One of the greatest scenes ever. Most of us have seen it many times.

Question:

What happened to Sollozzo's driver, Lou?

2:42 in this clip, Lou is standing outside the car in front of the restaurant. Michael caps Sollozzo and Captain Mccluskey. 7:53 in the clip shows the exterior of the restaurant and Lou is nowhere to be seen.

Wha' happened to Lou? Perhaps he was killed, but on the street? In front of the restaurant? Before Michael fired his shots? Unlikely. Was he snatched up? Again, unlikely. Any commotion on the street would have tipped Michael's hand.

Does Puzo's novel say anything about this?

I got this from Quora

https://www.quora.com/Why-didn...the-Louis-Restaurant


Jon Mixon
Jon Mixon, Read many on a wide range of subjects
Answered Jan 8 2018 · Author has 24.3k answers and 120.8m answer views

The narrative of the book never makes it clear; nor does the film.

In the novel, Sollozo DID have a man inside the restaurant (this is demonstrated when Michael Corleone came out of the restroom and the unknown man slowly lifted his hands above his table when it was clear that Corleone wasn’t visibly carrying a weapon) whose job it seems to have been to protect Sollozo beyond what Captain McCluskey might have been able to.

In the film, while there is such a character shown, he plays no role in the events that occur in the restaurant. He is shown after Michael kills Sollozo and McCluskey; however he doesn’t have any lines and the camera doesn’t linger on him. There have been a scene planned where things resembled the novel; however, I have a copy of the screenplay and it doesn’t include a scene like that.

Either way, even if “Lou” had intervened or tried to, Tessio, the other caporegime (captain) from the Corleone Family, was waiting in a car nearby to retrieve Michael after the meeting. Had Lou been seen entering the restaurant or waiting for the shooter to leave, it’s probable that Tessio would shot him (or perhaps even run him over) to prevent his harming Michael.

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It is definitely a loose end as Lou was one of the two men who shot Don Corleone. You wouldn't expect that to be let go.

Unrelated (apologies!), but I happened to see that "Apollonia" will be turning 65 this year. Damn, time flies.

quote:

What happened to Sollozzo's driver, Lou?

He din see nuttin. Nuttin.
Apparently the Godfather junkies say he was questioned briefly and released but didn't play much of a part and may have been paid off by Michaels family.

A couple of places online mention he was later caught and questioned by the police regarding the murders, but didnt talk. Its speculated he might have been paid off by the Corleones to walk away. I guess that could make sense, maybe he was the one who tipped off the Corleones as to where the meeting was taking place?

As a side note, I had lunch at the original place in 1974 with my employer (a Godfather fan and Italian) while in NYC on business. The Godfather scene was allegedly based on this real life event.

https://mafia.fandom.com/wiki/Umberto%27s_Clam_House

While there, some guys that looked like the real deal showed up with their entourage and followed by what appeared to be some poorly disguised FBI agents tailing them and clearly taking notes.
Quite an entertaining and memorable lunch.
The food was pretty good too.

I always assumed Lou fled the scene real quiet like. He was part of the mob, his boss and a crooked cop were murdered by the most powerful crime family in New York....Yeh, I'd quietly flee the scene and cook me a TV dinner at my apartment in the Bronx.

I pulled out my copy of "The Godfather Notebook" and in the novel, we see this line:

quote:

He strode the few steps toward the door and opened it. Sollozzo's car was parked at the curb still, but there was no sign of the driver. Micheal turned left and around the corner. Headlights flashed on and a battered sedan pulled up to him, the door swinging open. He jumped in and the car roared away. He saw that it was Tessio at the wheel, his trim features hard as marble.

ETA scan of page from the book.

Taking a nap in the back seat? I've watched that movie many times and never noticed he was missing.

He changed his name to Scungilli and moved to San Francisco.

More seriously, maybe a continuity error as he was a bit player.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
I've watched that movie many times and never noticed he was missing.

Well, I missed it myself, the first 150 times I saw the scene.

Waiters, butlers, drivers, staff in general have a way of disappearing at the right time.

What happened to the toll booth attendant before Sonny gets whacked?...he either drops the money or he knew the hit was coming...but was he collateral damage ?

quote:

Originally posted by Patrick-SP2022:
ETA scan of page from the book.

Ah, so there you have it. We don't know what happened to Lou because it's not in the novel.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig Dale:
What happened to the toll booth attendant before Sonny gets whacked?...he either drops the money or he knew the hit was coming...but was he collateral damage ?

We know the family had no qualms about killing bystanders.

I think a safe assumption is that he is also swimming with the fishes....

Slight thread drift...
In this clip the man in the brown coat that is bagging fruit for Don Corleone is a friend of mine, Mel Russo. Mel grew up in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn as Coppola and Pacino.

He also had a (non-talking) bit part for about a half a second in Raising Arizona.