History Fridge / TheGodfather

* Don Vito uses his connections and influence as an actual godfather (ie a guardian) rather than as a crime lord. This is because he did not wish to stay a criminal, or to let his children take to crime; he is aware that criminal life will eventually destroy the people who stay in it too long. He himself had gone down the path of crime only because he had no other choice to survive. He sadly comments to Michael that he had hoped his family would leave the underworld life behind and achieve legitimacy, which reinforces this theory.

* Michael was widely regarded to be a noncombatant by the different Mafia families, despite being the son of Vito Corleone, 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 Michael gets drawn in, he is shown to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes very ruthless]], and [[TranquilFury very cold]]. When asked what he would do after killing Sollozzo 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.

** Except that actor {{John Cazale}} set up a definite rhythm for Fredo's prayer: "Hail Mary ... full of Grace ... The Lord is with thee..." Members of the audience who know the prayer are pulled into repeating it along with Fredo, in the same sing-song rhythm Fredo (and presumably, the audience) learned in Sunday School. Even though we no longer hear Fredo's voice, the audience is mentally finishing the prayer: "Now... and at the hour of our death... Amen" And then: BLAM! The gunshot clearly comes <i>after</i> Fredo finishes praying.

* More on the flashback in ''Part II'', it's revealed that of all his siblings, Fredo is the only one who supported Michael's decision to join the Marines. At first it looks like a heartwarming moment... But then, once we put it together with just how badly Fredo resents Michael, his father's favorite son, for stepping over him, the scene takes a much more darker turn. Of course Fredo ''wanted'' Michael to join the Marines; of course Fredo ''wanted'' Michael to keep out of family's business. Michael's mere presence makes him feel weak, ineffectual, and conscious of his shortcomings. His resentment to Michael has been growing all this time.

* Fredo turns out to be the traitor in ''Part II'' and Michael intends to have him killed when he finds out. When the deed is done, the traitor is saying a "Hail Mary" while fishing. Some believe that those who die while praying automatically get into Heaven (this is why Theatre/{{Hamlet}} didn't kill his uncle while he was praying) and that may have been Michael's intention. The traitor may have been a traitor, but he was still Michael's brother.

* [[spoiler:Fredo]] turns out to be the traitor in ''Part II'' and Michael intends to have him killed when he finds out. When the deed is done, the traitor is saying a "Hail Mary" while fishing. Some believe that those who die while praying automatically get into Heaven (this is why Theatre/{{Hamlet}} didn't kill his uncle while he was praying) and that may have been Michael's intention. The traitor may have been a traitor, but he was still [[spoiler:Michael's brother.]]

* Michael was widely regarded to be a noncombatant by the different Mafia families, despite being the son of Vito Corleone, 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 Michael 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.

* 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:Vito's son]] beautiful again.''
* In ''Part I'', Vito says to the other dons, [[spoiler: "I swear, on the souls of my grandchildren, that I will not be the one to break the peace we've made here today." [[ExactWords Technically]], he kept his promise, but in ''Part III'', his granddaughter Mary, an innocent civilian, is killed by a bullet meant for Michael.]]
** [[spoiler: Even more appropriate considering how heavily implied it is that Vito orchestrated the whole thing, with Michael just "pushing a button", so to speak.]]

* The use of ''Cavalleria Rusticana'' in ''Part III'' becomes even more poignant when the ''Intermezzo'' plays over [[spoiler:Mary's death, and ultimately Michael's during]] the ending. As the ''Intermezzo'' is only played in the ''middle'' of the Opera, it highlights the realization that [[spoiler:Michael's death]] is not really the end, but simply the closing of one tragic if bloody chapter in the Corleone saga. Something that Kay voices out earlier in the film: "It never ends."

* The ending to ''Part III''. Before the passing of Mario Puzo, he 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.
** Technically, according to a "Corleone family tree" found in the Coppola Restoration compilation as an extra, [[spoiler:Vincent gets gunned down in 2005 after soiling the Corleone name by getting into the drug business.]]

* Carmela (Vito's wife) is actually the bad apple in the marriage: all the Corleone boys have terrible defects not present in Vito: Sonny's violence, Fredo's vices and Michael's cold heart. Since all this didn't come from Vito, then it had to be from their mother's side who doesn't appear that much to be noticed as an actual evil person. In a way, she might be the BiggerBad or even TheManBehindTheMan since in the part II flashbacks she's the one who introduced her husband to the first of his "godsons" asking favors.
** In the beginning of Godfather II, Connie brings a man to the party for the First Communion of Michael's son. When she asked her mother, Carmela, to help her skip over everyone else to see Michael, she tells Connie to visit her children first before waiting in line to see Michael like everyone else. The way she said it, is the same way Sonny would have said it, if he was alive.

* There are four Corleone children. Santino, Frederico, Constanzia and Michael. Of the four, [[spoiler:Michael is the one who inherits the family empire... and he was the only one who doesn't have a nickname. Santino is named Sonny, Frederico is Freddy, and Constanzia is Connie. It may be unintentional but you could argue it's implying that Michael isn't like the other Corleone children, and considering that he inherits the empire, it's not too difficult to believe]]

* In the novel, the Tattaglia Family asks Vito to meet with Sollozzo about protecting the drug trade. In a dramatic flourish, the movie changes this: the Corleones discover the Sollozzo-Tattaglia connection on their own, and spring the information on Sollozzo in the course of the meeting. Thus, in the movie the Tattaglias never asked Vito for an accomodation, Vito never refused an accomodation to anyone except the non-Don Sollozzo, and the whole discussion at the peace conference is irrelevant.

* Originally, Clemenza was supposed to reappear in Part II, but actor Richard Castellano had a disagreement with the filmmakers, so his role was filled by a new character, Frank Pentangeli. In the film, Pentangeli survives an assassination attempt he believes came from Michael Corleone, and 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, he's still a good Catholic, and a good Catholic wouldn't commit suicide!

** 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.
** Even worse: [=McClusky=] was a DirtyCop, which could be seen essentially as him being a traitor to the uniform, and thus beneath contempt to a man of Michael's background.

* ''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 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.

* In the novel, the Tattaglia Family asks Vito to meet with Sollozzo about protecting the drug trade. In a dramatic flourish, the movie changes this: the Corleones discover the Sollozzo-Tattaglia connection on their own, and spring the information on Sollozzo in the course of the meeting. Thus, in the movie the Tattaglias never asked Vito for an accomodation, Vito never refused an accomodation to anyone, and the whole discussion at the peace conference is irrelevant.

** In the beginning of Godfather II, Connie brings a man to the party for the birthday of Michael's son. When she asked her mother, Carmela, to help her skip over everyone else to see Michael, she tells Connie to visit her children first before waiting in line to see Michael like everyone else. The way she said it, is the same way Sonny would have said it, if he was alive.

** In the beginning of Godfather II, Connie brings a man to the party for the birthday of Michael's son. When she asked her mother, Cermaela, to help her skip over everyone else to see Michael, she tells Connie to visit her children first before waiting in line to see Michael like everyone else. The way she said it, is the same way Sonny would have said it, if he was alive.

!!The Video Game
[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
* 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 realization: With the game's near-{{Nintendo Hard}}ness because of its pseudorealistic damage model, having to fend out randomly popping out mobsters may be realistic but definitely more frustrating than fun. Since the game may already try one's patience normally... -- @/GentlemensDame883

* A flashback in ''Part II'' reveals that Sonny was the one who introduced Carlo to Connie. That means Sonny had to live with the knowledge that he introduced his little sister to the man who would later abuse and mistreat her. He probably regretted that for years. Sonny's anger issues aside, it's no wonder he flipped out so badly when he saw Connie had been beaten.

* Michael was widely regarded to be a noncombatant by the different Mafia families, despite being the son of Vito Corleone, 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 Michael 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.