I think the Godfather is a great movie, but the entire Woltz sequence was ridiculous.

For one, killing his prized racehorse would not make him agree to your demand about Fontane, you now have zero leverage. The horse is already dead.

Second of all, how are you getting the horse’s head into the bed in the first place? His servants are just gonna let you in and he’s not gonna wake up when you’re sticking a 60 pound bloody horse head under his sheets? He wasn’t drugged, because we saw the scene with Tom at his house for dinner, and he didn’t even have an opportunity to drug him. Not to mention he wakes up bright and early so he can’t have been sedated heavily enough that he wouldn’t wake up when they’re putting it in there. Why put it in his bed at all? Do you think leaving it on his porch wouldn’t send the same message?

The whole sequence was unnecessary. We already knew that Vito was willing to make offers that couldn’t be refused because Michael told Kay the story about the last favor Vito did for Fontane with Luca Brasi. They put the horse head sequence in solely for shock value, and it detracted from the story in my opinion.

Other parts of the film likewise could’ve been left on the cutting room floor, although it has better script economy than Part II. Therefore, while it’s a great movie, I can’t call it a perfect movie, and certainly not “the best” movie.