I recently watched the first two Godfather movies, and after a quick search I found out about the Godfather Saga (the 7-hour chronological cut). In your opinion, which way is the best to watch the first two Godfather movies? Do you prefer the 7-hour version with the additional scenes, or would you rather watch both movies separately? I found the Godfather Saga online, but unfortunately the quality is not that good… I’m still planning on watching it because who doesn’t like deleted scenes?
The chronological cut was a much-hyped “special television event” spread over two nights, and that’s what I first saw from a friend who taped it on VHS.
Some years later, when I saw the original theatrical releases, I preferred them much more, as the De Niro/young Vito sequences work better in segments, going back and forth to Michael in the 1950s and back, to put it all consecutively drags the pace from the very get-go.
Also, the trip to Corleone, Sicily to exact revenge on don Ciccio works best as a parallel coda to the whole Fredo, Frankie “Five Angels” and Hyman Roth outcomes. The pacing just works that way.