In 1 Mike kills the heads of the five families to consolidate his power.

Question: could he not have just killed Barzini?

Barzini was the focus of the anti-Corleone movement. If Mike had targeted him only, then the others would surely have fallen into place without futher bloodshed. Even Tattaglia would presumably have crumbled if Barzini had fallen.

NB Obviously he also had to kill Carlo to avenge Sonny's death... possbly also Tattaglia to avenge Luca Brasi. But Cuneo? Strachi? was that really necessary?

Necessary? Possibly (or perhaps even probably) not.

But certainly beneficial. He consolidates his power and eliminates possible future enemies.

That notwithstanding the fact that there is a line in the movie, spoken by Tom to Sonny, I believe at the start of the war (which I'm too lazy to look for), in which Tom makes some reference to the fact that "All the other families will be against you."

So quite possibly they were, and Michael felt that he had to eliminate all of the other family heads.

plaw is right, of course. But the overarching reason for killing all of them at once was that it provided FFC with an opportunity to make a far more dramatic scene than if Michael had killed only Barzini. Plus, he had Moe Green whacked in the same scene (in the novel, Moe was whacked way earlier).

Just for the record, BTW, in the book he kills Barzini and Tattaglia.

There is no way Michael could've let Tattaglia live. The Tattaglias not only killed Luca, but they had Carlo set up Sonny. Even though it was Barzini who approached Carlo, the killing was in retribution for the Tattaglia son. So Michael had to kill him to avenge his brother's death.

As for the the other two, why not? Obviously they had given tacit approval for Barzini and Tattaglia to wage war against the Corleones. If you remember, Barzini broke the peace several times while Michael was taking over the reins from his father (and it was Michael's inaction against them that made Tessio turn). I would imagine that was part of the reason that made Michael want to wipe them all out.

There's always been a place in my heart for poor Cuneo and Strachi.

The Corleone family looked bad,as it basically gave into the deal minus Sollozo. The other family heads would think they can muscle in on them now. Corleone family looked weak, and when Michael decided to kill everyone, he knew it would make them become again the most powerful mafia family in New York City again, their power unchalleneged.

Bloodshed is generally bad for business. I would have thought that Vito's approach, imparted to Mike, would have been to look for a reason to kill, rather than a reason not to.

OK, so that's the obvious reason and the reason explicitly cited - the loss-a-respecta for giving in to Sollozzo. But Cuneo and Strachi were not directly mixed up in the Sollozzo/Barzini/Tattaglia thing.

Cuneo and Strachi, being small potatoes, would simply have sailed with the prevailing wind. IF the hit on Vito had worked, and Barzini and Tattaglia had wrestled the mantle from the Corleones, they would have followed. But S/B/T had failed - the Don lived - and Cuneo and Strachi, minnows that they are, would have continued to support the now victorious Corleones.

The deaths of Barzini and tattaglia would have been sufficiet to cancel out the respect issue. Cuneo and Strachi were plain unnecessary and, might I add, bad for business. Who knows how much disruption and loss of income was caused among their regimes (which the Corleones inherited)? Surely better to allow Cuneo and Strachi to continue, with a heavy tax payable to the Corleone family. Less blood, and more money.

I think the assassination of Sonny was more of a strategic move to either help the Barzini/Tattaglia alliance win the war, and/or force Don Corleone to negotiate, than it was direct retribution for the killing of Tattaglia's son.

In the novel, Puzo writes

.....the enemy was making its plans. They too had analyzed the situation and had come to the conclusion that the only way to stave off complete defeat was to kill Sonny Corleone. They understood the situation better now and felt it was possible to negotiate with the Don, known for his logical reasonableness. They had come to hate Sonny for his bloodthirstiness, which they considered barbaric.

I think that he did the right thing...

If he have just killed Barzini...
then Barzini's family and the other families will come after The Corleone Family...

-That was the smart move by Michael...

* Don Zadjali *

Plaw, while Sonny's murder may have been a good strategic move for other reasons, I think we cannot underestimate the Sicilian need for vengeance. I believe that Sonny's death was indeed vengeance for Bruno Tattaglia's murder, as we see Vito speak directly to Tattaglia Sr. about the death of their sons at the peace conference.

It never actually says what Cuneo and Stracci did.

well, I imagine Corleone family took over businesses and still extracted payments for protection from the other families, as they were in chaos due to lack of strong leadership. As Michael also states in Godfather Part II, I don't feel the need to wipe everybody out, just my enemies.

So I do, but only for Strachi, I have also write some fan fiction about him.

1)Thats the way the choosen! anyway if he killed only Barzini, Tattaglia would get into drugs get the support of the other families and drive the Corleone family to the hell.
2) Barzini and Tattaglia killed, then the other families would say the Corleones are triying to get control of the buissness and move them out.

That means: He was forced to do it, maybe it felt good too, and if I were Michael I would do the same... In that buissness you can take no chances!

There speaks the man who met with the Rosotto brothers without any protection!!

Watha hell, boy, I survived... And Cicci was out, they werent supossed to be such a rats! From that day on I taked no chances...

Yes, that was the plan!

It kind of was... Those were rats, we shoulded move them out while we´ve gotted the muscle!

In my opinion, absolutely not. I hate to think that the only reason he killed Stracci and Cuneo was for dramatic movie purposes. I disagree.

Obviously Barzini and Tatt had to go.

Reading the novel and watching GF1, there are consistent hints about Stracci and Cuneo involvement. "The other families will support anything that prevents a full scale war." Couldn't they have backed the Corleones on principle in order to avoid a war? At the five families meeting, the Corleones are muscled into the drug business by the Five families, Stracci and Cuneo included.

Picture a fistfight. Vito shows up to fight Barzini and Tatt. Cuneo and Stracci show up in the same car as Barz and Tatt and stand beside them before the fight starts, clearly showing their support. Even though they don't throw the punches, they clearly show their support for the opposition. Why spare them?

From an ethical standpoint, Moe could have been the only character spared because he did not present a danger to life and limb.

"From an ethical standpoint, Moe could have been the only character spared because he did not present a danger to life and limb."

I don't know about that. Remember Moe said "I tocked to Barzini. I can make the deal with him, and still keep my hotel!" Because of this statement, when Michael found out about the plan to kill him, he had reason to believe that part of "the deal" Moe referred to was that Michael would be killed. Remember that Moe (like Bugsy Siegel, the real life person he was based on) was a violent gangster in his own right: "I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!" If, as was proven in Part II, Hyman Roth had the ability to kill Michael (yes, he failed, but only by an eyelash), why couldn't Moe have as well?

In the novel, Moe is killed well before the Great Massacre of 1955, with Vito's consent. He stood in the way of the family's expansion, insulted Michael and slapped Fredo around. And, he was the kind of swaggering braggart who, if he weren't whacked with the others, would have crowed that Michael was afraid of him.

Well said...

It was absoute necessary to wipe everyone out! It was a brilliant move that worked well. If the remaining mafia heads were kept alive,they would start plotting a move to wipe out Michael becuase he was becoming too powerful, so therefore Michael's life would be in constant danger.

Also for business reasons: He wins all territories! wiping out moe green was a great move to set an example that the Corleones are coming to Nevada, so get out of his way! Plus Moe Green was siding with the Barzinis.

Michael is the man!