1972 The Godfather

1972 The Godfather


"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

This movie has Oscar written all over it.  Everything about it is great.  The cast, the story, the pacing, the inside look at a mob family, and the metamorphosis of Michael from an honest man into a mob leader.  It is pretty much a perfect movie.  I never would have expected to enjoy a violent movie about the mafia, but it's that good.  As Joe Fox says in You've Got Mail, "The Godfather is the I-ching.  The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom.   The Godfather is the answer to any question.  What should I pack for my summer vacation?  "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."  What day of the week is it?  "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday.""

But hello, Academy?  Why was Al Pacino snubbed?  He boycotted the ceremony because he felt that he should have been nominated in the Best Actor category, and I have to agree with him.  The movie really feels more like his story and his transformation -not to mention, he had much more screen time than Marlon Brando.  Don't get me wrong, Marlon Brando (he won Best Actor) was amazing too (he boycotted as well, because of something to do with Native American movie industry rights -he's a quirky guy.), but it should have gone Best Actor Al Pacino, Best Supporting Marlon Brando.  Pacino didn't even win in the Supporting category, which is nuts.  Rant over.

Okay, let me first say that I am not up on my mobster lingo, and the story is complicated, so I am probably going to be saying and getting things wrong, but hopefully Tyler will correct me.  Also, I will be using a LOT of quotes.  This is one of the best scripts I've seen, and I love the dialogue.

The movie centers on the Corleone Family, a powerful mob family.  Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), The Godfather, is the powerful head of the family.  He has three sons: the volatile Santino (Sonny), the buffoonish Fredo, and Michael (Al Pacino), the youngest, and the only one that has decided to lead an honest life outside the family.

Vito also has one daughter, named Connie, and the movie opens with Connie's wedding to Carlo Rizzi.  While the guests celebrate, Don Corleone is in his office, seeing people that have come to ask him for help, because as Tom Hagen says, "It's part of the wedding. No Sicilian can ever refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day."

Tyler and I think that maybe The Deer Hunter was trying to imitate The Godfather in having a big wedding scene in the beginning, but The Deer Hunter completely failed to accomplish any sort of plot development in their over-long schtick, which pretty much established nothing more than that the characters love to drink.

Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen.

On the other hand, The Godfather wedding scene succeeds brilliantly at introducing multiple characters and plot points, establishing the tone of the movie and setting the scene for what is to follow.

We learn that the Don has a sort of adopted son, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), who acts as his lawyer.  As Michael explains to his girlfriend, Kay, who is meeting his family for the first time, "My brother Sonny found him living in the streets when he was a kid, so my father took him in.  He's a good lawyer."

We become acquainted Luca Brasi, a dim but formidable criminal loyal to Don Corleone, who is sitting outside his office, a hulking figure, practicing what he wants to say to the Don.  Tom tells Vito, "He's not on the list, but Luca Brasi wants to see you," and after some hesitation, Vito agrees.  "Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter... 's wedding... on the day of your daughter's wedding. And I hope their first child be a masculine child. I pledge my ever-ending loyalty," Luca gets out, before contributing some money to Connie's wedding purse.

Luca Brasi pays his respects to Don Corleone.

Another character introduced is Johnny Fontane (see my From Here to Eternity review to see why I think that the character is based on Frank Sinatra), a famous singer who is also the Godson of Vito.  Michael explains to Kay about Johnny's history with Vito:

Michael: Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to a personal services contract with this big-band leader. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. But the band leader wouldn't let him. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. So my father went to see this bandleader and offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go, but the bandleader said no. So the next day, my father went back, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour, he had a signed release for a certified check of $1000.
Kay: How did he do that?
Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay: What was that?

Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract...That's a true story.

Kay seems shocked and dismayed by the story, and Michael assures her,"That's my family Kay, that's not me."


Johnny has come to ask Vito for help again,  His singing career is struggling, and he wants a part in a movie that he's been denied.  He cries to Vito about the situation, saying, "I don't know what to do..."  Vito is disgusted, and shakes him roughly: "You can act like a man!  What's the matter with you?  Is this what you've become, a Hollywood finocchio who cries like a woman?  "Oh, what do I do?  What do I do?"  What is that nonsense?  Ridiculous!"  Then he calms down, and becomes friendly and affectionate again, telling Johnny, "You look terrible.  I want you to eat, I want you to rest well.  And a month from now this Hollywood big shot's gonna give you what you want."

Vito berating Johnny Fontane.

This leads to the infamous horse head in the bed, which is creepier once you learn that they used a real horse head.  Tom Hagen goes to the producer, Jack Woltz, who shows off his pride and joy, an extremely expensive race horse, as Tom makes his request for Johnny to be given the part in his film, explaining that "Mr. Corleone is Johnny Fontane's godfather.  Now Italians regard that as a very close, a very sacred religious relationship."  Woltz denies his request, and Tom leaves, saying, "Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news at once."  Later that night, Woltz wakes up to find the head of his beloved race horse in his bed, and Johnny gets the part.

Nazorine, the baker who made Connie's wedding cake, visits about getting his daughter's fiancee, Enzo, citizenship, and Vito agrees, which pays off later.

An undertaker, Bonasera, also arrives to ask Vito to take revenge on the young men who brutally attacked his daughter, and received minimal punishment at trial.  Vito is visibly irritated with Bonasera:

Don Corleone: We have known each other many years, but this is the first time you've come to me for counsel or for help.  I can't remember the last time you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child.  But let's be frank here.  You never wanted my friendship.  And you feared to be in my debt.
Bonasera: I didn't want to get into trouble.
Don Corleone: I understand.  You found paradise in America.  You had a good trade, you made a good living.  The police protected you and there were courts of law.  So you didn't need a friend like me.  Now you come and say "Don Corleone, give me justice."  But you don't ask with respect.  You don't offer friendship.  You don't even think to call me "Godfather."  You come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder - for money.
Bonasera: I ask you for justice.
Don Corleone: That is not justice.  Your daughter is alive.
Bonasera: Let them suffer then as she suffers.   How much shall I pay you?
Don Corleone: Bonasera, Bonasera, what have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully?  If you'd come to me in friendship, this scum who ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day.  And if by some chance an honest man like yourself made enemies they would become my enemies.  And then, they would fear you.
Bonasera: Be my friend... Godfather. [Kisses Vito's ring]
Don Corleone: Good.  Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.  But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter's wedding day.  [Bonasera leaves]
Don Corleone to Tom Hagen: Give this job to Clemenza. I want reliable people, people who aren't going to be carried away. I mean, we're not murderers, in spite of what this undertaker thinks...

As a side note, the cat that Marlon Brando is holding in this iconic scene, which is the opening scene, was not planned.  It was a stray they grabbed at the last minute for him to hold.  I think the cat performed well for a beginner.  It didn't lose its composure in front of Brando, as the actor playing Luca Brasi did.  And it didn't pee on the desk.

Marlon Brando is fantastic.  He has a deep, gruff voice.  A controlled manner, that can switch from anger to affection in the blink of an eye.  Vito reprimands Carlo at one point, saying, "Never tell anyone outside the Family what you are thinking again," and Brando captures this.  He is enigmatic, charming, and brutal all at once.

Michael is depicted as the one son in the family not interested in being a part of the criminal underworld.  He is a decorated war veteran, attended college, and has kept his hands clean.  He is in a serious relationship with a nice young woman (Kay -Diane Keaton).  Don Corleone wants it this way.  As he later tells Michael, "I knew Santino was going to have to go through all this and Fredo... well, Fredo was... But I, I never wanted this for you.  I work my whole life, I don't apologize, to take care of my family.  And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots.  That's my life, I don't apologize for that.  But I always thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings.  Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something."

All this gives us a picture of the Corleone family, and the personality of the two main figures in the story: Don Vito Corleone, and Michael Corleone.

Following the events of the wedding, things move on -the Corleone family going about its business, Michael staying out of it.

"Luca Brazi sleeps with the fishes." -Clemenza

That is, until Vito is shot multiple times in an assassination attempt by gangster Virgil Sollozzo's men, after Vito respectfully declines Sollozzo's (Sollozzo is working with another family, the Tattaglias) request to help protect his heroine dealing business: "Signor Sollozzo, my no to you is final.  I want to congratulate you on your new business and I'm sure you'll do very well and good luck to you.  Especially since your interests don't conflict with mine.  Thank you."  Miraculously, the Don survives.  Sollozzo laments, "He's still alive.  They hit him with five shots and he's still alive!"  Sollozzo also kidnaps Tom Hagen in order to try to convince him to pressure Sonny into reconsidering his deal, instead of retaliating.  Sonny is the de facto leader of the family while the Don is in the hospital.  Tom returns with the message from Sollozzo.  Sonny receives a bulletproof vest belonging to Luca Brasi, who had been sent by Vito to learn more about Sollozzo and Tattaglia's operation, wrapped around a dead fish.  Clemenza, a high up in the Corleone organization, explains: "It's a Sicilian message.  It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."  It's a shame -I would have liked to have seen more of Luca (Tyler says if I had read the books, I wouldn't feel this way).  Sollozzo knew that Luca would have sought brutal revenge for Vito's death, and eliminated him before he would have the chance.  Tom tells him, "Even Sonny won't be able to call of Luca Brazi," but Sollozzo doesn't reveal they have already killed Luca until the delivery of the vest.

The attempted murder of Vito is the catalyst for Michael's transition into the criminal world.

Michael is very distraught when he finds out his father has been shot, and returns to the Corleone compound.  Tom is concerned that they keep Michael out of whatever they decide to do, telling Sonny, "Maybe we shouldn't get Mike mixed up in this too directly."  Michael wants to go to the hospital to check on his father that night:

Sonny: Where're you going?
Michael: To the City.
Sonny to Clemenza: Yeah?  Well, send somebody with him.
Michael: No, I'm just gonna go see Pop.
Sonny: I don't care, send some bodyguards with him.
Clemenza: He'll be all right.  Sollozzo knows he's a civilian.
Sonny: Yeah?  Well take care, all right?
Michael:Yes, sir. [Michael leaves]
Sonny: Send someone with him anyway...

Michael won't be a "civilian" much longer.

When Michael arrives, his father is all alone -his guards are gone, the police made them leave -and Michael instantly knows that Vito is in trouble.  Somebody is coming to finish him off.  He finds a nurse, and tells her they need to remove his father's tubes and move his bed, which she says no to.  "You know my father?" Michael asks.  "Men are coming here to kill him, now help me, please."

He shows amazing coolness in a dangerous situation, and quick, innovative thinking.  He gets his father moved to another room with the nurse's assistance.

Enzo and Michael pretend to be bodyguards.

A figure comes down the hallway, and it turns out to be Enzo, the young man Don Corleone had helped to stay in the country at the request of the baker, Nazorine.  He has come out of gratitude to visit Vito, bringing him flowers.  "You better get out of here, Enzo, there's gonna be trouble," Michael tells him, but Enzo protests: "If there is trouble, I stay here to help you.  For your father.  For your father."  So Michael tells Enzo to wait outside, and comforts his father, saying, "Just lie here, Pop.  I'll take care of you now.  I'm with you now.  I'm with you."  There are tears on Don Corleone's cheeks.  Michael meets Enzo outside, pulls up their collars and has Enzo put his hand in his pocket like he is holding gun, doing the same himself, making them look like bodyguards.  His quick thinking is enough to scare off the would-be assassins.  A crooked cop, McClusky, shows up, and is surprised to see them.  He was clearly the one responsible for sending the guards away to allow Vito to be killed, and he roughs up Michael, until Tom Hagen arrives with reinforcements. 

Michael is angry, and has moved even further into his father's world.  He has a plan to take out both McClusky and Sollozzo, who want to meet with him to negotiate peace between them and Sonny, knowing he's a "civilian."

Michael: They want to have a meeting with me, right?  It will be me, McClusky and Sollozzo.  Let's set the meeting.  We get our informants to find out where it's going to be held.  Now we insist that it be held in a public place, a bar or a restaurant where there'll be other people there so I'll feel safe.  They're going to search me when I first meet them, right?  So I can't have a weapon on me.  But if Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted for me, then I'll kill them both.
Sonny: What are you gonna do?  Nice college boy, didn't want to get mixed up in the family business.  Now you want to gun down a police captain.  Why?  Because he slapped you in the face a little?  What do you think this like the Army where you can shoot 'em from a mile away?  No you gotta get up like this and, badda-bing, you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. C'mere.  You're taking this very personal.  Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal.


But Michael won't be deterred.  "It's not personal, Sonny," he says, "It's strictly business."  He convinces Sonny to go through with his plan.

And does he ever go through with it.  He sits down to dinner with the two men, goes to use the restroom, finds the gun, walks back and shoots them both dead -blam blam blam.  For his own protection, his family hides him in Sicily, and he loses touch with Kay.

While in Sicily, he meets and marries a young woman named Apollonia.  Apollonia's father is violently angry when Michael first lays eyes on Apollonia and is instantly struck, but Michael calmly speaks to him, saying, "I apologize if I offended you.  I'm a stranger in this country and I meant no disrespect to you or your daughter.  I'm an American hiding in Sicily.  My name is Michael Corleone.  There are people who would pay a lot of money for that information, but then your daughter would lose a father, instead of gaining a husband."  The two are living happily in Sicily until Apollonia is killed by a car bomb intended for Michael.

In the meantime, back home, Sonny is acting as Don while Vito recovers, and the Five Families (mob organizations) are at war.  Sonny is an unpredictable, hot-headed leader, with a "famous temper."  He becomes enraged when he discovers that his brother-in-law, Carlo, is beating his sister.  He's a good big brother, and very protective of her.  He goes to Carlo and beats the crap out of him, telling him "You touch my sister again, I'll kill you."

Sonny is enraged when Carlo beats up Connie.

Not long after, Sonny is killed, in a set-up in which Carlo was involved.  Tom reluctantly breaks the news to Vito: "They shot Sonny on the causeway.  He's dead."  Vito responds, "I want no inquiries made.  I want no acts of vengeance.  I want you to arrange a meeting with the heads of the Five Families.  This war stops now."  He calls in his favor from Bonasera, showing him Sonny's destroyed face.  He tells Bonasera, "I want you to use all your powers, and all your skills. I don't want his mother to see him this way...Look how they massacred my boy..."

Vito meets with the Five Families, and negotiates a peace: "You talk about vengeance.  Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you or my boy to me?  I forgo the vengeance of my son.  But my youngest son had to leave this country because of this Sollozzo business.  So now I have to make arrangements to bring him back safely cleared of all these false charges.  But I'm a superstitious man.  And if some unlucky accident should befall him, if he should be shot in the head by a police officer, or if should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning...then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room... and that, I do not forgive.  But, that aside, let say that I swear, on the souls of my grandchildren, that I will not be the one to break the peace we have made here today."

Peace made, Michael returns to the country and begins to take charge of the family.  Fredo is out of the question, not being competent enough.  Vito gradually steps down, as Michael increasingly takes on the role of Don.  Vito, while saddened that Michael has been pulled into the business, knows that Michael is the most capable.  He tells Tom: "I thought Santino was a bad Don, rest in peace.  Michael has all my confidence..."

Michael goes to Las Vegas, where Fredo is working at a casino owned by an associate, Moe Greene, and says that he plans to buy the casino.  Mike questions this, saying, "Hey, Mike, are you sure about that?  I mean, Moe, loves the business.  He never said anything to me about sellin'."  Michael mirrors his father, replying, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."  Later, he rebukes Fredo for siding with Moe, when Moe resists selling: "Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you.  But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again.  Ever."

After settling in, Michael contacts Kay, who hasn't heard from him in years, and tells her he's been busy with the family business:

Michael: I'm working for my father now.  He's been sick, very sick.
Kay: But you're not like him, Michael.  I thought you weren't going to become a man like your father.  That's what you told me.
Michael: My father's no different than any other powerful man – any man who's responsible for other people, like a senator or a president.
Kay: You know how naive you sound?
Michael:Why?
Kay: Senators and presidents don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh, who's being naive, Kay?  Kay, my father's way of doing things is over, it's finished.  Even he knows that. I mean, in five years, the Corleone Family is going to be completely legitimate.  Trust me.  That's all I can tell you about my business

He convinces Kay of his good intentions, and they eventually get married and have a son.


While playing with Michael's son in the garden, Vito dies.  The last piece of advice he had given to Michael was this: "So, Barzini will move against you first.  He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety.  And at that meeting, you'll be assassinated."  He tells Michael, "Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he's the traitor.  Don't forget that."  This turns out to be live-saving advice.  As Vito had said, someone Michael trusts, a man named Tessio, a high up in their organization and old friend, suggests the meeting.


On the day of the christening of Connie's new son, as Michael is being made Godfather, his men carry out a series of assassinations.  They take out Tessio, Moe Greene, and all the heads of the other crime families.


The last loose end is Carlo, who assisted in Sonny's death.  Michael approaches him:

Michael: You have to answer for Santino, Carlo.  You fingered Sonny for the Barzini people.
Carlo: Mike, you got it all wrong.
Michael: Ah, that little farce you played with my sister.  You think that would fool a Corleone?
Carlo: Mike, I'm innocent.  I swear on the kids.
Michael: Sit down.
Carlo: Please don't do this to me, Mike.  Please don't.
Michael: Barzini is dead.  So is Phillip Tattaglia.  Moe Greene.  Stracci.  Cuneo.  Today I settled all family business so don't tell me that you're innocent.  Admit what you did. ..Get him a drink.  Don't be afraid, Carlo.  Come on, you think I'd make my sister a widow?  I'm Godfather to your son.  Go ahead. Drink.  Drink.  No, you're out of the family business, that's your punishment.  You're finished.  I'm putting you on a plane to Vegas.  Tom?  I want you to stay there, you understand?  Only don't tell me that you're innocent.  Because it insults my intelligence and it makes me very angry.  Now, who approached you first?  Barzini or Tattaglia?
Carlo: It was Barzini.
Michael: Good.  There's a car outside that will take you to the airport.  I'll call your wife and tell her what flight you're on.
Carlo: Listen, Mike...
Michael: Go on. Get out of my sight.

But there is no way Carlo is getting away with Sonny's murder.  No way.  Now that he has admitted to his involvement, Clemenza finishes him off.

Connie is hysterical when she finds out Carlo is dead (not sure why, the guy was an abusive, cheating jerk):

Connie: You killed my husband!  You waited until our father died so nobody could stop you and you killed him!  You killed him!  You blamed him for Sonny, you always did, everybody did.  But you never thought about me.  You never gave a dam about me.   What am I going to do now?
Kay: Connie...
Connie: Why do you think he kept Carlo at the mall?  All the time he knew he was going to kill him.  And then he stood Godfather to our baby.  You think you know your husband?  You know how many men he had killed!  Read the papers.  Read the papers!  That's your husband!
Michael: Take her upstairs.  Get her a doctor...She's hysterical.
Kay: Is it true?
Michael: Don't ask me about my business, Kay.
Kay: Is it true?
Michael: Don't ask me about my business...
Kay: No...
Michael: ENOUGH!  All right. This one time I'll let you ask me about my affairs.
Kay: Is it true?  Is it?
Michael: No. Kay: I guess we both need a drink, huh?




As Kay goes to get them a drink, looking relieved, Clemenza and other associates walk into Michael's office.  Clemenza kisses his hand, saying "Don Corleono," and the door is shut on Kay.

A flawless ending, with the story coming full circle.  Michael, the son that wanted nothing to do with the family business, is now the Godfather.