History TearJerker / TheGodfather

* Vito confides to Michael thah he has essentially failed in life as he was not able to make the family climb up the power ladder, so Michael is cursed with his legacy, repeating Vito's way of life. [[[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ9-wNAfTSY Brando's terrific body language and voice permeates the whole conversation with sadness]].

* Vito's mother [[MamaBear Signora Andolini's]] HeroicSacrifice. Knowing full well it would result in her death, she held a knife to Don Ciccio's throat and screamed at Vito to run so as to ensure that he would live. And with her death, a young Vito was left completely alone in the world...

* Connie watching, regretfully, as her godfather Don Altobello is dying in his seat at the opera.

'''Kay:''' They're my children too...

** Even the damn ''music'' gets you. When poor Fredo hugs Michael (and Michael hugs him back), there is a sweeping, triumphant piece that plays, giving hope that all is forgiven and that everything is gonna be okay... and the Michael (unbeknownst to Fredo) gives that side look to Al, and the music suddenly stops, then changes to a much more somber tune.

* Vito confides to Michael thah he has essentially failed in life as he was not able to make the family climb up the power ladder, so Michael is cursed with his legacy, a repetition on Vito's life. [[[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ9-wNAfTSY Brando's terrific body language and voice permeates the whole conversation with sadness]].

* Vito confides to Michael that he is cursed with his legacy.

** Neri himself sadly looks down after Mike’s look.

* Tom's backstory. He grew up in a dysfunctional family with a violent alcoholic for a father and a mother who apparently was completely neglectful towards him. His mother contracted an eye infection and later died of an unknown disease. In reaction to her death, his father wound up drinking himself to death. Tom and his younger sister were put in an orphanage, but Tom ran away (as 1920's orphanages didn't have the greatest track records when it came to the treatment of their charges), and spent an unspecified amount of time living on the streets. By the time Sonny found him, he was starving and nearly blind in one eye (having developed the same infection his mother had before dying). In the novel it says that even as an adult, Tom has nightmares of him and his children reliving his horrible childhood, showing that he's a lot more affected by this than he seems.

* Tom Hagen witnesses what Woltz has done to an exquisitely beautiful pre-teen actress. The description of the sweet child torn and broken on the stairwell -- while her mother's all business and clearly unconcerned with her daughter's pain -- is enough to make you cry ''and'' puke. In the book, when Tom recounts this to Vito, the don is so disgusted that he proceeds to call Woltz the most insulting thing you could ever say in Sicilian.

** Nobody, but nobody, counts Fredo

* Tom's backstory. He grew up in a dysfunctional family with a violent alcoholic for a father and a mother who apparently was completely neglectful towards him. His mother contracted an eye infection and later died of an unknown disease. In reaction to her death, his father wound up drinking himself to death. Tom and his younger sister were put in an orphanage, but Tom ran away (as 1920's orphanages didn't have the greatest track records when it came to the treatment of their charges), and spent an unspecified amount of time living on the streets. By the time Sonny found him, he was starving and nearly blind in one eye (having developed the same infection his mother had before dying). In the novel it says that even as an adult, Tom has nightmares of him and his children reliving his horrible childhood, showing that he's a lot more affected by this than he seems.

* Tom Hagen witnesses what Woltz has done to an exquisitely beautiful pre-teen actress. The description of the sweet child torn and broken on the stairwell -- while her mother's all business and clearly unconcerned with her daughter's pain -- is enough to make you cry ''and'' puke. In the book, when Tom recounts this to Vito, the don is so disgusted that he proceeds to call Woltz the most insulting thing you could ever say in Sicilian.

* After Vito gets shot, Tom tries to convince Sonny to not get revenge and try to make a deal to avoid bloodshed. Sonny does not take it well and things get heated:
-->'''Sonny:''' That's easy for you to say, Tom, he's not your father!\\
'''Tom''' ''(clearly hurt)'': I'm as much a son to him as you or Mike!
** Nobody, but nobody, counts Fredo.

* Michael and Sonny's goodbye before the latter leaves for Sicily becomes this in retrospect, as it's the last time they ever see each other.

** And while Michael is busy getting married in Sicily, Kay is desperate to find him, in the dark about where he went to or what he's doing now.

* When Vito is shot and nearly killed, Fredo's reaction is just painful. Not only was he sitting in the car instead of protecting his father, but he fumbles his gun, allowing the shooters to get away. When he sees Vito's injured body lying in the street, he just sinks to the ground and sobs "Papa!"