Questions about "The Godfather"

[Tat2d Bald Dude]

-Why does Sonny get whacked? (The only answer I can come up with is that he appeared to be awfully cocky and didn't listen to anyone, basically marching to the beat of his own drum. So that made him impossible for people to deal with)

-Why did Luca Brasi get whacked? (This one, no matter how many times I watch it, I can't seem to figure out why exactly he got whacked)

 

[tsmba]

Have you actually read the book(s), or have you only watched the movies? If you've read the book, the answers are pretty obvious.

 

[masonjarjar]

why does anyone get killed in a mafia movie?

to send a message.

 

[strat1117]

-Why does Sonny get whacked? (The only answer I can come up with is that he appeared to be awfully cocky and didn't listen to anyone, basically marching to the beat of his own drum. So that made him impossible for people to deal with)

Sonny was killed for failing to pay the toll at the Atlantic Beach Bridge (those LI cops can be tough).

-Why did Luca Brasi get whacked? (This one, no matter how many times I watch it, I can't seem to figure out why exactly he got whacked)

Luca Brasi didn't get whacked. He was tired and went to sleep with the fishes. He drowned.

 

[kwk285]

If he didn't get whacked, you wouldn't have a movie.

 

[ouch]

Yeah. While we're at it, why all the crime and stealing and stuff?

 

[nick42728]

Sonny gets whacked Barzini and tattaglia are partners, and if you read the book sonny kills tattaglia's son. so, the ask carlo to set up his brother in law (sonny) and promise him a bigger role in the mafia.

Luca brasi gets whacked because they know that he is working for the corleone's and was sent to spy on them.


read the book

 

[phantom11]

Sonny is whacked at the toll booths because Sollozzo and the Tattaglia family (but in reality it is Bazzini which we find out close to the end) want Sonny out of the picture because he is difficult to work with and it would be easier to get Fredo and Tom to agree to help Sollozzo with finance and political protection to get their drug operation started. Also Sonny avenged the assassination attempt on his fathers life by ordering the hit on Bruno Tattaglia which in return made the Tattaglia family furious with him.

Luca Brasi is whacked because he is sent by The Godfather to "see what this Sollozzo has under his fingernails" and the Tattaglias are aware of this plan and they know that Luca Brasi is a very loyal and powerful soldier for the Corleone family and after they hit Vito Corleone they know that Luca Brasi will try to avenge his Don and noone will be able to stop him (not even Sonny) so they decide to take him out.

Hope this answers your questions.

 

[TimmyBoston]

I didn't see nothin.

 

[RBE17]

There's a book???......j/k

 

[Obsessed]

Yeah. While we're at it, why all the crime and stealing and stuff?

 

[hkfrost]

"... Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, Monday..."

 

[HoratioCaine]

Have you actually read the book(s), or have you only watched the movies? If you've read the book, the answers are pretty obvious.

Yeah, the book makes it pretty clear. What the movie barely alludes to is that Sonny ended up being a brutally effective leader, wreaking havoc all over New York and making life very tough for the other four families during the mob war that ensued after Sollozzo's and McCluskey's assassination. The families figured that with Sonny in charge, things were only going to get worse. They rightly guessed that with Sonny out of the way, the aging Don would end the war and agree to the drug trafficking. But they didn't count on Michael.

Brasi got very short shrift in the movie. In the book, he's shown to be one of the most fearsome and evil henchmen ever. Perhaps he was slipping in the end, if Sollozzo could get to him that easily (ditto with Don Corleone), but it made things much easier for Sollozzo having Brasi out of the way. With Brasi unleashed, things could have gone very roughly for Sollozzo - which, of course, they did anyway, thanks to Michael, but Sollozzo couldn't have seen that one coming...and obviously didn't until it was too late.

Seriously, go read the book. It's an easy and fascinating read if you like the movies. It fills in a lot of gaps - and I'm not even referring to Lucy Mancini's surgery!

 

[raisindot]

Luca Brasi didn't get whacked. He was tired and went to sleep with the fishes. He drowned.

If you sleep with the fishes, do you wake up with the crabs?

Jeff in Boston

 

[HoratioCaine]

If you sleep with the fishes, do you wake up with the crabs?

Given Brasi's lifestyle, I'm sure there was many a morning he woke up with crabs, but it wasn't from sleeping with fishes.

 

[Tat2d Bald Dude]

"... Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, Monday..."

No, no, no....it's "Monday...Tuesday...Thursday...Wednesday"

 

[Slamarche]

The book is always better. . . . always.

 

[HoratioCaine]

The book is always better. . . . always.

Honestly, I don't know that I agree. Puzo's book was good, compelling fiction, but it didn't achieve greatness as literature. It certainly isn't included in the modern literary canon taught in university literature departments. Coppola's film(s), on the other hand, is in the very top echelon of great filmmaking, and is universally regarded as a classic. I don't suppose we'll ever know otherwise, but I have a feeling if it weren't for the movies, very few of us would be here discussing the book.

 

[strat1117]

Honestly, I don't know that I agree. Puzo's book was good, compelling fiction, but it didn't achieve greatness as literature. It certainly isn't included in the modern literary canon taught in university literature departments. Coppola's film(s), on the other hand, is in the very top echelon of great filmmaking, and is universally regarded as a classic. I don't suppose we'll ever know otherwise, but I have a feeling if it weren't for the movies, very few of us would be here discussing the book.

HC hit the nail directly on its head. IMO, The Godfather is one of the few exceptions to the rule that the book is always better than the movie.

 

[garyg]

HC hit the nail directly on its head. IMO, The Godfather is one of the few exceptions to the rule that the book is always better than the movie.

I'll disagree, respectfully. The premise that the Godfather, the book, is somehow lesser because some backwater or frontwater university doesn't have it on it's Top Ten while the movie makes the same list is lacking, as despite the efforts of the film industry they "produce" about 1/1000 as many "products" as the authors, maybe 10000 books per film. Just a guess

The greatest films are those that aren't copies of either a book or another film that sold alot to the mall folk .. think Casablanca for example. A true film should stand on its own, not as some Hollywood attempt for money from the great unwashed. A moving picture show made from a book is just the TV only longer, most often leading to gaps in the plot such as started this thread.