The Godfather Saga


The Godfather Saga is a 1977 American television miniseries that combines The Godfather and The Godfather Part II into one film. It originally aired on NBC over four consecutive nights in November 1977. The Godfather Saga is also known as The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: A Novel for Television, The Godfather Novella, The Godfather: 1901-1959 - The Complete Epic, and The Godfather Epic. The television version was the basis for a shorter, 1981 video release known as The Godfather 1902–1959: The Complete Epic. Following the release of The Godfather Part III in 1990, a third unified version was released to video in 1992 entitled The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980.

Film structure

asked his editor Barry Malkin to make a seven-hour version for television; Coppola reportedly did this project to raise money for Apocalypse Now, which was severely over-budget at the time. The resulting film was in chronological order. The Godfather Part II had cut back and forth between scenes in the early 1900s and the late 1950s, and was therefore both a prequel and a sequel to The Godfather. Malkin also toned down the violence, sex, and language for a television audience.
The television film incorporated additional footage not included in the original films, including Don Fanucci being attacked by street thugs, Vito Corleone's first encounter with Hyman Roth, Vito killing two of the mafiosi who worked for Don Ciccio and were instrumental in his family's death, Michael Corleone's reunion with his father after his return from Sicily, Sonny Corleone's taking charge of the family after his father is severely wounded, and Michael's vengeance upon Fabrizio for killing Apollonia. The previously deleted scenes totaled almost 75 minutes.
Hal Erickson summarized the results as follows, "While this rearrangement was reasonably coherent, the rhythm and pacing of the original theatrical versions of the two films was severely damaged. The inclusion of scenes previously removed from the theatrical prints also stretched out what was already an overlong project. Even allowing for the achievement of pulling off this gargantuan editing assignment, The Godfather Saga is a lumpy affair which seems to stop and start at irregular intervals and never truly picks up momentum."

Nielsen ratings

According to the entry in Les Brown's Encyclopedia of Television, the Nielsen ratings for the special were supposedly not as high as expected, possibly because both films had already aired on NBC in previous years.

Re-release

On March 3, 2012, the American cable television channel AMC marked the 40th anniversary of the original theatrical release of The Godfather by re-broadcasting The Godfather Saga. It marked the first time the Saga was broadcast in high definition. This showing also reinstated the violence that had previously been removed for its original broadcast.

''The Godfather 1902–1959: The Complete Epic''

The Godfather 1902–1959: The Complete Epic is a reduced, 386 minute version of The Godfather Saga that was released to video in 1981. Unlike the Saga, which presented in four segments, the Epic is presented as a single segment. Lucia Bozzola wrote of this version, "With the freedom of home video, The Complete Epic reinstated the violence that had been edited for television; free of commercial breaks, the narrative drive of Part I was mostly restored, but the impact of Part II was still muted by the separation of Vito's rise from Michael's descent." In January 2016, HBO aired the epic in its uncut and uncensored format; later making it available on its streaming platforms. The HBO showing contained most of the known deleted scenes, thereby lengthening the runtime of the Epic from its video release. This HBO version carries the title Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901-1959 which has a runtime of 423 minutes.

''The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980''

Following the release of The Godfather Part III in 1990, Coppola, Barry Malkin, and Walter Murch edited the three Godfather movies into chronological order to make the film The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980. As had the earlier compilations, this film incorporated scenes that are not part of the theatrical releases. It was released on VHS and laserdisc in 1992; it has not been released on DVD, and is now rare. The total run time for this version is 583 minutes. There were reviews of this version of the film that were favorable. A Time review reads, "This trilogy has a novelistic density, a rueful, unhurried lyricism and a depth that, singly, the films could not achieve. Altogether glorious."

Additional scenes

Several additional scenes not shown in theaters were added to the Saga, Epic, and Trilogy.

''The Godfather'' additional scenes

The following scenes are listed chronologically.
To date, this version of The Godfather Saga has never been released to DVD, Blu-Ray, or 4K UHD disc. Online, titled as The Godfather Epic and running 7 hours and 3 minutes, was available to watch through Amazon. However, it is currently unavailable to purchase.