Michael Dowdy
Film Analysis
The Film Analysis assignment required that each member of the class chose a movie that was made in their year to write a paper about. The paper was not just about what happened in the movie, but rather about a particular cultural aspect in the movie, race, gender, etc, and how it related to the culture at the time. I chose to write my paper on The Godfather. The cultural aspect that I chose to depict was race, to be more specific, Italian immigrants living in America. I briefly summarize the movie in the paper, but I strongly recommend watching this excellent classic.
Michael Dowdy
Dr. Froehlich
English 30
Nov. 9, 2010
Film Analysis:
The Godfather
One of the greatest movies of all time, The Godfather, directed by Francis Coppola in 1972, portrays the Corleone family, an Italian mafia family in New York, in a new perspective, not as the criminal organization most people associate in the mafia, but as a refuge to new Italian immigrants coming to America. Racial discrimination has plagued the United States throughout its history, even to this day. But the call of hope for a better life has always attracted immigrants even so. The movie The Godfather masterfully depicts the hard life immigrants experienced and what helped immigrants overcome discrimination and poverty.
The movie opens on the wedding day of the daughter of Vito Corleone(Marlon Brando). Vito Corleone is in his office listening to people asking favors of him. In this scence the viewer is introduced to many of the main characters of the movie; Vito Corleone is the leader of the Corleone mafia family. His sons are Sonny (James Caan), Fredo (John Cazale), and Michael (Al Pacino).
The Corleone family is one of five mafia families in New York. The other families wish to become involved in the profitable and risky heroin trade. They wish for Vito Corleone to support them and work with them in this new business. Don Corleone sees the danger as well as the risk in this new trade and respectfully refuses.
This sparks the other families to retaliate with an attempt on Vito Corleone’s life. He is shot five times and is sent to a hospital for treatment. Assassins then come to the hospital intending to finish the job, but Michael saves his father by acting like a guard on duty in time for the Corleone family to send help. In retaliation for the attempt on Vito Corleone’s life, Michael kills Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), responsible for leading the attempt on his father’s life and worked closely with the Tattaglia family and corrupt police Captain Mark McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), who was bought out in the second attempt at Vito Corleone’s life.
Michael is forced to flee to Italy afterwards and makes a new life there until it is safe to return. Sonny in killed as the bloody family war carries on and Vito Corleone arranges to meet with the five families to stop the fighting and agrees to support the other families’ drug business.
The very first scene opens the movie with Amerigo Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto), an Italian immigrant, pleading to Vito Corleone to “give him justice” when the police and court system failed him after his daughter was beaten by her boyfriend.
She found a boyfriend, not an Italian...Two months ago; he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her like an animal...She was the light of my life - my beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again...I-I went to the police like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison - suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, 'for justice, we must go to Don Corleone.' (Bonasera, The Godfather script)
This illustrates the helplessness the average immigrant in America experienced as they attempted to make a living for themselves, and how little the U.S. judicial system protected immigrants. Bonasera finds his refuge in the Corleone mafia family when he did not get justice from the legal system.
Police Captain, Mark McCluskey, Confronts Vito Corleone’s youngest son, Michael Corleone outside the hospital where his father is being treated. The police captain had been paid off buy enemies of the Corleone family to remove the guards of Vito Corleone so he could be assassinated. Captain McCluskey derogatorily called Michael a"guinea hood" and "a little punk” and struck him, breaking his jaw.
Another instance in the movie, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) goes to Hollywood to persuade a prominent director named Jack Woltz (John Marley) to give the lead role in his movie to a prominent Italian American singer and Vito Corleone’s godson, Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), at the request of the famous Hollywood singer. When Tom arrives at the studio, he introduces himself as the lawyer of a good friend of Johnny Fontane. When he tells Jack Woltz of his proposition, Jack becomes furious and shouts at Tom. “Now listen to me, you smooth-talking SOB! Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie! I don't care how many - daigo, guinea, WOP, greaseball, gumbahs come out of the woodwork!” (Jack Woltz, The Godfather Script). Jack uses many derogatory terms to insult Tom. This shows the great disrespect many people in America had for the immigrant population.
In the 1970s, immigration had developed an increasing trend. But immigration from European countries had been decreasing. Moreover, the percentage of foreign born population was at its lowest point during the 1970s, 116,039 immigrants from Europe in 1972 (Historical Statistics of the United States). As a result to the new influx of immigrants, the current populace reacted with distaste to new people in the country. Those new to the country were not accepted warmly by those whose families have lived in the U.S. for many years. Racial profiling and discrimination abounded, and many immigrant families suffered because of it.
Another quality about the Corleone family is that they are just that, a family. The unity of a family is constantly expressed in the movie. “Godfather I affirms traditional values in suggesting that the Family unit may pose an even more honorable organization than the White House administrations that spawned the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal”(Poon, 190). Even though all of its members are not related, the Corleone members are treated as if they were. Unity in this “family” can be related to the immigrants who found their way to America as well. They found strength in each other and stayed together somewhat easing the difficulties immigrants as a whole would face.
Immigrants in 1972 faced many obstacles to prosperity. But that can be said about immigrants throughout history. Even today, immigrants are poorly treated and disliked by many. Although the majority of immigrants are now coming from Latin America, some of the same obstacles face these immigrants in this present day and age. Illegal immigration has become a great concern in the United States. Immigrants who journey to America are often overshadowed by the ever-growing issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is a serious issue the United States faces. But despite this downside, immigration is still a crucial role in America. The U.S. was formed by immigrants and has continually molded the culture of the nation.
Works Cited
Barde, Robert, Richard Sutch, and Susan B. Carter. "Historical Statistics of the United
States." Www.cambridge.org. Cambridge University.
<http://hsus.cambridge.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/HSUSWeb>.
The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Paramount
Pictures, 1972.
Poon, Phoebe. "The Corleone Chronicles: Revisiting The Godfather Films as Trilogy."
Journal of Popular Film and Television 33.4 (2006): 187-95.
Dr. Froehlich
English 30
Nov. 9, 2010
Film Analysis:
The Godfather
One of the greatest movies of all time, The Godfather, directed by Francis Coppola in 1972, portrays the Corleone family, an Italian mafia family in New York, in a new perspective, not as the criminal organization most people associate in the mafia, but as a refuge to new Italian immigrants coming to America. Racial discrimination has plagued the United States throughout its history, even to this day. But the call of hope for a better life has always attracted immigrants even so. The movie The Godfather masterfully depicts the hard life immigrants experienced and what helped immigrants overcome discrimination and poverty.
The movie opens on the wedding day of the daughter of Vito Corleone(Marlon Brando). Vito Corleone is in his office listening to people asking favors of him. In this scence the viewer is introduced to many of the main characters of the movie; Vito Corleone is the leader of the Corleone mafia family. His sons are Sonny (James Caan), Fredo (John Cazale), and Michael (Al Pacino).
The Corleone family is one of five mafia families in New York. The other families wish to become involved in the profitable and risky heroin trade. They wish for Vito Corleone to support them and work with them in this new business. Don Corleone sees the danger as well as the risk in this new trade and respectfully refuses.
This sparks the other families to retaliate with an attempt on Vito Corleone’s life. He is shot five times and is sent to a hospital for treatment. Assassins then come to the hospital intending to finish the job, but Michael saves his father by acting like a guard on duty in time for the Corleone family to send help. In retaliation for the attempt on Vito Corleone’s life, Michael kills Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), responsible for leading the attempt on his father’s life and worked closely with the Tattaglia family and corrupt police Captain Mark McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), who was bought out in the second attempt at Vito Corleone’s life.
Michael is forced to flee to Italy afterwards and makes a new life there until it is safe to return. Sonny in killed as the bloody family war carries on and Vito Corleone arranges to meet with the five families to stop the fighting and agrees to support the other families’ drug business.
The very first scene opens the movie with Amerigo Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto), an Italian immigrant, pleading to Vito Corleone to “give him justice” when the police and court system failed him after his daughter was beaten by her boyfriend.
She found a boyfriend, not an Italian...Two months ago; he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her like an animal...She was the light of my life - my beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again...I-I went to the police like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison - suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, 'for justice, we must go to Don Corleone.' (Bonasera, The Godfather script)
This illustrates the helplessness the average immigrant in America experienced as they attempted to make a living for themselves, and how little the U.S. judicial system protected immigrants. Bonasera finds his refuge in the Corleone mafia family when he did not get justice from the legal system.
Police Captain, Mark McCluskey, Confronts Vito Corleone’s youngest son, Michael Corleone outside the hospital where his father is being treated. The police captain had been paid off buy enemies of the Corleone family to remove the guards of Vito Corleone so he could be assassinated. Captain McCluskey derogatorily called Michael a"guinea hood" and "a little punk” and struck him, breaking his jaw.
Another instance in the movie, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) goes to Hollywood to persuade a prominent director named Jack Woltz (John Marley) to give the lead role in his movie to a prominent Italian American singer and Vito Corleone’s godson, Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), at the request of the famous Hollywood singer. When Tom arrives at the studio, he introduces himself as the lawyer of a good friend of Johnny Fontane. When he tells Jack Woltz of his proposition, Jack becomes furious and shouts at Tom. “Now listen to me, you smooth-talking SOB! Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie! I don't care how many - daigo, guinea, WOP, greaseball, gumbahs come out of the woodwork!” (Jack Woltz, The Godfather Script). Jack uses many derogatory terms to insult Tom. This shows the great disrespect many people in America had for the immigrant population.
In the 1970s, immigration had developed an increasing trend. But immigration from European countries had been decreasing. Moreover, the percentage of foreign born population was at its lowest point during the 1970s, 116,039 immigrants from Europe in 1972 (Historical Statistics of the United States). As a result to the new influx of immigrants, the current populace reacted with distaste to new people in the country. Those new to the country were not accepted warmly by those whose families have lived in the U.S. for many years. Racial profiling and discrimination abounded, and many immigrant families suffered because of it.
Another quality about the Corleone family is that they are just that, a family. The unity of a family is constantly expressed in the movie. “Godfather I affirms traditional values in suggesting that the Family unit may pose an even more honorable organization than the White House administrations that spawned the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal”(Poon, 190). Even though all of its members are not related, the Corleone members are treated as if they were. Unity in this “family” can be related to the immigrants who found their way to America as well. They found strength in each other and stayed together somewhat easing the difficulties immigrants as a whole would face.
Immigrants in 1972 faced many obstacles to prosperity. But that can be said about immigrants throughout history. Even today, immigrants are poorly treated and disliked by many. Although the majority of immigrants are now coming from Latin America, some of the same obstacles face these immigrants in this present day and age. Illegal immigration has become a great concern in the United States. Immigrants who journey to America are often overshadowed by the ever-growing issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is a serious issue the United States faces. But despite this downside, immigration is still a crucial role in America. The U.S. was formed by immigrants and has continually molded the culture of the nation.
Works Cited
Barde, Robert, Richard Sutch, and Susan B. Carter. "Historical Statistics of the United
States." Www.cambridge.org. Cambridge University.
<http://hsus.cambridge.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/HSUSWeb>.
The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Paramount
Pictures, 1972.
Poon, Phoebe. "The Corleone Chronicles: Revisiting The Godfather Films as Trilogy."
Journal of Popular Film and Television 33.4 (2006): 187-95.
