r/Godfather

I’ll preface this by saying that I suck at watching movies or any TV so there are a lot of movies I’ve never seen.

I actually had just finished the Sopranos for the first time and wanted more Mafia content so naturally I watched the first 2 movies.

The first movie was amazing and I loved it. It definitely lived up the the hype. HOWEVER… now this may rattle some feathers, but I don’t think Al Pacino had that good of a performance in the 1st movie.

His character seemed shallow up until he came back from Italy, but he still wasn’t bad by any means.

Now the 2nd movie he was sensational. His ability to act with just his eyes is really impressive. The 2nd movie was awesome too but I did prefer the 1st one just because it had more action and mafia politics.

Have not watched the 3rd one yet.

I am a huge fan of the two proper Godfather films and and have always enjoyed rewatching them. I had never read the book so picked up a second hand copy. Read the first chapter and, well, it is going to be a challenge. It is not in any way well written and has the feeling of a script from Christopher Moltisanti's laptop.

I have never read a book with such large font. It doesn't feel quite right like an easy read book.

At the same time it has this plot and characters that were the architecture of the movies.

The wedding scene with Sonny and the whole Sonny description had me questioning whether it was really for me. Does is it get any better and is it worth continuing?

Solozzo wanted access to Vito's influence. Vito refused this. But had not other families over the years asked for such help?

Or was the Turk's request the very first time after 20 years or so of Vito being in such a position that anyone had thought to ask for Vito's help and he turned them down?

And Barzini showed he was connected with the Turk clearly by his little quip.

Also, had Bonasera gone to Vito before the trial, perhaps the scoundrels who beat his daughter wd have been serving long sentences -- I guess the undertaker did not think it necessary.

Note: I think as others have said that Vito did in fact share his judges; Barzini then was saying, no matter what, you always have to provide this service even if you think it will compromise your (Vito's) relationship with the judges. This unreasonable position is perhaps in part why Barzini needed to go, even without his role in Santino's death.

I wonder if Barzini was at the wedding out of genuine friendship or because Familes' members socialized with other members or "keeping enemies closer" -- perhaps that early scene was supposed to come back to the viewer when Michael says it. Also, Geary was quite an example of that. A man Michael had to have despised; but after the brothel incident, they were very close indeed.

The last few posts from this sub that popped into my feed have been about Tom Hagen being weak. Seriously? In Part 1, the man was able to orchestrate the removal of a live horse's head and then had it moved through a mansion and put into strangers bed under cover of darkness without anyone taking notice. In Part 2, after assuming the role of Don, he arranged the whole situation with Sen. Geary and the prostitute which effectively put Geary in the pocket of the Family. Then after that, as the cherry of his ruthlessness convinced Pentangeli to off himself in order to save his family and affirm his loyalty to the Corleone's. Tom was not weak, he was calculated and surgical. If anything, he had more in common with Vito than the other three sons and his only "weakness" was trying to temper the brutality of the war and keep the civility. I haven't read the book in a while, and after the recent posts I think it's time to pick it up again, but I seem to remember Vito saying something along the lines of "you weren't born a Sicilian but I turned you into one" which meant Vito loved and respected him as much as the other sons.

I realize traditionally the bride's family pays for the wedding, but that's usually because they receive a dowry. Did Michael have enough money in Sicily to pay the dowry, or did he receive money from his family? Surely if he received money from his family, that could be used as proof in a court of law that they knew about his whereabouts.

Despite watching the film dozens of times (and reading the book years ago), I can never seem to piece together Tom’s biggest flaw as consigliere during wartime. Not ruthless enough? Easily outmaneuvered? Would love to hear opinions, examples from the film, book references, etc.

We know he was blackmailed into being an ally of Michael, then he betrayed him at the Senatorial hearings.

Knowing Michael’s penchant for having all his enemies killed, may we assume he is whacked?

This sub used to be awesome, where even after decades intelligent, interesting conversations were had about 2 (3?) great films. And then for some reason the shitpost storm happened. It was funny for a minute. Some were clever. Some (most).... not so much.

I'd hate for this sub to turn into r/sopranos, where every post... no matter how interesting or insightful... is just met with, "OP never had the making of a varsity athlete."

This is a plea, I guess. To whom, I don't know.