Hawking the poltical spinners.
Published on December 24, 2004 By hitparade In Misc
In The Godfather, Michael Corlone joins the Army to fight in W.W.II. This service for a third party (not part of the family) goes against the belief system of his father, Don Vito. You see, Michael has been Americanized in a way that his father can't understand. The Don is from a culture that developed his consciousness of being in such a way that he cannot comprehend the idea of fighting for a Nation-State, in other words, for strangers: Only the affairs of the Family matter in the Don's mind. In the Godfather, The Don says:

"As for our own deeds, we are not responsible to the .90 calibers, the pezzonovantis who take it upon themselves to decide what we shall do with our lives, who declare wars they wish us to fight in order to protect what they own. Who is to say we should obey the laws they made to protect their own interests? Sonna cosa nosa, these are own affairs. We shall manage our own world for ourselves because it is our world, cosa nostra. Therefore, we stick together to guard against outside meddlers. Otherwise, they put the ring in our nose as they have put the ring in the nose of all the millions of Neapolitans and other Italians in this country."

Don Vitone would not approve of anyone from his family fighting in the war in Iraq because of his Sicilian mindset, his inherent distrust of the government, the pezzonovantis. Now Don Michael, on the other hand, is Americanized. While Michael knows how to think like a Sicilian, as an American he believes in values & principles that Don Vito would spit on. Michael would approve of his children fighting in Iraq, Don Vitone would find great fault in such thing.

As we are all merely grasshoppers, much knowledge can be extracted from understanding the Sicilian mindset because so much more of the worlds populace thinks more in the terms of Don Vitone, than like Michael.

"Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.” Tom Hagen
"Luca Brasi put a gun to his head and my father assured him that either is brains or signature would be on the contract." Michael Corleone
"If by some misfortune an honest man such as yourself made enemies they would become my enemies and then, believe me, they would fear you." Don Vitone Coreleone
And so if some unlucky accident should befall my youngest son, if some police officer should accidentally shoot him, if he should hang himself in his cell, if new witnesses appear to testify to his guilt... If my son is struck by a bolt of lightning I will blame some of the people here." Don Vitone Coreleone

My favorite line from the flick is when Clemenza, after they whack Paulie, tells Rocko: "Take the connolies; leave the gun."

What are some of your favorite movie lines?


Comments
on Dec 24, 2004

I have to say that the comparison of Don Vitone vs Don Michael is something I had never thought about.  And very interesting.  I agree with it based upon your explanation.

Favorite Quote:

Michael Corleone: It's not personal Sonny. It's strictly business.

on Dec 27, 2004
Doc - "... strictly business"... whacking Sollozzo & Captain McCluskey. Great stuff!
on Dec 28, 2004
"Hey, ya gotta go ya gotta go......" ---McCluskey.

Luca Brasi was a bad muthafukka.
It wasn't in the movie, but when Michael was in hiding in Sicily, he was approached by an old woman his father had helped get out of the states. She'd been the midwife at the birth of Brasi's illegitimate son, by an (Irish?) hooker whom he then ordered her to throw, alive, into the furnace. he wanted no more "of that race" to live.
Brasi was an animal. A sociopath at best, psychopath at worst; but a badass button man.

I never really got it, though; why did such a man decide to fear and swear his loyalty to Don Vito, when even Vito feared to be in his company?
on Dec 28, 2004
He needed direction and could never lead since no one would stay near him. So he devoted his evil talents to the Don.
on Dec 28, 2004
He needed direction and could never lead since no one would stay near him. So he devoted his evil talents to the Don.


Hm...interesting. Thanks, SSG
I kind of wish Puzo would have made Brasi a more prominent character. He was only featured for that short while, then he was murdered during the Five Families War. He might have made for an interesting plotline to follow.
on Dec 29, 2004
rightwinger- you know your Godfather. without going back and reading the passages related to your question, I would say that SSgeezer's analysis that Luca was in need of direction is on the money. however, Luca wouldn't take direction(orders) from just any one. Luca was a killing machine; killing was something he intutively had a knack for; but killing for a purpose, not just out of uncontroled emotion, was something he lacked, but which the Godfather, a man of respect who had used his own hands to kill Don Fanucci, could provide.

Memorable Quotes from
The Godfather (1972)
[speaking to himself, practicing his speech]
Luca Brasi: Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your home on the wedding day of your daughter. And may their first child be a masculine child.
[then, starting over]

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[delivering his rehearsed speech]
Luca Brasi: 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.

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[after Michael gets off the phone with Kay, clearly too embarrassed to tell her "I love you too."]
Clemenza: Mikey, why don't you tell that nice girl you love her? "I love you with all-a my heart, if I don't see-a you again soon, I'm-a gonna die..."

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Sonny: Goddamn FBI don't respect nothin'.

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Fabrizio: In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.

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Sonny: Hey, listen, I want somebody good - and I mean very good - to plant that gun. I don't want my brother coming out of that toilet with just his dick in his hands, alright?
Clemenza: The gun'll be there.

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Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

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Jack Woltz: Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him, it'll make him a big star, and I'm gonna run him out of the business - and let me tell you why: Johnny Fontane ruined one of Woltz International's most valuable proteges. For five years we had her under training - singing lessons, acting lessons, dancing lessons. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her, I was gonna make her a big star. And let me be even more frank, just to show you that I'm not a hard-hearted man, and that it's not all dollars and cents: She was beautiful; she was young; she was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I've ever had, and I've had 'em all over the world. And then Johnny Fontane comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea charm, and she runs off. She threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous! And a man in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous!

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Jack Woltz: Now you listen to me, you smooth talking son-of-a-bitch. Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie. I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork.

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[first lines]
Bonasera: I believe in America. America has made my fortune.

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Michael: That's my family, Kay. It's not me.

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Don Corleone: Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.

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Tom Hagen: Now we have the unions, we have the gambling; and they're the best things to have. But narcotics is a thing of the future. And if we don't get a piece of that action, we risk everything we have. I mean not now, but, ah, ten years from now.

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[Luca Brasi's bulletproof vest is delivered, wrapped around a fish]
Clemenza: It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.

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Tessio: Can you get me off the hook, Tom? For old times' sake?
Tom Hagen: Can't do it, Sally.

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Don Corleone: Tattaglia's a pimp. He never could've out-fought Santino. But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along.

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Don Corleone: I spent my whole life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless. But not men.

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Tom Hagen: You know how they're going to come at you?
Michael: They want to arrange a meeting between me and Barzini. On Tessio's ground. Where I'll be safe.

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Don Corleone: You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you? Or my boy to me?

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Don Corleone: I never thought you were a bad consiglieri, Tom. I thought Santino was a bad don, rest in peace.

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Don Corleone: What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.

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Don Corleone: I like to drink wine more than I used to.
Michael: It's good for ya, Pop.
Don Corleone: Anyway I'm drinkin' more.

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Tom Hagen: Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood?

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[after being asked how he will arrange to buy a hotel from Moe Greene]
Michael: I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

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[speaking with the father of the girl he plans to marry, and after telling him that he's in hiding from some gangsters]
Michael: Some people will pay a lot of money for that information; but then your daughter would lose a father, instead of gaining a husband.

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Michael: Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you, but don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.

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Sonny: Hey, whataya gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain. Why? Because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is the Army, where you shoot 'em a mile away? You've gotta get up close like this and bada-bing. you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. C'mere...
[kisses Michael's head]
Michael: Sonny...
Sonny: You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very personal.

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Michael: It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.

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Moe Greene: Do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene. I made my bones while you were going out with cheerleaders.

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Sollozzo: I'm a businessman, Tom. I don't like violence; blood is a big expense.

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Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay Adams: What was that?
Michael: Luca Brasi, held a gun to his head, and my father assured him, that either his brain or his signature would be on the contract.

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Michael: Ah, get me Long Beach 4-5620. please

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Don Corleone: Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as gift on my daughter's wedding day.

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Sonny: We don't discuss business at the table.

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Don Corleone: 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 string held by all those bigshots. I don't apologize - that's my life - but I thought that, that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the string. Senator Corleone; Governor Corleone. Well, it wasn't enough time, Michael. It wasn't enough time.
Michael: We'll get there, pop. We'll get there.

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[after Sonny beats up Carlo Rizzi for hitting Connie]
Sonny: You touch my sister again, I'll kill you.

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Don Corleone: You could act like a man.
[slaps Johnny Fontane]
Don Corleone: What's the matter with you? Is this what you've become, some Hollywood finnochio that cries like a woman?
[mockingly imitates Johnny]
Don Corleone: Oh, Godfather, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?

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Don Corleone: I'm a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall Michael - if he is to be shot in the head by a police officer, or be found hung dead in a jail cell... or if he should be struck by a bolt of lightning - then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room; and then I do not forgive. But with said, I pledge - on the souls of my grandchildren - that I will not be the one to break the peace that we have made today.

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Michael: Don't ask me about my business, Kay.

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[to his associate, who has killed Paulie in the car]
Clemenza: Leave the gun.
[pause]
Clemenza: Take the cannolis.

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Clemenza: You know any goodest spots on the west side?
Paulie Gatto: Yeah, I think about it.
Clemenza: Well think about it while you're driving, I wanna hit New York sometime this month.

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Capt. McCluskey: Is the Italian food good here?
Sollozzo: Yeah, try the veal; it's the best in the city.

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Kansas City Don: [talking about opposition to drug dealing] I, too, don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra to stay away from that sort of stuff, but someone comes along saying, "I've got powders where if you put up a three to four thousand dollar investment, you can make fifty thousand distributing," then there is no way to resist it. I want to keep it respectable. I DON'T WANT IT NEAR SCHOOLS, I DON'T WANT IT SOLD TO CHILDREN! In my city, we'd keep the traffic in the Dark People, the Coloreds - they're animals anyway; so let them lose their souls.

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Clemenza: All right, you just shot 'em both. Now what do you do?
Michael: Sit down and finish my dinner.

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Sonny: How's Paulie?
Clemenza: Oh, Paulie... won't see him no more.

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Connie: Dinner's on the table.
Carlo Rizzi: I'm not hungry yet.
Connie: Your food is on the table. It's getting cold.
Carlo Rizzi: I'll eat out later.
Connie: You just told me to make you dinner!
Carlo Rizzi: Hey, vaffanculo, eh?
Connie: I'll vaffanculo you!

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Don Corleone: [seeing Sonny in the mortuary] Look how they massacred my boy.

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Don Corleone: Never let anyone outside the family know what you're thinking.
on Dec 29, 2004
Here's an interesting question....was "Johnny Fontaine" actually Frank Sinatra? He was under contract to a big band leader (whose name escapes me at the moment) before he started out on his own, then his movie career started in the late 40s-early 50s.
on Dec 29, 2004
Reply #7 By: Rightwinger - 12/29/2004 5:20:00 PM
Here's an interesting question....was "Johnny Fontaine" actually Frank Sinatra?


That's what I always heard to be the case.
on Dec 30, 2004
That's what I always heard to be the case.


Yeah...and when I wrote that yesterday, I was trying to remember the name of the gangster on which Puzo based Vito Corleone. I remembered last night at work.....I think it was Sam Giancana, wasn't it? Idealized and made more noble in character and not a little more "classy", of course.
Vito Corleone was a devoted family man and something of a prude; Giancana was supposed to have been a horndog who shared a girlfriend with JFK.

"Godfather IV" is supposed to be on the drawing board. Any truth to that, do you think? If so, I think it should be scrapped.....with Michael dead (and Puzo, for that matter), what's the point?
GfIII was kind of a letdown, anyway. The creepy relationship between the cousins was a little too much for me, too, you know?