Movies - TV
One Of The Godfather’s Most Famous Lines Was Actually Improvised
By BILL BRIA
One of the most classic and memorable lines from “The Godfather” came from neither author Mario Puzo nor director Francis Ford Coppola. It came from actor Richard Castellano.
Castellano played one of the Mafia captains, Peter Clemenza. The line occurs when Clemenza and Rocco Lampone (Tom Rosqui) take Paulie Gatto (John Martino) to whack him.
After driving around, they stop at a field, and Lampone shoots Gatto in the back of the head. Clemenza instructs him to "leave the gun," as written in the novel and the script.
Castellano then improvised the line, adding, "Take the cannoli." The phrase is rooted in textual materials, so Coppola left it in.
The line refers to Clemenza's love of Italian food. It is a payoff to a comment a few moments earlier, in which his wife instructs him to pick up a cannoli for her.