do you think his jaw injury and headaches is what kinda drove Michael over the edge? on the Sollozzo Mckluskey thing?

like, if he didnt have the jaw injury and all the stuff that came with it..do you think he coulda be more rational?

or was he already in too deep that it didnt even matter?

Jaw or no jaw ...

Like he told his father: "I'm with you now."

And as he said later: "We can't wait ... I'll kill them both."

I agree. The jaw was irrelevant. He was motivated by his desire to protect his father.

Your question really gets to the oft-discussed issue of whether or not Michael's decision to kill Sol and Mac was business or personal; and if so, whether or not the broken jaw pushed him over the edge to "personal." The film nicely leaves that question open to interpretation. But in the novel, Michael is filled with a "delicious icy chilliness that controlled his brain, a surge of wintry cold hatred" immediately after McCluskey broke his jaw. That tells us a lot more about the role of the broken jaw in Michael's offer to kill the two.

And Sonny caught on to it right away.


Don Cardi

I've always liked Puzo's imagery there.

Mike was the ultimate competitor and once McCluskey(w/ the punch & taking the guards off his father) brought him into the game, there was no quitting for Mike. Mike wanted vengeance against McCluskey, he wanted to help his father, he wanted to help the family business, he wanted to go legit, yes, all of those things and more.