Hello again and welcome to my second retrospective, this time on the masterpiece that is The Godfather trilogy (yes, including part III). This won’t be a review, but more of a breakdown of my favourite scenes, the characters, the cinematography, my love for it and so on. It will contain many, many spoilers!
I was first introduced to the franchise when I was 8, I didn’t have a clue what was going on and the film in question was part III. It was 1991 and my Nan had rented it from the video store (not sure which one, but it wasn’t either of the video stores mentioned in my Teen Wolf retrospective). So yeah, no idea what was happening, but I vividly remember the following scenes; Joey Zasa getting murdered, Mary dying at the opera and Michael dying in his chair.
In the years that followed, I didn’t have much interest in the films, but the presence of The Godfather was stamped throughout pop culture, it was hard to ignore. It had been quoted, parodied and ripped off in all forms of media. I mean, who doesn’t know the following quotes?
- “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” (Which is always quoted wrong by the way)
- “It’s strictly business”
- “This is the business we’ve chosen!”
- “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”
Two of my favourite none Godfather, ‘Godfather‘ moments come in films that I loved when I was growing up in the 90’s. First we have Jon Lovitz in City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold. He plays Mitch’s brother, Glen. Mitch is played by Billy Crystal. Glen is obsessed with The Godfather and more or less, his entire dialogue is Godfather quotes. I particularly like the scene where they got lost in a cave looking for the gold and have to whistle The Godfather theme tune to find each other. Secondly, we have the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film, You’ve Got Mail. The 2 characters converse over email and fall in love, but are enemies in real life. Anyway, Hanks’ character, Joe Fox uses The Godfather to impart wisdom and advice on how Ryan’s character should deal with a problem. His advice? “Go to the mattresses.” Ryan quips shortly after, “what is it with men and The Godfather.” Quick side note, Tom Hanks is a massive Godfather fan and once held annual ‘themed’ watch parties at his home with up to a hundred guests. I’m not sure if he still does this or not, I’d like an invite if he does.
Enough about Hanks.
So yeah, The Godfather was in my conscience throughout my formative years but it wouldn’t be until 2002, when I was 19 that I would finally sit down and watch the trilogy in it’s entirety. I borrowed the VHS box-set from a work colleague and watched one film per night. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, done! I held on to the box-set for a further fortnight. I was hooked. I’d watch them everyday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Saturday (just quoting Apollonia learning g English, I’m not going crazy).
I needed to know more about this trilogy, so I set out to buy my own copy of the trilogy, as many books as I could find or read as many online articles as I could. The internet was still young and there wasn’t anywhere near the breadth of resource we have now. Obviously, I purchased the original novel by Mario Puzo. Wow!! The original film captures the book perfectly. There are a few omissions, but if they were included it would make the film too long and wouldn’t really boost the main thread of the story line. We don’t need to know about Lucy Mancini moving to Las Vegas or why police captain McCluskey is on the take etc etc. I subsequently bought more Puzo novels, Omertà and Fools Die are two of the standout books. If you get a chance, read them both.
I’m not gonna give a big history of the original film, but here’s a few tid-bits:
- Al Pacino wasn’t liked by Paramount and they didn’t want him anywhere near the film.
- Italian Americans never wore white vests like Sonny does. This is a stereotype born from the movie.
- Director, Francis Ford Coppola wanted his production company ‘Zoetrope’ to be involved. The company was the brain child of Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
- Robert De Niro also auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone. Later being cast as young Vito in part II.
- The words ‘mafia’ and ‘mob’ aren’t mentioned in the movie. The closest we get is a newspaper headline that reads “Mobster Barzini Questioned in Underworld Feud.” They do appear in part II during Michael’s trial.
- Marlon Brando didn’t stuff his mouth with cotton wool, he had a custom mouth piece made by a dentist. This cotton wool was only for his audition.
- Brando also rejected the Academy award for ‘best actor’ as he was against the treatment of American Indians in Hollywood.
Knowledge quenched? Good, moving on. Just above, I mentioned that the words ‘mafia’ and ‘mob’ weren’t used, which is strange as The Godfather is considered one of, if not, the greatest mafia film of all time. But is it a film about the mafia? My answer is no, it’s not a mafia film. It’s a film about family, about being a son, being a father or a brother. The complexities of the relationships between the four Corleone siblings and their parents could have been played out against any back drop. The 1940’s New York mafia scene just gives it more of a flavour. You could tell the story of the Corleone’s on any canvas. Vito could have owned the best bakery in New York and he had rivals that wanted to take his business down, he knew all the best contacts who had the better ingredients, he was a smarter businessman and so on. Get where I’m going with this? The Godfather is about family, not the mafia. It wasn’t written to glorify a bye-gone age of fedoras and tommy guns, but to show the struggles of trying to keep a solid family dynamic without ever looking dysfunctional, struggles that inhabit all of us. Michael delivers a very poignant line in Part II when talking to Fredo over drinks in Havana, he says “It’s not easy being a son, Fredo” in relation to Fredo telling Michael that their mother used to tease him about being left on the doorstep by gypsies. This scene also allows us to look a little deeper into Fredo’s relationship with Michael. He’s trying so hard to tell Michael that he’s been dealing with Johnny Ola and Hyman Roth. The best he can come up with is “I was mad at you.”
I’d be here for days listing every example of the family dynamic because I’d be retelling the whole trilogy. What I will say is that part I looks at how sons try their best to impress their fathers, part II makes us look more closely about how our actions can tear a family apart and part III allows us to come to terms that family is all we really have and that personal, egotistical sacrifices are needed to keep a family strong. This is all told from Michael’s point of view, but I’d love to see something from the eyes of Connie. I’m not a fan of Talia Shire, but the Connie character is the only one who goes through the journey with Michael from start to finish. I think it would be a very interesting story to tell.
I think at this point I’m going to talk about my favourite scene or scenes from each film.
Part I
Louis’ restaurant in the Bronx. To quote Tessio here “It’s perfect.” The suspense of the car journey there, Michael keeping his cool even though you can tell he’s a nervous wreck, the back and forth of the camera between Michael and Solozzo, the panic looking for the gun and the overhead train going past as Michael sums up the courage to finally let blast and shoot Solozzo and McCluskey. What I particularly love is the Italian dialogue, again with Michael and Solozzo, no subtitles just to add further tension. Now, over the past few years I’ve been learning Italian and basically what is being said is that Solozzo is a man of honour and trying to kill Vito was strictly business, Michael says he understands how these things work. When Michael returns from the bathroom with the gun and “not just his dick in his hand” Solozzo assures Michael there will be peace until the Don is well enough to make a deal, but until then, the Corleones had better not interfere. It’s at this point the train goes past and Michael kills them both.
Next we have Sonny on the causeway. As we later find out, Sonny was baited to his death by Carlo Ricci on behalf the Barzinis. This is pay back for Sonny beating the living daylights out of him on a lower east side stoop when Sonny finds out Carlo has hit his sister Connie. He ends that fight by walking away and saying “you ever hit my sister again, I’ll kill ya”. So the bait this time would be for Carlo to set up an argument with Connie, beat her up and wait for Sonny to come running back to Manhattan in her defence. He pays his toll fee and suddenly realises what’s about to go down. A car pulls in front of him and blocks his lane. A tirade of machine guns open fire, leaving Sonny a bloody mess on the floor and the toll booth shot to shit. Sonny’s bodyguards are too late and pull him up to see his dead body strewn across the tarmac.
Part II
The Slap. Now I’m not condoning domestic abuse or violence, but this scene is probably my favourite in the entire trilogy. We enter the scene in a hotel room following Michael’s final day of being on trial. Kay enters the room and says she’ leaving, Michael responds by saying he thought they were all leaving tomorrow. What Kay is actually saying is that she’s LEAVING!! Kids, bags, the whole nine yards. It all builds up to Kay finally letting go, her real feelings coming to the fore. Michael tries to manipulate her with false promises. Finally, we get to the immortal words
“Oh, Michael, Michael, you are blind (Michael: blind to what?) 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 your sons into this world. It was an abortion Michael, it was a son! A son! And I had it all killed because all this must all end!!
Whilst Kay is delivering this speech you can see Michael’s cheeks flush, his eyes fixated on Kay, rage now building and flowing through him. As the final line is spoken, the rage boils over and SLAP!!! Followed by “You won’t take my children”. This is the turning point for Michael. From here on out he isolates himself with his closest people, his main goal now is to protect his children at any cost. He becomes very cold. Kay’s words were true, he knew they were and it was the first time anybody had held that mirror up to him since he took over from his father. A person he swore to Kay he never was or would be, all the way back at Connie’s wedding in 1946.
I’ll pick a scene from Vito’s flashbacks next. This is hard, as all of the young Vito scenes are immense. However, I’m going down the comedic route with this one and it involves Signor Roberto, the landlord of Signora Colombo. Roberto evicts her for having a dog, she goes to Vito for help. Vito seeks out Roberto to make a deal with him. Roberto isn’t impressed when they first meet, threatening to kick Vito’s arse. Cut to later that day, Vito and Genco are in the front office of Genco Olive Oil. Roberto arrives and struggles to open the door. There is a worker trying to skilfully apply gold leaf to the window design, he becomes inpatient with Roberto who is now shaking the entire shop front trying to the open door. Genco steps in and opens the door for him. Having now learned of who Vito is in the standing of the neighbourhood, he duly agrees to allow Signora Colombo to move back into the apartment with the rent staying the same. Vito is not impressed and leans back in his chair. Roberto says he’ll lower it by $5, again Vito leans back, more animated this time, looking at Genco. Roberto senses where this is going and agrees to lower it by $10. Vito is with happy with this and offers Roberto a coffee. He kindly refuses and hastily tries to leave. The door is now shut again, he tries and tries to open it, the shop front shaking, the worker once again struggling to paint a straight line. Roberto is talking nonsense the whole time, Genco once again comes to his aid. What sets this scene up as comic relief is the music in the background. It’s an upbeat, Italian jingle, something that you’d find in a Laurel & Hardy sketch. We get this motif again as the scene draws to a close.
Part III
If you will not give, I’ll take!!! The immortal words that many a mafioso will hear as their last. The line is delivered by Joey Zasa, a well respected gangster in the eyes of the media and more importantly the eyes of many other gangsters. The scene takes place in a penthouse suite of an Atlantic City Casino Hotel. Michael informs everyone that he has sold his interests in the Las Vegas casinos and starts to distribute ‘severance’ cheques to those present. Michael is still trying to make the Corleone family clean at this point and he’s close. Now, Joey Zasa doesn’t get a payout, presumably because he didn’t invest in the businesses at the outset. He’s annoyed as he believes his work on the streets has allowed the mob bosses to make their money and he wants a piece. He then delivers the line that started this paragraph, followed by “As for Don Corleone, well he makes it very clear to me today that he is my enemy. You must choice between us.” Don Altobello hurries after him as he leaves the room. With Joey gone, the others now discuss being involved in Michael’s Immobiliare deal, but this is to be a clean business opportunity. As the discussion heats up, a helicopter can be heard outside. It’s close. The table starts shaking, fruit falls from the bowl, drinks tip over and confusion sets in. Vincent’s aware that it’s a hit. The doors are locked, trapping everyone inside. Machine gun rounds rip through the room, leaving very few people standing. Vincent is able to get Michael out. Even though this scene is referred to as the ‘helicopter scene’ we don’t actually see a helicopter. As it would have taken days to shoot with a helicopter and the associated costs that would come with, they decided to build the prop of the helicopter’s landing gear and mount a big spotlight on it. It works, as it helps build the suspense. Is it one helicopter or two? How many gunmen? We get one final view of the carnage that has been fallen the New York and New Jersey mafia scene. Fantastic. As the ‘slap’ scene in part II was a turning point for Michael, so too is this, but one that takes him backwards into a world that he has tried so hard to leave since that turning point in part II.
Silence. Agonising silence. Pain. Failure. The climax to the trilogy takes us to the opera house in Venice where Anthony is performing in ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’. As with parts I and II, the end of the film branches out over many scenes, showing Michael’s soldiers tidy up loose ends of any outstanding business. At the opera house, the assassin hired by Don Altobello is busy tying up some loose ends of his own, trying to get closer to Michael. Once the opera has concluded, Michael and his party head outside to meet and congratulate Anthony on his performance. The assassin’s son is now halfway up the stairs singing along to an accordian player’s tune, a diversion. Mary runs out of the opera hall and confronts her dad about his decision not to allow her to see Vincent. Just then, the assassin appears behind Michael, disguised as and blending in with a group of priests, he fires two bullets at Michael. The first hits his left shoulder and the other misses. Panic from the crowd sets in on hearing the gun shots, the assassin is restrained before being shot himself. We cut back to Mary standing still, a single bullet wound in her chest, the second of the assassin’s bullets, she speaks her final word and draws her last breath before falling to the ground. Michael rushes to her, grief stricken trying to bring her around. She’s already gone. Everything he worked so hard for since the 40’s was for nothing. His determination to keep his family safe and to become a legitimate businessman had been taken from him, he failed. He releases her to Kay and Anthony. He falls back and with his hands up by his face lets out a scream of torture and anguish. We don’t hear the scream, we don’t need to, the visual is loud enough. The only sound here is the exterior music of ‘Intermezzo’ from the opera of which they have just attended. Before the scene ends we get the final pangs of Michael’s pain, the scream is now present. The music continues and we are treated to flashbacks of his life before we finish on him sitting on a chair in the garden of Don Tommasino’s villa, old age prominent. Moments later we see him slump from the chair, his peace finally arrives.
Moving on from my favourite scenes I must take this time to say thank you for sticking with this piece, it’s quite long. Don’t worry we’re nearly there.
There’s an age old question that splits the movie buff in all of us; Which Godfather film do you prefer? For me it’s a no brainer, part I is a masterpiece of cinema. It’s a contained story, great characters, great dialogue and stunning visuals. Where part II falls short for me is that Michael’s story isn’t strong enough to carry the whole film. This is where the young Vito scenes come into play, but they weren’t written for this film, they are part of the original novel. If you put these scenes in part I we get a 4 or 5 hour film. It’d be too long. Take them out of Part II and we get approx. 100 minutes of quality film instead of the full 3 hours and 22 minutes of awesomeness that it is. Basically, it relies on a second narrative to keep the film interesting and the viewer interested.
Let’s talk about part III for a moment. Obviously, this film is more hated or loathed than it is liked. I like it, but yes, it doesn’t reach anywhere near the heights of the preceding parts. The story isn’t very captivating and it seems strange that Vincent, even though he is Michael’s ‘bastard’ nephew, could turn up and take over the family in a matter of weeks. That aside, there are some really good sequences in there, Michael’s confession about having Fredo killed, taking Kay on a tour of Corleone and the festa in which Joey Zasa is killed. Two things that really annoy me throughout the film are the performances of Sofia Coppola as Mary and Talia Shire as Connie. In fact Talia Shire is probably the only constant weak point throughout the trilogy. One of the better performances comes from Andy Garcia as Vincent. There were a lot of rumblings about his inclusion in the film as an Italian American as he is of Cuban decent. It’s funny, because these same people probably hold up the Sonny character as some beacon of Italian manhood. A character played by James Caan who is Jewish with German decent.
I’m going to finish off now. I love this trilogy, nothing tops it for me. Back to the Future and Lord of the Rings come close, but not close enough. Me and the wife were fortunate enough to visit Sicily last year, we stayed in Catania and paid for a Godfather location tour. We got to see Bar Vitelli and chiesa di San Nicolo in Savoca, vito’s place of birth and other locations in Forza d’agrò and finally, Castello Degli Schiavi which was used for Don Tommasino’s Villa in all three films. This was an extra cost on top of the tour, but it was so worth it. The current owner of the property was the owner at the time of production on all three films. He’s turned it into a mini Godfather museum. We were allowed to go inside and stand on the balcony where Michael witnesses Apollonia’s murder. He also still has the chair and hat that Michael is wearing when he dies at the end of part III. I have a photo of myself sitting in that chair, wearing that hat!!!! A memory I’ll cherish forever.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings about The Godfather and learned something new or gained a different perspective about this trilogy. It was a blast to right.
And remember, if you don’t like my views “it’s not personal, it’s strictly business”.
Ciao mi amici.
Bens Nerd Words 