The Black Sheep of The Five Families
“The times have changed,” said Barzini, one of the heads of the five families. The war had ended and the families needed to adjust to a changing society and new market. In Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), the dynamics of mobster negotiation, tact, and power are explored and handled differently by each family. Issues concerning the relationship between business and personal goals, the controversial drug business, the deception of gangsters and the prospect of traitors, and the struggle for greater power and influence all contribute to the new wave of post-war gangsterism. Though the Corleones are presented as the protagonists of the film, in adjusting to the changing conventions of gangsterism they represent the antithesis of how organized crime should be conducted.
Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Caan, and John Cazale in "The Godfather" (1972).
The Corleone family generally handles situations in a more violent, unorthodox manner than other mob families. They lose their patience, tolerate hardly anything, and more often solve problems impetuously. Rather than relying on diplomacy and discussion to settle disputes, the Corleone family obeys the unspoken formula that the sword is mightier than the pen. Rarely is it seen in the film that the Corleone family is relying on negotiation over violence, or even that they are the first to pursue diplomacy.
To help prove the volatility of the Corleone family, Coppola includes footage of both the Corleone and Barzini methods for diffusing the media so that the film can emphasize one of the major differences the families have in their approach to a crisis. At Carlo’s wedding, for instance, the Barzinis and the Corleones have opposing methods of dealing with the paparazzi and the FBI. Upon being photographed, the Barzinis cope with the situation in a less extreme manner, allowing the photographer to keep his camera while simply breaking the pieces of film. On the other hand, the Corleones led by Santino shove the photographer against his car, slam the camera against the ground, and throw money for compensation.
Yet even while Santino is considered the hot-headed maverick of the family, the trait of intolerance is also carried out by other family members, namely Michael. Michael’s edginess through the murders of Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey yields the beginning of the full-scale war among the families. Convinced that his actions were unprofessional and that they would leave his family vulnerable, Michael manipulates the press into “sugar-coating” McCluskey’s death by publicly exposing the captain’s involvement in the drug business. Through their demonstration of ruthless impatience in the mob world, the Corleones recklessly reveal a key flaw to the other families.
In exposing this unfavorable trait of impatience, the Corleones prove that they are naïve to their surroundings and their own inadequate political strategies. This naiveté has many repercussions: some mobsters prove unreliable in the family business, the Corleones become more vulnerable, and the direction of the Corleone business strategy becomes unclear. Conducting themselves as they would have before the Second World War, the Corleones maintain a superior façade, though they are ever-so vulnerable. This misguided idea of invulnerability is finally realized by the family half-way into the film, when in the seventh scene Sollozzo asks Tom Hagen, “Ten years ago could I have gotten to him [Vito Corleone]?”
The gradual loss of power and respect by the Corleones is hardly ever realized by the family itself. For instance, when Vito’s bodyguard, Paulie, doesn’t show up to protect Vito in the first half of the film due to a “sickness,” it takes Michael, Tom, Santino, and Vito himself a long time to address the issue. Furthermore, the family’s superiority complex is best noticed when Vito goes out to buy fruit and is almost killed. Acting as his own middleman, Vito himself is shown running errands while Fredo complacently leans against the car door.
As Vito is shopping for fruit, the mise en scene is indicative of the peril that awaits Vito. The entire scene appears as if a large group of hoodlums carrying torches and hockey sticks marched through the street and wreaked havoc—it looks like a war zone. A garbage can blazing with fire alerts the audience of impending danger, signaling that Vito is just as vulnerable as any of the commoners seen walking on-screen. Coppola also utilizes the background music to foreshadow the prospect of danger. Throughout the scene there is an undercurrent of an ominous yet subdued tune being played by a street musician and his trumpet, indicating that danger can exist even during a seemingly harmless chore like shopping for fruit in a city-street. The trumpet notes continuously alter from high to low, changing their dismal tune after each stanza. Then, immediately after Vito senses he is in danger, the music stops playing, leaving the rest of the scene in an uncomfortable silence. This silence works to alarm the viewer who anticipates that something bad is about to happen.
All of these film techniques create an atmosphere of danger and uncertainty, and are designed to provide a hint to the viewer regarding Vito’s vulnerability, before Vito finds out himself. Completely naïve to his own vulnerability, a trait which is a derivative of his “untouchable” mindset, Vito proves incompetent in the post-war neo-gangster world.
The Corleone desire to place personal commitments over business and financial ambitions typifies their deviation from the mobster norm. Personal decisions, whether their influence is moral, sexual, ethnic, or nationally induced, become a distraction in the business of organized crime because they serve as a distraction to the underlying goal of neo-gangsterism: to increase political power and to maximize capital. For instance, in Do the Right Thing, Sal’s decision to retain his personal identity by leaving pictures on the wall of people that link him to his Italian heritage results in a partial boycott of his pizza place, and its eventual destruction. Revealing a similar incompetence in decision-making, the Corleones follow the “personal over business” philosophy upon being offered the deal to receive thirty percent from the narcotics business. The Corleones refuse this offer on the basis of drugs being a “dirty business.” This decision not only keeps the Corleones behind in capital opportunity, but it is incongruous with the demands of most other families.
Though it is true that Vito’s defense of his decision is that the politicians he had in his control would never approve of such a business, his argument remains flawed. He seems to make hollow excuses when he claims, “[Drugs] are not like gambling, liquor, or even women.” Naturally, if corrupt politicians would already allow three laws to be broken, would they logically refuse another law? And even so, politicians make most of their money from the Corleones; a refusal to allow drugs could only be a detriment to themselves.
But on the whole, the Corleone’ refusal to support the family business directly links to the family’s diminishing power, since the other families would not be rewarded any of the political power that the Don had in his pocket. The “personal over business” scenario is also illustrated in Joel Coen’s Miller’s Crossing. When the head mobster Leo makes a decision to spare his mistress’ brother, Bernie, though Bernie is turning bets against a rivaled mobster, Leo eventually finds that he is losing political power and loyalty within. This unprofessional choice only goes to prove that in order for mobs to be at peace with each other, there must be reciprocity in decision-making. The absence of this ability to discern between business and personal in the Corleone agenda is what leads to a full-scale war.
Irrespective of the fault-finding characteristics of the Corleone family, they establish themselves as the smartest and most tactful family in the end of the film. Though Coppola’s portrayal of the victorious Corleones may seem to contradict or overshadow the negative qualities of the Corleone family, Coppola’s point is made. His reason for portraying the gangster world in the eyes of the Corleone family, though their style may not be representative of neo-gangster norms, is to challenge the viewer’s mind and convince people that there are indeed no rules in the mob business.
In challenging the conventional new wave of mobster ideals, the Corleones have erected their own philosophy of organized crime. By abiding by the policy of Realpolitik in a family-style form, doing what is in the best interest of the family, the Corleones truly embody a favorable and rewarding tactic. For these reasons, Coppola daringly portrays the Corleones as the protagonists of the film.
Carmen Wexler is a Senior Writer for The Film Crusade.
