When Hollywood producer Jack Woltz refuses to cast Johnny Fontane in his new war film, Don Corleone sends Tom Hagen suggest he reconsider. Woltz, however, bitter over a girl that Johnny stole from him, stubbornly refuses.

Woltz: ...just tell him he should ask me anything else. But this is one favor I can't give him.

Hagen: He never asks a second favor when he's been refused the first, understood?

Woltz: You don't understand. Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him. It'll make him a big star. And I'm gonna run him out of the business...

The next morning, Woltz wakes to find himself sleeping next to the severed head of his favorite prized horse, a $600,000 stud named Khartoum. The big-shot Hollywood producer begins screaming hysterically.