Story breakdown:
- YOU: The whole Corleone family is at Connie Corleone’s wedding with Carlo Rizzi. During this joyous occasion, Vito Corleone hears requests and favours in private in his office. The entire cast is introduced.
- NEED: Shortly before Christmas, Virgil ‘The Turk’ Sollozzo meets with Don Corleone and asks for his support and investment in the up-and-coming narcotics business. Don Corleone refuses. He doesn’t know Sollozzo is supported by the rival Tattaglia family.
- GO: Vito Corleone asks Luca Brasi to spy on them, and pretend that he wants to switch sides with the Tattaglia family. Sollozzo and Bruno Tattaglia are immediately suspicious and when they meet him, they kill him. Vito is then shot outside his office in Little Italy, but he survives. Tom Hagen is taken hostage, temporarily.
- SEARCH: Michael, Sonny and the other members of the family try and figure out what to do. They find out Luca Brasi was murdered. Michael visits his father in hospital and thwarts another attempt on his life. His jaw is broken by corrupt NYPD Captain McCluskey. Sonny retaliates by murdering Bruno Tattaglia.
- FIND: Sollozzo and McCluskey want a truce and invite Michael to a restaurant in the Bronx. The Corleone family manage to plant a gun in the restaurant so Michael can kill them both, which he does. The five families wage war on each other in New York.
- TAKE: Michael finds refuge in Sicily as he is not safe in New York. Sonny beats up Carlo for abusing Connie, threatening his life if it happens again. When it does happen again, Sonny makes his way over to Carlo’s but is ambushed and murdered. While in Sicily, Michael marries Apollonia who eventually dies in a car bomb intended for him. He is no longer safe in Sicily neither.
- RETURN: Michael returns to New York. Vito initiates a truce with the rivalling families and promises not to avenge Sonny’s murder. Michael takes the family reins.
- CHANGE: Vito dies from a heart attack. Michael stands at the altar at Connie’s baby’s baptism. During the baptism, assassins from the Corleone family murder all five dons of the rivalling families, Moe Greene (who ran the family’s stakes in various casinos in Las Vegas), Sal Tessio (a Corleone member who betrayed them) and Carlo Rizzi. Michael is now the new don, and a new man.
Character archetypes:
Don Vito Corleone: Protagonist. Round, well-developed and three-dimensional. He experiences change throughout the film. To end the bloodshed he is willing to not avenge Sonny’s death and he is willing to change his mind on the up-and-coming narcotics business.
Michael Corleone: A dynamic protagonist, like his father. At first an outsider to the family business he quickly changes and adapts to the new lifestyle, eventually replacing his father and taking the family reins.
Virgil ‘The Turk’ Sollozzo: A static antagonist. He experiences no change and arguably becomes more malignant as the story goes on. Few emotions.
Carlo Rizzi: At first he seems like a respectable character but then the audience eventually learns that he is an abusive, bad antagonist who is using Connie to ruin the family from the inside.
Timeline for Michael Corleone
Before the story begins, Michael served in WW2. He shows up at his sister’s wedding in his uniform.
Michael is Christmas shopping with Kay when he finds out about the attempted murder of his father.
Michael visits his father in hospital, and thwarts another attempt on his life.
He is beaten up by McCluskey.
Michael and other family members plot to kill Sollozzo and McCluskey in a restaurant in the Bronx.
Michael flees to Sicily and spends a few years there in hiding.
He meets Apollonia. They get married but she is killed by a car bomb which was intended for him.
Michael travels back to New York, his family initiated a truce to the feud. He takes the family reins.
He attends Connie’s baby’s baptism, during which his rivals from the other families are murdered.
Michael becomes the new don.
Luca's research blog 