In late summer 1945, guests are gathered for the wedding reception of Don Vito Corleone's daughter Connie

(Talia Shire) and Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo). Vito (Marlon Brando), the head of the Corleone Mafia family, is known to friends and associates as "Godfather." He and Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), the Corleone family lawyer, are hearing requests for favors because, according to Italian tradition, "no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day." One of the men who asks the Don for a favor is Amerigo Bonasera, a successful mortician and old friend of the Don, whose daughter was beaten and raped by two young men who received minimal punishment. The Don is mostly disappointed in Bonasera, who'd avoided most contact with the Don due to Corleone's nefarious business dealings. The Don's wife is godmother to Bonasera's shamed daughter, a relationship the Don uses to extract new loyalty from the undertaker. The Don agrees to have his men punish the young men responsible. Meanwhile, the Don's youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), a decorated Marine hero returning from World War II service, arrives at the wedding and tells his girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) anecdotes about his family, informing her about his father's criminal life; he reassures her that he is different from his family and doesn't plan to join them in their criminal dealings. As it depicts the marriage of Connie and Carlo, the wedding scene also serves as critical exposition for the remainder of the film, as Michael figuratively introduces the main characters to Kay. Fredo (John Cazale), Michael's next older brother, is mostly dim-witted and quite drunk by the time he finds Michael at the party. Sonny (James Caan), the Don's eldest child, is married but he is a hot-tempered philanderer who sneaks into a bedroom to have sex with one of Connie's bridesmaids, Lucy Mancini (Jeannie Linero). Tom Hagen is not related to the family by blood but is considered one of the Don's sons because he was homeless when he befriended Sonny in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan. Now a talented attorney, Tom is being groomed for the important position of consigliere (counselor) to the Don, despite his non-Sicilian heritage. Also among the guests at the celebration is the famous singer Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), Corleone's godson, who has come from Hollywood to petition Vito's help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. Jack Woltz (John Marley), the head of the studio, denies Fontane the

part which is a character much like Johnny himself, and which will make him an even bigger star, but Don Corleone explains to Johnny: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." After the wedding, Hagen is dispatched to Los Angeles to meet with Woltz, but Woltz angrily tells him that he will never cast Fontane in the role. Fontane seduced and "ruined" a starlet that Woltz favored and had a sexual relationship with. Woltz is persuaded otherwise, however, when he wakes up early the next morning and feels something wet in his bed. He pulls back the sheets and finds himself in a pool of blood with the severed head of his prized $600,000 stud horse, Khartoum, in the bed with him, and screams in horror. (A deleted scene from the film implies that Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana), Vito's top "button man" or hitman, is responsible.) Upon Hagen's return, the family meets with Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), who is being backed by the rival Tattaglia family. He asks Don Corleone for financing as well as political and legal protection for importing and distributing heroin. Despite the huge profit to be made, Vito Corleone refuses, explaining that his political influence would be jeopardized by a move into the narcotics trade. The Don's eldest son, Sonny, who had earlier urged the family to enter the narcotics trade, breaks ranks during the meeting and questions Sollozzo's assurances as to the Corleone Family's investment being guaranteed by the Tattaglia Family. His father, angry at Sonny's dissension in a non-family member's presence, privately rebukes him later. Don Corleone then dispatches Luca Brasi to infiltrate Sollozzo's organization and report back with information. During the meeting, while Brasi is bent over to allow Bruno Tattaglia to light his cigarette, he is stabbed in the hand by Sollozzo, and is subsequently garroted by an assassin. Soon after his meeting with Sollozzo, Don Corleone is gunned down in an assassination attempt just outside his office, and it is not immediately known whether he has survived. Fredo Corleone had been assigned driving and protection duty for his father when Paulie Gatto, the Don's usual bodyguard, had called in sick. Fredo proves to be ineffectual, fumbling with his gun and unable to shoot back. When Sonny hears about the Don being

shot and Paulie's absence, he orders Clemenza to find Paulie and bring him to the Don's house. Sollozzo abducts Tom Hagen and persuades him to offer Sonny the deal previously offered to his father. Enraged, Sonny refuses to consider it and issues an ultimatum to the Tattaglias: turn over Sollozzo or face a lengthy, bloody and costly (for both sides) gang war. They refuse, and instead send Sonny "a Sicilian message," in the form of two fresh fish wrapped in Luca Brasi's bullet-proof vest, to tell the Corleones that Luca Brasi "sleeps with the fishes." Clemenza later takes Paulie and one of the family's hitmen, Rocco Lampone, for a drive into Manhattan. Sonny wants to "go to the mattresses" -- set up beds in apartments for Corleone button men to operate out of in the event that the crime war breaks out. On their way back from Manhattan, Clemenza has Paulie stop the car in a remote area so he can urinate. Rocco shoots Paulie dead; he and Clemenza leave Paulie and the car behind. Michael, whom the other Mafia families consider a "civilian" uninvolved in mob business, visits his father at a small private hospital. He is shocked to find that no one is guarding him. Realizing that his father is again being set up to be killed, he calls Sonny for help, moves his father to another room, and goes outside to watch the entrance. Michael enlists help from Enzo the baker (Gabriele Torrei), who has come to the hospital to pay his respects. Together, they bluff away Sollozzo's men as they drive by. Police cars soon appear bringing the corrupt Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), who punches Michael and breaks his jaw when Michael insinuates that Sollozzo paid McCluskey to set up his father. Just then, Hagen arrives with "private detectives" licensed to carry guns to protect Don Corleone, and he takes the injured Michael home. Sonny responds by having Bruno Tattaglia (Tony Giorgio), the eldest son and underboss of Don Phillip Tattaglia (Victor Rendina), killed (off-camera). Following the attempt on the Don's life at the hospital, Sollozzo requests a meeting with the Corleones, which Captain McCluskey will attend as Sollozzo's bodyguard. When Michael volunteers to kill both men during the meeting, Sonny and the other senior Family members are amused;

however, Michael convinces them that he is serious and that killing Sollozzo and McCluskey is in the family's interest: "It's not personal. It's strictly business." Although police officers are usually off limits for hits, Michael argues that since McCluskey is corrupt and has illegal dealings with Sollozzo, he is fair game. Before the meeting in a small Italian restaurant, McCluskey frisks Michael for weapons and finds him clean. Michael excuses himself to go to the bathroom where he retrieves a planted revolver, and returning to the table, he fatally shoots Sollozzo, then McCluskey. Michael is sent to hide in Sicily, while the Corleone family prepares for all-out warfare with the Five Families (who are united against the Corleones) as well as a general clampdown on the mob by the police and government authorities. Meanwhile, Connie and Carlo's marriage is disintegrating. They argue publicly over Carlo's suspected infidelity and his possessive behavior toward Connie. By Italian tradition, nobody, not even a high-ranking Mafia don, can intervene in a married couple's personal disputes, even if they involve infidelity, money, or domestic abuse. One day, Sonny sees a bruise on Connie's face and she tells him that Carlo hit her after she asked him if he was having an affair. Sonny tracks down and severely beats up Carlo Rizzi in the middle of a crowded street for brutalizing the pregnant Connie, and threatens to kill Carlo if he ever abuses Connie again. An angry Carlo responds by plotting with Tattaglia and Don Emilio Barzini (Richard Conte), the Corleones' chief rivals, to have Sonny killed. Later, Carlo has one of his mistresses phone his house, knowing that Connie will answer. The woman asks Connie to tell Carlo not to meet her tonight. The very pregnant and hormonal Connie assaults Carlo; he takes advantage of the altercation to beat Connie in order to lure Sonny out in the open and away from the Corleone compound. When Connie phones the compound to tell Sonny that Carlo has beaten her again, the furious Sonny drives off (alone and unescorted) to fulfill his threat against Carlo. On the way to Connie and Carlo's house, Sonny is ambushed at a highway toll booth and violently shot to death by several carloads of hitmen wielding Thompson submachine guns.

Back in New York City, Don Corleone returns home from the hospital and is distraught to learn that it was Michael who killed Sollozzo and McCluskey and that Sonny is dead. Rather than seek revenge for Sonny's killing, Don Corleone meets with the heads of the Five Families to negotiate a ceasefire. Not only is the conflict draining all their assets and threatening their survival, but ending it is the only way that Michael can return home safely. Reversing his previous decision, Vito agrees that the Corleone family will provide political protection for Tattaglia's traffic in heroin, as long as it is controlled and not sold to children. At the meeting, Don Corleone deduces that Don Barzini, not Tattaglia, was ultimately behind the start of the mob war and Sonny's death. In Sicily, Michael patiently waits out his exile, protected by Don Tommasino (Corrado Gaipa), an old family friend. Michael aimlessly wanders the countryside, accompanied by his ever-present bodyguards, Calo (Franco Citti) and Fabrizio (Angelo Infanti). In a small village, Michael meets and falls in love with Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli), the beautiful young daughter of a bar owner. They court and marry in the traditional Sicilian fashion, but soon Michael's presence becomes known to Corleone enemies. As the couple is about to be moved to a safer location, Apollonia is killed when their car is bombed; Michael, who barely escapes alive, spots Fabrizio hurriedly leaving the grounds seconds before the explosion, implicating him in the assassination plot. (In a deleted scene, Fabrizio is found years later and killed.) With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns home. More than a year later, in 1950, he reunites with his former girlfriend Kay after a total of four years of separation -- three in Italy and one in America. He tells her he wants them to be married. Although Kay is hurt that he waited so long to contact her, she accepts his proposal. With Don Vito semi-retired, Sonny dead, and middle brother Fredo considered incapable of running the family business, Michael is now in charge; he promises Kay he will make the family business completely legitimate within five years. Two years later, Peter Clemenza (Richard S. Castellano) and Salvatore Tessio (Abe Vigoda), two Corleone Family caporegimes (captains), complain that they are being pushed around by the Barzini Family and ask permission to

strike back, but Michael denies the request. He plans to move the family operations to Nevada and after that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to form their own families. Michael further promises Connie's husband, Carlo, that he will be his right hand man in Nevada, unaware of his part in Sonny's assassination. Tom Hagen has been removed as consigliere and is now merely the family's lawyer, with Vito serving as consigliere. Privately, Hagen complains about his change in status, and also questions Michael about a new regime of "soldiers" secretly being built under Rocco Lampone (Tom Rosqui). Don Vito explains to Hagen that Michael is acting on his advice. Another year or so later, Michael travels to Las Vegas and meets with Moe Greene (Alex Rocco), a rich and shrewd casino boss looking to expand his business dealings. After the Don's attempted assassination, Fredo had been sent to Las Vegas to learn about the casino business from Greene. Michael offers to buy out Greene but is rudely rebuffed. Greene believes the Corleones are weak and that he can secure a better deal from Barzini. As Moe and Michael heatedly negotiate, Fredo sides with Moe. Afterward, Michael warns Fredo to never again "take sides with anyone against the family." Michael returns home. In a private moment, Vito explains his expectation that the Family's enemies will attempt to murder Michael by using a trusted associate to arrange a meeting as a pretext for assassination. Vito also reveals that he had never really intended a life of crime for Michael, hoping that his youngest son would hold legitimate power as a senator or governor. Some months later, Vito collapses and dies while playing with his young grandson Anthony (Anthony Gounaris) in his tomato garden. At the burial, Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with Barzini, which identifies Tessio as the traitor that Vito was expecting. Michael arranges for a series of murders to occur simultaneously while he is standing godfather to Connie's and Carlo's newborn son at the church: Don Stracci (Don Costello) is gunned down along with his bodyguard in a hotel elevator by a shotgun-wielding Clemenza.

Moe Greene is killed while having a massage, shot through the eye by an unidentified assassin. Don Cuneo (Rudy Bond) is trapped in a revolving door at the St. Regis Hotel and shot dead by soldier Willi Cicci (Joe Spinell). Don Tattaglia is assassinated in his bed, along with a prostitute, by Rocco Lampone and an unknown associate. Don Barzini is killed on the steps of his office building along with his bodyguard and driver, shot by Al Neri (Richard Bright), disguised in his old police uniform. After the baptism, Tessio believes he and Hagen are on their way to the meeting between Michael and Barzini that he has arranged. Instead, he is surrounded by Willi Cicci and other button men as Hagen steps away. Realizing that Michael has uncovered his betrayal, Tessio tells Hagen that he always respected Michael, and that his disloyalty "was only business." He asks if Tom can get him off for "old times' sake," but Tom says he cannot. Tessio is driven away and never seen again (it is implied that Cicci shoots and kills Tessio with his own gun after he disarms him prior to entering the car). Meanwhile, Michael confronts Carlo about Sonny's murder and forces him to admit his role in setting up the ambush, having been approached by Barzini himself. Michael assures Carlo he will not be killed, but his punishment is exclusion from all family business. He hands Carlo a plane ticket to exile in Las Vegas. However, when Carlo gets into a car headed for the airport, he is garroted to death by Clemenza, on Michael's orders. Later, a hysterical Connie confronts Michael at the Corleone compound as movers carry away the furniture in preparation for the family move to Nevada. She accuses him of murdering Carlo in retribution for Carlo's brutal treatment of her and for Carlo's suspected involvement in Sonny's murder. After Connie is removed from the house, Kay questions Michael about Connie's accusation, but he refuses to answer, reminding her to never ask him about his business or what he does for a living. She insists, and Michael

outright lies, reassuring his wife that he played no role in Carlo's death. Kay believes him and is relieved. The film ends with Clemenza and new caporegimes Rocco Lampone and Al Neri arriving and paying their respects to Michael. Clemenza kisses Michael's hand and greets him as "Don Corleone." As Kay watches, the office door is closed. Michael is the new Godfather. THE GODFATHER II The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone in 1958/1959 after the events of the first movie; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone from 1917 to 1925, from his youth in Sicily (1901) to the founding of the Corleone family in New York. The film begins in 1901, in the town of Corleone, Sicily, at the funeral of young Vito's father, Antonio Andolini, who has been murdered for an insult to the local Mafia lord, Don Ciccio. During the procession, Vito's older brother is murdered because he swore revenge on the Don. Vito's mother goes to Ciccio to beg for mercy, but he refuses, knowing that nine-year-old Vito will seek revenge later in life. The mother takes Ciccio hostage at knifepoint, allowing her son to escape, and Ciccio's men kill her. They search the town for the boy, but he is aided in his escape by the townspeople. Vito finds his way by ship to New York, and at Ellis Island an immigration agent chooses Vito's hometown of Corleone as his surname, and he is registered as "Vito Corleone". In 1958 in a scene similar to the opening of the first film, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), Godfather of the Corleone family, deals with various business and family problems during an elaborate party at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada compound to celebrate his son's First Communion. In his office, Michael meets with corrupt Nevada Senator Pat Geary (G. D. Spradlin), who despises the Corleones, to discuss the price of the gaming licenses for the hotel/casinos the Family is buying. Michael deals with his self-indulgent younger sister Connie (Talia Shire), who, although recently divorced from her second husband, is planning to marry a man named Merl Johnson (Troy Donahue) with no obvious means

of support and of whom Michael disapproves. He also talks with Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), the right hand man of Jewish gangster Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), who is supporting Michael's move into the gambling industry. Belatedly, Michael deals with Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), a business associate who took over Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza's territory in New York City after his death, and now has problems with the Rosato Brothers, who are backed by Roth. Pentangeli leaves abruptly, after telling Michael "your father did business with Hyman Roth, your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth." Later that night, Michael barely escapes an assassination attempt when his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) notices the bedroom window drapes are inexplicably open, which allows two unseen hitmen to spray the bedroom with bullets. The two hitman are found dead having been killed by a "mole" within the compound. Afterwards, Michael tells his lawyer and associate Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) that the hit was made with the help of someone close, and that he must leave, entrusting all his power to Hagen to protect his family. Flashback: In 1917 New York City, the adult Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) works in a grocery store in the Lower East side with his friend Genco Abbandando. The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the "The Black Hand," Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin), who extorts protection payments from local businesses. One night, Vito's neighbor Clemenza (Bruno Kirby) asks him to hide a stash of guns for him, and later, to repay the favor, takes him to a fancy apartment where they commit their first felony together, stealing an elegant rug. The film flash-forwards to Michael's time. Michael meets with poushal Hyman Roth in Miami, Florida who tells Michael that he believes Frank Pentangeli was responsible for the assassination attempt, and that Pentangeli will pay for it. Traveling to Brooklyn, Michael lets Pentangeli know that Roth was actually behind it, and that Michael has a plan to deal with Roth, but he needs Frankie to cooperate with the Rosato Brothers in order to put Roth off guard. When Pentangeli goes to meet with the Rosatos at a local bar, he is told "Michael Corleone says hello," as he is attacked

from behind but the attempted murder is accidentally interrupted by a policeman. Pentangeli is left for dead, and his bodyguard, Willi Cicci (Joe Spinell), is struck by a car while shooting at the Rosatos as they drive away. Back in Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel in Carson City run by Michael's older brother Fredo (John Cazale), where Senator Geary is implicated in the death of a prostitute, and Tom offers to take care of the problem in return for "friendship" between the Senator and the Corleone family. Meanwhile, Michael meets Roth in Havana, Cuba, in late 1958, at the time when dictator Fulgencio Batista is soliciting American investment, and communist guerrillas are trying to bring down the government. At a birthday party for Roth, Michael mentions that there is a possibility that the rebels might win, making their business dealings in Cuba problematic. Earlier that day, Michael had witnessed a communist rebel kill a Havana policemen by detonating a grenade that also kills the rebel himself. The comment prompts Roth to remark, privately, that Michael has not delivered the two million dollars to firm their partnership. Fredo, carrying the promised money, arrives in Havana and meets Michael. Michael mentions Hyman Roth and Johnny Ola to him, but Fredo says he has never met them. Michael confides to his brother that it was Roth who tried to kill him, and that he plans to try again. Michael assures Fredo that he has already made his move, and that "Hyman Roth will never see the New Year." Instead of turning over the money to Roth, Michael asks him who gave the order to have Frank Pentangeli killed. Roth avoids the question, instead speaking angrily of the murder of his old friend, Moe Greene, which Michael had orchestrated (as depicted at the end of the first film). Michael has asked Fredo, who knows Havana well, to show Senator Geary and other important officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not recognize Johnny Ola. Soon after, at a sex show, Fredo comments loudly that Johnny Ola told him about the place, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier, that he didn't know Roth

or Ola. Michael now realizes that the traitor is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard to deal with Roth. Johnny Ola is strangled, but Roth, in a delicate state because of his heart condition, is taken to a hospital, where Michael's enforcer is shot trying to kill him. At Batista's New Year's Eve party, at the stroke of midnight, Michael grasps Fredo tightly by the head and kisses him: "I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart." When guerrillas attack, the guests flee, but Fredo refuses to go with Michael, despite Michael's pleas that Fredo is still his brother and that it's the only way out. Flashback (1917): Don Fanucci of the Black Hand is now aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio (John Aprea), and wants his share of their profits every week. Clemenza and Tessio agree to pay, but Vito is reluctant and asks his friends to leave everything in his hands so Fanucci will accept less and indeed, Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only one sixth of what he demanded ($100 out of $600). Immediately afterward, during the neighborhood festa, Vito murders Fanucci in the hallway outside his apartment and then rejoins his wife and four children on the stoops outside his apartment building where Vito tells the infant Michael that his father loves him very much. In January 1959, Nevada, Michael returns to his snow-covered Lake Tahoe compound after fleeing Cuba, where Tom Hagen tells him that Roth escaped from Cuba after suffering a stroke and is recovering in Miami, that Michael's bodyguard is dead, and that Fredo is probably hiding in New York. Hagen also informs Michael that Kay had a miscarriage while he was away. Michael is distraught at the news and furiously demands to know the sex of the child, but Tom is unable to tell him. Flashback (1920): with Fanucci dead and with no one else apparently to take over the Black Hand, Vito earns the respect of the neighborhood and begins to intercede in local disputes, operating out of the storefront of his Genco Pura Olive Oil Company (named after his friend Genco Abbandando) which he manages as well as give out "favors" to others in the community such as a local young woman threatened with eviction. Vito intimidates her landlord into staying for a few extra more weeks... rent free.

In Washington, D.C. of 1959, a Senate committee, of which Senator Geary is a member, is conducting an investigation into the Corleone family. They question disaffected "soldier" Willi Cicci about his role as a button man in the Family, but he cannot implicate Michael, because he never received any direct orders from him. When Michael appears before the committee, Senator Geary makes a big show of supporting Italian-Americans and then excuses himself from the proceedings. During questioning, Michael denies all criminal allegations against him, from the murder of Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey back in 1946 (in the first Godfather movie), and to his business status of operating several gambling casinos in Nevada. Michael makes a statement challenging the committee to produce a witness to corroborate the charges against him. The hearing ends with the Chairman promising a witness who will do exactly that. Frank Pentangeli, who also did not die in the attack by the Rosato Brothers, has made a deal with the FBI, and will testify against Michael. Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem, observing that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Michael's brother Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains to Michael his betrayal: upset about being passed over to head the family in favor of Michael, he wants respect and his due. He helped Roth thinking there would be something in it for him, but he swears he didn't know they wanted to kill Michael. He also tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel is Roth's man. Michael then tells Fredo: "You're nothing to me now. Not a brother, not a friend, nothing", and privately instructs soldier and button man Al Neri (Richard Bright) that nothing is to happen to Fredo while their mother is still alive. At the hearing in which Frank Pentangeli is to testify, Michael arrives accompanied by Pentangeli's brother, brought from Sicily, and whose presence causes Frank to recant his previous statements about Michael. When Pentangeli is pressed, he claims that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear. With no witness to testify against Michael, the committee adjourns, with Hagen, acting as Michael's lawyer, loudly demanding an apology.

At a hotel room afterwards, Kay tries to leave Michael, taking their children with her. Michael at first tries to mollify her, but loses his temper and hits her violently when she reveals to him that her recent "miscarriage" was actually an abortion to avoid providing another child into Michael's criminal inheritance. She also tells him that the baby was a boy, further infuriating Michael. Flashback (1925): While visiting Sicily for a family vacation for the first time in 20 years, Vito Corleone is introduced to the elderly 90-year-old Don Ciccio as the man who imports their olive oil to America, and who wants his blessing. When Ciccio asks Vito who his father was, Vito says, "My father's name is Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!", cutting the old man's stomach open with a knife, avenging the death of his father, mother, and brother. As they make their escape from Ciccio's compound and his men, Don Tomasello is shot in the leg by one of Ciccio's bodyguards... the injury gives him a permanent limp. In April 1959, Carmella Corleone (Morgana King), Vito's widow and the mother of his children, dies, and the whole Corleone family is reunited for her funeral. Michael still shuns Fredo, who is miserable, but relents when Connie implores him to. Michael and Fredo embrace, but at the same time Michael signals to his capo that Fredo's protection from harm, in effect while their mother lived, has now run out. Michael, Tom Hagen, and Rocco Lampone discuss their final dealings with Hyman Roth, who has been unsuccessfully seeking asylum from various countries, and was even refused entry to Israel as a returned Jew. Michael rejects Hagen's advice that the Corleone family's position is secure, and killing Roth and the Rosato brothers for revenge is an unnecessary risk. Later, Hagen pays a visit to the imprisoned Frank Pentangeli on a military base and suggests that he take his own life, in the manner of unsuccessful ancient Roman conspirators who, in return, were promised that their families would be taken care of after their suicide. With the connivance of Connie, Kay visits her children, but cannot bear to leave them and stays too long. When Michael arrives, he coldly closes the door in her face.

The movie reaches its climax in a montage of assassinations and death, reminiscent of the end of Part One: As he arrives at an airport to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is killed by Rocco Lampone, disguised as a journalist, who himself is immediately shot dead by Roth's bodyguards. On the military base, Frank Pentangeli is found dead, having followed Hagen's instructions and committed suicide in his bathtub. Fredo is murdered by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe - while Fredo is saying a Hail Mary to help catch a fish. The penultimate scene takes place in 1941, and the Corleone family is preparing a surprise birthday party for their father Vito. Sonny (James Caan) introduces Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo), Connie's future husband and betrayer of Sonny, to his family. They all talk about the recent attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and Michael shocks everybody by announcing that he has just enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Sonny ridicules Michael's choice, and Tom Hagen mentions how his father has great expectations for Michael. Fredo is the only one who supports his brother's decision. Sal Tessio comes in with the cake for the party, and when Vito arrives, all but Michael leave the room to greet him. The final scene in the film is Michael sitting by himself at Lake Tahoe, in silent contemplation. THE GODFATHER III The movie begins in 1979, with a brief flashback establishing the long and tragic history of criminal activity within, and by, the Corleone family. Much has changed. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is now approaching 60 and feels tremendous guilt for indulging in his ruthless ambition many years ago. Although his previous conquests have made him a very rich man, the thoughts of his children, their future, happiness, and his legacy are the only things keeping him going. His adopted brother Tom Hagen is now dead. The Corleone compound at Lake Tahoe is abandoned and in disrepair. Michael

and Kay (Diane Keaton) divorced in 1959, and Michael gave her custody of their children, Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio) and Mary (Sofia Coppola). Michael has returned to New York City, where he is using his enormous wealth and power to restore his dignity and reputation in the eyes of the public. The violent criminal element of the Corleone family has been largely abandoned, ostracized by Michael as well as the public, which no longer romanticizes the gangster lifestyle. Michael has embraced corporate America, which is now more tolerant of Michael's nihilism. He has rebuilt the Corleone interests as a legitimate enterprise using the blood money from his gangster years. The thugs and sociopathic soldiers from Michael's past (Al Neri, Willi Cici, etc). have either died, gone into the underground, or have been relegated to the background, serving as bodyguards for Michael and his family. Michael now struggles between repairing his fragile relationships while trying to contain the violent sociopaths that are still a part of his decaying criminal empire. In an attempt to break with the past, Michael creates a charity, the Vito Corleone Foundation, in memory of his father. At a ceremony in St. Patricks Cathedral, presided over by Archbishop Gilday, Michael is named a Commander of the Order of St. Sebastian. Kay, who has remarried, sits with Michael's children at the ceremony. At the lavish party following the ceremony, Kay and Michael have a somewhat uneasy reunion. Anthony tells his father that he is going to drop out of law school to pursue a career as an opera singer. Kay supports his choice, but Michael disagrees, wishing that his son would finish law school or join the family business. Michael eventually acquiesces to Anthony's wishes. Meanwhile, Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), Sonny Corleone's illegitimate son, shows up at the party. He is embroiled in a feud with Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), the Corleone family's mafioso muscle who has been running the Corleone Family's crime businesses in New York for the past 20 years. What remains of the old Corleone criminal empire is now under Zasa's stewardship. However, the Corleone's old neighborhood in New York's Lower East Side is in ruins, and has become lawless. In Michael's study, Vincent and Zasa tell him about their feud. The discussion grows violent, with Vincent accusing Zasa of being an out-ofcontrol monster who mocks Michael behind his back. Michael makes it clear

that he is not "a gangster" and that whatever bad blood exists between Vincent and Joey Zasa is none of his business, and must be settled between only them. He asks the two men to make peace with one another. The two men embrace, but Zasa insults Vincent by whispering "bastardo" in his ear. Enraged, Vincent bites off part of Zasa's ear. Zasa is escorted out and Michael scolds Vincent for his violent ways. But impressed by Vincent's passionate loyalty to protect him, Michael agrees to take his nephew under his wing. The party concludes with a family picture where Michael asks Vincent to join the rest of the family. That night, two men break into Vincent's apartment, after Vincent has spent the night with a female journalist, named Grace Hamilton (Bridget Fonda), whom he picked up at the party. Vincent brutally kills one in order to frighten the other into revealing Zasa as the man who sent them. Vincent then ruthlessly kills the second man. Later, in an attempt to garner respectability and wealth for the Corleone Family through legitimate enterprise, Michael seeks to buy the Vatican's shares in Immobiliare, an international real estate holding company, of which 25% is controlled by the Vatican. With the help of his new lawyer B.J. Harrison (George Hamilton), he negotiates the transfer of $600 million to the Vatican Bank with Archbishop Gilday, who has plunged the Holy See into tremendous debt through his poor management and corrupt dealings. While in Vatican City, Michael learns that several influential parties oppose the deal for many reasons, not the least of which is the extensive criminal history that has tarnished the Corleone name. Because of this and the failing health of Pope Paul VI, ratification of the deal will be far more complicated than he had anticipated. Don Altobello (Eli Wallach), an elderly New York mafia chief, tells Michael that his old New York partners want in on the Immobiliare deal. A meeting is arranged in Atlantic City, and Michael appeases most of the mafiosi with generous payoffs from their casino days. Zasa, however, gets nothing. Furious, he declares that Michael is his enemy, and tells everyone in the room they must choose between him and Michael. Zasa storms out of the meeting. Don Altobello runs after him to try and talk to him about this irrational move. Minutes later, a helicopter hovers above the conference

room and sprays a barrage of bullets through the ceiling windows. Almost everyone is killed, but Michael, Vincent, and Michael's long-term bodyguard and caporegime, Al Neri, manage to escape. Back at his apartment in New York, as Michael considers how to respond to this hit, he suffers a diabetic stroke, and is hospitalized. During the diabetic attack, in a near-delirium, Michael screams out the name of his brother, Fredo, whose murder he had ordered some 20 years earlier. Though they are cousins, Vincent and Mary begin a romantic relationship. Unbeknownst to Michael, Vincent, with the urging of his aunt Connie, plots revenge against Joey Zasa. During a street fair similar to that seen in The Godfather Part II, Vincent and his accomplices kill Zasa's bodyguards, and Vincent, disguised as a mounted New York police officer, shortly murders Zasa himself. Michael, still hospitalized, berates Vincent when he finds out, but Vincent insists that he got the go-ahead from Al Neri and from Connie, who has become deeply involved in family affairs. Michael insists that Vincent end his relationship with Mary because Vincent's involvement in the family puts Mary's life in jeopardy. Vincent agrees. The family travels to Sicily. Michael tells Vincent to speak with Don Altobello and, in order to see where the old man's loyalties lie, to intimate to him his intentions of leaving the Corleone family, under the pretense that his affair with Mary still exists, and that his loyalty to Michael has been supplanted by his desire to continue the relationship. Altobello supports the idea of Vincent switching his allegiance, and introduces him to Licio Lucchesi, the man behind the plot to prevent Michael's acquisition of Immobiliare. Michael also has lunch with Kay, and asks forgiveness for his behavior 20 years earlier. He also tells her that he never planned to go into a life of crime. Kay admits that she still loves Michael, and the two make plans to begin a new life together. Michael visits Cardinal Lamberto, a well-intentioned and pious priest, to speak about the Immobiliare deal. Lamberto convinces Michael to make his first confession in thirty years; among other sins, Michael confesses to ordering the killing of his brother Fredo. After confessing Michael breaks down in tears. He is told by Lamberto that it is "just that he should suffer,"

and that although he could tell Michael to repent, he knows Michael would not. Nevertheless, he absolves Michael of his sins. Touring Sicily with Kay, who has arrived for Anthony's operatic debut, Michael also asks for her forgiveness. As both admit that they still love each other, Michael receives word that Don Tommasino, his Sicilian friend and ally of the Corleone Family for half a century, has been killed (by a famous assassin), signaling that a new round of violence is about to begin. Cardinal Lamberto is elected Pope John Paul I, which means that the Immobiliare deal will likely be ratified, due to his intention to "clean up" the dealings of the Vatican. The new Pope's intentions come as a death knell to the plot against the ratification of the Immobiliare deal, prompting frantic attempts by the plotters to cover their own tracks. Vincent tells Michael what he has learned from Altobello: Lucchesi is behind the plot against the Immobiliare deal, and a master assassin known as Mosca da Montelepre (the man who killed Tommasino), has been hired by Altobello to kill Michael. Vincent wants to strike back, but Michael cautions him, saying that if he goes ahead with such a plan, there'll be no going back. Vincent insists on revenge, and Michael relents. He makes Vincent head of the Corleone family, the new Godfather. In exchange for the promotion, Vincent agrees to put an end to his heated relationship with Mary once and for all. The family travels to Palermo to see Anthony perform the lead in Cavalleria Rusticana at the renowned opera house Teatro Massimo. Meanwhile, Vincent makes plans to seek revenge against the Corleone family's enemies. Interspersed with scenes from Anthony's performance are the brutal murders of the enemies of the Corleone family. Michael Corleone's theme, Halls of Fear, is mainly played during the murders: Keinszig is assaulted by Vincent's men. His body is hanged over the bridge, to make his death an apparent suicide. Archbishop Gilday has the tea of the Pope poisoned. The Pope soon drinks it and dies.

At the opera, Don Altobello eats a dish of poisoned cannoli that his goddaughter Connie serves him. He soon dies silently at the opera as Connie watches through her opera glasses. Al Neri shoots Archbishop Gilday as he climbs a spiral staircase and flings the archbishop's body down the stairs. Finally, Calo approaches Don Lucchesi and whispers to his ear "Power wears out those who do not have it" before stabbing Lucchesi in the throat with his own pair of glasses, killing him. Immediately, Calo himself is killed by Lucchesi's bodyguards. Mosca, the assassin hired by Don Altobello to kill Michael, descends upon the opera house during Anthony's performance, killing two of Vincent's men who delay his opportunity, and the opera ends before he has the chance to kill Michael with his rifle. The assassin retreats to the opera house facade's staircase, and tries to shoot Michael there. Mary is confronting her father about the forced break-up with Vincent, when two shots ring out. The first hits Michael in the shoulder. The second hits Mary in the chest, and she dies calling out to her father, "Dad?" Vincent then kills the assassin with a single shot, striking him in the chest. As Kay cradles Mary's bloody body in her arms, Michael screams with primal pain and rage. The scene dissolves to a short montage of Michael's memories, the first being a dance with Mary, the second being a dance with his first wife, Apollonia, and the last being a dance with Kay. The film ends in an unspecified year, showing an aged and broken Michael, seated in the front yard of his Sicilian villa. He slowly puts on a pair of sunglasses, drops an orange from his hand, slumps out of his chair, collapses to the ground, and slowly dies, completely alone. A small dog sniffs around his body and the screen fades to black as Mascagni's "Intermezzo" resolves to a high F major chord.

Analysis of Major Characters Vito Corleone The Godfather trilogy presents Vito as the paradigmatic Mafia don. When placed beside him, Barzini lacks class, Don Ciccio looks cruel and petty, and Don Fanucci is smalltime and brutish. Even Michael, despite his tremendous successes, loses in such a comparison, as he appears lacking in warmth and joie de vivre. It is unclear whether we are to believe Sollozzos words about Vito, that the old man *is+ slipping, but even if he is, even if Vito walks right into an assassins bullets and survives only though sheer luck, he is still the Godfather par excellence. He is wise and intelligent, an excellent reader of others intentions, and a smooth, subtle talker, able to convince with words, not only bullets. The most exceptional thing about Vito, and the way in which he most outshines his son, is the manner in which he conducts his personal life. Though a ruthless, violent criminal, Vito is also a warm, loving father and husband, and the paradox of his character is that it is precisely the warmth of his humanity that makes him appear superhuman. In his later years, Vito comes across as relaxed and playful, even mellow. He has lived a rich, full life and earned a quiet retirement. As a younger man, when he is played by Robert De Niro, he is caring and devoted but also silent and intense. Unlike Michael, he does not let this intensity eat away at him. There is never any tension for Vito between the two meanings of family (i.e. blood relations and crime family), and he doesnt feel conflicted about what hes doing. Only when he learns that Michael has killed Sollozzo is he noticeably pained. His intensity is that of a hard-working man, though one who still manages to come home at the end of the workday to spend time with his family. In short, Vito comes across as both the perfect father and the perfect Godfather, making him a difficult model for all of his children, especially Michael, to imitate. Michael Corleone Michael is cold-blooded, ruthless, smart, and determined. His ability to think clearly under fire, to be decisive, and to command respect makes him an excellent Godfather. Of Vitos children, he is certainly the best candidate to take over the family. But Michael was never supposed to get involved in the Mafia. He was supposed to become a senator, perhaps even president. Even when he does begin working for his father, he doesnt seem fully reconciled to the decision. He promises Kay before they marry that the family will

become legitimate soon. Over twenty years later, in The Godfather Part III, he still seeks this legitimacy. Unlike Vito, who appears at ease in the role of Godfather, Michael is burdened by the responsibility. One senses that he views himself as a sacrificial hero, slaving away for the rest of the family, sacrificing his soul for the well-being of those around him. In many ways, Michaels story is a familiar one in American mythology: that of the immigrants child. He achieves great heights of success, just as his hardworking immigrant parents hoped for him, but at considerable personal cost. In Michaels case, this cost is to his family life, as he loses his wife and children. Michael can also be seen as a classical tragic figure. Immensely talented and powerful, he is undone by tragic flaws: his insatiable desire for vengeance, which creates a web of violence and recrimination that he cannot escape; his illusions of omnipotence, which blind him to the fact that achieving legitimacy is impossible; and his sense of being perpetually at war, which never allows him a moment of rest. At the end of Part III, Michael dies alone in the yard of his Sicilian villa. The death of his daughter, Mary, has sealed his fate, severing his ties forever with the rest of the family, the family that he tried to save and bring to legitimacy. Instead, he brought them only pain and death. If Vito is an ideal, almost romantic figure who might make the nave viewer want to live the gangster life, Michaels tale has a corrective effect. His life is tragic and his pain immense. Kay Adams Of the many Corleone women, Kay is the only one who never accepts the Mafia way of life. Others may fight it for a time, but all eventually give in. Kay moves in the opposite direction. In The Godfather, she does not consent to it, but neither does she strenuously object. Instead, she ignores the truth, using her love for Michael as an excuse to avoid seeing the truth that stares her in the face. But at the very end of the film, as the door to Michaels office closes on her, we can sense the awakening of realization. By The Godfather Part II, Kay has decided that Michael is a cold, distant, inattentive husband and father, but only after an attempt is made on his life in the family home does she resolve to rebel against him. At first, Kays rebellion is silent and private: she aborts the child she is carrying. But later, when she

tells Michael that she is leaving him and reveals the truth that her miscarriage was really an abortion, she challenges him in a way no one ever has before. Kay becomes the first and only battle that Michael loses (until the very end of the trilogy). Michael may appear to get the better of the argument in Part IIhe kicks her out of the house and keeps the childrenbut eventually Kay remarries and becomes the childrens principal parent. Still, she admits in Part III that, even though she has moved on, she continues to love Michael and always will. Tom Hagen In the Godfather trilogy, men separate themselves and their violence from the innocent world of women, but Tom occupies a middle ground. He is a central figure in family business dealings, but he is kept in the dark about many other matters. Told repeatedly that he is not a wartime consigliere, Tom is never asked to get his hands dirty. Although it appears that he is responsible for the horses head in Woltzs bed in Godfather 1 , deleted scenes indicate that the thug Luca Brazi did the severing. At times, Toms lack of involvement may appear strategic, enabling him to remind people that he is just a lawyer and allowing Michael to name him interim Godfather in The Godfather Part II. But Tom is naturally meek and cautious, qualities associated with women throughout the trilogythough Connies aggressive behavior in Part III challenges this notion. Toms ambiguous position in the Corleone crime family mirrors his ambiguous position in the actual Corleone family. Though a valued son, he is not a blood relative and not an Italian. He is aware of his tenuous position and is constantly looking for acceptance from his brothers, particularly Michael. Like Michael, Tom is a perpetual outsider, but he is an outsider of a different sort. Sonny Corleone If Tom is too cautious to be a good Godfather, Sonny would fail for the opposite reason. He lacks the restraint and sangfroid (self-possession) that make his father and brother so successful. All heart, no brains, he is rash, impulsive, and sometimes just plain stupid. Too often, he acts before thinking. This recklessness gets him killed, as he walks right into a death trap by hurrying out of the house without bodyguards. A man of strong appetites

and passions, he cheats on his wife and is barely able to restrain himself from beating his brother-in-law to death when he learns that his sister has been abused. We see a lot of Sonny in Vincent, and we cannot help but wonder how Vincent will lead the Corleones as Godfatherwhether he will learn from his uncle or repeat his fathers mistakes