History Fridge / TheGodfather

* Vito refusing to kill the two men who brutalized Amerigo's daughter seems, at first, to be a PetTheDog moment for Vito. He says he's doing it because it wouldn't be justice to kill them. Instead, he's just going to have them brutalized in return. It also allows us to see Vito as a FriendlyNeighborhoodGangster. However, if you take a step back, there's numerous practical reasons why Vito would do it this way. Murder is a very serious crime which runs the risk of endangering his family and soldiers on behalf of someone who is of very little social and economic importance. Two dead civilians would also draw police attention more than dead mobsters. Amerigo is also an outsider who might suffer an attack of conscience and be able to turn on Vito with knowledge linking him to murders. By contrast, simply having two men beaten up badly for harming a young woman is unlikely to draw nearly as much attention, especially if it's common knowledge what they did. It also would be far easier for Amerigo's conscience to stomach in the long-term, even if he wants them dead now.

** Michael may not have been a mobster originally, but as stated above he was a soldier. In the mobster world, you don't touch officers. But in the world Michael was used to, the military world, you kill "officers" if they're not on your side. An opposing officer's stripes would not deter him on the battlefield. Michael could look at McClusky as something other than untouchable because of his background. McClusky was just another enemy soldier to Michael, who'd made the mistake of breaking his jaw.

* Originally Clemenza was supposed to reappear in Part II but actor Richard Castellano had a disagreement with the filmmakers os hiis role was filled by a new character, Frank Pentangeli. In the film Pentangelli survives an assassination attempt believed coming from Michael Corleone becomes a witness against him in the senate hearings investigating organized crime. Corleone brings Pentangeli's brother from Sicily to the hearings which causes him to recant his testimony. Later Tom Hagen gives Pentangeli Michael's offer to spare his family if he commits suicide. This wouldn't have worked if they had had Clemenza. In the scenes set in the past they show young Clemenza, played by Bruno Kirby crossing himself before eating. It shows that though he might be a murderous thug, but he's still a good Catholic, and a good Catholic wouldn't commit suicide!

* The ending to ''Part III''. Before the passing of Mario Puzo, him and Francis had plans to make the next Godfather as Vincent's time as the Don, and he would have gone into the drug trade. [[spoiler:It would have ended with his death sometime in the mid-90s, after being hunted down and killed in a police shootout]]. Taken this account, Michael's death in '97 makes it all the more tragic since the Corleone name was by that point a worthless name because of the damage Vincent had done. Michael Corleone would have truly died broken and alone.

* The opening scene of ''Film/TheGodfather'' gives us Amerigo Bonasera asking Don Vito to kill (implied) the men who ravaged his daughter as vengeance, describing how "she will never be beautiful again." This scene is mirrored later in the film after [[spoiler:Sonny's death]], where we find Don Vito asking Bonasera not for vengeance, but simply for him to use his skills as an undertaker ''to make [[spoiler:his son]] beautiful again.''

* ''Film/TheGodfather'': After [[spoiler: Sonny's death]] Don Vito calls a truce with the other four Families, saying that unless pushed he will not be the one to break it. In the game it doesn't make a bit of difference, guys, as you can still freely first-strike other Families. Then it sinks in that Vito said '''[[ExactWords he]]''' [[ExactWords won't be the one to break the truce. Nothing about cat's-paws, lackeys or underlings.]]
** In the film, he makes that arrangement in order to bring Michael back safely. It seems unlikely that he would stake risk his son's life on a bit of cheap wordplay. The other families surely wouldn't respect the truce in that instance anyway.
** He also swears that he won't be the one to break it "on the blood of his grandchildren". Shortly after we see him plotting with Michael against the other Families (partly because they know Barzini has a mole in theirs), and at the end Michael has all the other heads assassinated...and come the third movie, Vito's grandaughter by Michael is killed by a bullet meant for his son.
* Micheal was widely regarded to be a noncombatant by the different Mafia families, despite being the son of Vito Corleonne, due mainly to the fact that he stayed out of the Family Business, kept his nose clean, and was a certifiable war hero. He might as well not be part of the family as far as they are concerned, when there are far more relevant targets such as Sonny (or Vito himself) whose deaths would actually affect how the family was run. Once Micheal gets drawn in, he is shown to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes very ruthless]], and [[TranquilFury very cold]]. When asked what he would do after killing Solozzo and [[DirtyCop McCluskey]], he replied that he would sit down and finish his meal. When his godson is being baptized, he has his men do a [[ThePurge mass-killing]] of the rival family heads [[AndZoidberg and Moe Greene]]. In the second movie, he is told that he pissed off a ''lot'' of people when he did that, as it wasn't ''how things are done'', and it is implied that this bought him a short term advantage at the cost of long-term problems. Why does he take this approach? Because he doesn't have any direct background in the Mafia. He is a soldier, who was trained to deal with his enemies far more directly than what is considered appropriate in the American Mafia. If someone is an enemy and is dangerous to you, ''you kill them'' before they can do the same to you... if you are talking about two armies on the battlefield. He is WrongGenreSavvy, but ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy dangerously]]'' so.

* When I was playing ''VideoGame/TheGodfather'' game, I wanted the {{Mob War}}s to be fully playable, with running battles in the streets. Thus, I was disappointed when they boiled down to either taking out an enemy business or simply running to a FBI agent and paying some dues, with no bunches of gangsters popping out of the woodwork to rumble with. Some more playtime and deaths later, I came to a realisation: With the game's near-{{Nintendo Hard}}ness because of its pseudorealistic damage model, having to fend out randomly popping out mobsters maybe realistic but definitely more frustrating than fun. Since the game may already try one's patience normally... -- @/GentlemensDame883

* Micheal was widely regarded to be a noncombatant by the different Mafia families, despite being the son of Vito Corleonne, due mainly to the fact that he styaed out of the Family Business, kept his nose clean, and was a certifiable war hero. He might as well not be part of the family as far as they are concerned, when there are far more relevant targets such as Sonny (or Vito himself) whose deaths would actaully affect how the family was run. Once Micheal gets drawn in, he is shown to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes very ruthless]], and [[TranquilFury very cold]]. When asked what he would do after killing Solozzo and [[DirtyCop McCluskey]], he replied that he would sit down and finish his meal. When his godson is being baptized, he has his men do a [[ThePurge mass-killing]] of the rival family heads [[AndZoidberg and Moe Greene]]. In the second movie, he is told that he pissed off a ''lot'' of people when he did that, as it wasn't ''how things are done'', and it is implied that this bought him a short term advantage at the cost of long-term problems. Why does he take this approach? Because he doesn't have any direct background in the Mafia. He is a soldier, who was trained to deal with his enemies far more directly than what is considered appropriate in the American Mafia. If someone is an enemy and is dangerous to you, ''you kill them'' before they can do the same to you... if you are talking about two armies on the battlefield. He is WrongGenreSavvy, but ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy dangerously]]'' so.

* The ending to ''Part III''. Before the passing of Mario Puzo, him and Francis had plans to make the next Godfather as Vincent's time as the Don, and he would have gone into the drug trade. [[spoiler:It would have ended with his death sometime in the mid-90s, after being hunted down and killed in a police shootout]]. Taken this account, Michael's death in '97 makes it all the more tragic since the Corleone name was by that point, a worthless name because of the damage Vincent had done. Michael Corleone would have truly died a broken and alone man.

* The death of [[spoiler:Aldo Trapani]] at the beginning of the second ''[[VideoGame/TheGodfather Godfather]]'' game made more sense when I started looking into the first game. Basically, ''The Godfather II'' introduced "kill conditions" to allow the player to put a rival made man [[FinalDeath out of action for good]] by using a certain execution style. [[spoiler:Aldo]] dies after being shot by a sniper, so he too must have had it as a kill condition, but because sniper rifles aren't in the first game, no one could touch him.

* ''TheGodfather'': After [[spoiler: Sonny's death]] Don Vito calls a truce with the other four Families, saying that unless pushed he will not be the one to break it. In the game it doesn't make a bit of difference, guys, as you can still freely first-strike other Families. Then it sinks in that Vito said '''[[ExactWords he]]''' [[ExactWords won't be the one to break the truce. Nothing about cat's-paws, lackeys or underlings.]]

* When I was playing ''Game/TheGodfather'' game, I wanted the {{Mob War}}s to be fully playable, with running battles in the streets. Thus, I was disappointed when they boiled down to either taking out an enemy business or simply running to a FBI agent and paying some dues, with no bunches of gangsters popping out of the woodwork to rumble with. Some more playtime and deaths later, I came to a realisation: With the game's near-{{Nintendo Hard}}ness because of its pseudorealistic damage model, having to fend out randomly popping out mobsters maybe realistic but definitely more frustrating than fun. Since the game may already try one's patience normally... -- @/GentlemensDame883

* The death of [[spoiler:Aldo Trapani]] at the beginning of the second ''[[Game/TheGodfather Godfather]]'' game made more sense when I started looking into the first game. Basically, ''The Godfather II'' introduced "kill conditions" to allow the player to put a rival made man [[FinalDeath out of action for good]] by using a certain execution style. [[spoiler:Aldo]] dies after being shot by a sniper, so he too must have had it as a kill condition, but because sniper rifles aren't in the first game, no one could touch him.