The Godfather - FAQ
Posted by Aman | | Posted On Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 2:04 AM
Is This Movie Based On A Novel ?
Yes. The Godfather (1969) was written by Italian-American author Mario Puzo [1920-1999]. Puzo also wrote the screenplay for the movie. The book was later developed into a trilogy of films, The Godfather II (1974) and The Godfather III (1990).
Who are the "Five Families"?
In the story of The Godfather, there are five organizations, or "Families," in the New York area--Corleone, Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci, and Cuneo. While the Tattaglia and Barzini Families weigh pretty heavily into the plot, due to the tensions between their organizations and the Corleones, there is little mention of the Cuneo and Stacci families, who are mentioned only as part of the Commission "sit down" with all of the major mafia bosses from around the country. There is some confusion in The Godfather, because Vito makes mention of "the other Five Families," which would imply that the Corleone Family is one of six families. However, this is just an ERROR; there are only five families in the New York area. The idea of the "Five Families" is based on real-life Cosa Nostra structure. Believe it or not, there are rules and an expected code of conduct within the mafia, and there are certain actions that require the approval of a family Boss. The "Commission" acts as a kind of mafia board of directors or mini U.N. to ensure that all of the families stay in line and avoid actions that might be dangerous to organized crime as a whole. Well, The Barzinis rule over the Midtown, The Straccis in New Jersey, The Cuneos in Hell's Kitchen And The Corleones in Little Italy. (As mentioned in it's game)
Why was there an attempt on Vito's life?
Vito, as the Don of the Corleone family, was against narcotics. Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, a big-time drug dealer, wanted the Corleones on his side because of their numerous connections with politicians and judges, but Vito refused. However, Sollozzo noticed that Vito's son and apparent heir, Sonny, was interested in doing business with him. He arranged for a hit on Vito, which would place Sonny as the new Don, and then hopefully, a deal with the Corleones would soon follow.
Doesn't Michael break Vito's promise to the Commission with his actions at the end of the movie?
No, Not Actually,Vito's goal in bringing the Commission together is to bring an end to the war in the hope of allowing Michael to return safely to America. Sonny has just been brutally murdered, and the war has gone on long enough. Despite their differences, the other men in The Commission know Don Corleone to be a man of his word, so when he swears that he will not seek vengeance for Sonny's death in the interest of ending the violence, the other heads of the Families believe that they will be safe from any acts of vengeance under Don Corleone's orders.
However interested he may be in restoring the peace, Vito is hardly a pushover, so it is somewhat puzzling to Tom Hagen (and the audience) why Vito would be so quick to roll over and promise to not seek vengeance in the murder of his eldest son. However, if you listen carefully to the words Vito chooses, he says: "But that aside, let me 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". In that speech, Vito is only making promises about his own actions, but he says nothing about his successor (Michael) being able to seek revenge later on. When Michael returns from Sicily, he immediately begins learning the ropes from Don Vito, in preparation for the day when Vito would retire or die, and Michael would take over as head of The Family.
This is specifically addressed in a deleted scene. Michael and Vito are talking in the garden after Michael has taken over as the Don, and Michael says "You gave your word that you wouldn't break the peace. I didn't give mine. You don't have to have any part. I take all responsibility." Vito smiles and responds "We have a lot of time to talk about it now", showing that this is what he had always hoped Michael would do.
How did Michael know about Carlo and Sonny?
From the beginning, Carlo was never a trusted member of The Family, as evidenced by his low position as bookmaker and Vito's instructions to Tom to allow Carlo to earn a living, but to never discuss Family business in front of him. Carlo knows that he is not valued by Don Corleone, but he cannot take his frustrations out on Vito, Sonny, or any of the other high-ranking members of the Family, so he does the next best thing - he beats Connie.
Carlo's treatment of his wife leads to further distrust by Don Corleone, but in addition to that, it puts strain on his relationship with Sonny, who once considered him a friend. After Sonny beats Carlo on the street in his own neighborhood and in front of his men, Carlo feels completely humiliated and seeks vengeance against Sonny. When Barzini appraoaches him and asks for his help in setting up Sonny, Carlo is more than happy to comply.
Vito himself likely suspected Carlo's role in Sonny's murder, but since he could not prove it (and he didn't want to tip his hand so early), he pretends not to know. Vito dotes on Connie and doesn't want to see her widowed during his lifetime.
Michael is informed of the sequence of events that took place the day of Sonny's murder - a mystery woman calls Connie and Carlo's apartment to ask for him, Connie gets angry and starts to throw a tantrum, giving Carlo an "excuse" to beat his wife, knowing that she will call Sonny and tell him that Carlo has beaten her again, and Carlo lets the Barzini people know that Sonny is on his way to the city, giving them the opportunity to trap him at the toll booth on the Causeway. It's all a little too convenient, and yet Michael still cannot be 100% certain that Carlo was involved.
When Michael sits down with Carlo in the final scenes of the movie, he needs to know without a doubt that Carlo was responsible before giving the go-ahead. He decides to bluff in the attempt to get Carlo to admit to his role in Sonny's assassination. It works, and once Michael has confirmation that he has good reason to make his sister a widow, he gives the order to kill Carlo.
Carlo's position as son in-law was the only thing that allowed him to live as long as he did. Had he been anyone else, he would have been taken out right after Sonny's murder.
How did Sonny know that it was Paulie who sold Vito out?
It is more apparent in The Godfather Saga as there is additional footage shown pertaining to this. However, Paulie calls out sick on that day forcing the semi incompentent Fredo to drive Vito that day and knowing that Fredo is incapable of defending Vito they made their hit. Similar to the Carlo situation, it's just too conveniant that Paulie was out sick on the day of the hit so they had him whacked.
In the book, the Corleone's have a contact at the phone company that gives them a log of calls by Clemenza (who was also suspect, although being a capo) and Paulie. By these, they figure out that Paulie was the traitor.
Also, in the film; while we now know for certain that Paulie did in fact betray the family...in the original cut of the film Sonny gives the ordert to whack Paulie without any hesitation or concrete evidence. This could have been meant as a forshadowing of Sonny's reign as Don. That he'd rather just act on impulse and have a member of his crew killed without any concrete evidence that he did betray them.
Why was Fredo not shot along Godfather ?
Because Virgil Sollozo and the Tattagilia Family knew that Fredo was only a harmless and incompetant man, Fredo was not a major member of the Corleone Family and would never take on a position of power (he is Underboss only in name in The Godfather Part 2, Al Neri is really the Underboss) so Sollozo decides to have his men kill only Vito and only kill Fredo if he poses a real threat to them, as killing Fredo would only cause additional bad blood and make Sonny even more unlikely to agree to a truce, Fredo is also too low key and useless to ever pose a threat to anyone so he is ignored and left alive by Sollozo's gunmen.
Yes. The Godfather (1969) was written by Italian-American author Mario Puzo [1920-1999]. Puzo also wrote the screenplay for the movie. The book was later developed into a trilogy of films, The Godfather II (1974) and The Godfather III (1990).
Who are the "Five Families"?
In the story of The Godfather, there are five organizations, or "Families," in the New York area--Corleone, Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci, and Cuneo. While the Tattaglia and Barzini Families weigh pretty heavily into the plot, due to the tensions between their organizations and the Corleones, there is little mention of the Cuneo and Stacci families, who are mentioned only as part of the Commission "sit down" with all of the major mafia bosses from around the country. There is some confusion in The Godfather, because Vito makes mention of "the other Five Families," which would imply that the Corleone Family is one of six families. However, this is just an ERROR; there are only five families in the New York area. The idea of the "Five Families" is based on real-life Cosa Nostra structure. Believe it or not, there are rules and an expected code of conduct within the mafia, and there are certain actions that require the approval of a family Boss. The "Commission" acts as a kind of mafia board of directors or mini U.N. to ensure that all of the families stay in line and avoid actions that might be dangerous to organized crime as a whole. Well, The Barzinis rule over the Midtown, The Straccis in New Jersey, The Cuneos in Hell's Kitchen And The Corleones in Little Italy. (As mentioned in it's game)
Why was there an attempt on Vito's life?
Vito, as the Don of the Corleone family, was against narcotics. Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, a big-time drug dealer, wanted the Corleones on his side because of their numerous connections with politicians and judges, but Vito refused. However, Sollozzo noticed that Vito's son and apparent heir, Sonny, was interested in doing business with him. He arranged for a hit on Vito, which would place Sonny as the new Don, and then hopefully, a deal with the Corleones would soon follow.
Doesn't Michael break Vito's promise to the Commission with his actions at the end of the movie?
No, Not Actually,Vito's goal in bringing the Commission together is to bring an end to the war in the hope of allowing Michael to return safely to America. Sonny has just been brutally murdered, and the war has gone on long enough. Despite their differences, the other men in The Commission know Don Corleone to be a man of his word, so when he swears that he will not seek vengeance for Sonny's death in the interest of ending the violence, the other heads of the Families believe that they will be safe from any acts of vengeance under Don Corleone's orders.
However interested he may be in restoring the peace, Vito is hardly a pushover, so it is somewhat puzzling to Tom Hagen (and the audience) why Vito would be so quick to roll over and promise to not seek vengeance in the murder of his eldest son. However, if you listen carefully to the words Vito chooses, he says: "But that aside, let me 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". In that speech, Vito is only making promises about his own actions, but he says nothing about his successor (Michael) being able to seek revenge later on. When Michael returns from Sicily, he immediately begins learning the ropes from Don Vito, in preparation for the day when Vito would retire or die, and Michael would take over as head of The Family.
This is specifically addressed in a deleted scene. Michael and Vito are talking in the garden after Michael has taken over as the Don, and Michael says "You gave your word that you wouldn't break the peace. I didn't give mine. You don't have to have any part. I take all responsibility." Vito smiles and responds "We have a lot of time to talk about it now", showing that this is what he had always hoped Michael would do.
How did Michael know about Carlo and Sonny?
From the beginning, Carlo was never a trusted member of The Family, as evidenced by his low position as bookmaker and Vito's instructions to Tom to allow Carlo to earn a living, but to never discuss Family business in front of him. Carlo knows that he is not valued by Don Corleone, but he cannot take his frustrations out on Vito, Sonny, or any of the other high-ranking members of the Family, so he does the next best thing - he beats Connie.
Carlo's treatment of his wife leads to further distrust by Don Corleone, but in addition to that, it puts strain on his relationship with Sonny, who once considered him a friend. After Sonny beats Carlo on the street in his own neighborhood and in front of his men, Carlo feels completely humiliated and seeks vengeance against Sonny. When Barzini appraoaches him and asks for his help in setting up Sonny, Carlo is more than happy to comply.
Vito himself likely suspected Carlo's role in Sonny's murder, but since he could not prove it (and he didn't want to tip his hand so early), he pretends not to know. Vito dotes on Connie and doesn't want to see her widowed during his lifetime.
Michael is informed of the sequence of events that took place the day of Sonny's murder - a mystery woman calls Connie and Carlo's apartment to ask for him, Connie gets angry and starts to throw a tantrum, giving Carlo an "excuse" to beat his wife, knowing that she will call Sonny and tell him that Carlo has beaten her again, and Carlo lets the Barzini people know that Sonny is on his way to the city, giving them the opportunity to trap him at the toll booth on the Causeway. It's all a little too convenient, and yet Michael still cannot be 100% certain that Carlo was involved.
When Michael sits down with Carlo in the final scenes of the movie, he needs to know without a doubt that Carlo was responsible before giving the go-ahead. He decides to bluff in the attempt to get Carlo to admit to his role in Sonny's assassination. It works, and once Michael has confirmation that he has good reason to make his sister a widow, he gives the order to kill Carlo.
Carlo's position as son in-law was the only thing that allowed him to live as long as he did. Had he been anyone else, he would have been taken out right after Sonny's murder.
How did Sonny know that it was Paulie who sold Vito out?
It is more apparent in The Godfather Saga as there is additional footage shown pertaining to this. However, Paulie calls out sick on that day forcing the semi incompentent Fredo to drive Vito that day and knowing that Fredo is incapable of defending Vito they made their hit. Similar to the Carlo situation, it's just too conveniant that Paulie was out sick on the day of the hit so they had him whacked.
In the book, the Corleone's have a contact at the phone company that gives them a log of calls by Clemenza (who was also suspect, although being a capo) and Paulie. By these, they figure out that Paulie was the traitor.
Also, in the film; while we now know for certain that Paulie did in fact betray the family...in the original cut of the film Sonny gives the ordert to whack Paulie without any hesitation or concrete evidence. This could have been meant as a forshadowing of Sonny's reign as Don. That he'd rather just act on impulse and have a member of his crew killed without any concrete evidence that he did betray them.
Why was Fredo not shot along Godfather ?
Because Virgil Sollozo and the Tattagilia Family knew that Fredo was only a harmless and incompetant man, Fredo was not a major member of the Corleone Family and would never take on a position of power (he is Underboss only in name in The Godfather Part 2, Al Neri is really the Underboss) so Sollozo decides to have his men kill only Vito and only kill Fredo if he poses a real threat to them, as killing Fredo would only cause additional bad blood and make Sonny even more unlikely to agree to a truce, Fredo is also too low key and useless to ever pose a threat to anyone so he is ignored and left alive by Sollozo's gunmen.
