THE GODFATHER (1972) Breakdown | Ending Explained, Hidden Details, Film Analysis, And Making Of

welcome to the heavy spoilers show I'm your host Paul in this video we're breaking down the [Music] godfa arguably the best mobster movie of all time this is one of my favorite films ever made yes I'm basic I think its Legacy looms largely over the piece though and it's gone on to influence a multitude of movies it's responsible for making a lot of its actors household names and it's a film that changed the landscape of Cinema throughout this video I want to break down all the hidden details in it and talk about the deeper themes based off the book of the same name this work chronicled the history of the five families in New York the book takes a lot of focus on the character Johnny Fontaine who we of course meet in the movie based on Frank Sinatra this hinted towards the singer's rise through Hollywood being handled by the mob getting the Parton From Here to Eternity the singer actually ended up winning an Oscar for his role in the film the gossip train said this is because of let's say some input from his friends and over the years people have argued whether that's the case or not Sinatra was pretty annoyed by the story being an allegory for this and apparently almost got the fistic Cuffs with its author Mario PUO Frankie Goes to Hollywood they even got their band name from headlines at the time were there always being an undercurrent that he was married to the Mob so that's what a lot of the attention was on at the time but what I admire about KLA is that his adaptation relegates it to a minor thing instead what CA crafted was a story about family with without being heavy focus on a father and a son even the title Godfather can refer to veto or you could see it as really being about Michael at the end he becomes Godfather to his sister's daughter and thus it can definitely be read that way too a Godfather is of course a fatherly figure and he watches the son desperate to stay away from his father just ends up becoming him this is seen in a number of different ways with him sitting in his dad's office at the end being worshiped as a god father however there's also a physical transformation as well with there being intentional makeup tricks that the creative team apply Michael ends up getting punched in the face and this swells his cheek up for a lot of the movie for this Pacino stuff paper balls in his mouth which is also something that brano did as well slowly Pacino started speaking more like him and it's an incredible transformation that we see happen in the film it's a brilliant journey and that ending is always stuck with me as well as we watch his wife K sh out realizing she's being lied to now the movie starts off at a wedding with him being honest and open and here he's telling her about the family business that's my family Kate it's not me at the end though he's lying to her and completely shutting her out which shows a complete 180 also feel like hey she wants to be lied to as well and Michael says he'll tell her this one time about the business he lies to her and she definitely realizes but there's a feeling like she doesn't want to accept it there's so much you can read from that final shot and it still gives me goosebumps there's so much going going on and whether it's the oranges that constantly foreshadow a death or just the catchphrases that it coined things like saying someone sleeps with the fishes you know it's something that's now forever in the public conscience now speaking of fishes today's video sponsor made me an offer I couldn't refuse now that takes us into today's sponsors fishing Clash fishing Clash is not a simple mobile game it's a way for people who love the outdoors and fishing to enjoy their favorite hobby on their phone fishing Clash is as real as it gets with its high graphics and vast ocean full of tiny fish up to massive megalodons there's Global fishing locations you can play at equipment upgrades customization options and even Clan games fishing Clash even allows you to build your own fishing Clan and you can do it all on the go from the company your phone fishing Clash is one of the best mobile games out there with gameplay that's going to keep you hooked hey keep you hooked what I love is that it really just let you get involved and you'll feel the thrill of near misses and also the celebration that comes from a big catch now 2024 is a massive year for the game as fishing Clash has become the official sponsors of Major League Fishing some of the real life events happening in the US will be replicated in the game with the same locations where players can take part in Virtual competitions and win in-game rewards download the game by clicking my link in the description and follow fishing Clash on Instagram and Facebook to keep up to date with the latest news on the game just click my link in the description and scan the QR code on screen right now and with that you're going to get four free gifts to redeem them just just click the menu in the top right and then click on gift cards then use my special carde which is on screen right now and with that you're going to get full free gifts highly recommend downloading the game and all you have to do is scan the QR code on screen right now huge thank you to fish and Clash for sponsoring this video now let's get into the rest of the breakdown thanks now the movie begins with a logo that has handholding puppet strings that dangle down to the font this alone has become iconic with being referenced in things from the Fuji logo all the way down to the C father chip shop Round the Corner from mine that's not a sponsor but that great Mario puza's names also attach to it too instead of it just simply being called The Godfather this is because Copa thought the screenplay was so faithful to the novel that PUO deserved to have credit for it the hand itself though represents V's manipulation of the world and how he controls people like a puppet the six strings represent the six characters we're going to follow and there's also religious imagery in it too the words of strings connect to are in the lad part with them being completely missing from God the hand at the top also resembles a cross giving an odd to the religious themes Lac throughout Godfather of course also starts with the word God but beyond that there's also lots of religious ceremonies in the movie We Begin on a wedding and then have a funeral before lastly closing out on a baptism however the imagery and idea of faith is seen from the off right in this opening scene here we have an Undertaker asking for a favor and he gives a long monologue directly to the camera as we pan out for 4 minutes basked almost completely in darkness it's almost like a confessional Bo at church his first words are also I believe in America with the idea of belief being tied in directly with faith now I don't want to spend the entire video talking about every single thing that's referenced to Godfather because we're going to be here all day but off the back of this I just had to talk about one of my favorite graphic novels ever that is the long Halloween which wears its influences on its sleeve now Jeff lob was told before he got to make it that the guys at DC loved how he' done gangsters only issue was yeah lob hadn't ever written gangsters before so he looked at the Godfather for inspiration that's why the graphic novel starts off with an almost silhouette shot of Bruce Wayne saying he believes in Gotham City it closes out with a line I believe in Harvey den and the long Halloween Chronicles has fallen into too face now I think what this opening line signifies is the movies comment on America and how there's sort of two sides to the country we have this Undertaker who's lived his life by the buck and has done everything to be an upstanding citizen he's someone who's embraced the American dream and thought of the country as being a shining Beacon of good however this introduction has a slow pan out from the darkness and we then go into the darker side represented in the dawn it shows that though we can try and be idealistic there's always things that unfortunately people have to do that might seem Shady now the movie is of course a period piece but copela wanted to still have this this Timeless feel America was going through a real period of self-reflection during the 70s and the now playing podcasts discussed this perfectly they brought up how the 40s were seen as birthing the greatest Generation due to their efforts in the war we just seen go conquer evil with America leading the charge the government was seen as something you could trust and Who You'd fly into battle for however by the 70s JFK had been assassinated with a c's involvement being suspected the Vietnam War was heavily criticized and the Watergate scandal had just recently happened huge shout out to now playing again for bringing that up and definitely check out their podcast for some brilliant reviews on movies now this to me showing that the mob and government aren't really that different and later Michael even explains to K about how Senators have people killed senators and presidents don't have men killed who's being NK now here we have a man who's an upstanding citizen but he now has to go to the mob in order to get Justice there's also the fact that veto sees himself as a good man too because he classes himself as a businessman man Even though he'll have people killed he says he's not a murderer not murderer Des spite of what this Undertaker say that shows he sees the true face of America and doesn't really see any difference in himself that doesn't mean the creative team had it easy though and the mafia ended up being a little a little disruptive we'll say the producers car was shut up and the creative team got sent death threats leading to um a meeting well according to the Legends it was here they said they'd never use the word mafia in the film and would also help to show them in a new light now this use of the word mafia it it doesn't happen in the film and it's something that Marvel also had to deal with which is why they refer to the group as the magia they'll never know mate they'll never know Stan you've got away with it the magia here though you have fully fleshed out characters who live by a code and it also helps to glamorize the life you can't see the appeal and why people would want it which really change public perception the dong gets offended because the Undertaker goes to him asking for him to whack someone and it shows that they're not all bad guys look even even has a small cat on his lap which it turns out was astray from off the street Coba grabbed it and put it on Brando's lap with it helping to soften the character there's still this Shady thing going on which we see represented in the lighting this was purposely put in by the legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis who deliberately made every scene as dark as possible this was to show how Shady the colon were and to highlight that they also worked in the shadows now big thing about this movie that people constantly point out is how the color orange constantly foreshadows a death veto gets gunned down when he's buying orange ear and he later puts peels in his mouth this is in the scene in which the car dies with a form of being when he had a brush with death Sunny passes in front of a billboard for orange juice just before he's killed and when he beats KO up his shirt has orange on it during the sit down with the Don and orange is also in front of all of them and at the end Michael has them all killed Clement are at the wedding asks for more wine and PA gives him a picture that has oranges in it tessio 2 grabs an orange and he's killed come the end of the film now this was later referenced in The Sopranos when Tony held a bottle of orange juice when a hit was made on his life so you can see why people would assume this was a big thing but Gordon Willis has since cleared it up he said that the footage was just a bit drab so they had pops of color in it to help brighten it up still though I like how it adds something to the scenes and stands out as something bright amongst all this Darkness now voo was apparently modeled on Joe profasi and vdo geneves we'll talk about the foran more in just a bit but the latter was supposed to be a very ruthless Crim Lord Vio is visited by several people who request favors and they all end up turning up later on the Undertaker is who prepares Sunny's body for the funeral showing at the dawn went through on this request we found out that his daughter was badly beaten and disfigured perhaps reflecting the fed his son would have and how he'd have to be fixed up we also have the baker who says his daughter's boyfriend's being deported and he wants voo to have him remain in the country that is Enzo I am Enzo The biger Who Michael later stands with at the hospital to make sure veto's got more puts protecting him the only reason he was there because he was thanking the dawn showing that he can even stop people from being taken out the country there's also Johnny Fontaine who gets a role in the film due to the dawn he's later signed to sing at Michael's casino and again this is no way in any way related to Frank sinara originally kopa wanted to have singular scenes introducing the characters but instead he staged it all at a wedding this allowed us to quickly meet the family and I think that's what makes the movie so relatable now playing brought up something I completely agree with and that is how the family structure works we all have family members who are in line with those we meet and can see our own lives in all of the characters we've all got that hote head in sunny and the Wheezy little [ __ ] like what we get in Fredo looking at you Uncle Tony there's con played by Talia shower who's cop's real life sister there's the adopted kid who you kind of want to take under your wing and that's Tom Hagen last here is Michael who's kind of the black sheep that doesn't really want to be part of the family this is seen immediately at the wedding and every aspect of him shows that he's an outsider he shows up late sits away from them doesn't jump in the family photos and also wears a military uniform his girlfriend K is blonde and a complete Outsider who he's clearly never told about his family I also have a the time time time that you can't really speak Italian you see at the restaurant he kind of zones out when he's being spoken to and I don't feel like he knows what's being said when he goes to propose in sicy he also gets his friend to translate it might be wrong but I think this shows further distance from them and cements that he didn't see a future with them the movie is about him finally embracing them and also accepting his legacy now as he dances at the 12-minute Mark we also get a good look at his medals according to IMDb trivia these include the Silver Star and also the Purple Heart during part two he tells Congress he was awarded the Navy cross but you can't see it here however this was such a prestigious medal that it took time for approval which explains why he didn't wear it according to the wiki they were rushed when shooting and had had to film the scenes with Michael and Kay at night you wouldn't be able to tell it though and they rigged up a ton of Lights to make it seem like daytime Alan Diane apparently got mortal on the set and thought it was going to be the worst movie ever made this entire scene has ties with real life 2 with IMDb trivia breaking down the inspiration model after a real life mob wedding this was between salvator banano to Rosy profasi she was the niece of Joseph profasi and it went down in August 1956 tended by all the major mob bosses Tony Bennett also performed at the event and like like I've been saying it's it's not Frank sonara this Mansion is apparently in Long Beach which it saers ties to the Mob Long Beach was Notorious in the prohibition era as being a Haven for rum smuggling organized crime got a huge Boost from this and the gangsters ended up buying the lavish houses in the area this two was mired in Miami decades later and it's been discussed in a lot of other organized crime movies now at this point we meet Luca brzy Who in real life was actually a mobster he was part of the Columbo crime family and was sent in to monitor the Coober gave him a role but he kept messing up his lines which was then Incorporated directly into the character he's of course who ends up sleeping with the fishes and we get some foreshadowing to this just before he dies at the 42-minute 10 Mark we can see him walking into a restaurant and can catch fishes and bossed in the window he then walks in with these fishes being like an overlay on top of him foreshadowing the Fate that lies ahead for the character his death scene happens moments later with them being strangled from behind now George Lucas and Francis Ford cop yeah they best mates like me and you and he ended up giving a n to this in Star Wars jabber the Hut dies in a similar manner with it deliberately looking a lot how Luca brzi passes not a lot of people realize either that Lucas even worked as an editor on this movie he was the one who put together the newspaper Montage which gave a lot of key information in a short space of time the hospital also has long shots where we get scenes of just fing cardos C realized that he hadn't shot the scenes of just that so Lucas suggested using the ends of shots from after hi yell C and the actors had left the scene going outside we watch the FBI writing down the license plates of cars which they also take pictures of Sunny ends up smashing one of the cameras like the like button which was apparently improvised by con along with them throwing money on the floor we see how important this privacy is at the 10-minute Mark as the heads don't take too kindly to having their photographs taken at the 60-minute Mark we also see Sunny's girlfriend talking about how big the guy's dick is while this is going on he's taking another woman to the bathroom who turns out to be the mother of Annie Garcia's character in Godfather Part three that is the character being conceived which yet I I told you we've got all the hidden details zoom in zoom in and you can see it happening however the big dick thing actually plays a bigger part in the book and we have a section where a woman talks about just how massive it is she says she misses sunny and gets surgery to have her the JJ tightened up again and then ends up having sex with the surgeon B Trav for you there guys and the name Sunny was actually coined by Mario PUO who learned it was a nickname given to Al Capone's son as the song plays out during the 16-minute Mark we also cut to a man who puts his hands around two girls this is Louise Prima who recorded the song SAA mesame which the characters are currently singing on stage watch out for those Dentures as well mate caught them falling out at 17 minutes 14 I caught you now but this celebration really adds a lot of light to the film and it's difficult to not get swept up in the attraction of the mob kind of works as a metaphor for the glitz and glamour going out in the front but in the back they're dealing with lots of shady business Johnny then arrives who sings the song I have but one heart I have but one heart a Copler apparently wanted Vicon in this role and he told him that he got the part however Al Martino was cast as the singer because apparently he' used his organized crime connections to get it this is of course what he's trying to get vdo to do for him and he's he's definitely not Frank Sinatra only a Twist of irony demon ended up having a hit singing I have but one heart which is also what Johnny sings In This Moment going into the office Vio ends up smacking him which apparently wasn't in the script Al Martino's confusion that's supposed to be genuine with James con saying he didn't know whether to laugh or cry love seeing Robert Deval just sat there laughing and it's such a funny scene I couldn't believe when I pa the film that this is almost at the half hour mark because the opening scene just flies by dancing with his da Connie we end the scene and then we join Tom as he flies out to Hollywood we see the Chinese Theater and it's here that we also meet Mogul Jack Waltz based on several Hollywood execs he was a combination of Louis B and Jack El Warner of the infamous Warner Brothers they of course put a horse head in his bed and worst thing is they didn't even warn a brother shabow mayor was the head of MGM Studios and apparently he was a great lover of horse racing however there were rumors that his racing partner got involved with a mafia and fixed a race which led to him stepping away from it with the scenes on the lot actually belonged to Paramount with them saving on the budget by just shoting it there the Mansion they use in the movie also belonged to William Randolph Hurst who helped to form the bases of Charles Foster Kane inside the tables we see Walter Scott uniform policeman which helps to cement how powerful that he is however this in turn helps to amplify the dawn as it shows he's able to control the police having dinner at his home we can catch a big pile of oranges in the middle kind of gut it they debunked it having meaning cuz Easter egg hunters like me we look ridiculous after writing a 9000w essay on how oranges foreshadow death we look ridiculous and a man in my position can afford to be made the look ridiculous cing to the morning we then get one of the most famous scenes in cinema history and one that's been mimicked millions of times that horse head was real as well with them originally using a dummy for the rehearsals they ended up getting one from a New Jersey dog PL food however they didn't tell John Marley they'd switch it out for the shoot so those screams those screams of shock were real in an ironic twist it's alleged that mob boss Johnny kamino threatened the CEO of Paramount so that Gian ruso could have a role in the film he plays poly and apparently got it because of them which yeah is quite funny looking back two of the big names auditioned for Paulie as well were the first of these being Sylvester Stallone after missing it he ended up trying out riding his own picture instead which Let It Down the Line would of course lead to Rocky this was alongside Talia sh who plays the iconic Adrian in the movie The Other actor who missed the part was none other than Robert DeNiro who won the Oscar for playing a young voo during part two now they had it trade off with his Jud to Pacino accepting the role and Bang the Drum Slowly K persuaded The Producers to release him from his contract and gave dairo as a replacement now you might also notice that there's an Oscar statue right beside his bed this is cop's real life one which he won for writing padding now when it came to making it Paramount really fought with Copler over the movie originally the budget was just 2.5 million with a studio wanting to set it in the' 70s in Kansas however as the book got more popular though cob argued it should be in line with that and thus this was changed and the budget was up to 6.5 million a coper Wanted the movie to be a common on capitalism with a family acting as a way to show that however not only did Paramount not want alcino as Michael but they also hated brand as veto the former was unknown at the time and the dailies kept showing a withdrawn performance where he often muttered under his breath and didn't really have any of that let's say dunino energy he'd be known for in his later career he constantly tried to force C to fire him and it was only after seeing the restaurant scene that they thought he could pull it off Copa knew that a sicilian had to be in the role to add some authenticity and thus he fought to the nails so Pacino could stay Paramount originally wanted Bert Reynolds to play the part but Brando threatened to quit if they hire him instead if you you seen our Apocalypse Now video then you'll know we did a big segment discussing a rant brano did on set about bird and this is all up on YouTube if you want to check it out Brando himself had kind of hit a slump and he was known as being problematic and difficult to work with even on the set for this he used to make other actors wear his lines and they said they couldn't understand what he was saying and wanted him to get whacked however Brando put up a million-dollar bond that he wouldn't cause problems and in the end the shoot went off without a hitch pretty crazy looking back how iconic these performances are with Brando really stealing the show I was someone who always thought he was just an old guy like Max vono and The Exorcist however just like cedo Brando wasn't that old and they aged him up with makeup for the movie Brando was only 47 at the time but he really managed to pull off this elderly mobster he wanted to make himself look like a bulldog so he wore a mouthpiece and really went method with it Frank Sinatra yes Frank Sinatra who in no way is connected to the book he changed his tune and rather than suing PUO was now desperate for Brando's part Paramount wanted him out too and they kept trying to fire coupler as well according to the now playing podcast he was like a mobster himself though and kept strategically getting rid of his crew so they couldn't afford to lose him they said that he'd find out he was about to be fired on the Friday so on the Wednesday he fired the assistant director and also the editor they were basically up shit's creek without those two people so in the end they couldn't afford to lose him CER actually found out the editor had been working as a ring leader and was snitching to the studio so the guy had to get Luca braid employment wise now once Paramount saw the way it was going they laid off with Brando also fighting for the director Copa then got the Oscar for riding patent 3 weeks into production and that's when they let him do what he needed to his movie is kind of like his own rise to power and he had to be ruthless to make sure he got on top now as we Fade Out from Waltz we cut toito in his chair I love the fade between the two images as it implies the idea that he's everywhere and almost like a god here [ __ ] is hearing about tooto and we then cut to an establishing shot of a g Co store this is picked up again in part two as we learn that it's the name of veto's olive oil company you also see a tin for a split second on screen at the 3952 Mark and we were supposed to see more of its operation originally we were going to get this expanded upon and we then cut to a scene with a switchboard operator the person behind the desk was going to be played by C's mother Italia but they ended up removing the scene from the film now it's clear that vdo doesn't want to get wrapped up in the drugs that the kids clearly do at the meetings Sunny interrupts and tries to talk his dad into it which V later sculls him for never tell anybody outside the family what you thinking again this is important as tooto seeing this is what makes him realize that he now has an in if he takes veto out Sunny will likely still want to go ahead and the two can then work together you have two sides to it and to be honest I always kind of thought Vito was stupid for turning soloto down however he get proven right as drugs eventually brought them lots of attention veto correctly says the politicians in his pocket they wouldn't be very happy if he moved up from gambling to narcotics this happened as well in real life with them turning against the families and going against them due to their involvement and Drugs in real life veto geneves fell due to them too with them being convicted of possessing them in 1959 all the other stuff have been overlooked but it was with this that it really sunk their businesses I'm over here like spoils scone but I feel like this is also cpl's major Comon on capitalism the movie really goes into how business models and structures change and this forces companies to constantly have to adapt they now playing podcast brought up how that forces you to keep up with the times and how pressure put on the family brings out dark results capitalism is something you constantly need to keep up with and we see this in every aspect of society you know Ubers replace taxis Amazon replace stores takeaways replace restaurants YouTubers replace TV ticktockers replace YouTubers and you have all these markets that bring in different competition now playing really touched upon this using those examples and basically said this is a universal message about young kids seeing a future in the market and wanting them to do it but the older guys just don't I'll never forget how Blockbuster could have bought Netflix but the format didn't see the potential Netflix ended up expanding and completely WIP Blockbuster out the market it's a similar thing here and I think soloto sees an in true working with sunny instead the dawn then hires Luca brzy as a spy and we see him donning a bulletproof Fest this is what the fish later arrives in signaling their boys being killed I also love the little glance at Italia gives and there's a couple moments like this throughout the movie where silent signals are given that we'll talk about later on lucer and Dawn are the only ones they end up hitting and this is for a specific reason the da runs it and though they think Sunny's a bit of a hotthead they know eventually that he can be talked around as for Luca though Hagen says that he's the one who won't stop and thus they had to take him out quickly it's also important to bear in mind that having sunny in charge helps the other families he's impulsive and doesn't think things through which could eventually lead to them collapsing having a bad leader in charge that could dismantle them from within and so Michael kind of saves them in the end we then see as Michael and K go Christmas shopping and also see as the dong goes to the street as he buys oranges we can also catch a boxing poster with one of them being Jake Lamar this is sudano played in Raging ball and he was a massively important figure at the time now when the da is hit we get an overhead shot of him falling against the car Willis wanted to have every scene in the movie resembling someone's perspective and almost like they were looking through someone's eyes the reason why we get over head one here is that it's supposed to be God's point of view as he looks down and casts out judgment Al really just shows how much of a scre Alfredo is as he fails to save his father this is something that's expanded upon in the book with it describing him as a sickly child due to his pneumonia this is a plot throw that's picked up in part two with this building a jealous rage within the character played by John Cazale he was cast after being spotted on an Off Broadway play called life Cazale was an incredible actor whose time was unfortunately cut short due to him dying of lung cancer however in his time as a movie star he had an amazing run with him making five films over the space of seven years all five of these were nominated for Best Picture securing his legacy is what's probably the most perfect run in Hollywood now after this we cut to Michael and Kay learning of V being shot this is a really defining moment for the character with it making him realize he needs to be there for the family Sunny asks him where he's been and there's a sort of thing we learn throughout the next couple of scenes you see Michael lied and said that he was away when really he wasn't he was just lying about where he was so he didn't have to spend time with the family but this is what makes him realize that he has to go back we then see Hagen held up in an abandoned Dino with a production team fighting this while location scouting when they ended up shooting it it was in the middle of a snowstorm so that one we see when they exit it's all completely real returning home we then see Michael walk into a room and can catch poy to the right you might notice there's a tissue in his hand and this is because he's pretending to be sick he was supposed to pick up the dawn but he didn't show up which all allowed the hit to go ahead now I wasn't sure whether it was actually py or not behind it as we do know there are other traitors in the family so I looked at the book where it helps to spell things out a lot clearer in that Sunny infiltrates the phone company and he finds a way to trace Paulie's calls this is how he ends up learning that he's been in contact with the other heads and has secretly been working alongside them in the movie though we also get a hint at the wedding when we see py looking at the wedding gifts 2030 Grand in that little silk purse on if this was somebody else's wearing Tado now this clearly highlights he's thinking about money and even though he's Ching about stealing it it clearly crosses his mind it's the kind of person that tooto would look for as he's someone who can be twisted against the family while down to its Basics though Paulie was supposed to protect the Dawn and he of course failed in doing this it's gross negligence but the mafia they don't deal in firings well fire Rings like that but they do do some firings so Sunny had to make an example to show that he was n messing around and this wouldn't be tolerated the bulletproof vest is also brought in as a message by tessio foreshadowing that he's also a traitor now that clens as we hear don't forget the Canali which later gets brought up with this leave the gun take the Canali now this has become a massive catchphrase but it was actually absent from both the book and script kop dropped this in because he said he had fun childhood memories of his dad bringing in white boxes of canoli from work what was he doing all day and why he keep showing up with canoli like clemenza here it's a bit of a weird tight of this but clemenza also brings up going to the mattresses he's thinking to go into the mattresses already we got to find a spot over on the west side this has also become a saying with it being used to describe what happens during a gang war spo's Capone will tell you and what happens is they pick out a vacant spot and then a large group of men lie low so that they can't be found by other Rivals this group of guys would obviously need beds and thus that's why it's about going to the mattresses Paulie is clearly interested in this as well because it's some something he could easily sell to salato now we then see their journey through New York obviously they didn't have the budget to redecorate the entire street so they just got stock footage of cars moving through the city they then found the model of the car using this rather than getting the car first and then trying to find footage with that in you see why it's clever now back at home Clemens shows Michael how to make spaghetti for a big group which pays off later in the franchise during Godfather 3 that that they pull me back in scene you know the one we can see on the table that there's a big pot of spaghetti this shows that Michael learned it from clemenza and it's a nice tie back to this Michael then ends up heading out and we learn that he's not really seen as part of the gang because he's a civilian to latoo knows to lay off him and this is why he's the perfect person for that meeting later on going to the hospital we get some awesome details the first of which happens when he goes up to the reception there's a poster that says join and serve highlighting how Michael's about to join and serve the family we can also hear a record skipping in the background this is pretty ominous because we know that the hit's going down tonight there's a half beaten sandwich here showing they left in a hurry and a clear feeling of dread within the air escorting VTO into another room that's actually a little detail if you're paying close attention as they move in through the doorway you can zoom in and see his hand getting stuck in it which he quickly Yanks out the way so funny watching it but hey you broke character Brando you son of a [ __ ] give me back that Oscar inside we get a really touching father and son moment when Michael finally accepts his part of the family I'm with you now tears roll down the Don's face as he sees his sons finally pot of them and willing to protect his dad and keep the family safe I think it's the first time that Michael actually speaks directly to his dad in the entire movie and it's about him embracing the person he'd cast out on what could be his deathbed at this point Enzo arrives I am the baker Standing Outside they pretend to be Gods which makes the Assassin's second guest the hit when they drive out Enzo pulls out a cigarette which he can't lie due to his hand shaking Michael on the other hand handles it with ease which shows how comfortable that he is with this life this is why he takes a long stare at the lighter because it's him realizing he is built for this [ __ ] and the police captain arrives and we see some of the officers one of which says Michael is a war hero according to the commentary this is actually detective Sunny gross who was a key figure in cracking the French Connection case moski then punches Michael in the face which add as we said is a bruise that he carries throughout the movie one detail pointed out by Dam War Eagle on Reddit though is that this affects him in the long term inly Michael wipes his nose constantly with a hanky with a novel explaining that the punch damaged his sinuses now next we go to the call on estate and see several cars parked up you might notice that some of these have wooden bumpers which was part of the war effort the metal ones were taken and then melted down with them being used as a way to fight in World War II and we learned that this talias have being killed in retaliation and this this is why they've got more arm guards at the house salat's desperate a sort of meeting to save his skin but Sunny wants revenge Hagen tries to convince him it should be business and not personal but Michael sides with sunny and they decid to take him down I love how As He suggests this we pan to him in a chair in which he starts going through the plan the way he sits it just foreshadows the future and it's clear that he's the person who can become The Godfather he said it he said it and this was actually done for practical reasons with Al busting up his leg in the Escape scene at the restaurant that happens later in the film but they filmed it before so to help mask it they had him sit in this chair he couldn't really walk and you can't catch Sunny playing with a Kane in the scene and this was actually Pacino's one that he was using after the accident and normally the mob don't kill a policeman but Michael's willing to break that rule because they control the media this means that they can control the message as well and thus they want to run stories that mcclusky's a dirty cop we see this later on in the newspaper montage and it's clear that they've put a lot of bad stories out there now the family then have a last supper of Chinese food which was also a memory from cop's childhood yeah they also talk about the H and sunny suggests so why do he just blast whoever in a goddamn car foreshadowing how he's killed later on in the movie Michael's then picked up outside damy manasseh's restaurant which was named after the Manassa mher that's what Jack damy used to go by and we can catch photos for him in the window finding out where the restaurant is they end up placing a gun there so Michael can do the hit there's still a lots of tension though because we don't know if the source is right and Michael also doesn't stick to the plan he's meant to exit the toilet and come out blasting but we see there's a real conflict within him it's such a good scene especially because salatto rattles off things in Sicilian but just like Michael we completely zone out to it initially though this was done for practical reasons because alary he was speaking so fast that the subtitles couldn't keep up with him people have translated it though and it has him apologizing for the headit on his father and explaining it was bus business he calls his dad oldfashioned and hopes he understands why he had to do it now another point he brings up is really important for later on as he says that he's got support from the other Dons this is why Michael has to kill them because they're all willing to turn against his family we then hear the sound of train tracks over the scene this is something the Cohen Brothers use when Shar killed the officer in our Country for Old Men and I wondered if that was a little nut of this there it signified how fate was like a Locomotion and something had steamed ahead unable to be diverted that's kind of what I Feel This Moment's doing too and it's such an iconic way to help create tension Michael and kills them both with mcclusky's death being done through a fake forehead with a little Gap in the middle of it this was covered with a cap and then pulled off which allowed the blood to pour from it escaping it he just remembers to drop the gun which is a great character moment it shows he's not as finessed as he'd later become and is kind of still making hesitations now at this point we were originally going to get an intermission due to its 3-hour length however on the restoration copess said they decided to drop it but I actually think it would have worked pacing wise we then pick up with a newspaper Montage which kind of Chronicles what's been going on you might notice that there's a headline that says Hospital fund reaches its goal and this was the same one that helped to save veto it shows that they were rewarded and it's a great little detail amongst this Montage we can also catch a piano player with cober's Dad Carmine playing this role we also see the characters like low with a lot on mattresses calling back to Sunny's comments before AO then returned home and we then see the dawn being carried up the stairs as a prank Brando put weights in the bed and he took great joy in watching the actors struggle to lift him up you're son of a [ __ ] and we then learned Fredo is being sent out to Vegas which he begrudgingly seems to be excited for I'm going to learn a casino business yeah this again for Shadows what's to come with his hatred of being pushed out being formed here at the dinner table we then see the dreads of something else with Carlo telling Connie to shut up and sunny tells him not to speak to his sister like that and it's Carlo beating her that event she draws him out from here we could across to Michael who's touring Europe before it became a three star resort for British people going to Corone we find out that most of the men there were killed by vendettas and thus Michael he's sort of the most eligible bachelor we then get a scene in which he walks across the Town Square which is later repeated in part two that happens when a young V leaves coron W here we're watching his Son enter one's leaving the life while the other one's trying to form one there and it's at this point Michael meets aalia meeting with her father they also make sure they take away his guns first and this is so he can't react badly to the proposal K now Michael hits it off with her and we have a moment where she stumbles into him the book explains this as her doing it on purpose so that she could be closer to him however the pair are doomed lovers with appina being taken out by assassins fatio ends up betraying them both and he puts an explosion in their car now in the book we learn that appina was pregnant with this being a double blow to Michael now originally there was going to be an extra scene in which we learned that Fabrizio had moved to America there he'd opened up a pizza paror which is where Michael tracked him down killing him with a shotgun this was cut in the end because there was so much fake blood that it just looked ridiculous however there are still shots online of Michael with a shotgun which can be seen on Google or or right here in the video now back in America Sunny discovers Carlos beating up Connie it him in the streets huge shout out to no respect Rodney on Reddit for pointing out that you can catch a young Frank SEO watching this play out Frank will go to feature in another classic gangster film with him also appearing in Good Fellas as Carlo wraps his hand around the railing we can also see a post that says Thomas Dewey Dewey was a notorious figure scary movie cut that Dewey was a notorious figure who pursued gangsters in New York with him being the governor in 1942 now we get a moment that showcases Carlo was was likely involved in the hit as Sunny kicks him in the face when Sunny's killed one of the Assassins makes sure to do it to him we see his k then goes out to the mansion and can catch a damaged car behind her she asks what it is but Tom just plays off it's an accident Kay seems to accept this which also plays into her character she clearly has a part of her that wants to get lied to and will accept things as they seem just like that final shot and we cut to Connie receiving a phone call from a very mysterious woman obviously meant to make her suspected Affair which makes her smash the house up like the like button how that Talia actually did the voice on the other end of the phone so she's like she's like talking to herself either way it draws sunny out and he speeds off to Carlo CAU at the booth we then see a sign that says toll paid signifying the debts finally being rectified now this death scene was inspired by Bonnie and Clyde with it being horrendous overkill on the character rigged up costing $100,000 this was the most expensive scene in the movie they put up a giant billboard to hide a modern sky scraper in the back and had over 140 squibs set up on con there were 200 holes drilled into the car without also being filled with scrips as well according to IMB trivia the text said they'd never done that many on one person before and James con was obviously pretty nervous the joke that they could cut some of his scenes that they hadn't filmed yet and yeah even that it didn't go down too well everything had to be shot in one take with being several different cameras set up to help capture this moment it's a devastating scene that ends the character but it also brought us another great meme look how they mess with my boy now if you love the classics then definitely head over to our partners at Arrow video doing a big 50% sale on at the moment for Easter I picked up the Chucky collection these films are absolutely great got loads of cool covers with um spot on collection that for me uh yeah and they're doing the biggies to sale but on top of that yeah an offer you can't refuse 10% off if you use the code heavy spoilers at checkout just click my link in the description and use the code heavy spoilers at check out and you're going to get an extra 10% off their massive sale shabow from here we cuted the five families and hear how V's voices struggling according to IMB trivia this was based on real life mobster Frank Castello brand also met some hearings during 1951 and he then used this as a basis to develop his husky whisper eventually at trues agreed to and the narcotics will be kept away from schools and children veto also arranges for Michael to return and threatens that if anything happens to him he'll blame the people in the room you might also notice that vdo's eyes are dark during this and it was a stylistic choice that they made throughout the movie Gordon Willis had it so that whenever he was conducting business they light it so that his eyes seemed darker this again carried on this Shady aesthetic and let the audience know they were working in the dark now back in the car V correctly guesses that it was actually bini who was behind the power charge you might be wondering how he figured it out but there are a couple of little Clues firstly all the heads basically let him lead the meeting showing that they knew he was the one in charge he's also the one who's desperate to make sure they make a truce as the other heads don't really care he's the one after the politicians and vdo's pocket and it becomes obvious when you look at how the meaning goes now from here we cut to a school to see Kay coming out waiting for her is Michael again showing how the mob May overstep the line and go close to schools Michael ends up proposing to K and he then kicks Tom out this is due to him not being a wartime consiliary and originally they had a bigger role for him in the sequels but Duval sort of yeah ended up stepping back and th they couldn't do what they wanted with that we'll talk about that later down the line but he was burned by this and going to sort of become an antagonist in The Godfather Part three again we will be breaking them all down so subscribe at this point Michael fly is out to Vegas and he meets with Fredo and also M green Fredo throws a big surprise party for him but Michael ends up kicking all the girls how to do business it shows his focus and how he's different from Sunny who was constantly distracted by girls Mo was also based on bugy seagull who was also killed by being shot through the eye seagull was highly influential when it came to creting the Las Vegas Strip and the mob ties to it were shown in the movie Casino Mo's death here was also greatly inspired by Battleship podm Kim and they used special glasses when filming it these fired outward away from the glass so it just cracked the lens the blood then trickled down giving the illusion that he'd been shut through the eye now he refuses to sell his casinos to the family and we see his Fredo starts toci side with Mo this is even after it's revealed that he beats him and Michael becomes like his father but don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again that obviously calls back to that partt with sunny before now from here we cut to a car and catch K playing with a marionette this of course links in with the logo and the puppet imagery which is later followed up by the Don saying this and I refused to be a fool dancing on the string H by all those big shot now besides Michael it shows who's in control and he seeks counsel in his father who tells him the ropes was your time that the Jew would be the one the all of strings now lets him know that they'll set up a meeting and it's here that Michael will be assassinated this will be through someone he trusts who says they can guarantee his safety the person who pites this steel to him that's who the traitor is and this is how he knows that it's tessio now this is the last conversation between the pair and it saves Michael's life in the end the then dies to the next scene which was originally something that was going to be cut from the movie according to the wiki the studio felt that someone might see the funeral and then they'd worry that people would Theory time it out this is why these moments were shot in a private estate with a set being destroyed immediately after it was filmed putting peels in his mouth I think but we've all kind of scared our kids pretending to be monsters like this little Anthony watches his grandfather pass away and he was played by Anthony Garis they realized that he only responded when they called him Anthony so they just kept the character's name the same reminds me reminds me a bit of that part in extras when Keith chuin has to his character has to be called Keith Nish referen that but moving on now finally the meetings arrang with Michael pulling off the hits as he gets baptized ordering murders and then being washed of his sins is such a smart way to get right in the eyes of God the assassination montages are so well put together and it shows Michael's reaching every aspect of society he's got police the h and even the church absolving him and yeah this scene is perfect the baby here is also played by Sophia Copler and a best performance by her in a Godfather [Music] movie I believe you sorry if you're watching it Sophia I know you've had a lot of disses for your performance in Godfather 3 and I forgive you either way it's a bastardization of religion and sums up the contradiction of the mob carrying out crimes while being religious to them it's just business and it's a haunting moment that will live forever renfree in my head becoming Godfather he tells Carlo their Vegas trips cancelled and that he has to go back to the house there we see tessio clearly figure out he's about to get killed and he admits it was business such a chilling scene watching him much to his death and though he begs to get off the hook Hagen turns him down now I think it's a really dignified death and again sums up that even tesio knows it's just business as for KO the book tells us that Michael knew for some time but he was keeping his enemies closer he didn't want the other heads to suspect he was making a move or that he knew who was betraying him and those kept things from Carlo so it all seemed fine it was at this moment that he knew he [ __ ] up however he wasn't 100% sure which is why he promises Carlo that he's going to survive if he tells Michael the truth he buys him a plane ticket and says he won't make his sister a widow which does come across as being quite sincere however it was a final move to confirm the truth and we see him getting murdered and a car this actually a really subtle thing that Hagen does to Signal this and you can't catch him pulling down his tie right after this clemenza starts to choke him and it's such a big moment Connie rushes out to her brother well aware of what's happened but Kay wants to remain in her naive little bubble senators and presidents don't have men killed who's being naive K he allows her to ask about his Affairs one time but he lies which she immediately seems to buy Michael knows she'll take it too because she wants to remain in the bo how about the doubt clearly lingers in her mind as Michael's given the tribute and the door closes on her showing she shut out from the truth and this shows that Michael's fully decided to embrace that position and to be known as The Godfather it also shows his Detachment from Kay which calls back to the opening there he sat with her away from the family whereas the door shows that he's now left her behind this lie is what he's become with it showcasing the true man that he is ties into the baptism which in itself was a lie too as as he was denouncing sin while having it carried out we have these two sides in which he's posing as a man of Faith while also going against what that really means in the final shot we also have two sides which are represented in Kay and Michael he's pretending to be a loving and truthful husband all the while having this darker side going on in the back it highlights that he's now shutting her off from this and willing to allow her to live off in this lie however the reaction on her face shows she's probably figured it out and it's up to her now whether she accepts it or not she questions the idea of the man that she's falling in love with and the door shutting shows that she's truly lost him it's an incredible way to close out the movie and it's the reason that I think it's one of the best films ever made even before it had finished filming a sequel was green lit because Paramount started to realize they had a big hit on their hands Sammy the bull said he left the movie stunned and that he knew a lot of heads who felt exactly the same way there were multiple Oscars one for it with bran all securing the one for best he sent up sashing Little Feather to collect it which caused its own controversy about the film at the time she delivered a speech about the mistreatment of Native Americans and it caused a lot of controversy at the wards Brando ended up having his own issues with paraman because they commented against him and this led into some issues with the sequel we will talk about that more when we cover that in a breakdown but this is one of the only five films that ever hold the number one spot on IMDb the others were a new hope the Sha Shank Redemption The Fellowship of the Rings and last see The Dark Knight I really feel like it's up there in terms of quality it's probably my favorite out of all of them and huge thank you for joining us on this breakdown huge shout out to fishing Clan as well for sponsoring the video and make sure you download the game by scanning the QR code or clicking the link below and thank you to everyone who sat until this point if you want to see videos like this early then please also consider clicking the join button and for just 99 cents a month you'll get early access to our breakdowns if you want something else to watch you've also got a video on screen right now so definitely head over there right after this out the way huge thank you for clicking the video I've been your host Paul you've been the best and I'll see you next time take care peace

Channel: Heavy Spoilers

Views: 82,580

Keywords: the godfather, the godfather breakdown, the godfather analysis, movies, movie breakdown, film analysis, movie facts, easter eggs, Hidden Details, the godfather ending explained, hidden details, things you missed, movie twist, the godfather movie details, the godfather movie breakdown, the godfather explained, the godfather movie reaction, the godfather movie easter eggs, ending explained, the godfather things you missed, the godfather part 2, sonny, michael, restaurant, saga

Id: dGnjhCcEIOY

Length: 50min 7sec (3007 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 14 2024