Does James Caan say "Beam me up, Scotty" in Godfather 1?

[Nick227]

Originally Posted by calebprime

And no, he's not saying "beam me up, scotty." It doesn't even sound like that.

You're saying that the phrase assigned to Caan as he raises his gaze and palms upwards doesn't sound like "Beam me up, Scottie"?

Sounds a lot like it to me. Doesn't make much rational sense but it does sound like it.

Nick

[StankApe]

Originally Posted by OnlyTellsTruths

Oh please. If only you weren't serious.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/trivia?tab=gf

109 Goofs, just from Godfather 1. Dozens of them are much bigger goofs than this.

I don't care, he was known for being very meticulous. (maybe not about prop placements or crap like "no minority reporters before 1953" but that's nitpicking.). Have you seen Heart of Darkness:a Filmmaker's Apocalypse? he was pretty damn picky about things. and I think something like a Star Trek line being in a film set in the 40's wouldn't go by unnoticed.

UNLESS, it was a Caan ad-lib and Coppola thought it was funny, so he left it in.

[calebprime]

Originally Posted by Nick227

Your saying that the phrase assigned to Caan as he raises his gaze and palms upwards doesn't sound like "Beam me up, Scottie"?

Sounds a lot like it to me. Doesn't make much rational sense but it does sound like it.

Nick

My best guess listening to OTT's clip was something like "It ain't up Scott."

Which does indeed sound a little like it, but not enough to be it, if you know what I mean.

There was no clear "beam." If you're saying that line, you'd tend to enunciate the "beam".

It's a group improv. Some lines are assigned -- meant to be heard -- and the rest is improv. Rhubarb.

We'll never know. Even Caan himself probably doesn't remember.

As for how serious an error out-of-synch audio would be: It would be much, much worse than some subtle continuity error or a bad edit or an anachronism.

But the only thing I'm insisting on here is not the interpretation of the line, but that the scene is dubbed, and what I said about the recording of the audio in the other lines.

It doesn't sound quite right for "beam me up Scottie" but I don't have a better hearing of what it really is. Nothing else is falling into place, either.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

Originally Posted by calebprime

There was no clear "beam." If you're saying that line, you'd tend to enunciate the "beam".

There is a clear beam. Not only that, but the word "beam" is enunciated.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

The M in "beam" directly runs into the M in "me" and sounds like just 1 M.

Say "Beam Me Up Scotty" to yourself. You might do that as well, some people don't.

So in the audio clip there is just 1 M.

Or in other words:

Beame Up Scotty


And just in case anyone hasn't been reading and thinks I am 100% convinced, I still think it is very likely an Italian phrase that sounds just like Beame Up Scotty.

[StankApe]

Now, not to get all "argument from authority" on y'all, but a google search on this only produced this thread.... I woulda thunk that as much as that film has been analyzed SOMEBODY woulda noticed it by now.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

Here it is again, just the line in question, this time a bit louder and a bit slower:

http://wikisend.com/download/189340/Louder&Slower.mp3


Now it sounds like 1 person saying "Beam Me" and then another person saying "Coast Guard".

[OnlyTellsTruths]

Originally Posted by StankApe

Now, not to get all "argument from authority" on y'all, but a google search on this only produced this thread.... I woulda thunk that as much as that film has been analyzed SOMEBODY woulda noticed it by now.

Did you check every single result?


For what ever it is worth, I do remember reading about whether or not he says this many years ago.

Long before this thread.

Though it could very well have been in an old thread here at the JREF.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

I also note that no one has addressed the 2 coincidences I pointed out in my earlier post.

Just look at Caan's face and hands when he says the line! It's so appropriate that it is uncanny. I realize that is commonly a feature of Pareidolia, but not only does it fit his actions, it fits the context of the conversation.... He is fed up, people say that when they are fed up.

[Stupefied]

Now that I listened to the short clip of the line I still don't hear "Beam me up, Scott", even trying to. I can hear; "may be the cops guy" or "maybe the cops got him/it". Of course, I can also hear "Yeah da Cubs got it".

[Nick227]

Originally Posted by StankApe

Now, not to get all "argument from authority" on y'all, but a google search on this only produced this thread.... I woulda thunk that as much as that film has been analyzed SOMEBODY woulda noticed it by now.

I know. I also checked, expecting there to be a host of people who'd heard it before. Couldn't find anything. I was watching the movie the other night and I heard it and thought "did he really say that?" A few lines later someone says that the year is 1946, so then that really didn't make sense so I replayed it a couple of times but it still sounded like beam me up scottie to me.

All it really needs is for Caan to make the more traditional gesture of making like he's holding a star trek communicator up to his ear, and then it would really be over.

Even if he doesn't say the phrase, it does sound like that, esp when backed up by the context and the gesture, so I still find it hard to believe that it could have been missed in post production or whatever.

Nick

[StankApe]

Like I said, Caan may have ad-libbed and Coppola thought it was hilarious.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

Originally Posted by StankApe

Like I said, Caan may have ad-libbed and Coppola thought it was hilarious.

Let's say we have to rank what is most likely.

I would say what StankApe says (that it is just a funny ad-lib not really meant to be heard, sort of an easter egg perhaps) is tied with it is an Italian phrase that means something like "I am fed up".

Anything else seems a bit less likely.

[StankApe]

If we had an italian feller to fill us in it "might" be a kind of "end of my rope" type bit of italian slang being used....

Unless somebody asks Caan or Coppola directly, there will be no answer to our satisfaction!!! (and even then, they may not remember)

[Jack by the hedge]

Originally Posted by Stupefied

Now that I listened to the short clip of the line I still don't hear "Beam me up, Scott", even trying to. I can hear; "may be the cops guy" or "maybe the cops got him/it". Of course, I can also hear "Yeah da Cubs got it".

That's close to what I hear. The last part, where people are hearing "Scotty", I hear "...'s guy".

Closest I can get is something like "Aw ...mean cop's guy". But that doesn't really make a lot of sense and I'm not sure if the "m" of "mean" might be an "n".

[truethat]

where are you guys watching this? I'm pretty good at lip reading. give me a link and I'll see what I can see.

[Jack by the hedge]

Originally Posted by truethat

where are you guys watching this? I'm pretty good at lip reading. give me a link and I'll see what I can see.

Download the clip from the link in post #16.

[truethat]

OK I can see why you could hear that but it's definitely not Beam Me Up Scotty.

It sounds like he says "upscale" or 'upstart" not Scotty. Look at his mouth when he says it.


This should help

http://www.public.asu.edu/~srbeatty/394/Godfather.pdf

[truethat]

Voila, it matches what I posted before "believe me a lot' sounds like "Beam me up Scott"

On page 39 of the script I just posted.

[Stupefied]

The part in question is the murmuring immediately after the ""Aw". It would be the three dots on the line of script "Aw...I don't know if Luca sold out we're in a lot of trouble, believe me. A lot of trouble.

[Jack by the hedge]

<edit> Ninja'd by Stupefied: He says "believe me, a lot of trouble" right at the very end, but the bit we're interested in is what he mutters between "Aw..." and "...I don't know" in the moment immediately before Michael stands up.


Another few listens through and now I'm hearing: "Aw...me and [?]'s gotta t... I don't know"

[AdMan]

I can see how some people might think he's saying "beam me up, Scotty," but I'm siding with those who think it just a bit of audio pareidolia.

With the extent this film has been analyzed, plus the Trekkie population out there, you would think this would be pretty common knowledge by now if he did say it. Someone would have asked him and/or Coppola.

[truethat]

Originally Posted by Jack by the hedge

<edit> Ninja'd by Stupefied: He says "believe me, a lot of trouble" right at the very end, but the bit we're interested in is what he mutters between "Aw..." and "...I don't know" in the moment immediately before Michael stands up.


Another few listens through and now I'm hearing: "Aw...me and [?]'s gotta t... I don't know"

Go to the script link on page 39 I can't copy and paste it but I'll copy what it says here

He says

Aw I don't know, if Luca sold out, we're in a lot of trouble, believe me, a lot of trouble.

[Nay_Sayer]

This may turn out to be a red herring but, He could be praying in Italian (hence the look upwards) and there is a saint named Benvenutus Scotivoli.

[truethat]

I thought that too earlier but if you read the script he's saying what we posted.

[Stupefied]

The line we are talking about is a different one. The script does say ""Aw...I don't know if Luca sold out we're in a lot of trouble, believe me. A lot of trouble." That part is clear, but there is a mumble between the Aw and I represented by ... on the script. That's the part in question.

[Delvo]

Clearly, definitely, it is NOT "beam me up Scotty". It's not really even close. It ends with something that could be "Scott", but it that could also be a lot of other things. Two that come to mind are Gotti and God, but the vowel isn't even necessarily an "o" like that either, the final consonant could be something different like an "n", and there's no way to tell whether the "s" is part of this syllable/word or the one before it. And it gets worse right before that. There's not only the lack of an "m", but that "m" is supposed to have two separate "ee" vowels before & after it, and there isn't even one. Plus there's at least one more "k" or "g" sound in there where the "beam me up" belongs. Whatever is there sounds more like "there you go". "Beam me up Scotty" just doesn't have anything in common with what he's saying anywhere except maybe part of one syllable near the end.

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally Posted by OnlyTellsTruths

Here it is again, just the line in question, this time a bit louder and a bit slower:

http://wikisend.com/download/189340/Louder&Slower.mp3


Now it sounds like 1 person saying "Beam Me" and then another person saying "Coast Guard".

I hear something that sounds like " on the ring coast guard "

[Foolmewunz]

Originally Posted by StankApe

I don't care, he was known for being very meticulous. (maybe not about prop placements or crap like "no minority reporters before 1953" but that's nitpicking.). Have you seen Heart of Darkness:a Filmmaker's Apocalypse? he was pretty damn picky about things. and I think something like a Star Trek line being in a film set in the 40's wouldn't go by unnoticed.

UNLESS, it was a Caan ad-lib and Coppola thought it was funny, so he left it in.

Not really significant to the question from the OP, but as a lifelong movie fan and reformed film geek, it should be noted that Coppola had no such freedom or latitude in making The Godfather. He was bordering on unknown. He'd done some good scripts and directed a couple of moderately well-appreciated movies, but he wasn't able to write his own ticket.

In fact, when they announced the filmig of Godfather, Part II he was quoted as saying "I always wanted to see what it'd be like to make a ten million dollar (and incredible sum in those years) art film. Now I'll be able to find out." That tends to indicate that by then he had the freedom that his name brought to a project. Not for The Godfather, though. He was about the fourth or fifth choice and he was constantly under the threat of being replaced during the filming.

In short, I wouldn't credit him with that meticulous detail that he was later famous for. He couldn't yet exercise that kind of clout.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

Originally Posted by truethat

OK I can see why you could hear that but it's definitely not Beam Me Up Scotty.

That's odd, because several of us think it is. "Definitely not" indeed. I'm pretty sure I discussed with you before how it looks when you make such 100% announcements.

Originally Posted by truethat

Voila, it matches what I posted before "believe me a lot' sounds like "Beam me up Scott"

On page 39 of the script I just posted.

It's seriously like you didn't even watch the clip. The "believe me a lot" is a good several seconds after the part we are talking about!

First you come into a #50 post thread asking where the clip is, when it has been linked to multiple times.

Then you make a 100% confident announcement that it is "definitely not" what we think it is.

Then, as evidence, you provide a script, one of thousands available on the web, several of which have been linked to already in this thread!!!, and point us to a line that not only has already been discussed in the thread, but is several seconds after the part in question.

Please.

Originally Posted by truethat

Go to the script link on page 39 I can't copy and paste it but I'll copy what it says here

He says

Aw I don't know, if Luca sold out, we're in a lot of trouble, believe me, a lot of trouble.

The poster just explained to you that that line is several seconds after the part in question. Then you tell them to just go read it again??

Originally Posted by truethat

I thought that too earlier but if you read the script he's saying what we posted.

And again??

Originally Posted by Delvo

Clearly, definitely, it is NOT "beam me up Scotty". It's not really even close.

Great, another "definitely".

It sounds very close to "beam me up Scotty". I'm not sure what could be wrong with your hearing to listen to this clip:

http://wikisend.com/download/946810/beamMeUp.mp3

...and then make the pronouncement that:

Originally Posted by Delvo

It's not really even close.

Unless you are operating on a completely different definition of "close" than I am.

[Jack by the hedge]

Originally Posted by truethat

Go to the script link on page 39 I can't copy and paste it but I'll copy what it says here

He says

Aw I don't know, if Luca sold out, we're in a lot of trouble, believe me, a lot of trouble.

I know what the draft script says as it's the same document I linked to back in post #14. But that's not all the dialogue that actually made it into the film.

What he actually says is:

"Aw... mumble mumble mumble I don't know, if Luca sold out, we're in a lot of trouble, believe me, a lot of trouble".

The argument is over what "mumble mumble mumble" is. He says it just as Michael goes to stand up.

[Foolmewunz]

Okay, I finally had the time and quiet to listen to the various snips. He definitely says "Beam me up, Scotty." It's as clear as "Turn me on, dead man!" when you played Revolution No. 9 from The White Album backwards at just the right speed.

In short, believe it if you want to. It's roughly similar to "Beam me up, Scotty!" if you take some of the excess cotton wadding from Brando's cheeks and shove it in your ears, jump up and down on your left foot and swing a dead chicken in a burlap sack thrice counter-clockwise around your head at midnight in a graveyard.

[p0lka]

in the dropbox clip linked to, it really sounds like "beam me up Scotty" to me,

but in the beamMeUp.mp3 clip it sounds more like "It aint up scot", so I suspect audio pareidolia

[Skeptical Greg]

The first time I played it I heard "beam me up Scotty" ..

I haven't heard it since.. If he is saying "beam me up Scotty", I would still hear it, and so would everyone else.

What we have is an invisible gorilla saying "beam me up Scotty", while Cann says something entirely different, unless you count the fact that gazzillions of words share the same syllables, and sounds, and our brains construct meaning out of chaos.

[Skeptical Greg]

oops..

[bignickel]

To me it sounds like 2 different voices:
voice 1: Beame
voice 2: mis-kai

Can't recognize any of the actual words, but that's what I'm hearing.

[Stellafane]

Sounds like "Beat my scrota" to me, in which case the film version of Sonny is apparently even more anatomically gifted than his literary counterpart.

[Swagomatic]

It sounds like "he ain't a cub scout" or "we ain't no cub scouts" to me. ???

[William Parcher]

Nobody says "Beam me up, Scotty."

I have the Blu-ray Coppola Restoration version of The Godfather. It has True HD audio which is uncompressed and I am listening with Bose headphones.

It comes at exactly 53:44. What you hear sounds very much like "BMUS", but it is in fact the simultaneous voices of James Caan and Abe Vigoda. With my setup it is actually easy to realize what causes the confusion for you BMUS Believers But the thing is, there is no way that I would have thought that without being told (reading this thread). It is so very obviously two people talking that you would never wonder if you just heard BMUS. The awesomeness of Blu-ray uncompressed digital audio. Besides that, the mouths of Caan and Vigoda perfectly match what they are saying.

Here's what happens...

All at the same time Duvall is talking to Caan and Vigoda is talking to Richard Castellano.

Robert Duvall speaks to Caan about Luca. The gravity of the subject is so great that Caan looks skyward and tosses his hands up in an act of appealing to, or addressing his God. He says "Ahh, Dio." This translates from Italian to "Oh God". The word Dio is being mistaken for the word Beam.

Simultaneously Castellano is asking Vigoda a question. Abe answers "Yeah, the cops got it." These words are being mistaken for "...me up Scotty".



So what you actually hear as combined speaking is "Ahh, Dio the cops got it". With Caan providing the first part and Vigoda the last. But with crappy audio it might sound like "Ahh, beam me up, Scotty."

[William Parcher]

One more thing...

The voices are not dubbed in that scene. It is live acting and recording with boom mic. Everything is in absolute perfect match with the lips on all actors. You can hear exhalations that match body shift, clothing and chair sounds with posture shifting.

Not dubbed for sure!

Go Blu-ray or go home.