...and, of course, Sonny handled it in his usual heavy handed way that was discouraging to Vito.

This highlights several inconsistencies in the novel and films: no apparent underboss; when was Vito (or for that matter, any of his boys) made? Why would Vito tell his capos that they could someday form their own families?; Why only two capos? I'm sure that ya'll can think of others.

Heavy-handed indeed. Puzo says that Vito was not entirely pleased because "Sonny was the club, not the rapier."
Inconsistencies? We can spend all day and night on them. Early on, at Connie's wedding, Vito is described as "looking as handsome as the bridegroom in his tuxedo." A bit later, when they visit Genco in the hospital, Dr. Kennedy remarks to himself on Vito "in his ill-fitting tux."

I felt the same way about them getting made. I think it is implied that they were but we just didn’t get to see the ceremony. So I don’t take much exception with that. This was in the 40s also so I think that the mafia had a real sense of being family driven and tight knit at the time as well which is why Vito only trusted Clemenza and Tessio to be his capos. Vito was not a greedy man like Michael ended up being. So I do not think he would have minded it if his capos started their own family eventually because he trusted them.

I think Michael Franzese once said that the role of consigliere isn’t nearly as important as they depicted it to be in The Godfather. Maybe the importance varies from family to family. For as much as Franzese criticizes the movie for being inaccurate, Sammy Gravano praises it just as much for being the most accurate depiction of the life during the time period the movie took place in. Other mobsters like Dominick Montiglio also cosign the movie’s accuracy.

I might be in the minority here but I reckon Sofia played the spoilt, entitled rich daughter okay

She might not cop so much flak if not Coppola

Sofia was nowhere near as bad as Eli Wallach.

I tend to agree, but I never thought that Sophia's acting was as bad (or even bad) as some Board members portray it. She was playing an 18 year old daughter of one of the wealthiest and powerful men in the world. So, I don't know what some viewers were expecting.

I think that some of criticisms are really a function of the story line, story board, and script. I and II spoiled us because one of I and II's enduring qualities was the selection of actors who met our expectations of the physical appearance of those characters.For one, the actor who portrayed the character (whose name I can't recall) who was murdered by Calo with his glasses not only didn't look Italian, but his voice sounded decidedly German (like a character from Hogan's Heroes). We didn't care for the George Hamilton character because we were expecting a Tom Hagen in the form of Robert Duvall.

I don’t think she did good but I also don’t think that she is the reason why the movie wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. I still enjoy the movie very much especially watching it in 1080p. When I really pay attention to her scenes I can see that she was outclassed in her scenes with Garcia and others. But when I am just watching the movie, she doesn’t take anything away from it.

Does anyone see a similarity between Michael and Paul Castellano at all? When Michael said he wanted more lawyer and less gangsters, it reminded me of Castellano rubbing Gambino members the wrong way because he was trying to turn the family into a more business like organization. Obviously Michael(although fictional) was a more effective boss than Paul.

There is a distant similarity in that Castellano was thought of as the"white collar" guy while underboss Neil Dellacroce was the "blue collar." But, Castellano was still the boss of one of the Five Families, while Michael, at least nominally, had left that behind by GFIII.

I too felt Sofia was alright especially compared to the performances of quite a few of the seasoned actors....

My take, for what it is worth!

I believe Vito “would have minded it if his capos started their own family” alongside the Corleones especially as he needs “trusted Clemenza and Tessio [!] to be his capos”

Vito would let the above happen, only once the Corleones were no longer in New York ie: not in coexistence with the Corleones

In my view, Vito always the ‘nice’ guy
Vito says a lot of things he doesn’t mean nor have any intentions of implementing, even when detrimental to Michael

Well put. I agree.

Expanding on the Castellano and Michael comparisons, what qualities separated Michael from Castellano?

She did alright in spite of incest storyline and dubious dialogue

Michael's greed

Extracts:
Success?It seems to me, on further review! Michael wasn't greedy as such because Michael thought “Roth acts like I'm his son, his successor” and Roth was 'gifting'! Michael Roth's business until the Tahoe shooting

Didn't he move Klingman out of casino owned by Roth

While Castellano had a big legitimate business (wholesale meat), he never pretended to be anything other than the Don of the Gambino family. He was also a near-recluse. Michael tried to convince himself that he was no different than other powerful men, and was obsessed with appearing legitimate. Look at Anthony's party. Look at the money he contributed to charities and legitimate causes in II and III--Castellano never did that.

Sure thing Capri However Michael didn't act on it until Roth's blessing!

Johnny Ola to Michael at Anthony's party and Michael believed! Roth's message not even suspecting Tahoe shooting was in store for him

Extracts:
“The casino you're interested in.....I've been instructed to tell you that if you move Klingman out, our friend in Miami, Roth the real owner [with the old Lakeville Road group from Cleveland] will go along”

Michael: “That is very kind of him. You tell him, that's greatly appreciated”

As per the Board's productive and weighty discussions - the Trilogy theme of under / over estimating each other, both Michael and Roth were initially underestimating each other

Then Michael and Roth were flattering and playing each other even after the Tahoe shooting when Michael twigged “It was Roth who tried to kill me in my home. It was Roth all along”

The charade finally exposed with Michael's “Who had Frank Pentangeli killed?” and Roth's soliloquy

How senator Geary find out about Klingman

TB, did you watch Michael's Franzese's interview about his sitdown with Castellano about bad chicken?

I saw an interview with him, but I don't remember bad chicken.

Mike said that his chicken vendor sold him chicken infested with maggots. Mike found out belatedly that it was Castellano's company.

Now, there's an interesting situation. As Obama said of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, "Whose ass should I kick?

If your question is, how did Senator Geary find out about the Corleones plan to to move Klingman out?

Extract:
Geary tells Michael “Now, my sources tell me that you plan to make a move - within a week, you're gonna move Klingman out”

Once again Consigliere Tom didn't dig deep enough same as Sollozzo's drug proposal unlike Geary's sources

Whose ass should I kick?

Vito for appointing Tom consigliere or Tom a good lawyer not Mafia consigliere Both

I started a thread on this subject here:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=761864&Searchpage=1&Main=29538&Words=%2Bliability&Search=true#Post761864

In fairness to Tom, I reckon in this instance Tom might not have been incompetent

The registered owners are Jacob Lawrence, Allen Barclay both Beverly Hills Attorneys
The real owners are the old Lakeville Road group from Cleveland and Roth
Meyer Klingman, the licensee runs the store, a piece of it, too

It is not rocket science! for Geary to figure if Michael is interested in the casino, he has to move someone out and to get the license it had to be Klingman

I mentioned this in another thread but Franzese did a really nice interview for the media outlet Buzzfeed on YouTube where he reviews scenes from mob movies. One of the scenes was the Moe Greene scene and he rated it 0/5 on a scale of how realistic the scene was. His main issue was that Tom couldn’t be consigliere because he wasn’t Italian. He also said Greene would’ve been beat up or killed on the spot for talking to a boss like that.