“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” — Peter Clemenza
In The Godfather (1972), those words are Peter Clemenza’s only instruction to Rocco Lampone after Rocco kills Paulie Gatto. Clemenza’s wife had reminded him to bring home the pastries before he left the house.
Paulie, a driver and bodyguard for the Corleones, is suspected of helping arrange the attempt on Vito Corleone’s life. He’d called in sick that day. Clemenza takes him on what appears to be an errand run, with Rocco along for the ride.
They stop somewhere remote, and Clemenza steps out to relieve himself. Rocco shoots Paulie in the head while Clemenza’s away from the car. When Clemenza returns, his next concern is making sure the dessert comes home.
Richard S. Castellano, who plays Clemenza, improvised the line about the cannoli. The script called for him to leave the gun, and he added the reminder about the pastries, connecting the killing to the request his wife made earlier. Francis Ford Coppola kept the addition.
The actress playing Clemenza’s wife, Ardell Sheridan, was Castellano’s wife in real life.