The Godfather Page #12

Synopsis: When the aging head of a famous crime family decides to transfer his position to one of his subalterns, a series of unfortunate events start happening to the family, and a war begins between all the well-known families leading to insolence, deportation, murder and revenge, and ends with the favorable successor being finally chosen.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Production: Paramount Pictures
  Won 3 Oscars. Another 24 wins & 28 nominations.
 
IMDB:
9.2
Metacritic:
100
Rotten Tomatoes:
98%
R
Year:
1972
175 min
Website
866,638 Views


A long low black car turns the corner and cruises by them.

MICHAEL's and ENZO's faces are tough, impassive. The car

seems as though it will stop; and then quickly accelerates.

MICHAEL and ENZO are relieved. MICHAEL looks down; the

BAKER's hands are shaking. He looks at his own, and they

are not.

Another moment goes by and we can hear the distant sound of

police sirens. They are clearly coming toward the hospital,

getting louder and louder. MICHAEL heaves a sigh of relief.

In a second, a patrol car makes a screaming turn in front of

the hospital; then two more squad cars follow with uniformed

POLICE and DETECTIVES. He smiles his relief and starts

toward them. TWO huge, burly POLICEMEN suddenly grab his

arms while ANOTHER frisks him. A massive POLICE CAPTAIN,

spattered with gold braid and scrambled eggs on his hat,

with beefy red face and white hair seems furious. This is

McCLUSKEY.

MCCLUSKEY:

I thought I got all you guinea

hoods locked up. Who the hell are

you and what are you doing here?

ANOTHER COP standing nearby:

COP:

He's clean, Captain.

MICHAEL studies McCLUSKEY closely.

MICHAEL:

(quietly)

What happened to the detectives who

were supposed to be guarding my

father?

MCCLUSKEY:

(furious)

You punk-hood. Who the hell are

you to tell me my business. I

pulled them off. I don't care how

many Dago gangsters kill each other.

I wouldn't lift a finger to keep

your old man from getting knocked

off. Now get the hell out of here;

get off this street you punk, and

stay away from this hospital.

MICHAEL stands quiet.

MICHAEL:

I'll stay until you put guards

around my father's room.

MCCLUSKEY:

Phil, lock this punk up.

A DETECTIVE:

The Kid's clean, Captain...He's a

war hero, and he's never been mixed

up in the rackets...

MCCLUSKEY:

(furious)

Goddam it, I said lock him up. Put

the cuffs on him.

MICHAEL:

(deliberately, right

to McCLUSKEY's face,

as he's being handcuffed)

How much is the Turk paying you to

set my father up, Captain?

Without any warning, McCLUSKEY leans back and hits MICHAEL

squarely on the jaw with all his weight and strength.

MICHAEL groans, and lifts his hand to his jaw. He looks at

McCLUSKEY; we are his VIEW and everything goes spinning, and

he falls to the ground, just as we see HAGEN and CLEMENZA'S

MEN arrive.

---------------------------------------FADE OUT---------

EXT DAY:
MALL (WINTER 1945)

HIGH ANGLE VIEW of THE CORLEONE MALL. The gateway now has a

long black car blocking it. There are more BUTTON MEN

stationed more formally; and some of them visibly carrying

rifles; those of the houses close to the courtyard have MEN

standing by open windows. It is clear that the war is

escalating. A car pulls up and out get CLEMENZA, LAMPONE,

MICHAEL and HAGEN. MICHAEL's jaw is wired and bandaged. He

stops and looks up at the open window. We can see MEN

holding rifles.

MICHAEL:

Christ, Sonny really means business.

They continue walking. TESSIO joins them. The various

BODYGUARDS make no acknowledgment.

CLEMENZA:

How come all the new men?

TESSIO:

We'll need them now. After the

hospital incident, Sonny got mad.

We hit Bruno Tattaglia four o'clock

this morning.

INT DAY:
DON'S HALLWAY

They enter the house past the scores of new and strange faces.

INT DAY:
DON'S OFFICE (WINTER 1945)

SONNY is in the DON's office; he is excited and exuberant.

SONNY:

I've got a hundred button men on

the streets twenty-four hours a day.

If Sollozzo shows one hair on his

ass he's dead.

He sees MICHAEL, and holds his bandaged face in his hand,

kiddingly.

SONNY:

Mikey, you look beautiful!

MICHAEL:

Cut it out.

SONNY:

The Turk wants to talk! The nerve

of that son of a b*tch! After he

craps out last night he wants a meet.

HAGEN:

Was there a definite proposal?

SONNY:

Sure, he wants us to send Mike to

meet him to hear his proposition.

The promise is the deal will be so

good we can't refuse.

HAGEN:

What about that Tattaglias? What

will they do about Bruno?

SONNY:

Part of the deal: Bruno cancels out

what they did to my father.

HAGEN:

We should hear what they have to say.

SONNY:

No, no Consiglere. Not this time.

No more meetings, no more

discussions, no more Sollozzo

tricks. Give them one message: I

WANT SOLLOZZO. If not, it's all

out war. We go to the mattresses

and we put all the button men out

on the street.

HAGEN:

The other families won't sit still

for all out war.

SONNY:

Then THEY hand me Sollozzo.

HAGEN:

Come ON Sonny, your father wouldn't

want to hear this. This is not a

personal thing, this is Business.

SONNY:

And when they shot me father...

HAGEN:

Yes, even the shooting of your

father was business, not personal...

SONNY:

No no, no more advice on how to

patch it up Tom. You just help me

win. Understood?

HAGEN bows his head; he is deeply concerned.

HAGEN:

I found out about this Captain

McCluskey who broke Mike's jaw.

He's definitely on Sollozzo's

payroll, and for big money.

McCluskey's agreed to be the Turk's

bodyguard. What you have to

understand is that while Sollozzo

is guarded like this, he's

invulnerable. Nobody has ever

gunned down a New York Police

Captain. Never. It would be

disastrous. All the five families

would come after you Sonny; the

Corleone family would be outcasts;

even the old man's political

protection would run for cover. So

just...take that into consideration.

SONNY:

(still fuming)

McCluskey can't stay with the Turk

forever. We'll wait.

MICHAEL:

We can't wait. No matter what

Sollozzo say about a deal, he's

figuring out how to kill Pop. You

have to get Sollozzo now.

SONNY:

The kid's right.

HAGEN:

What about McCluskey?

MICHAEL:

Let's say now that we have to kill

McCluskey. We'll clear that up

through our Newspaper contacts later.

SONNY:

Go on Mike.

MICHAEL:

They want me to go to the conference

with Sollozzo. Set up the meeting

for two days from now. Sonny, get

our informers to find out where the

meeting will be held.

Insist it has to be a public place:

a bar or restaurant at the height

of the dinner hour. So I'll feel

safe. They'll check me when I meet

them so I won't be able to carry a

weapon; but Clemenza, figure out a

way to have one planted there for

me.

(pause)

Then I'll kill them both.

Everyone in the room is astonished; they all look at MICHAEL.

Silence. SONNY suddenly breaks out in laughter. He points

a finger at MICHAEL, trying to speak.

SONNY:

You? You, the high-class college

kid. You never wanted to get mixed

up in the family business. Now you

wanta gun down a police Captain and

the Turk just because you got

slapped in the face. You're taking

it personal, it's just business and

he's taking it personal.

Now CLEMENZA and TESSIO are also smiling; only HAGEN keeps

his face serious.

MICHAEL:

(angrily, but cold)

Sonny, it's all personal, and I

learned it from him, the old man,

the Godfather. He took my joining

the Marines personal. I take

Sollozzo trying to kill my father

personal, and you know I'll kill

them Sonny.

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Mario Puzo

Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author, screenwriter and journalist. He is known for his crime novels about the Mafia, most notably The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a three-part film saga directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and Part II in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 Superman film. His last novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001. more…

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Submitted by acronimous on March 29, 2016

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