Shortly afterwards, on July 29, 1955, Vito dies of a heart attack in his garden while playing with his grandson, Michael's son Anthony. In the novel, his last words are, "Life is so beautiful."
Luca Brasi is Don Vito Corleone's personal enforcer and the only man Vito himself fears. While slow-witted and brutish, Brasi is fiercely loyal with a reputation as a savage and remorseless killer.
Comedic Instincts: Brando's comedic instincts played a significant role in shaping the character of Don Corleone. He added a touch of humor to the role through his physicality and delivery, such as the exaggerated speech and the playful interaction with a stray cat in his lap during the opening scene [1].
Vito warns Michael that Barzini will set Michael up to be killed under the guise of a meeting; Barzini will use one of the Corleone family's most trusted members as an intermediary. Shortly afterwards, on July 29, 1955, Vito dies of a heart attack in his garden while playing with his grandson, Michael's son Anthony.
By helping those he felt were oppressed, Vito differentiated himself from other mob bosses. It was clear that he wasn't the sadistic psychopath type of criminal, like Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo. He was a criminal because this was the life he was born into.
Clemenza. No one was more loyal to the Corleone Crime Family than the first capo, Clemenza. Among his most iconic scenes was when he had the traitor Paulie executed and when he trained Michael on how to whack Sollozzo and McCluskey.
Michael wasn't smarter than Tom. He simply thought differently. Tom Hagen was brilliant. That's why he, out of all of Vito's sons, was sent to law school.
Fredo was seen as the weakest and least intelligent of the Corleone men, and thus his father gave him only its unimportant businesses to run. When his father was shot by thugs working for drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo, Fredo panicked and was unable to return fire, dropping his gun in the process.
We know from a scene in the first film what Vito's hopes for Michael were: He wanted his youngest and brightest son to become someone who pulls the strings in American public life as a powerful politician—a senator or governor.
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, Kay's rebellion is silent and private: she aborts the child she is carrying.
After her brother's debut concert, the assassin Mosca tries to kill Michael. One bullet grazes Michael's shoulder, but the other accidentally hits Mary in the chest, fatally wounding her. Michael is devastated by Mary's death, and screams in torment while cradling her dead body.
Born near Trapani, Sicily, Peter Clemenza is one of Don Vito Corleone's caporegimes and oldest friends, as well as the godfather of his eldest son, Sonny. He has a reputation as a superb judge of talent; his regime produced five future capos—Sonny, Frank Pentangeli, Rocco Lampone, Al Neri, and Joey Zasa.
Hard as it may be to believe, Brando was not the first choice to play Don Vito Corleone. The British legend Sir Laurence Olivier was the first actor to be offered the role. Sir Laurence pleaded date issues.
Michael Corleone was a tragic hero and his tragic flaw was his hunger for power. He wanted to make his family business legitimate and that quest became a paradox, because he was committing crimes so he would not have to commit them in the future.
In August 1964, Geraci kidnaps Hagen and drowns him in the Florida Everglades. Geraci then sends Michael a package containing a dead baby alligator along with Hagen's wallet.
He is also mentioned many times throughout the film; the dialogue makes it clear that Michael is tormented with guilt over ordering his brother's death, and that it has alienated him from his ex-wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), and his son, Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio), both of whom know the truth about Fredo's death.
Tom Hagen was originally going to return for The Godfather: Part III, and the central plot was going to be a split between Tom and Michael. The character was killed off when the film's producers refused to accommodate Duvall's salary demands.
Michael escapes to Sicily and spends two years under Corleone ally Don Tommasino's (Corrado Gaipa) protection. Michael falls in love with and marries a young local woman named Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli).
Enraged, Sonny speeds towards Connie's apartment in Hell's Kitchen ahead of his bodyguards. At the Long Beach Causeway toll plaza, Barzini's men trap Sonny and shoot him to death. During a meeting with the other crime family dons to establish peace, Vito realizes that Barzini masterminded Sonny's murder.
Vito Corleone is loosely based on Giuseppe “Joe” Profaci who's cover was also that of an olive oil importer. Many of the stories in Mario Puzo's book are based on actual events during the war between the Gallo Brothers and the Profaci faction.
De Niro had a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola's crime epic The Godfather Part II (1974), playing the young Vito Corleone. De Niro had previously auditioned for the first installment, The Godfather (1972), but quit the project in favor of doing The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
No, Fredo Corleone was not intellectually and socially deficient in the movie The Godfather. He was simply not as smart or as savvy as his brothers Michael and Sonny.
