Michael did not want to become a man like his father, and wanted nothing to do with the family business, until the fateful hit on Don Vito Corleone, which of course changed his life. Michael then went on to become the head of the Corleone family, but as such, I would argue that he did not become a man like his father.

I think Michael was far more violent and inclined to kill more people than maybe was necessary. For instance, when Woltz tells Hagen he "aint no band leader," they ratchet up the fear a level by killing his horse (and not him) and that does the trick. I also think Michael's tendency to kill several people at a clip was not the Don's style. Even though he was involved in the plans to avenge Sonny's death, I dont know that Vito would have killed more than Barzini, Tataglia, Tessio and Carlo. I think Stracci, Cuneo and Moe Green (with the help of Hyman Roth) would have become very "reasonable" once they realized that the Corleones retained the "muscle" everyone thought they had lost.

Michael also had some of Sonny's temper, which we see flaring up most in GF II in a couple of scenes involving Tom Hagen. One was at the motel in Nevada where he is angry that Tom isnt giving him straight answers about Fredo's whereabouts and Kay's miscarriage," and the other is in the "Take you wife your family and your mistress to Las Vagas" scene. I doubt Vito would have spoken to anyone in his inner circle that harshly in front of others.

Also at the end of their respective lives, they have a world view that is very different. Toward the end Vito,who like Michael, outlived one of his children, and saw the decline of his power, says he makes no apologies for the way he lived his life. He says he never wanted to be a puppet
who danced because someone else was pulling his strings. Mike on the other hand dies alone, embittered, and broken.

Of course the obvious difference betweenthe two men is that Vito is a creature of Europe and Michael is an American. Vito was self made from the streets, and Michael a child of privilege, so they coma at life with different perspectives. Still, I think that at the end, Michael in a perverse way got his wish. He did not become a man like his father.

Perhaps you forget that the younger Vito Corleone had no problem murdering not only Don Fanucci, but Don Ciccio and his buttonmen who had killed his family some 20 years before. While the murders of the two 'Dons' could be considered 'necessary'...the others might not have been, so many years later.

Lovely as he was, I don't think the horse would've been much help in getting Johnny that movie part had they killed Woltz instead. There was no reason to kill either the bandleader or the producer...as long as both complied with Vito's wishes.

Sonny's temper was more of a raw, emotional kind...and it was the kind that got him killed.
The temper we see in Michael in GFII is more that of a man under intense pressure not only in his business life, but in his personal life (what little he pays attention to it) as well.

Also remmeber when he loses his temper with Tom at that point, he had just been given the same runaround type of reply with regard to Fredo's whereabouts as well. ("I asked about Fredo...") Though his outburst about the baby was a bit unfair to Tom, it was in a way understandable. He has just been told that he's lost an unborn child which he had desperately wanted to be a boy. Tom might've been a bit smarter by simply replying that he didn't know.

Apple

Ughhh...
I've posted such kilometers on this subject...
If you really need it very-very hard, I can dig and provide you the links.
They were too much, incredibly alike. And btw, did you read the novel? It's my FAQ I know.

Thats ok JM.

I wonder for you long termers in here --- do these subjects just come and go oover time?

Yes, in one form or another basically the same subjects/issues (such as the infamouns 'Did Fredo Know....') are rehashed several times a year.

Every now & then there's a brand new revelation or take on something...which is really fun when it happens.

Apple

Hello folks!
I know these topics come & go over time but cos i'm new i'm going to have to speak now or wait till it comes around again.
As for Vito & Michael comparisons!
I don't think the apple falls far from the tree!
Very wise eh?

Smarter than the AV-ER-AGE Barrabbas....



Apple

Possibly..i would hate to say

Just to add a nuance to your post, Don T:
One of the durable myths of the Mafia is that they "only kill each other." Yeah, sure! We see that in the Trilogy:
Early in GF, when Michael plans to go to NYC to visit Kay, Sonny wants to send bodyguards with him. But Clemenza says, confidently, that they're unnecessary because "Sollozzo knows Mike's a civilian." He's ready to entrust Michael's life to what he assumes is Sollozzo's sense of "honor," even though Sollozzo's just attempted to murder Vito. But by the end of the film, Michael's gunmen not only murder Tattaglia and Barzini, but (as you note) the other two Dons. And while they were at it, they whacked a hooker with Tattaglia, a bodyguard and a chauffer (who may have been a civilian) with Barzini, and probably the elevator operator and another guy in the elevator car with Stracci (I doubt anyone could have survived two shotgun blasts in a small space like an elevator car). In GFII, Roth's gunmen spray Michael's bedroom with machinegun bullets, obviously not caring that Kay was there, and possibly Michael's kids as well.
In the most egregious example: In GFIII, told that Sicily's top assassin--"a man who never fails"--has targeted him, Michael goes to the opera and sits in a box surrounded by his family, making them sitting ducks along with himself. The miracle is that only Mary was killed.

I think that the most telling part is that Michael says that he doesn't want to be a man like his father. The differences from Connie's wedding, where homemade lasagna is served and the Senator is afraid to show his face, to Anthony's communion party, where Michael poses with Geary for publicity photos and the waiters are serving champagne and canapes, is a demonstration of this.

However, in GF3, we see Michael kneeling at Don Tommasino's coffin, and he is questioning why he has become so feared and hated, while Tommasino was always so loved. Although the two of them each ruled an empire, they obviously did it in very different ways. I think that, in the end, Michael longs to have been more like his father, who was also revered and loved, despite his crimes.

Great points by Turnbull and SB


Turnbull, to add to your litany of "pain in the ass civilians," not being whacked, there was the Bridget Fonda character who Zasa's men surely would have killed when they tried to kill Vincent/

SB Another nice little touch in comparing the Wedding Party and the Tahoe party was that at the wedding, the FBI was takikng pictures of license plates (leading to the scene where Santino smashes a camera) while in Tahoe there is a scene of a waiter giving drinks (champagne cocktails??) to a State Trooper.

Nice touch! Small wonder Frankie complains about the "can-a-pees" and wants to "bring on the peppahs and salsice..."

Not to mention that he complains there isnt one Italian Musician.

...and he drinks from the garden hose...