The Shining (1980)

The Shining (1980)


"Heeere's Johnny!"

In honor of Halloween, I have decided to review a horror film.

The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall (She is one of the most peculiar looking actresses I have ever seen, with stringy black hair, googly eyes and big teeth, but she is definitely a talent.), did not win Best Picture for 1980.  Ordinary People won (review will come later).  Some argue that Raging Bull should have won, but I haven't been able to watch it yet.  It's rated R, so I have to wait for the kids to go to sleep, and once the kids are finally in bed Tyler wants to go to sleep, so it's just sitting there in its Netflix case, waiting for the day it can at last be viewed.

So until I do manage to watch Raging Bull, I can't really say which movie deserved the Oscar.  That being said, I am going to say that The Shining should have won over Ordinary People.  The Shining is one of the best horror films out there, a classic, and deserved an Oscar.  I guess it wasn't appreciated in its time, because it wasn't even nominated, but I think nowadays people appreciate how awesome it is.

1997 TV miniseries.

The movie was based on the book by Stephen King, but differs greatly from the book (I couldn't get through much of the book, so I can't quite say by how much), much to the chagrin of King.  He didn't like the movie at all when it came out, and made his own TV version in 1997 that was closer to the book.  His version has its merits, but can't compete with the original.  I do understand that he thought that Jack Torrance, the main character and ultimately the villain, should have started out normal, a la Norman Bates (Jack Nicholson is definitely spooky right from the beginning), and then become crazy because of the supernatural impact of the Overlook Hotel.  That's how he wrote it, with the Overlook Hotel itself acting as the villain, and it's an interesting idea.  But I think Kubrick's take works.

Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, who is a former teacher trying to write a book.  He is hired to look after the grand and expansive Overlook Hotel during the winter, alone with his wife and young son.  We find out through his wife, Wendy, that he used to have a drinking problem, but quit after dislocating their son, Danny's, arm in a fit of drunken rage.  Wendy seems to be pretty much the perfect wife and mother.  She is supportive, caring, upbeat, and amiable.  She brings her husband breakfast in bed, entertains Danny, takes an interest in Jack's work, and even takes over Jack's caretaker duties so that he can focus on his writing.

Unfortunately for Wendy, Jack, already a bit on the creepy side (Jack Nicholson plays crazy so well), begins to get even stranger as soon as they arrive at the Overlook.  He loves the Overlook at first sight, and its influence on him is immediately palpable.

The Overlook is really like a character in its own right.  It appears to be a massive, beautiful hotel catering to the wealthy, and it apparently does great business during the spring and summer months, but it has an evil side that becomes ever more obvious.  It is mentioned early on that the Overlook was built on an old Indian burial ground, and that the Indians had fought to try to prevent its construction.  It is also mentioned to Jack by the manager, when he interviews for the caretaker position, that some years before, a prior caretaker, Mr. Grady, "came up here with his wife and two little girls...he had a good employment record, good references, and from what I've been told he seemed like a completely normal individual.  But at some point during the winter, he must have suffered some kind of a complete mental breakdown.  He ran a muck and killed his family with an axe.  Stacked them neatly in one of the rooms in the West wing and then he, he put both barrels of a shot gun in his mouth.  Police thought that it was what the old-timers used to call cabin fever, a kinda claustrophobic reaction that can occur when people are shut in together over long periods of time."  Clearly, the Overlook has a spooky history.

Danny, Wendy and Jack's son, is revealed to have special powers.  He has an "imaginary friend" that is not so imaginary, named Tony, described by Danny as "a little boy that lives in my mouth."  Danny talks to Tony, and when Tony talks back, Danny moves his finger and speaks in a high, eerie voice.  Tony shows Danny things.  He knows things that he shouldn't know.  For example, he tells Danny that his dad was hired for the job and is about to call his mom and tell her, and this comes true moments later.  Tony is scared of the Overlook, and Danny insists on knowing why, so Tony shows him images of blood rushing through elevator doors, and the two girls that were murdered -visions so terrifying that Danny passes out.

When Wendy, Danny, and Jack first arrive at the Overlook, and are given the grand tour, Dick Hallorann (played by Scatman Crothers, who also starred with Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest), the chef, reveals to Danny that he also has special psychic powers, which he calls "Shining."  When asked about the Overlook, Hallorann tries to reassure him, but when Danny questions him about a room in the hotel, Room 237, Hallorann's friendly demeanor changes -he tenses up with fear:

Danny: Mr. Hallorann, are you scared of this place?
Hallorann: No.  Scared - there's nothin' here.  It's just that, you know, some places are like people.  Some "shine" and some don't.  I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has somethin' almost like "shining."
Danny: Is there something bad here?
Hallorann: Well, you know, Doc, when something happens, you can leave a trace of itself behind.  Say like, if someone burns toast.  Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind.  Not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who "shine" can see.  Just like they can see things that haven't happened yet.  Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago.  I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years.
And not all of 'em was good.
Danny: What about Room 237?
Hallorann: Room 237?
Danny: You're scared of Room 237, ain't ya?
Hallorann: No I ain't.
Danny: Mr. Hallorann.  What is in Room 237?
Hallorann: Nothin'.  There ain't nothin' in Room
237.  But you ain't got no business goin' in there anyway. So stay out.  You understand?  Stay out.

Soon, the hotel staff have left, and the Torrance family is left alone in the isolated hotel.



At first, Danny enjoys playing in all the open space, and Wendy seems to be having a good time, but Jack's increasingly strange behavior starts to worry her.  She goes to check on him to see how his writing is going, and he completely loses his temper with her:

Wendy: Hi, hun!  Get a lot written today?
Jack: Yes.
Wendy: Hey!  Weather forecast said it's gonna snow tonight!
Jack: What do you want me to do about it?
Wendy: Aw, come on, hun.  Don't be so grouchy.
Jack: I'm not being grouchy.  I just want to finish my work.
Wendy: Okay, I understand.  I'll come back later on with a couple of sandwiches for ya, and maybe you'll let me read something then.
Jack: Wendy, let me explain something to you.  Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration.  You're distracting me.  And it will then take me time to get back to where I was.  You understand?
Wendy: Yeah.
Jack: Now, we're going to make a new rule.  When you come in here and you hear me typing or whether you don't hear me typing, or whatever the fuck you hear me doing; when I'm in here, it means that I am working, that means don't come in.  Now, do you think
you can handle that?
Wendy: Yeah.
Jack: Good.  Now why don't you start right now and get the fuck out of here?  Hm?

Danny's visions become worse and more frequent.  Images of blood, the two girls, and the murder that took place continue to plague him.

He also notices the effect the hotel is having on his father.  He enters Jack's room at one point to find his dad sitting on his bed, staring into space.  When Danny addresses him, he responds in a bizarre, disturbingly hollow voice:


Danny: Dad?
Jack: Yes?
Danny: Do you like this hotel?
Jack: Yes.  I do.  I love it.  Don't you?
Danny: I guess so.
Jack: Good.  I want you to like it here.  I wish we could stay here forever... and ever... and ever.

Jack also begins to see strange and frightening things around the hotel.  He finds a young, nude woman in Room 237, and kisses her, only to have her transform into the rotting corpse of an old woman cackling at him.  He backs out of the room in terror.  Jack also has a terrible nightmare, where he apparently reenacts the grisly murder committed by Grady: "I dreamed that I, that I killed you and Danny.  But I didn't just kill ya.  I cut you up in little pieces.  Oh my God.  I must be losing my mind."

After Wendy accuses Jack of harming Danny, and they get in a fight, Jack makes a trip to the grand ballroom.  He enters to find the room to find a bartender.  Without looking at all surprised, he goes to the bar and orders a drink.  Later, he returns to find the ballroom full of people, and chats with a waiter that has spilled a drink on him.  The waiter later introduces himself as Delbert Grady, the same last name as the man who had murdered his wife and children years before:

Jack: Mr. Grady, you were the caretaker here.
Grady: I'm sorry to differ with you sir, but you are the caretaker.  You've always been the caretaker.  I should know, sir.: I've always been here.

Danny eventually reveals to Wendy that it was an old woman in Room 237 that had caused his injuries, and Wendy rushes to find Jack to tell him.  What she finds instead terrifies her.  Next to his typewriter is a large stack of the papers -the book Jack has been working on all this time.  Written across every page are the words: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," over and over.  Eyes widening in horror, Wendy jumps when Jack walks in and catches her.  He walks toward her menacingly, and she wields a baseball bat at him, warning him to stay away from her in terror:

Jack: How do you like it?
Wendy: Jack!
Jack: How do you like it?  What are you doing down here?
Wendy: I just wanted to talk to you.
Jack: Okay, let's talk.  What do you wanna talk
about?
Wendy: I can't really remember.
Jack: You can't remember... Maybe it was about... Danny?  Maybe it was about him.  I think we should discuss Danny.
I think we should discuss what should be done with him.  What should be done with him?
Wendy: I don't know.
Jack: I don't think that's true.  I think you have some very definite ideas about what should be done with Danny and I'd like to know what they are.
Wendy: Well, I think... maybe... he should be taken to a doctor.
Jack: You think "maybe" he should be taken to a doctor?
Wendy: Yes.
Jack: When do you think "maybe" he should be taken to a doctor?
Wendy: As soon as possible.
Jack, in a mocking voice: As soon as possible.
Wendy: Jack! What are... you...
Jack: You think his health might be at stake.
Wendy: Y-Yes!
Jack: You are concerned about him.
Wendy: Yes!
Jack: And are you concerned about me?
Wendy: Of course I am!
Jack: Of course you are!  Have you ever thought about my responsibilities?
Wendy: Oh Jack, what are you talking about?
Jack: Have you ever had a single moment's thought about my responsibilities?   Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers?  Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the Overlook Hotel until May the First.  Does it matter to you at all that the owners have placed their complete confidence and trust in me, and that I have signed a letter of agreement, a contract, in which I have accepted that responsibility?  Do you have the slightest idea, what a moral and ethical principal is, do you?  Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future, if I were to fail to live up to my responsibilities?  Has it ever occurred to you?  Has it?
Wendy: Stay away from me!
Jack: Why?

Wendy: I just wanna go back to my room!
Jack: Why?
Wendy: Well, I'm very confused, and I just need time to think things over!
Jack: You've had your whole fucking life to think things over, what good's a few minutes more gonna do you now?
Wendy: Please!  Don't hurt me!
Jack: I'm not gonna hurt you.
Wendy: Stay away from me!
Jack: Wendy?  Darling?  Light, of my life.  I'm not gonna hurt ya.  You didn't let me finish my sentence.  I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya.  I'm just going to bash your brains in.
Jack: Gonna bash 'em right the fuck in!  Ha ha ha.
Wendy: Stay away from me!  Don't hurt me!
Jack: I'm not gonna hurt ya...
Wendy: Stay away!  Stop it!
Jack: Stop swingin' the bat.  Put the bat down, Wendy.  Wendy?  Give me the bat...

As he continues to approach, she strikes him unconscious, and then locks him in the walk-in freezer with the temperature turned up.  She tries to use the radio to call for help, but Jack had disassembled it.  The phones are down, and Jack has even disabled the Snow Cat, the only way off the mountain in the heavy snow: "Wendy?  You have a biiiig surprise coming to you.  You're not going anywhere.  Go check out the Snow Cat and the radio and you'll see what I mean.  Go check it out."  To add to Wendy's problems, Danny is acting peculiar, and scaring her.  He is talking in Tony's voice, saying that Danny has left: "Danny isn't here, Mrs. Torrance."

Jack is released from the walk-in freezer by Grady, who tells him that he needs to take care of his wife:

Grady: I feel you will have to deal with this matter in the harshest possible way, Mr. Torrance.
Jack: There's nothing I look forward to with greater pleasure, Mr. Grady.



Meanwhile, Wendy wakes up to Danny standing by her bed, holding a knife and chanting "Redrum!  Redrum!" repeatedly in a strange voice.  She calms him down, and his voice returns to normal, just before she notices the word Redrum written in lipstick on wall, reflected in the mirror to spell "Murder."

At that moment, Jack appears, attempting to break down the door with an axe, spouting the famous improvised "Heeere's Johnny!" line.  Wendy sends Danny out the window to freedom, but is trapped herself, screaming in terror and trying to ward Jack off with a knife.  I've got to hand it to Wendy -amidst all this crazy, scary chaos, she is pretty tough.  She fights back.  Grady observes to Jack, as he sits locked in the freezer, "Your wife appears to be stronger than we imagined, Mr. Torrance.   Somewhat more... resourceful.  She seems to have got the better of you."

Danny, in his fright, had sent a message to Hallorann using his powers, to tell him they're in trouble.  Hallorann, renting a Snow Cat, has made his way to the Overlook, and his arrival distracts Jack.  He leaves Wendy alone in order to kill Hallorann, allowing her to get outside.  This is the one plot point I did not like in the movie.  I get that perhaps Kubrick thought it would make Jack more frightening if he actually committed a murder, but Hallorann's long voyage to help them seems completely pointless, considering he is instantly killed on arrival.  He does, however, provide the Snow Cat that Wendy and Danny use to escape, after Danny flees from his father through the sprawling outdoor hedge maze, Jack shouting, "Danny!  I'm coming!  You can't get away!  I'm right behind you!" as he pursues him.  I like that in the book Hallorann survives.



Jack is shown, in the morning, to have frozen to death in the maze, and a picture of the Overlook on the wall from years before shows Jack in the picture, smiling.  It's like Jack said earlier: "I love it, I really do.  I've never been this happy or comfortable anywhere...I fell in love with it right away.  When I came up here for my interview, it was as though I had been here before.  I mean, we all have moments of déjà vu, but this was ridiculous.  It was almost as though I knew what was going to be around every corner."

We never get a clear explanation for what is happening at the Overlook.  We get a reference to an Indian burial ground, but what's really going on remains a mystery.  Who is Jack?  Why is he drawn to the Overlook?  We'll never know.

Spooky from start to finish, with lots of iconic lines and moments.

And in honor of Tyler...

"The Simpsons" Treehouse of Horror V (1994)

Homer: No TV and no beer make Homer something, something.
Marge: Go crazy?
Homer: Don't mind if I do!
 
 

1976 Rocky

1976 Rocky


"Yo, Adrian!"

Rocky is your quintessential underdog story.  Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a tough guy with a heart of gold (similar to Marlon Brando's character in On the Waterfront) -not especially bright, but very likeable.  He's a downtrodden, 30 year old boxer who works as a low level enforcer for a loan shark (something he's not great at, it seems, because he doesn't want to hurt anybody).  He is still winning in the ring, but in shoddy matches against nobodies, and his locker at the training gym has just been given away (the trainer, Mickey, thinks Rocky's boxing career is over): "You put my stuff on skid row?  I been in that locker six years; you put my stuff in a bag on skid row?"  Rocky demands to know why Mickey treats him so badly:

Mickey: You wanna know?
Rocky: I wanna know!
Mickey: Because you had the talent to become a good fighter, and instead of that you became a leg-breaker for some cheap, second-rate loan shark.
Rocky: It's a living.
Mickey: It's a waste of life!

Rocky is very attracted to his friend Paulie's sister, Adrien, but she doesn't give him the time of day -not because she isn't interested, but because she is painfully shy, and can barely say a word to him, no matter how hard he tries.

Watching him in the beginning makes you think, "Gosh, this guy really needs a break."

Well, he certainly gets one.  Heavyweight champion Apollo Creed is looking for a nobody from Philadelphia to fight for a PR story -giving the little guy a chance to win big.  He picks Rocky out of a book based solely on his nickname: "This is what I'm looking for.  'The Italian Stallion.'...Look, it's the name, man.  'The Italian Stallion.'  The media'll eat it up.  Now who discovered America?  An Italian, right?  What would be better than to get it on with one of his descendants...Southpaw, nuthin'.  I'll drop him in three.  APOLLO CREED MEETS THE ITALIAN STALLION.  Sounds like a damn monster movie."  A total fluke, based on nothing more than a nickname Rocky picked at at dinner one night:

Jergens (Representative for Apollo): Tell me Rocky, you've got any representation of a manager?
Rocky: No just me.
Jergens: Rocky I've got a proposition I'd like to make to you.
Rocky: Sparring?
Jergens: I beg your pardon?
Rocky: Well I'm interested.  I know you're looking for sparring partners and I just want to say I'm very available you know.
Jergens: I'm sure you are.
Rocky: Absolutely.  Sparring with the champ would be an honor and you know what, Mr. Jergens?
Jergens: What?
Rocky: I wouldn't take no cheap shots either.  I'd be a really good sparring partner.
Jergens: You don't understand me, Rocky.  My proposition is this.  Would you be interested in fighting Apollo Creed for the World Heavyweight Championship?
Rocky: No.
Jergens: Listen Rocky, Apollo's seen you fight.  He likes you and he wants to fight you.
Rocky: It's just that you see I fight in clubs you know.  I'm really a ham and egger and this guy's the best.  It wouldn't be such a good fight.  Thank you very much though, I appreciate it.
Jergens: Rocky, do you believe that America is the land of opportunity?
Rocky: Yes.
Jergens: Apollo Creed does.  He's going to prove it to the whole world by giving an unknown a shot at the title and that unknown is you.  He picked you Rocky.  Rocky it's the chance of a lifetime.  You can't pass it by.  What do you say?


Mickey shows up at his house to try to convince him that he should let him act as his manager, and at first Rocky turns down his appeals, losing his temper because of the way he feels Mickey's treated him in the past: "I needed your help about ten years ago, right?  Ten years ago, ya never helped me none.  You didn't care...I asked, but you never heard nothin'...What about my prime, Mick?  At least you had a prime!  I had no prime, I've had nothin'....And you wanna be ringside and see it, do ya?  Ya wanna help me out?...Go on, fight the champ.  Yeah, I'll fight 'im - I'll get my face kicked in."  It almost made me cry when Mickey tries to interject how old he is, and you know he really wants one more chance to train a great fighter, knowing he probably doesn't have much time left, or too many more chances.  Deflated, Mickey slowly trudges down the stairs as Rocky continues to rant, but Rocky eventually stops and runs down the street after him to stop him.  Having gotten the pent up anger out of his system -clearly it had been building up for a long time -he gladly accepts Mickey as his manager, and they begin training.  Cue Rocky theme song and training montage.




At the same time, things with Adrian quickly start to improve.  I must say, Rocky contains one of the most interesting and bizarre courtships I've ever witnessed.  Firstly, I don't really understand Adrian's appeal.  Setting aside the fact that she's obviously not a bombshell (that just makes Rocky sweet, and shows he's not shallow), she completely blows him off constantly, showing zero interest in him.  He is adorable, stopping by her pet shop twice a day to talk to her and tell her jokes (even practicing what he's going to say in advance), and she barely acknowledges his existence.  On their first date, she has no idea that he is even coming over, and basically gets screamed at by her terrible brother, Paulie, until she finally leaves with Rocky, after he coaxes her out of her bedroom: "Yo, Adrian, it's me, Rocky... I don't know what to say, 'cause I ain't never talked to no door before, ya know...[Walks away to talk to Paulie and then returns to her door].  Yo, Adrian, you know, it's Rocky again, you know.  Listen, uh, I know you ain't too happy at this moment, ya know.  But could ya do me a favor, ya know, I ain't got nobody to spend Thanksgiving with, ya know? S o, uh, how about maybe you and I, I mean, we'll go out together and get somethin' to eat, I don't know, maybe laugh a little bit, who knows, ya know?"  Do you really want to go on a date with a girl that is being forced to go out with you?

Well, Rocky must have seen something in her, because once he wins her over, which he does pretty quickly, she is totally into him.  He takes her ice-skating (Paulie had told him that she likes to skate), bribing the man at the rink to let them in after hours, and running along side her because he doesn't want to wear skates.  Afterwards, he convinces her to go up to his apartment, in spite of her extreme reluctance.  She is visibly nervous:

Rocky: What's the matter?  Ya don't like the room, do ya?
Adrian: It's fine.
Rocky: It's only temporary.
Adrian: It's not that -
Rocky: What's the problem?  You don't like me -Don't like the turtles -What's the problem?
Adrian: I don't think I belong here.
Rocky: It's okay.
Adrian: I don't belong here.
Rocky: Well, you know, it's okay, 'cause you're my guest.
Adrian: I don't know you well enough.  I've never been in a man's apartment alone.
Rocky: Well, they're all the same, you know?
Adrian: I'm not sure I know you well enough -I don't feel comfortable.
Rocky: Yo, Adrian, you know I ain't so comfortable either.
Adrian: I should go.
Rocky: Don't go, please.  Don't go.  Don't go.  Do me a favor?
Adrian: What?
Rocky: Take off these glasses.  You have nice eyes, you know? Do me another favor?  Why don't you take off that hat?  I always knew you was pretty. 
Adrian: Don't tease me.
Rocky: I'm not teasing ya.  I ain't teasing you.  I just wanna...I wanna kiss you.  Ya don't have to kiss me back if you don't want, but I wanna kiss you.

When Rocky kisses her, Adrian is instantly swept off her feet.  From that moment on, they are a couple, and Adrian's confidence gradually begins to build.  It seems that she's been told she's ugly and a loser for so long that she pretty much has zero self-confidence, and probably initially took Rocky's overtures as some form of him mocking her.  They are actually a really cute, though unlikely, couple.  As Rocky says, "She's got gaps, I got gaps.  Together, we fill gaps. I dunno."



One of Rocky's dominant characteristics is his extreme perseverance against all odds when something matters to him.  This is true both in his personal life (with Adrian), and in the ring.  It is a forgone conclusion that Rocky will be clobbered by Apollo.  Apollo is a champion, and Rocky is a nobody with five weeks to train.  But Rocky is determined to make a stand: "Who am I kiddin'?  I ain't even in the guy's league...It don't matter, 'cause I was nobody before...I was nobody.  That don't matter either, ya know...It really don't matter if I lose this fight.  It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either.  'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance.  Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed.  And if I can go that distance, ya see, and that bell rings, ya know, and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, ya see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."

There are a couple of moments in the movie that came about by accident, because of errors made by the prop department, that Stallone worked into the script, and these scenes work really well.  They work as subtle reminders that nobody really takes Rocky seriously..  In one, Rocky checks out a poster of himself, and observes, "Mr. Jergens, the poster's wrong."  "What do ya mean?" Jergens asks.  "Well, I'm wearin' white pants with a red stripe."  In the poster, he has red pants with white stripes.  Jergens answers, "It doesn't really matter, does it?  I'm sure you're gonna give us a great show."  In another, before the match, he points out his robe being too big to Adrien.  It helps paint the picture of how nobody really cared that much about him -he was just a ticket for Apollo to get some good publicity, and nobody thought he had a chance.




Rocky doesn't win the fight -he narrowly loses by a split decision (I know what this means now -I have watched enough boxing movies to understand some lingo!) -but he does what he came to do: he goes the distance.  He is still standing at the end, amazing everybody.  Nobody had ever come that close to defeating Apollo before.  As stunned reporters try to interview him, he famously ignores all around him and calls out for Adrien, declaring his love for her when she finally makes her way through the crowd to him.

A great movie -one of the best sports movies of all time, and a sweet romantic movie to boot.  Why are boxing movies always the best?

I also wanted to mention that, as someone with young kids, I appreciate that this movie managed to be gritty without being overly violent or containing any swear words.  It's an adult movie that I can actually watch with the kids around, much like On the Waterfront.


Words of Wisdom from Rocky Balboa:

Ya gotta be a moron to wanna be a fighter, ya know.  I mean, it's a racket where you're almost guaranteed to end up a bum. -Rocky

You wanna dance, you gotta pay the band, you understand?  If you wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man. -Rocky

Lockers are bad anyway.  After a while, people get the combination.  I must have had twenty bucks taken out of there in the past six years, ya know.  Don't sound like much, but it adds up, ya know.  Doesn't matter, who cares? -Rocky

If you can make money off my name, make it, OK? -Rocky

That's the way guys are.  They laugh when ya talk dirty.  They think you're cute.  But after awhile, you get a reputation and that's it.  You get no respect. Ya understand? Ya get no respect. I gotta use a bad word - WHORE...You don't really have to be one, you just act like one and that's it. They don't remember you, they remember the rep...You hang out with nice people, you get nice friends, ya understand? You hang out with smart people, you get smart friends. You hang out with yo-yo's, you get yo-yo friends. You see, simple mathematics. -Rocky

You don't talk dirty about your sister! -Rocky

Don't smoke that. It makes your breath like garbage. -Rocky

Do you like having a good time? Then you need a good watch! -Rocky II

Y'know, sometimes charity really hurts. -Rocky III

Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are!  -Rocky III

Friends don't owe! They do because they wanna do. -Rocky III

During this fight, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if I'ze can change, and youze can change, everybody can change!   -Rocky IV

Going in one more round when you don't think you can - that's what makes all the difference in your life.  -Rocky IV

Nature's smarter than people think... -Rocky V

It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!... You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind, that's life. The only thing I'm asking you guys to leave on the table... is what's right. -Rocky Balboa

You know, I think you try harder when you're scared... That's when it's worked best for me. -Rocky Balboa

The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! -Rocky Balboa

You gotta think like you think. -Rocky Balboa

Don't forget to visit your mother.  -Rocky Balboa

I think every guy should at one time try to name an animal or something. -Rocky Balboa

1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

"I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this."

Jack Nicholson is pretty much always great.  This was an interesting movie, with good acting.

Nicholson is Mac McMurphy, a man pretending to be crazy so that he can serve out a criminal sentence in what he assumes will be a cushier situation -the sanatorium.

He gets to know the other patients, and starts to shake things up.

The patients are dominated by a mean old witch of a nurse, Nurse Ratched.  She seems to get off on controlling people, with no real empathy for her patients.

When she refuses to let the patients watch the World Series, for no particular reason, Mac declares war on her:

Mac: Nurse Ratched, Nurse Ratched!  The Chief voted!  Now will you please turn on the television set?
Nurse Ratched: Mr. McMurphy, the meeting was adjourned and the vote was closed.
Mac: But the vote was 10 to 8.  The Chief, he's got his hand up!  Look!
Nurse Ratched: No, Mr. McMurphy.  When the meeting was adjourned, the vote was 9 to 9.
Mac: Aw come on, you're not gonna say that now!  You're not gonna say that now!  You're gonna pull that hen house shit?  Now when the vote... the Chief just voted - it was 10 to 9. Now I want that television set turned on right now!

Mac tells his friends, "In one week, I can put a bug so far up her ass, she don't know whether to shit or wind her wristwatch."  He starts to rebel against her, inspiring hope in his new friends.  He even manages to bust a group of the patients out for a day of fishing.  His antics lead to him being put through Shock Therapy, along with a colossal Native American patient named Chief, who initially pretends to be basically catatonic, but eventually reveals to Mac that he is faking it.

Mac finally decides he needs to escape, and sneaks in a couple of women he knows and a bunch of liquor for a wild going away party.  He and his cohorts have a fantastic time, until they all fall asleep.  In the morning, the orderlies round them up, and Nurse Ratched catches Billy, a nervous young patient, with one of the women.  Billy finally gets the courage to stand up to her, but when she threatens to tell his mother what he has done, he panics:

Nurse Ratched: Aren't you ashamed?
Billy: No, I'm not.
Nurse Ratched: You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this.
Billy: Um, um, well, y-y-y-you d-d-d-don't have to t-t-t-tell her, Miss Ratched.
Nurse Ratched: I don't have to tell her?  Your mother and I are old friends.  You know that.
Billy: P-p-p-please d-d-don't tell my m-m-m-mother.

When she coldly refuses to relent, he violently kills himself.

Mac is so infuriated that he attacks Nurse Ratched, and tries to strangle her.  He is taken away, and rumors about what's become of him circle the ward, until he is suddenly returned.

Chief goes to see him, ready for them to escape together, only to find Mac has been lobotomized:

Chief: Mac... they said you escaped.  I knew you wouldn't leave without me.  I was waiting for you.  Now we can make it, Mac; I feel big as a damn mountain....Oh, no...I'm not goin' without you, Mac. I wouldn't leave you this way... You're coming with me...Let's go.

Realizing that the Mac he knew is gone, leaving a mere shell behind, he smothers him to death, and manages to escape to freedom.

It's a hard movie to watch.  It's emotionally draining, and deals with very painful subject matter, but it's well done and the performances are great.

When Mac gets lobotomized at the end, I thought, "they couldn't possibly have still been doing lobotomies then," so I looked it up, and yup, they did.  Lobotomies had finally ceased by the late 1970s, and the movie took place in 1963.  Barbaric.

1974 The Godfather, Part II

1974 The Godfather, Part II


"There are many things my father taught me here in this room.  He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

Another great one.  Again, criminal that Al Pacino didn't win.  This is one of the best performances I have ever seen.

The movie focuses on Michael's leadership of the Corleone family, dealing with rival gangster, Hyman Roth (stupid first name, sorry), facing a Senate committee trying to prove that Michael is a criminal, and dealing with issues within his family (specifically his wife, Kay, his sister, Connie, and his brother, Fredo).

It is interspersed with scenes showing a young Vito Corleone (played as an adult by Robert DeNiro, who does a terrific job capturing the essence of Vito Corleone as originated by Marlon Brando).  It is revealed that Vito's last name was actually Andolini, and was changed to his place of birth, Corleone, when he arrived in New York.

Robert DeNiro as Vito Corleone.

The movie begins with Vito's father's murder in Sicily, and his subsequent flight to America, then shows his gradual descent into the criminal world, his ascent within its ranks, and his eventual revenge against his father's murderer ("My father's name was Antonio Andolini... and this is for you," Vito says, before brutally stabbing Don Ciccio dead).

There are two parts of the movie that have continuously confused me.

Frank Pentangeli recanting his statements against Michael Corleone.

One: When Pentangeli is supposed to testify against Michael, Michael arrives with Pentangeli's brother from Sicily, and the brother's appearance causes Pentangeli to change his mind about revealing the truth about the Corleone family:

Committee Chairman: We have here, finally, a witness that will further testify to Michael Corleone's rule over a criminal empire that controls all of the gambling in this country and perhaps in other countries.  This witness has had no buffer between himself and Michael Corleone.  He can corroborate our charges on enough counts for this committee to recommend a charge of perjury against Michael Corleone.  Senator.
Senator: Thank you, Chairman.  Mr. Pentangeli -Mr. Pentangeli, were you a member of the Corleone family?  Did you serve under Caporegime Peter Clemenza, under Vito Corleone -also known as "The Godfather?"
Pentangeli: I never knew no Godfather.  I have my own family, Senator.
Senator: Mr. Pentangeli, you are -you are contradicting a sworn statement you'd previously made to me and signed.  I ask you again. sir -- here and now under oath, were you at any time a member of a crime organization headed by Michael Corleone?
Pentangeli: I don't know nothing about that…Oh!  I was in the olive oil business with his father, but that was a long time ago, that's all.
Committee Chairman: We have a sworn affidavit.  We have it.  Your sworn affidavit that you murdered on the orders of Michael Corleone.  Do you deny that confession,?  And do you realize what will happen as a result of your denial?
Pentangeli: Look, the FBI guys, they promised me a deal.  So, so I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone 'cause that's what they wanted.  But it was all lies.  Uh, everything.  And they kept saying Michael Corleone did this and Michael Corleone did that.  So, I said yeah sure -- why not?
Senator #2: Mr. Corleone, would you kindly identify for the committee the gentleman sitting to your left?
Tom Hagen: I can answer that.  His name is Vincenzo Pentangeli.
Senator #2: Is he related to the witness?
Tom Hagen: He is, I believe, his brother.
Senator Questadt: Will he come forward and be sworn, sir?
Tom Hagen: Sir, this man does not understand English.  He came at his own expense to aid his brother in his time of trouble.  He's not under subpoena and his reputation in his own country is impeccable.
Senator Questadt: Are you saying he knows nothing about these matters?
Tom Hagen: To my knowledge, nothing.
Committee Chairman: I'm gonna find out what the hell happened here.  Alright this committee is now adjourned.  The witness is excused.
Tom Hagen: Senator. Senator. This committee owes an apology!  This committee owes an apology -apology, Senator!

Why exactly does he change his mind?  Does his brother remind him of his loyalty to Michael?  Or is his brother's presence a veiled threat against his family?  Maybe the book explains it more.  After Michael is cleared, Kay remarks, "I suppose I always knew you were too smart to let any of them ever beat you."



Two: Vito goes to a mob boss, Fanucci, and convinces him to extort less money from him and his friends ("I make him an offer he don' refuse.  Don' worry.").  After successfully convincing him, he then sneaks into Fanucci;s house and promptly murders him.  So why exactly go through the whole negotiating him down effort if he was planning to murder him anyway?  Just to see if he could?

Any explanations would be helpful!

Addendum: Regarding the first question, some investigating has let me to believe that Pentangeli's brother's presence may have reminded him of "Omerta," which is, according to wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn, "a code of silence practiced by the Mafia; a refusal to give evidence to the police about criminal activities."

"You broke my heart.  You broke my heart!"

Michael shows a really cold-hearted side of himself when he has Fredo murdered.  In his defense, Fredo did give information leading to an assassination attempt on Michael's life, and this was devastating for him.  He tells Fredo: "I know it was you, Fredo.  You broke my heart.  You broke my heart!"  He cuts him off, letting him live until their mother dies, telling him, "Fredo, you're nothing to me now.  You're not a brother, you're not a friend.  I don't want to know you or what you do.  I don't want to see you at the hotels.  I don't want you near my house.  When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there.  You understand?"

But I don't think that Fredo really wanted Michael to die, and honestly, Fredo is a bit of a confused, damaged individual.  He felt shunned by his family, being the older brother and passed over for Michael, because nobody thinks much of him:

Fredo: I didn't know it was going to be a hit, Mike.  I swear to God, I didn't know it was gonna be a hit.  Johnny Ola bumped into me in Beverly Hills -said he said that he wanted to talk.  He said that you and Roth were in on a big deal together, and that there was something in it for me if I could help him out.  He said that you were being tough on the negotiations, but if they could get a little help and close the deal fast it'd be good for the family.
Michael:You believed that story?  You believed that?
Fredo: He said there was something in it for me...on my own.
Michael: I've always taken care of you, Fredo.
Fredo: Taken care of me?  You're my kid brother.  You take care of me?  Did you ever think about that.  Did you ever once think about that.?  Send Fredo off to do this, send Fredo off to do that.  Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse nightclub somewhere.  Send Fredo to pick somebody up at the airport.  I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!
Michael: That's the way Pop wanted it.
Fredo: It ain't the way I wanted it!  I can handle things!  I'm smart!  Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!

Michael pretends to forgive Fredo at their mother's funeral.

And by that point, he really does seem to be a broken man.  He doesn't have any power, any influence.  He is just sort of living at the family compound, spending his time fishing.  He's a good uncle to Michael's kids.  He loves Michael, he loves Connie.  Connie pleads with him: "Michael, I hated you for so many years.  I think that I did things to myself, to hurt myself so that you'd know - that I could hurt you.  You were just being strong for all of us the way Papa was.  And I forgive you.  Can't you forgive Fredo?  He's so sweet and helpless without you.  You need me, Michael.  I want to take care of you now."  I don't think Michael should've had him killed.  But, as Tyler says, Michael does not forgive -he just pretends to, until the time is right to strike.  He doesn't allow such things to happen without seeking retribution, regardless of the circumstances.  It is callous and brutal, but it is also part of the source of his power.  People fear him, because they know that if they cross him, that's it.  No excuses, no second chances, no mercy.  It reminds me of what Messala said in Ben-Hur when he turned on his childhood best friend over a perceived betrayal: "By condemning without hesitation an old friend, I shall be feared."  Except, in this case, it is Michael's own brother.  As Michael says, "I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom.  Just my enemies."

Kay also shows her harsh side when she tells Michael that she didn't miscarry his baby, but had an abortion, and says "Oh, Michael.  Michael, you are blind.  It wasn't a miscarriage.  It was an abortion.  An abortion, Michael.  Just like our marriage is an abortion.  Something that's unholy and evil.  I didn't want your son, Michael!  I wouldn't bring another one of you sons into this world!  It was an abortion, Michael!  It was a son, Michael!  A son!  And I had it killed because this must all end!  I know now that it's over.  I knew it then.  There would be no way, Michael... no way you could ever forgive me not with this Sicilian thing that's been going on for 2,000 years."  I think she did the wrong thing.  She got what she wanted, she hurt Michael, she got revenge if that's what she wanted -she got out of the marriage -but she went too far.  It wasn't right.  He certainly punishes her by keeping their children from her.

I don't think that this movie is as good as the first, but it's still an incredible movie, and again, Pacino's performance was amazing.

Runner up for best picture: Young Frankenstein.  One of the best comedies of all time.

1973 The Sting

1973 The Sting

A good movie.  I think what ruined this movie for me was Ocean's Eleven.  Having seen Ocean's Eleven first, I kind of felt like I'd already seen this one -and I liked Ocean's Eleven better.

The Sting is about a grifter, Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford), trying to pull off a really big heist in revenge for the murder of one of his friends.  Assisting him is Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman).  Their plan is extremely clever, and the movie has lots of good twists.
 

Ocean's Eleven.

A good movie, but it didn't make a huge impression on me for some reason.

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.