesn't feel right to me.

 

But as I said, the basic approach of this score is completely not for me - far too classical and bold for my preferences so I'm pre-disposed not to like an isolated version of it.