Godfather, The Easter Egg - Rhymes with Orange

Just to back this egg up, here are a few more examples: - Oranges are on the table setting in Hollywood producer Jack Woltz's dining room. Pretty soon, he finds Mr. Ed's head in his bed. -Oranges are on the table in front of Corleone enemies Barzini and Tattaglia at the meeting of the Dons. -In the garden when the Don dies.

Funny you should say that...so did Scatman Charothers smelled them in the shinning!

Actually, you said that the oranges was a premonition of DEATH, but Don Corleone didn't die when he got shot after he bought the oranges

oranges.... Nope, not a coincedence. (sp, of course) Read the book. Clever of ya'll to catch that. I wouldn't have without the book. Indeed - the orange DOES symbolize death/rebirth. It's no accident. It was put there on purpose. No one ever gets it, though. Oranges were a rare, sweet thing in Italy in the 1930's-1950's. Thus rarity = premonition = acceptance = death. Again, kudos for the original posters for cathing that. Very well done. By the way - I KNOW, I KNOW, you hate to read. Read this book. It's better than the movie. That, as you know, is saying a lot of high praise indeed. -Rob K. (Houston)

Ok, after I wrote my comments, I talked to my father about it--(Godfather buff; extremely intelligent man). He agreed that because oranges were so special and rare to poor people years ago (and many Italians were poor), it would make sense that they would be used in the movie as a symbol of how the Italians have gotten wealthier. But, am I wrong in wondering why they didn't use them in other places where they COULD have? Ex: In Godfather II, young Vito Corleone brings home a PEAR to his wife. Could that not have been an orange? Perhaps that would have confused the symbolism of orange=wealth, since they weren't wealthy at that point...I'm just voicing everything that's passing through my thoughts--please feel free to respond:)

A pear represents the "Holy Spirit/Hope/Divine Love" in iconography. An orange was the symbol of death in The Godfather series. Even Connie wears an orange colored dress at end of movie while she commits murder. --rooster

i thought i was the only person to ever notice this. actually it isn't the orange's rarity that is the center of its significance, its the fact that it is a fruit. like the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. the characters who die are all people who 'picked the fruit' and suffered the consequences. don corleone dies with an orange in his mouth. in number 3, micheal dies with an orange in his hand. tessio is peeling one in the wedding scene, etc.. death scenes are often intertwined with images of drinking as well, a communal image, blood of christ thing. also, notice how small children and babies react to the mobsters. cry, cry, cry. and lets not forget don corleone's promise to never break the peace, on the souls of his grandchildren, one of whom dies at the hands of an assassin. (after an opera laden with religious and revenge imagery)

Actually, when Don Corleone passed away in the garden, it was a TOMATO garden. Oranges grow on trees and in the scene the plants were growing up from the ground. But the Don was eating an orange, which would also fit this egg.

There is a bit of a homage to this in the first season of The Sopranos. There is an attempt on Tony's (the main character) life right after he stops at a newsstand and buys a bottle of orange juice.

Do not forget that in GF3, Michael needs OJ in the Vatican due to his illness.

Ahaaa.....the symbolism.........two types of Italian oranges include the sanguigne, which are shot through with red that can also color the pulp (hence their English name, blood oranges); and sanguinelle, whose skins are shot through with red.

Dean Tavoularis - the set designer for the Godfather films explains the significance of the oranges throughout the film in the book - The Godfather Legacy by Harlan Lebo......he said, and I quote "We knew the film wasn't going to be about bright colours, and oranges make a nice contrast....I don't remember anyone saying 'Hey I like oranges as a symbolic message'. Oranges just look nice in low lighting and in Gordon's photography."

I agree with this egg as I have just scanned the comments and no one has mentioned that Johnny Ola brings Michael Corleone an ORANGE from Florida in G.F.II As Johnny is the messenger for his boss Hymen Roth (excuse the spelling) who is actually trying to KILL Michael then this would fit this egg quite nicely. Daffyd.

During Connie's wedding, Tessio eats an orange, foreshadowing his death

And notice the suit Connie's husband is wearing when Sunny Beat's the snot outta him with a trashcan.

Sonny Corleone drives past a billboard promoting Florida Oranges shortly before being ambushed at the turnpike tollbooth.

At some point in #two Michael drives in a car with orange stripes whilst going to meet Roth

Hey, hey, people- try to keep from posting spoilers! I've only seen Pt.1 and someone has posted a HUGE spoiler about something whivh happens in Pt.3

Notice the orange suite case bein placed in the trunk before Connie's husband gets strangled in the car.....all the orange in the Baptism scene the stripes on the preist, the shorts of the man givin Moe Green a massage... the orange shirt of the gunman in the lobby... the lady in orange on the steps.... In the beginning of Pt. Two, notice the small orange flowers in the background when Vito's brother gets shot

The comment about Don Corleonen not dying even though he had bought oranges is missing one important thing. The Don never touches the oranges! He points at them to tell the salesman which oranges he wants, and then receives them in a brown paper bag. He got close to the oranges, and therefor he got close to death. Also, in the part where Michael is in Sicily, he meets a woman named Appolonia, which means orange. Also, the first time he sees her he is resting under an orange tree. This, of course, is a sign that she will die.

When Hyman Roth has his birthday party in Havana - the one where he announces Michael will take over upon his death, isn't the cake that they serve an Orange cake? On the other hand - someone on another forum said Michael was eating an orange when the decision to kill Roth was made, and thats not true. If you look at it its either a peach or nectarine - definately not an orange.

I really thought that I was the only person that noticed this "orange bussines". I do not yet understand why exactly the orange has been choosen as a symbol of death, but yeah, it is true, every time that orange appears the death is at the door, too. After all the scenes already mentioned, don't forget the orange that felt out of the bowl on the table in the room where the Commision had a sesion just a few second before the helicopter attack. Of course, the scene is from The Godfather III.

Ok, there's more to the oranges than you might have first thought. Apparently, when the sicilians first came to america, the only job they could get was as fruit merchants. The fruit they typically sold? Oranges.

But... wait. Toward the end of Godfather Pt II, when Michael is discussing with Tom and Rocco how they're going to assassinate Roth, Michael is eating an orange. Actually, he just sorta of peels away part of the peel and sucks some of the juice out of the orange, but still... and he never gets whacked, and he doesn't die until the end of Part III, an old man of apparent natural causes/old age. Doesn't this foil the "orange as a signal of death to come soon" theory?

To Mike S - I've just watched the scene where Michael is conspiring with Tom and Rocco to kill Roth, and it is indeed an orange that he is eating. He first peels away a part of the peel, and then proceeds to sort of suck at the fruit. But, I assure you, it's neither a peach nor a nectarine. It's an orange. I've watched it repeatedly, in regular and slow-mo, and enlarged the image for clarification. I've also asked several people to watch the scene. Every single one has said, "What, are you blind? He's eating an orange!"