I love this movie but how did that make it past editing? It's not even close. It's a bit late but they should change it for the 4k blu-ray if it ever comes out using modern editing tricks.
I don't think they should change stuff like that. Films should be available for viewing in their theatrical releases. I'm okay with a "director's cut" being available, too, but I want the originals in all their flaws. I sorta feel like a "director's cut" is for inserting the takes, scenes, and scene order that the director always wanted, too; it's to correct studio meddling. It's not to iron out flaws like a missed punch.
Don't get me wrong, the punch misses by a country mile and is hilarious, but it's basically the only thing wrong with The Godfather.
I read an interview with an audio engineer once. He was talking about modern digital tech and being able to take perfect bars of drumming and drop them over any flawed bars. But, he said, if you do that too much, you wind up hurting the production from over-polish.
I'll end with Herrick's "Delight in Disorder":
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes, a wantonness
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
into a fine distraction
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthralls the crimson stomacher
A cuff neglectful and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly
A winning wave, deserving note
In the tempestuous petticoat
A careless shoestring in whose tie
I see a wild civility
More bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.
I think it's justified in this case. Cameron did a similar thing in T2 where the stunt double for Arnold looked hideously obvious in the original - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuAa-BM5das
Definitely a welcome edit that does nothing but increase immersion.
Like watching the original Star Trek episodes. There's a stand in for Spock that looks like a tall skinny dude in a Frankenstein's monster plastic hair piece..
To me, it’s pretty much the one shot in the film that keeps it from being a perfect film. Still bothers me how that shot wasn’t filmed again, or that it could have somehow been missed.
Such a shame. The worst fight scene I ever saw in (maybe) the best film I ever saw. How did Coppola watch this and think, 'yeah that'll do, lunch!' It must've been Pizza Tuesday.