- In the German theatrical version, all Italian dialogs from the young Vito Corleone's scenes were dubbed into German, as well as the English and Spanish dialogs from Michael Corleone's scenes. The original Italian language for this footage has been only restored for the movie's DVD release in 2002.
- In most television prints, the shot of little Vito being marked with an encircled X at Ellis Island (meaning mental defect) is deleted.
- For The Godfather Saga (1977), besides the added scenes and toning down the violence and language, other changes were made to the original version:
- The close-up shots of Michael's face as Rocco kisses his hand are deleted.
- The on-screen prologue is deleted.
- The shot of little Vito being marked with an encircled X among the benches filled with immigrants is deleted.
- The shot of little Vito singing by himself in Ellis Island is deleted.
- The scene of Anthony receiving his communion is deleted.
- Throughout the story of young Vito's rise, many of the lines originally spoken in Sicilian are dubbed in English.
- An alternate take of Vito walking down the aisle in the theatre.
- Scenes at the communion party are rearranged. The scene with Connie and Merle meeting with Michael appears earlier and the scenes with Senator Geary appear later.
- The scene where Vito brings a pear home and the scene where he first encounters Clemenza are switched to appear in the order originally intended. This explains why he is in a bad mood at dinner.
- An alternate take of Vito refusing the box of food from Signor Abbandando.
- A shot of Clemenza nodding to a customer in the café is deleted.
- The shot of Clemenza cutting the rug and playing with baby Sonny is deleted.
- Michael's reply of "New York City" at the Senate hearing is deleted.
- In 1977, a special version for television titled The Godfather Saga (1977) was prepared by director Francis Ford Coppola and editor Barry Malkin by re-editing The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974) in chronological order and adding deleted scenes. Most of these deleted scenes are also included separately as special features on the DVD releases and on The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic and The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992). Among the deleted scenes:
- The opening credit sequence features additional shots of the Corleone compound. These shots were later used in the beginning of The Godfather Part III (1990).
- The opening credit sequence also features additional shots of Michael sitting alone contemplatively, an alternate take of young Vito waving little Michael's hand on the train in Sicily, and a longer take of Michael looking at Fredo at their mother's wake.
- Don Ciccio's henchmen look for the boy Vito at his home. Vito's mother says she will bring him to Ciccio herself.
- Don Fanucci tells the theater impresario that he should feature Sicilian songs or opera and then comically sings examples.
- After Fanucci leaves, the impresario smacks his daughter for walking in at the wrong time.
- Vito sees a group of hoods jump Don Fanucci and slice his neck. This explains the scar on his neck seen later.
- Genco tells Vito about the attack on Fanucci and Vito pretends not to know about it.
- In the café, Clemenza tells Vito that he will never work a regular job like his father did.
- Vito meets Tessio for the first time outside a warehouse with Clemenza. They take the bag of guns inside to a man named Augustino Coppola. He tells his young son, Carmine Coppola, to play the flute as entertainment while he works on the guns. This is a tribute to Francis Ford Coppola's grandfather and father. The men also leave the warehouse with a bunch of dresses.
- Clemenza tries to sell a dress to a married woman and ends up having sex with her while Tessio and Vito wait outside.
- An additional shot of Vito driving down the street before Fanucci jumps in.
- Additional dialogue after Fanucci gets out of Vito's truck.
- Additional dialogue when Vito, Clemenza, and Tessio discuss how to handle Fanucci.
- An extended version of the scene where Vito first talks to Signor Roberto.
- Signor Roberto asks Genco if he can speak with "Don Vito".
- Clemenza brings a young Jewish boy named Hyman Suchowsky to see Vito. Clemenza wants to rename him "Johnny Lips", but Vito decides he will be called "Hyman Rothstein" after Jewish gangster Arnold Rothstein.
- When Vito returns to Sicily, he kills the two henchmen that looked for him as a boy. One he finds passed out in a hut and stabs, the other he rows up to on a lake and kills with an oar.
- A wide shot of the train leaving the station in Sicily.
- A quick shot of people waltzing at Anthony's communion party.
- A quick shot of the bandleader looking at the dancers as he is conducting.
- A man taking home movies of Tom and his family.
- Fredo shows up late to Anthony's communion party because his wife, Deana, is drunk. She runs up the driveway demanding to see Michael, then falls down and knocks down Fredo when he tries to pick her up. Fredo warns her not to embarrass him.
- A thirsty Pentangeli tries to get a beer or wine at the communion party, but all the waiters have are champagne cocktails. This explains why he is seen drinking from a garden hose.
- At the party, Sonny's widow, Sandra, brings their daughter Francesca and her fiancé, Gardner, to see Michael. Fredo barges in to tell Michael that Pentangeli is outside. Michael gives Francesca and Gardner his blessing to get married. She sees Kay and tells her the good news.
- Al Neri tells Michael that he's tracked down Fabrizio, the man who murdered Michael's first wife, Apollonia. He now runs a pizza parlor in New York and is living under the name "Fred Vincent". He was brought to New York by Barzini.
- A shot of four opera singers performing at the party.
- A quick shot of Rocco berating one of his men.
- Anthony runs towards the area where the buttonmen are sitting and Kay chases after him, warning him to stay away. She then grabs and hugs Anthony.
- Pentangeli sits with Anthony and drinks a full glass of wine in one gulp. Then, he gives Anthony a $100 bill.
- Al Neri goes to a casino and fires Klingman on orders of Michael. When Klingman won't leave, Neri smacks him, chases him into a rehearsal of a stage show and threatens him with a chair. Klingman agrees to leave, then Neri tells the performers to continue the rehearsal which he stays and watches.
- Fabrizio gets into his car outside his pizza parlor. He turns the ignition, and the car explodes. He falls out of the car and crawls around a bit before he dies.
- The final scene is Kay in a Catholic church lighting candles and praying.
- The 2008 Coppola Restoration features the modern Paramount logo in use from that time, tinted in the iconic Godfather golden hue.
- The original theatrical release in New Zealand was cut for a PG rating. It's unknown what was removed. (The cuts were later waived at PG for a theatrical re-release, although the rating was upgraded to M on video for the 2008 restored version).
- A 175 minute cut of the film was tested in select markets during its theatrical release in tandem with the uncut version.
- 5.1 Blu-ray remix replaces a bunch of foley sound effects like gunshots, car sounds, and ambiance. However, if you select the English Mono track on the same Blu-ray disk you'll get the original theatrical mono mix.
- A The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic and a The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 were released on VHS. These were releases that had the movies put into chronological order and had extra scenes added to each of them. (Scenes not in the theatrical cut). These were basically the home video releases of The Godfather Saga (1977). (The epic only being the first two movies and the trilogy being all three).
- The 4K restoration released in 2022 replaces the opening title card "A Paramount Picture" with "Paramount Pictures Presents," matching the opening of the first film.
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