Screenplay Six: The Godfather

The Godfather (1972)
Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
Click for screenplay.
"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."



I couldn't have continued this project without reading The Godfather. I've seen the movie once, years ago - and, as per usual, reading the screenplay made me want to see it again (if only for Al Freaking Pacino). This screenplay was listed in the top five screenplays ever from a variety of sources. I can see why, and while that fact intimidates me before I've even gotten into analyzing it, I'm a rebel and I ignore that intimidation and blunder on anyway!





There are a couple of big themes that would benefit from some unpacking - the American Dream, and God. (I know, I whine about being intimidated and then I list two of the vaguest, broadest, scariest ideas to think about.) But first, let's talk the Seven Steps!



The Seven Steps:

1) Once upon a time, the Corleones are one of several Italian mobster families living in New York City. The Don (Vito) is an incredibly powerful and respected man, and the things he values most are honor, tradition, and family. The Don's daughter is getting married, and the whole family comes together to celebrate - including the slightly-estranged son Michael, who is a Marine and has a life separate from that of his criminal family.

2) And every day, people rely on Vito Corleone to help them out of tough situations, who in return will ask for a favor if and when he needs it. The day of the wedding is no different. Michael celebrates with the family, but makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with the family business.

3) Until one day, Vito Corleone suffers an assassination attempt that lands him in the hospital, putting his emotionally-driven, hot-headed son Sonny in charge of the family.

4) And because of this, war erupts between the various crime families. Sonny rules with his heart rather than his head; Michael involves himself in the Corleone retaliation by killing the man who planned his father's shooting and the corrupt police officer who works with him.

5) And because of this, the family is scattered. Fredo (the third son) hides out in Las Vegas; Sonny pushes the war to its limits and is eventually assassinated; Michael retreats to Sicily and gets married, although his wife is killed by a car bomb that was meant for him. This ultimately leads to Vito Corleone calling for a peace between the families that allows Michael to return home to take Sonny's place at the head of the family (which saddens Vito, who had hoped Michael could be "legitimate").

6) Until finally, Michael fires the family's advisor because he is not a "wartime consigliere" (showing that Michael believes the family to still be threatened, and therefore at war). Vito dies and Michael takes his revenge by ordering the assassination of all the other New York family leaders as well as some men on the inside of the Corleone network who had betrayed the family, coincidentally on the same day of the baptism of his sister's son (to whom he is to be made godfather).

7) And ever since that day, Michael accepts the dedication of many "caporegimes" (guys that are a couple ranks below him in the Mafia-family-tree), despite his assurances to his new wife Kay that he would make the family business "clean"/legitimate.



(I think I need to reread Brian McDonald. Whenever I do the Seven Steps, I have issues with how I should focus it. The main character? That wouldn't really work here, the main character is Michael and he misses a lot of the action when he's in Italy.)



ANYWAY - big theme time!



First of all, this movie was a big frackin' deal because it took the Mafia (something that didn't exactly instill warm fuzzy feelings in the audience), and made it something that had depth and personality. Which is really neat. So there's that.



Also, the screenplay is very visually descriptive, which is great. To me, this means that the overall success of the film isn't embedded strictly in the dialogue, nor is it found in the purely visual experience - it's both. Here are some scenes with great visuals (spoilers and blood ahead, beware):

(And one more big one that you'll see if you keep reading.)

Just beautifully done, in my opinion, and finely described in the screenplay - suggesting that the writers were more than just writers, they were visual thinkers, which I think creates a much more unified product.


Moving on...

Out of all the screenplays I've read so far, this is the one that most merits the following statement:

History is the most important thing in understanding other things, ever, all the time.

But surely not! you gasp. Other things are more relevant than stuff that happened a long time ago! 

Well, maybe. But history is pretty freaking far up on the list. Check this out - 

• the book that the movie was based on (also called The Godfather) was published in 1969 by Mario Puzo, an Italian-American from New York City.
• the movie was made in 1972, almost 30 years after the end of World War II (and also almost 30 years after the events of the story were meant to have taken place).

Why is this important? Because the two key themes in the screenplay are incredibly reliant on the development of American identity and immigration-identity in America after WWII.

I'm gonna go all history-major for a second.



Historical Context

Postmemory is a theory that "describes the relationship that the generation after those who witness cultural or collective trauma bears to the experiences of those who came before, experiences that they 'remember' only by means of the stories, images, and behaviors among which they grew up."[1] 

OR -

historically, it's quite common for the generation(s) after the event to find the event more interesting or deserving of attention. A big example is the Holocaust. Yeah, the Nuremberg Trials were a thing that happened right away, but actually thinking in-depth about the horrors of the Holocaust didn't happen right away... no one wanted to think about that. They were exhausted after the war. Reconciliation was more important than rehashing such sensitive stuff. Huge steps were only made in the generation after (the 68ers in Germany).

Angela, shut up, nobody cares, how does this relate to the screenplay - because how the events of the film are portrayed were heavily influenced by the directors' (and writers') retrospective knowledge of the period. This is combined with any personal experiences they may have had - or, more likely, the experiences of their parents.

So the Mafia can be seen as deserving of sympathy - because enough time has passed where the harsh reality of the crime families is not quite as raw and fresh. Not as many people are going to get upset about it, because it's been "a while". (Another example: some people felt that the movies based on September 11 came out too soon after the event itself. "Too soon" translates to, "Hollywood is making hella bank off of a national tragedy that is less than five years ago.")



So, let's talk about WWII.

HAGEN: The old days are over, this is 1946; nobody wants bloodshed anymore.

 

CLEMENZA: Sollozzo knows Mike's a civilian. (my emphasis)

CLEMENZA: These things have to happen once every ten years or so... gets rid of the bad blood. You gotta stop 'em at the beginning. Like they shoulda stopped Hitler at Munich, they shoulda never let him get away with that, they were just asking for big trouble...

DON CORLEONE: ...Consigliere, arrange a meeting with the heads of the five families... this war stops now.

MICHAEL: You're not a wartime consigliere.

This isn't the time or place for a review of WWII, so I'll be brief.

Hagen's quotation is pretty obvious in its relation to the war - the war is over. Everybody is tired.

Clemenza calls Michael a "civilian", not unlike in WWII - at that point in the screenplay, Michael was not involved in the family business. He was seen as neutral. Of course, also like in WWII, that doesn't grant him immunity - it's been argued that there could never be "civilian casualties" in a total war that calls the homefront into such action as was seen in WWII.

Clemenza specifically mentions Hitler and insists that he should have been stopped, but in the same breath, he claims the need to get rid of "bad blood" (a cleansing of sorts). Also, if this cleansing has to happen every ten years or so... on a bigger scale, like, say the World, and being at War... well, there were twenty years between the two world wars, but the "bad blood" was still right on the surface.

Finally, Michael tells Hagen near the end of the screenplay that he isn't a wartime consigliere. There was a lot of shuffling of political leaders, especially at the beginning of the war, as some were deemed to be good peacetime leaders and others were more skilled in wartime. (Churchill wasn't reelected after WWII because he was a great war leader, but not quite what Britain-at-peace wanted.)



Simultaneously, a major plot point is the introduction of drugs into the criminal circles of New York City.

DON CORLEONE: ...because I think this drug business will destroy us in the years to come.

1971 - President Nixon declares drugs to be "public enemy number one".

1972 - The Godfather comes out in theaters. It's definitely not the key message of the film, but drugs being a not-so-good idea (even to criminals, especially such self-respecting criminals as the Mafia!) is pretty evident. I'm just using this as proof that present-day situations affect the creation of a story. The story isn't all about the time period in which it takes place - given the strong objections that the leaders of the five mobster families present, it's almost like they knew the war on drugs was coming. Weird, huh?

Mega-sidetrack over, let's get back to The Godfather.



Tradition vs. the American Dream

BONASERA: I believe in America. America has made my fortune.

This is the first dialogue of the script. Let that soak in for a second. It might not seem important, but to put it in context, these words are coming from the mouth of a man (Bonasera) who is also about to say that he raised his daughter in the "American fashion" (she wasn't even dating an Italian!), and then will go on to ask Vito Corleone to kill a couple of (American) men who sexually assaulted his daughter. Bonasera had gone to the police ("like a good American"), but the punishment for the two men wasn't appropriate at all. So Bonasera comes to Vito Corleone, Italian mob boss, and asks him to kill the guys. 

He went from "I believe in America" to "...for justice, we must go to the Godfather."

Placing this in the broader context of the American Dream and America as "melting pot" (I have ninety-nine problems with that phrase and all of them are "wow, that's incredibly inaccurate") is important because it helps us to understand the film's broader emphasis on the value of tradition. Bonasera says he believes in America, because that's why he moved here - or maybe that's why his parents moved here - but he also holds familial honor in high regard (which, let's face it, didn't have quite the same emphasis in America as it did in Italy). 

He's trapped in between two cultures - Italian (traditional), and American (new).

Don Corleone (pinnacle of tradition, we'll come back to this) sees this culture clash, and calls Bonasera out on it.

DON CORLEONE: ...you think it's enough to be an American... so you don't need a friend like me. But now you come to me and say Don Corleone, you must give me justice. And you don't ask in respect or friendship. And you don't think to call me Godfather; instead you come to my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder... for money.

BURRRRRNNNNNNNN

Basically, Don Corleone is saying, "You aren't placing the proper value in our traditions. You're not thinking this through rationally, or honorably. Cool your jets."

Bonasera isn't the only one coming to ask "the Godfather" for help. (godfather being an important role in the Catholic religion, and most Italians being incredibly-super-mega-Catholic in 1945).

MICHAEL: They're going to talk to my father, which means they're going to ask him for something... 

KAY: Why do they bother him on a day like this? 

MICHAEL: Because they know that no Sicilian will refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day.

The people who need the Godfather's help are taking advantage of his dedication to tradition, at least a little - and he knows it. All of this is in the first six minutes of the film. In six minutes, we know a LOT about Don Corleone - he is a traditionalist, a family man, he sees himself as a businessman, he is thoughtful and rational and sympathetic, and demands the same of his "godchildren". Don Corleone is a father figure. Perhaps he is the Father figure (totally not heavy-handed at all, but I'm talking about God here).



Godfather

This barely needs explaining, but here you go.

GENCO (Don Corleone's old consigliere, dying in hospital): Stay with me Godfather. Help me meet death. If he sees you, he will be frightened and leave me in peace. You can say a word, pull a few strings... Godfather, don't betray me.

HAGEN: Mr. Corleone is Johnny's Godfather. That is very close, a very sacred religious relationship.

If the religious symbolism weren't clear enough, here's some more evidence! Godfather = God. And it's the most important relationship a man can have, his relationship with Don Corleone. Don Corleone makes or breaks your chance at a good life. He is portrayed as just and fair and rational and all of these traits that you'd hope God would have. Again, the first six minutes of the film makes this clear - all of the business-y decisions that Don Corleone makes, he makes in his house. In his office, several stories up. He frequently turns to look out the window, towards his flock creation family and friends and godchildren and employees. Very visual stuff here, included in the screenplay because they really wanted to get this point across.



Michael's Transformation

I think this is one of the most well-done character developments I've seen. Sometimes it's a little heavy-handed, but at least it has me interested in the character - I don't know if I am happy or unsettled with the way Michael goes from estranged, straight-laced, Marine, American son - to the new Don Corleone. The dialogue and the descriptions in the screenplay make it clear as to what's happening. It's like a train wreck. You know from the beginning that Michael is a key character, and that he's one to watch... and you quickly learn which way he's going to develop. One relationship of his that makes it so clear is that with his girlfriend, Kay.

Michael starts out by telling Kay tall tales about his family and is very clearly more interested in having a "normal" life with her. But when it becomes evident that he's getting more involved in the family business...

KAY: I love you. 

[He glances at the thugs in the kitchen. Tries to shield the phone.] 

KAY: I love you. 

MICHAEL: Yeah Kay, I'm here. 

KAY: Can you say it? 

MICHAEL: Huh? 

Kay: Tell me you love me... 

(he doesn't)

KAY: When will I see you again? 

MICHAEL: Goodbye.

KAY: Why did they blame Michael? 

MAMA: You listen to me, you go home to your family, and you find a good young man and get married. Forget about Mikey; he's no good for you, anymore. 

[She looks directly into KAY's eyes; and KAY understands what that means.]

And that's just the Kay parts, where we see that Michael is more in love with his family and with honor (like his father) than with Kay.

Michael's got the Family in his blood. He's the best one to take over the Don's place. Sonny's a hothead, Fredo's weak. Michael's it, and he is the one that Vito saw as having the most potential for honesty and legitimacy. It's sad.

When Michael visits his father in the hospital and learns that the protection has disappeared, he takes control of the situation like a bad-ass. He tells a nervous visitor to get rid of the flowers he brought and "look like you've got a gun in your pocket". They stand outside the hospital like bodyguards, to ward off any potential attacks.

MICHAEL looks down; the baker's hands are shaking. He looks at his own, and they are not.

Soon, he's offering to kill for the family. He shoots the man who ordered the attack on Vito, and the police officer who was bribed to allow a second assassination attempt on the Don... and Michael makes it clear that it's personal. He's a deadly mix of Vito, who is all about tradition and business... and Sonny, who is all about emotion. The more the screenplay goes on, the more traits we see Michael adopt from his father. He bargains his way into meeting a pretty girl in Italy? He sounds just like Vito. When he goes to Las Vegas to do some business, he is just spouting Vito-y things.

MICHAEL: I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

MICHAEL: The Don has semi-retired. I'm running the Family business now. So anything you have to say, say it to me.

MICHAEL: Freddie, you're my older brother. I love you. But don't ever take sides with anybody against the Family again.

There are two key moments of transformation/renewal for Michael. The first, less obvious one is when he goes into the restaurant bathroom to retrieve the gun so he can kill Sollozzo and McCluskey.

He washes his hands thoroughly before picking up the gun. He picks it up. He puts it in his pocket. He washes his hands again. I don't know if this was intentional, but I felt really really sad when I read this. He's doing it for the Family, and this is the moment when he makes his involvement clear (no longer just a civilian). He washes his hands after touching the gun, because he knows that it's basically the last time his hands will be clean.



The second scene of renewal is the third Christian scene - the scene of Connie's son's baptism and Michael's acceptance of his role as godfather to the boy.

(Really quickly - there are three religious scenes. The first is celebrating Connie's wedding. The second is the Don's funeral. The third is this baptism. All of them are key to Michael's character development.)

PRIEST (to MICHAEL): Do you pledge to guide and protect this child if he is left fatherless? Do you promise to shield him against the wickedness of the world? 

MICHAEL: Yes, I promise. 

PRIEST: Do you renounce Satan? 

MICHAEL: I do renounce him. 

PRIEST: And all his works? 

MICHAEL: I do renounce them. 

PRIEST: Do you wish to be baptized?  

MICHAEL: I do wish to be baptized.

OH, DID I FORGET TO MENTION THAT THIS SCENE IS INTERSPERSED WITH THE MURDERS OF ALL THE ENEMIES OF THE CORLEONE FAMILY WHOOPS

Baptism of blood

WOW. What a moment. Michael is being baptized, reborn into the Mafia family rather than just the "Corleone" family. He's accepting his responsibility. See what I mean by totally epic development?






Phew. Almost done. Conclusion-time. Here's an abridged version of the scene in which the armature is encased, like a fish inside a bullet-proof vest, or a horse head inside a bed, or Michael inside the Corleone crime family.

DON CORLEONE: You are like me, we refuse to be fools, to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by other men. I hoped the time for guns and killing and massacres was over. That was my misfortune. That was your misfortune... I had no choice. 

MICHAEL: A man has to choose what he will be. I believe that. 

DON CORLEONE: What else do you believe in? ...believe in a family. Can you believe in your country... [that] declare[s] wars they wish us to fight in to protect what they own... believe in a family; believe in a Code of Honor, older and higher, believe in Roots that go back thousands of years into your Race. Make a family, Michael, and protect it. These are our affairs, sono cosa nostra, Governments only protect men who have their own individual power. Be one of those men... you have the choice.

And here is where the armature comes out. It comes out in the Don's monologue to his son, as it has become clear that Michael is the one that will take over the family business. It comes out along with a 1970's perspective on war (Korea? Vietnam? those things have happened to the writers).

A man will find support in maintaining familial honor and old cultural tradition, in the process of becoming what he wants to be. This is in contrast to the sought-after American Dream, of course, which means that Michael's Italian (and Mafia) heritage will be with him forever if he chooses to keep it. Which he does, and is done absolutely beautifully in the final scene.

Ugh, I have to go watch the movie now.