The Godfather is a series of three films about a fictional Mafia crime family, the Corleone Family. The first movie came out in 1972, and was based upon Mario Puzo's novel of the same name. It was followed by The Godfather Part II in 1974 and The Godfather Part III in 1990. Francis Ford Coppola directed the films and scripted them with Puzo.The plot of the first movie begins in 1945 with Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the youngest son of the Don of the Family, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), returning from World War II and reuniting with his family at his sister Connie's wedding. The good times don't last long, however: shortly after the wedding a captain from a rival crime family tries to interest the Don and his Hot Blooded eldest son, Sonny (James Caan), in the new up and coming moneymaker: heroin. The old fashioned Don is not interested, believing that selling drugs would wreck the political connections vital to the family, but when Sonny shows interest the rival family decides on a new course of action: kill Don Vito, and try to make a bargain with Sonny afterwards.The assassination attempt on the Don fails to kill him but puts him in the hospital and Michael, who has never been interested or involved in the Family business before, thwarts a second attempt while visiting his father at the hospital. At a truce meeting Michael kills both the captain from the other family and a police captain that was involved in the second attempt at his father before going into hiding, and Sonny, furious at the attempts at his father's life, declares an all out Mob War.Eventually Sonny is ambushed and killed, and Michael is forced out of hiding to try to take over the family. Michael pretends to be helpless at first, but after his father dies and he becomes the head of the Family, Michael ruthlessly purges The Moles within the family and his enemies in the other major mob families, leaving the Corleone family as the most powerful force in the mob scene.The second film continues Michael's story while giving flashback accounts of the young Don Vito (Robert De Niro) from his troubled childhood to his eventual turn to crime and rise to power (based on parts of the original book which were cut from the first film). In the present Michael is juggling many problems, which include he and Jewish gangster Hyman Roth trading double-crosses and assassination attempts even as they do business together, his personal life with his wife and family crumbling, and the Corleone family trying to survive an investigation from the US government.Eventually Michael manages to overcome everything, but the film ends on a theme of Pyrrhic Villainy: Michael's actions have destroyed his family, ended his marriage, he's killed his sole remaining brother, Fredo, after finding out that Fredo made a deal with Hyman Roth, and ends the movie utterly alone.Many fans prefer to disregard the third film entirely, which is completely original and picks up events 20 years later in the timeline. Here an ailing and guilt stricken Michael increasingly attempts to make the Corleone family legitimate, but in doing so becomes less and less involved with the functions of the crime family, which gives more leeway to unscrupulous and unprincipled associates. Sonny's bastard son Vincent, a member of the crime family, speaks up about this and is taken under Michael's wing and groomed to replace him. There is one last round of assassinations and purges in the Corleone Family before Vincent becomes the new Don and, years later, Michael dies.The first film was also loosely adapted by EA Games into a free-roaming action/adventure game that lets you create your own mobster (with a feature called Mob Face, based on EA's Tiger Woods Game Face) who starts out as the low man on the Corleone totem pole and experiences events from the first movie (he helps deliver the horse head to Jack Woltz's bed, for example) while rising through the ranks of the family, eventually becoming Don of New York. If you're looking for a spot-on adaptation of the movie look elsewhere, but think of it as "Grand Theft Auto: Cosa Nostra" and you should have a pretty fun time with it. The second film was also adapted into a videogame by EA, where you play the protagonist from the first game's replacement becoming Don of NYC, focusing on Hyman Roth's attempt to control Cuba.Tropes for the video games go here.
Adaptation Distillation: The original novel was considered rather average, while the first Godfather movie is considered one of the greatest films of all time, in part because it drops a lot of meaningless subplots. Although the book tells a good story it is not particularly well written, telling a story rather than showing it.
Your mileage may vary on the quality of Puzo's writing in the novel. There are many well-respected critics who are very appreciative of the quality of the novel. The film is universally regarded as one of the finest movies ever made, though.
The main plotline of the novel is basically identical to the plotline of the movie - indeed, Coppola said that he created the working script for the movie by ripping out the pages of the novel and pasting them into a binder. However, about a third of the novel consists of material set in Hollywood and Las Vegas, which has only the most tenuous of connections to the main story. The most likely explanation is that the author had a couple of unfinished novels lying around in his drawer and took the opportunity to get them published as part of his blockbuster.
Affably Evil: Vito behaves like - and, in some ways, is - a family-oriented leader of his community, doing favours for the weak and punishing the wicked (when it doesn't interfere with Business)
American Dream: The first line of the first film is "I believe in America... " A crucial theme of the film is how the five families are essentially living the American dream with specific ideals that America at the time greatly treasured (capitalism, gender roles, family values, etc.). One could easily see this as a deconstruction or even an attack on the idea of the American Dream, or at least a very different look at it.
Artistic License - History: In "The Godfather III" the deaths of Pope Paul VI and John Paul I all take place in 1979, while in reality these events took place in 1978! (To be fair to the film, the name of the actual Cardinal who becomes JP 1 appears to have been changed.)
Luca Brasi is an enforcer whose reputation and fear spans the continental United States. He is killed the same night as the hit on Don Vito because everybody knew there was no way they could out-fight him when the Mob War began.
Al Neri, a former police officer who joins the organization towards the end of the book, is regarded as another Luca Brasi when Michael begins to realize what potential he has.
Badass Moustache: Vito Corleone sports a badass moustache, and he only begins wearing it after he gains power as a Mafia kingpin.
Bath Suicide: In Part II, Hagen visits Pentangeli in prison and talks about this practice in the Roman Empire, hinting that if Pentangeli does this his family will be spared. He does, and they are.
Being Evil Sucks: If you wish to be be a mob chief after watching this, then you are crazy.
Sonny, though it is less blatant in the film than in the book, where it is actually a minor plot point.
Johnny Fontane. Enough so that stories about its sheer girth are common on the Hollywood scene. One rumor (eventually confirmed) stated that he had to have his suits specially tailored in order to accommodate it.
Black and Gray Morality: The Corleone family are the protagonists of the film trilogy, but only because everyone else - the other mobsters, the cops, politicians, even Vatican clergy - are worse. The very first person we meet in the original film - the mortician - has only come to Don Vito because the courts had let the would-be rapists of his daughter go free. In the Corleones' favor, both Vito and Michael conduct themselves as good decent men... except for Michael's obsessive need for control.
Break-In Threat: Jack Woltz wakes up with a horse head in his bed. Bonus points for said horse being his prize horse when it was still alive.
Bullet Proof Vest: Luca Brasi is Genre Savvy enough to wear one when going to speak to The Turk. It doesn't help, since he gets garroted instead, but its not like he could have discreetly worn a gorget.
Catch Phrase: All sorts of great dialogue can be found in the first two Godfather films, and even the third film has a few fine lines
Don Vito himself, especially in the book where it is more obvious that Michael's purge of the five families was orchestrated by Vito years before, at his negotiations to bring Michael home from Sicily.
Michael in all three films.
The main antagonists of the movies— Barzini, Roth, and Altobello — are examples, albeit much less successful.
Chronic Villainy: "Every time I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"
Confessional: In Part III. Michael gets to confess and receive absolution from the future Pope John Paul I himself.
His Holiness: "Your sins are terrible. And it is just that you suffer. Your life could be redeemed, but I know you do not believe that. You will not change."
Cool Horse: Jack Woltz's horse Khartoum. Shame what happens to him due to the Don's offer getting refused.
Corrupt Bureaucrat: Senator Geary of Nevada in Part II, who tries to extort and bully Michael... and not out of greed but because Geary is a racist spiteful bastard.
Implied off-screen by the many politicians and judges that are indebted to Vito in the first two films.
Played with a bit earlier in the film: Clemenza takes Paulie Gatto with him on the pretense of scouting for apartments in preparation to "go to the mattresses", but he also brings along Rocco Lampone; Rocco sits in the back while Paulie drives and Clemenza rides shotgun. Paulie knows something is a little off and you can see it in his expression when he asks Rocco to move over because he's blocking the rear-view mirror. It turns out Paulie was right to be nervous.
Darker and Edgier: Coppola felt that the first movie had shown the Mafia in too warm and sentimental a light, so Part II was consciously made Darker and Edgier.
Deal with the Devil: Don Corleone's policy of doing favors for people in return for the person in question performing a service for him in the future has very strong undertones of this, but the Don does not make the people who call on him for help do anything evil. The mortician Bonasera, whose request for help opens the movie, is terrified of being indebted to Don Vito for such a favor and fears that one day the Don will show up at his doorstep with a pile of corpses and a "request" that he bury them. In the end, Vito calls in the favor to beg Bonasera to clean up Sonny's bullet-riddled body, as well as reconstruct his face so that his mother will be able to look upon him. When Don Vito himself dies, Bonasera is spotted at the funeral he apparently is providing for the late Don and is openly weeping.
Death Wail: Michael Corleone's scream when Mary dies was supposedly so primal and intense that the audio had to be cut from the movie.
To be fair, Luca does this because he is nervous about talking to Don Vito Corleone, the most powerful man in New York.
In reality, Lenny Montana was a professional wrestler and not a trained actor. His verbal stumble came from being awed just to be in the presence of Marlon Brando. It was felt afterward to keep it in because it fit Luca's awe of Don Vito. They also added an extra scene, where Luca Brasi practices his speech, to make his nervousness more realistic.
Detractor Nickname: Some of the other Sicilian families refer to the Corleones as "the Irish gang" behind their backs because Don Vito gave Tom Hagen, who's of Irish descent, a high position in the family.
Disposable Sex Worker: In Part II, the Corleones get corrupt U.S. Senator Geary in their pocket when he wakes up in a room with a dead prostitute in a hotel run by Fredo. They had engaged in rough, possibly dangerous sex before the senator blacked out, but the exact circumstances of her death are never revealed, and it is awfully convenient for the Corleone interests that she died....
There is a brief scene during that moment where Al Neri is idly washing his hands in a nearby bathroom, hinting he had set up the senator by drugging him unconscious and then killing the poor girl.
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The mob life looks very attractive when you can live it like Michael and Fredo and the rest. Even all the killings, fights, wife abuse, prostitution, drugs, animal cruelty, and double parking seem so appealing.
Clemenza dies offscreen between the events of the first two films because of a contract dispute with the actor. Frank Pentangeli is actually his Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
This happens again when Tom Hagen does not appear in the third film.
Drugs Are Bad: Vito opposes entering into the drug trade because he thinks that they will drive away his allies in politics and the police force, not because he has any problem with the morality of selling them. He is eventually forced to get the Corleones into the trade when the Five Families kill Sonny and he needs to negotiate a truce. All the other Dons agree that it needs to be run "as a business," kept out of the hands of children and preferably within the black community.
Enforced Method Acting: In the "Woltz's bedroom" scene, John Marley (who played Woltz) was not told that they would be using an actual horse head for the scene, as they had used various props in rehearsals.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Exhibited many times. One of Michael's generous acts, in his mind, is not to have Fredo killed until after their mother is no longer alive to know about it, and Vito spends years waiting for revenge on the man who killed his mother.
Ruthlessly parodied in a Mad Magazine satire in which Michael states this promise outright ("You know I'd never kill him while Mother's alive") then promptly turns to Hagen and orders a contract on his mother.
Even Evil Has Standards: Vito believes that his political connections, which regard gambling and women as harmless vices, will abandon the Family if they learn that hard drugs like heroin is being sold. Even after they agree to the trade, the Dons refuse to allow the drugs into schools or children. In the book, one of the factors that led to Vito ordering Woltz's horse killed was Woltz's molestation of a little girl who had her audition during Tom Hagen's visit, an act which Vito declared infamitá.
It's even worse than that. The book strongly suggests that this infamous act was the price Woltz demanded for giving the girl's mother a screen role. Her expression as she walks her ruined little girl out is one of triumph.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: More like Evil Cannot Comprehend Other Evil, but Sollozzo really just does not seem to understand anything outside of a strictly business sense. He has Vito gunned down because Sonny was more receptive to the deal, not really understanding Sonny is not going to give a crap about business now that Sollozzo has attempted to murder his beloved dad.
Sollozzo was gambling that, with Vito dead, the political connections die with him leaving Sonny weaker than the other Five Families and force the Corleones to take the drug deal. This is why Sollozzo keeps trying to kill Vito... and why Michael has to kill Sollozzo to save his dad.
Executive Meddling: According to Coppola & Puzo, The Godfather Part III was meant to be titled The Death of Michael Corleone to highlight the fact that it did not follow on directly from Part II, but rather was meant to be "an epilogue." They were overruled, with executives saying "You can't make a Godfather movie without 'The Godfather' in the title!"
This after Coppola had to demand the second film be titled The Godfather Part II instead of something else.
This also occurred during the first film as well. Stanley R. Jaffe, who was then Paramount's executive vice president and chief operations officer, along with producer Robert Evans, frequently fought with Coppola over creative matters during the film, from his decision to cast Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in the main roles, to his editing of the final product. It got so bad, that Coppola had to have the film's on-set physician prescribe him sleeping pills in order to combat his stress related insomnia.
Expository Hairstyle Change: Michael's hair goes from loose and boyish in the beginning of the first movie to slicked back when he's older and more ruthless later in the film and in Part Two.
Extreme Melee Revenge: Carlo physically abuses Sonny's sister. Sonny then tracks down Carlo and attacks him in broad daylight. He uses his fists, his feet, Carlo's shoes, and a nearby metal trashcan (which is brought down smack on Carlo's head). And possibly The Force. All of this happens in public, and a crowd watches while Sonny's goons keep them from interfering. Carlo is left barely alive in a nearby puddle.
Funny how you mention The Force, since George Lucas helped edit the Mattresses sequence after Solozzo's shooting.
Feudal Overlord: The resemblance with this is striking. As the Mafia is, in a way, an underground version of the pre-modern social system, it makes sense.
The Fifties: Michael's half of Part II. Also, the latter half of Part I.
Five-Bad Band: The father and sons at the head of the Corleone Family form a neat model of this trope:
The Big Bad: Vito; head of the family and; at his peak, implied to be the most powerful criminal in New York.
The Dragon: Tom Hagen. Serves as Consigliere (read: right-hand man) to three successive Dons of the Corleone Family.
The Evil Genius: Michael proves himself to be this at least twice during Part I, and continuously throughout Part II, using devious and brutal schemes to keep the Corleone Family strong, despite their (numerous) ups and downs.
The Brute: Sonny. Despite doing his best to fill the roles of caporegime (read: general), and later acting Don, the only thing Sonny is ever really good at is violence (well, outside the bedroom that is...)
The Dark Chick: Fredo. He may not be an actual chick, but he is only brother to be completely out of step with the rest of the family, and does have a troubling penchant for seeing things from the enemy's point of view...
Even if you go back to the start of the first movie, (in other words, prior to Michael getting involved in the family business) you still have a functional Five Bad lineup, albeit with some of the places switched around.
Five Second Foreshadowing: In the first movie, Michael realizes something is fishy about the car and quickly tries to warn his wife about it, but soon afterwards she starts the car and explodes.
Flashbacks: Used throughout Part II to depict the experiences of the young Vito. They are used to highlight Michael's struggles and failures to maintain the Corleone family in the present day.
Foreshadowing: If you see an orange, somebody is about to have his day completely ruined. Also: "Exterminate? That's a bad word to use: exterminate! Get this guy. Watch out we don't exterminate you!"
Vito refuses to get into the narcotics business after the war, not only because he knows his political friends would abandon him but because he believes in the future the drug business could kill the Mafia. In Real Life, the Mafia has been crippled since The Seventies mostly due to the War On Drugs.
Genre Savvy: Luca Brasi wears a bullet proof vest when he goes to meet with The Turk. It does not help against a knife through the hand and a garrote, but give a mook credit for trying.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: The Don pulls this on Johnny Fontane when Fontane is complaining about Woltz keeping him from getting a part in his movie.
The Handler: Tom Hagen as consigliere to Don Vito.
Happy Flashback: A particuarly effective one ends the second film.
Heroic Sacrifice: Pentangeli. The Family wants him dead, but Tom Hagen tells him that if he kills himself the Corleones will provide for his surviving family from that point on.
Hey, It's That Guy!: Luca Brasi may sleep with the fishes, but Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) isFish.
Improvised Weapon: In Part III, Don Lucchesi is assassinated in a truly spectacular fashion when he is stabbed in the throat with his own glasses.
Intermission: Part II has an intermission, though Part I lacks one.
Irony: The Mafia caused Vito to run away from Sicily to America and there he became its leader.
It's Not You, It's My Enemies: The main reason why Michael dislikes Vincent and Mary dating, and convinces Vincent to break off the romance. It does not work.
Karma Houdini: Fabrizio. A Deleted Scene from the second movie shows Michael's revenge. The scene is included in the made-for-TV, chronological order The Godfather Saga.
Decapitating a man's horse because he will not cast a guy in a movie. But see above re. Woltz's dark side.
Killing your brother-in-law on the same day as becoming the Godfather of his son, after telling him you will not kill him.
Kissing Cousins: Mary and Vincent in Part III. Even if they had gotten a better actress than Sofia Coppola she still would not have been able to keep this forbidden romance between two first cousins from being Squick.
Knife Nut: Sollozzo is said to be very good with a knife, but being a businessman he avoids fighting if he can help it. This shows up briefly in the film when Luca Brasi meets with him in Bruno Tattaglia's nightclub. He stabs Luca Brasi's right hand, pinning it to the bar while one of Bruno's men garrotes Luca.
Lolicon: Woltz's choice of sexual partners, as revealed in the novel.
Mad Magazine: The Oddfather, The Oddfather Part, Too, and The Oddfarther Part ZZZ.
Make it Look Like an Accident: Don Vito specifically warns the other families against letting anything happen to Michael on the way back from Sicily, even going so far as to say that "If he should get struck by a bolt of lightning, then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room."
Inverted in the novel. The bosses of the Five Families are the worst-dressed of the bunch, wearing normal, no-nonsense business attire. Being the most powerful Mafia men in the nation, they don't have to play dress-up for anyone.
Massive Numbered Siblings: Kay considers the Corleone siblings massive-numbered, and is surprised that Vito and Ma Corleone were generous enough to add a fifth member to their brood with Tom. Michael, however, reflects that four children constitutes a small family by Italian standards, and that Vito and Ma accordingly would have been miserly not to adopt Tom.
Fredo: "Did you ever think about that, did you ever once think about that? Send Fredo off to do this, send Fredo off to do that! Let Fredo to take care of some Mickey Mouse night club somewhere! Send Fredo to pick somebody up at the airport! I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!"
Michael: "That's the way Pop wanted it."
Fredo (angry): "It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says! Like dumb! I'm smart and I want respect!"
The Mole: Most plot twists in the trilogy involve someone betraying the family from within. Underlings like Paulie, who set up Don Vito for the street hit, and Fabrizio, who plants a bomb meant to kill Michael in Sicily, but kills Michael's wife Apollonia instead. Respected capo Sal Tessio is bought over by Barzini to set up Michael after Vito's death. In Part II, Pentangeli is tricked by Hyman Roth into revealing the Corleone Family's inner workings to the Senate hearings. Ultimately, the deepest betrayal was pulled by poor Fredo.
Part III has Joey Zasa as a too-obvious opponent that Michael quickly discerns as a front for hidden and more dangerous enemies: it is really Don Altobello working in league with the European banking interests to get Michael's vast wealth put into the Vatican banks.
Money, Dear Boy: Coppola's reason for making all three films. He was head of a very unprofitable film company when he was offered the first one (offered purely on the grounds that he was Italian), and thought it was a stupid genre movie that he didn't want to waste his time on... but he really needed the money. Coppola wanted to now move away from the studio and focus on his personal film projects The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, which he could get finance for... Providing he made another Godfather film. Then many years later he was struggling with debts from failed projects... people went to see my Godfather movies, didn't they? Yeah, let's make another one of those. People sometimes cite this trope as a reason the third one sucked, but it was there the whole time.
Mook Promotion: Al Neri and Rocco Lampone are promoted from "Button Men" in the first movie to Michael's caporegimes in the second. Willi Cicci is a button in Part I and became Frank Pentangeli's capo in Part II. In Part III he was originally planned to be the one who took over Michael's New York operation after he became legitimate, but actor Joe Spinell died before filming began. He was replaced by a new character, Joey Zasa.
Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: Don Ciciio attempts to kill all of Antonio Andolini's male relatives, including his 9-year-old son Vito, knowing they would be honor bound to avenge Antonio's murder. This forces Vito to escape to America, where he becomes a Don himself, eventually giving him the ability to return and kill Don Ciciio.
Johnny Fontane is Frank Sinatra (the resemblance is clearer in the novel, but still visible in the film). Billy Goff (a minor character in the novel) is a thinly disguised Willie Bioff, Moe Green is obviously Bugsy Siegel, Hyman Roth is based on Meyer Lansky and Johnny Fontane's alcoholic friend Nino Valenti (in the novel) is probably based on Dean Martin. Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna) in Part III is based on John Gotti, and his demise in his Italian-American pride parade is based on Joe Columbo.
Averted with real-life Pope John Paul I, whose conspiracy-rumored death closes Part III.
No Name Given: Don Vito's wife is never named in the movie, only referred to as "Mama". The DVD's special features named her "Carmella Corleone" as an afterthought.
Non-Idle Rich: The Corleone's at least work hard at criminality.
Not Using The Zed Word: The word "Mafia" was deliberately never spoken in the first film, nor is the "official" name of the organization, La Cosa Nostra ("This thing of ours" or, simply "Our Thing"). Each term is mentioned exactly once in Part II, both by Michael Corleone when he faces the senate hearing, and he says them to immediately refute any connection between himself and any such organizations.
Twice. In the same scene, Senator Geary refers to "these hearings on the Mafia. . . "
As for the first movie: it was produced at a time when a Mafia astroturf organization was attempting to convince people that there was, in fact, no such thing as the Mafia. Accordingly, the word was never used in that movie. By the time of Godfather II, people had figured out the con, so it was once more politically correct to use the term. (Though in the novel at least, it's made clear that, strictly speaking, Don Vito and his lieutenants are not members of the Mafia: the Corleone family are upstarts rather than "official" mafiosi.)
One-Scene Wonder: The opening scene of the first film with Bonasera.
Oscar Bait: Both DeNiro and Brando won Oscars for playing Vito Corleone, thus making them only actors to ever win Oscars for playing the same role character.
Playing Against Type: Michael (especially in Part Two) is a more subdued and quieter role than what Al Pacino usually plays.
This, ironically, was also Pacino's first major role. It could be considered an actor-specific and positive example of Early Installment Weirdness.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Don Emilio Barzini wants to get blacks hooked on heroin. Another Don agrees: "They're animals anyway, let them lose their souls."
Senator Geary from Part II goes out of his way to insult Michael's Italian-American heritage while trying to extort him.
Pragmatic Villainy: Don Vito does not oppose the drug trade because of any moral opposition to drugs, but because he fears that it will destroy their political connections.
Pretty in Mink: Connie and her mother wear mink coats in the second film.
The Purge: Michael orchestrates a final purge in all three movies as the climax to each film.
Pyrrhic Villainy: The ending of the second film, possibly the most devastating use of this trope ever.
The third film ends with Michael failing to save the Pope in time, and with Mary killed by the assassin that was after Michael.
Rated M for Manly: Not just for its' excessive violence and mafia fashion style. The Godfather is viewed as symbolic of men's gender roles - as Father, Brother, Businessman, Community leader - of 20th Century America. Lampshaded in the film You've Got Mail, where Tom Hanks' character explains to Meg Ryan's how The Godfather is the I-Ching of all wisdom and that every guy gets the movie. Meg's character promptly quizzes her mild-mannered boyfriend about the phrase "Going to the mattresses." He immediately and nonchalantly replies "Yeah, that's from The Godfather."
Reality Ensues: Sonny's death, as well as the death of the Dons.
Reality Is Unrealistic: A minor case, but the use of the word "Don" was so impacted by this film that most people are unaware of the proper form of address. In real life, the word "Don" is used in conjunction with a persons first name rather than their last. Thus, "Don Corleone" should be "Don Vito" or "Don Michael." This is of only minor importance in the movie itself, and there is occasional use of the proper form of address, but public perception of the the Mafia in particular (And Sicilian/Italian culture in general) was so defined by this move that most people are unaware of the correct usage.
Re Cut: The Godfather Saga, a special presentation of the first two films on NBC television in 1977, reassembled them into a strict chronological narrative, adding more than an hour of previously-unseen footage while deleting other scenes that were deemed too intense or violent for network TV. In 1992 Coppola stitched all three films together for the home video presentation The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980.
Redemption Rejection: Michael in the third movie. As his priest puts it, while Michael can be forgiven for his sins, as long as Michael himself does not believe he can earn forgiveness, he will never truly change his ways.
Resignations Not Accepted: Michael tries to avoid joining the Family in the first film, discusses his attempts to leave it in the second film, and conclusively fails in the third film.
Shown Their Work: In the first movie, the spaghetti sauce instructions are actually usable and a new 1946 Cadillac can be seen with wooden planks as bumpers (due to steel shortages, bumpers on very early post-World War II cars were supplied some time later, to be installed by the dealer).
Star Making Role: Al Pacino (Michael), John Cazale (Fredo), Diane Keaton (Kay)
And Robert DeNiro (Young Vito) in Part II.
Straight Gay: Fredo, mainly discussed in the original book and the Mark Winegartener follow-ups. Many of the personality conflicts he has with Michael and other Made Men are because of his issues dealing with his extremely repressed sexuality, occasionally leading to drunken one-night affairs, and his overcompensation by cultivating a reputation as a Vegas ladies' man. This gives him the impression of being inconsistent, flighty, and unreliable, all traits that attract the wrong kinds of attention and are liabilities for a men looking to make himself useful in the family business.
Subtly referenced in Part II. In Cuba, Michael gives Fredo the task of arranging entertainment for his visiting guests, all VI Ps and politicians he hopes to win over and expedite his investment in the Cuban hotel industry. Fredo's choice of venue is a seedy club hosting a sex show, starring 'Superman'. While all the guests are laughing in good-natured disbelief at the size of Superman's more-powerful-than-a-locomotive, there is a two-second cut of Fredo staring, unblinking and almost trembling.
Subculture : The Mafia. Interestingly it is the cultural aspects that are one of the main attraction.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Clemenza dies of a heart attack between the first and second films and his position as capo of the Corleone family's New York branch passes to Frank Pentangeli. This was not originally going to happen; the reason for this change was a disagreement between actor Richard Castellano and Coppola (Castellano wanted creative control over his character and Coppola would not allow it, so Castellano was dropped from the film).
That Makes Me Feel Angry: Michael to Carlo—"Only don't tell me you're innocent. Because it insults my intelligence. And makes me very angry." A rare effective use of this trope.
The actor playing Luca Brasi was so nervous about acting opposite Brando that he flubbed his line. Coppola liked it and kept it in, and later filmed the scene of Brasi rehearsing his line over and over to make the flub funnier.
Clamenza's famous "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli" was ad-libbed by Richard Castellano.
The Telltale Drapes: In Part II, Michael anticipates his assassination attempt seconds before it happens because the bedroom curtains have been opened.
Title Drop: The iconic puppeteer hand logo is explained in this quote:
Vito, to Michael: "I knew Santino was going to have to go through all this and Fredo... well, Fredo was... But I never wanted this for you. I live my life, I don't apologize to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots. That's my life I don't apologize for that. But I always thought that when it was your time that you would be the one to hold the strings."
Robert De Niro was very nearly cast as Vito's driver Paulie Gatto ("Won't see him no more") in the first film, which would have precluded him from taking his Star Making Role in the sequel.
Frank Sinatra tried very hard to be cast as Don Corleone. This would have made Vito's conversation with Johnny Fontane one of the funniest Actor Allusions ever.
Orson Welles lobbied heavily for the part of Don Corleone. Coppola felt so bad about turning him down that he offered him the part of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, but for some reason or another Welles didn't take it.
Part III was originally to be about the breakdown between Michael and Tom, however, Tom was written out when his actor, Robert Duvall, demanded to be paid the same as or marginally close to the amount that Al Pacino was getting.
Winona Ryder was supposed to play Mary in Part III. Rebecca Schaeffer was up for the part of Mary when she was murdered.
Originally Clemenza was to return in Part II but the actor made too many demands and he was replaced with Pentangeli. Given the scenes of Clemenza bonding with Michael and advising him on his first hit in the first film it would have made the events of the second even more tragic.
Brando was supposed to appear in the birthday party flashback at the end of Part II. But due to a dispute with Paramount he never turned up for the shoot, forcing Coppola to rewrite the scene on the spot.
We Do Not Know Each Other: This is the fatal mistake Fredo makes in Part II. He pretends not to know Johnny Ola when they meet in Cuba, but later on babbles excitedly about the various places in Havana that Ola took him to, while Michael can be seen covering his face in despair.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: Roth and his Cuba-shaped birthday cake in II. A slice to the mob, a slice to the United Fruit Company, a slice to Roth himself, etc. It is a blatant metaphor for pre-revolutionary Cuba.
Writers Suck: The author of the novel which was being made into the movie that Johnny Fontanne wanted to star in. He was only briefly mentioned in the book, and not at all in the movie.
Although, at least in the movie, the details concerning the film Johnny wanted to star in really didn't matter.
Xanatos Gambit: Barzini's plot had Tattaglia send Sollozzo to the Corleones to see about increasing the drug traffic. If Vito says yes then the drug trade can begin immediately and with the backing of the Corleone's extensive political contacts, but if he says no Sollozzo would sow discord within the Corleone ranks. If Sollozzo fails to sway the Corleone family and all out war broke out, which it did, the Corleone's would spend their time gunning for Sollozzo and Tattaglia. Any way it plays out, Barzini wins. It almost works except that Vito figures out "It was Barzini all along."
You Killed My Father: Sonny for Michael. In Part II's backstory, Vito's father was murdered by a Sicilian mafia boss, Don Ciccio, when Vito was a child. He escaped to the U.S., became an influental crime boss there, and eventually returned to Sicily to meet Don Ciccio.
Don Ciccio: What was your father's name?
Vito: Antonio Andolini.
Don Ciccio: You'll have to speak up. I can't hear you
Vito: My father's name was Antonio Andolini... and this is for you! (stabs carves him)
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