The Godfather Page #12
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?
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 HALLWAYThey 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.
Translation
Translate and read this script in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Godfather" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_godfather_71>.
Discuss this script with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In