In GF I and II is obvious Kay badly wanted the Corleone family to become legitimate - and she often reminded Michael of his promise to do so.

So, why in GF III - when Michael seems to finally be on the way to achieve a respectability of some sort - she comes up and says those famous lines "I preferred when you were a common mafia hood" or "it's now that you are more respectable that I dread you more" etc...?

What did she actually want from that poor thing?

I believe that she felt that because Michael was buying his newfound respectability with charitable donations, that he was no more legitimate than when they were first married. It was just a disguise. And that with his cloak of legitimacy, he was more dangerous than ever.

I believe that there was little attention paid to continuity when they wrote GFIII.

Thank you Sicilian Babe, that really makes sense; yet, I didn't have the impression Michael was "buying" his respectability - in GF III he really seemed to believe in the charity association and in the whole Immobiliare deal as a mean to finally give legitimacy to his business, so I found Kay's remarks kind of cruel....

LOL! You are not a GF III fan, aren't you?

Except for that one line in GFII, I don't recall Kay harping on Michael's achieving legitimacy.

In GFIII, the years have started to heal old wounds. But Michael refuses to may the necessary break with his past to compete the healing. If you remember in GFI it is Neri who shuts the door on Kay. In GFII it's Michael who shuts the door on Kay. In GFIII it is Kay that walks out of camera range as Calo tells Mike "Command me." To her it was all a false start.

"It made me think of what you once told me - "in five years the Corleone Family will be completely legitimate." That was seven years ago." - Kay


"MICHAEL I'm not going back to Nevada. I brought the children to say good-bye to you. I want you to know that I'm very happy for you. I suppose that I always knew you were to smart to let any of them beat you." - Kay

"What really happened with PENTANGELI MICHAEL?" - Kay

"Look -- look what's happened to us, Mike -- my God, look what's happened to our son, MICHAEL." - Kay

"ANTHONY's not fine! You will hear about it!" - Kay


"Oh, oh MICHAEL. MICHAEL you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage -- it was an abortion. An abortion MICHAEL. Just like our marriage is an abortion. Something that's unholy and evil. I didn't want your son MICHAEL -- I wouldn't bring another one of you sons into this world. It was an abortion MICHAEL. It was a son MICHAEL, a son and I had it killed -- .because this must all end." - Kay


She was a nagging Bitch!

I liked her character most in GFIII.


Don Cardi

Michael and Kay were locked into self-deception. Michael constantly believed that he could be "legitimate," but continually rationalized his criminal behavior by believing himself to be no more crooked than supposedly legitimate types like politicians and judges. Kay, for her part, believed that she could "change" Michael's most fundamental behavior and values. She, too, rationalized Michael's failure to become "legit."
But, after the Tahoe shooting, Kay finally came to the conclusion that it was hopeless. Check out the look she gives Michael right after the shooting, when she'd clutching Anthony. She finally realized that she'd been misled--and had been misleading herself. That's why, in III, she gave Michael that sharp-edged speech about his hypocrisy in buying respectability from the Church, "common Mafia hood," etc.
My favorite distillation of their post-Tahoe relationship: Michael shouts at her, "I spent my life protecting my family from the horrors of this world." "But you became my horror," Kay replies. Right, Kay!

Don Cardi, again it is only that one line which I characterize as harping. It's the only one that really uses the term legitimate.

Turnbull, I think you and I are the only ones who have commented on that look that Kay gives Michael after the attempt on his life. It is a look of absolute disgust which I think may sum up all of Kay's feelings.

The Apple Answer

What did they mean when they were referring to Anthony being, or not being "fine". What will Michael be hearing about?

Anthony, who we all knew grew up to be a somewhat light in the loafers opera star was "traumatized" by a few bullets being sprayed into Mike and Kay's bedroom.

Thanks DT, that's what I thought. I was wondering if there was any more meaning to it though.

Since I read all these posts on this site, I am always looking for deeper meanings, or something I missed.

Because he's an opera singer, Anthony's gay??

Actually, I think that Kay is talking about the effect that their lifestyle is having on Anthony. He is growing up in isolation, surrounded by bodyguards, imprisoned on the Tahoe estate. If you remember, Kay isn't even allowed to take them shopping or to visit their grandparents. He talks about how he doesn't even know the people that gave him gifts at his First Communion party. The kid's life is anything but normal, and IMHO that is what Kay is referring to.