"And Don't Lose That Famous Temper of Yours, huh, Sonny?": Godfather Analysis Part VII

Go to Part VI: "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already."

After the violent events of the previous sequence we go first to an establishing shot of the exterior of Radio City Music Hall and then to Michael and Kay coming out from a show. This is another example of how Michael is separate from the business dealings of his family. Immediately after his father is gunned down, there is a cut to some time later (the sun was still out when Vito was shot and here it is night). Their conversation is completely inconsequential until Kay notices the newspapers proclaiming the shooting of Vito Corleone. After Michael rushes across the street to the phone booth to call Sonny, he closes the phone booth door, leaving Kay standing outside. This is shot deliberately to illustrate how Kay is left on the outside. It is the first of many times Michael will close Kay out of his dealings, not only in this film, but continuing into The Godfather Part II as well. Later he will leave her in the hotel when he goes to the hospital to visit his father. When he returns from Sicily and finds Kay he won’t tell her anything about his business other than that he intends to be legitimate in five years’ time. Finally, the closing shot of the film will be the door shutting Kay out of Michael’s office. Michael enters the booth, Kay remains outside. There is a cut to a close up of Kay looking in before the cut to the interior of the phone booth. The conversation Michael has with Sonny lasts 26 seconds and Kay is visible outside the phone booth the whole time, an outsider looking in.

"Never Tell Anybody Outside the Family What You're Thinking Again": Godfather Analysis Part V

Go to Part IV: "He never asks a second favor when he's been refused the first."

Now that we’ve been introduced to all the major characters in the film, gotten a sense of their personality traits and seen the power of Don Corleone’s persuasion, it’s time (only 33 minutes into the film) to put the plot in motion and meet the villain. This section opens with Corleone sitting down with Tom and Sonny to begin discussing the possibility of becoming partners with Virgil Sollozzo. Vito asks Tom if he’s too tired and Tom remarks that it’s okay because he slept on the plane. This seemingly banal piece of dialogue does a few things: gives us a time reference so we know this is immediately after Tom’s trip to California; indicates Tom’s professionalism in his loyalty and service to the Don; and shows that the Don wants to get things moving quickly and be well-prepared.

Classic Movie Review: The Godfather (Special 200th Posted Review Edition)

This reviews marks the 200th full length movie review I've posted to this blog since I began it in April 2010. When I hit my 100th earlier this year, I marked the occasion with a review for Pulp Fiction, followed by a scene-by-scene analysis of the film. Starting next week, I will begin posting a similar analysis for The Godfather.

Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather is regarded as such an important cinematic classic that it’s easy to forget what a bold undertaking it was and how unconventional Coppola decided to make it. Here is  adramatic and violent story, epic in scope, that begins with a thirty minute wedding celebration that has very little plot advancement, no action, and introduces about twenty key characters. The payoff comes later when we feel like we know these people like our own family.