FREE ESSAY ON GODFATHER

GODFATHER

The Book and the movie of The Godfather have their similarities and differences that I
will be focusing on. The Godfather is the best selling phenomenon - a classic of our
time. The Godfather story was written before the movie came out approximately 30 years
ago. At first glance, the book and the movie appear the same. Upon further investigation,
however, the two forms of media do possess certain differences. Although they are
different in the areas of characters, setting, and dialog, they are similar in the areas
of violence, Don Vito Corleone, and Michael Corleone. These differences in the movie and
the book are very minute. The plot for both were intense to read and watch. Gangster
action is my forte. There seems to be nothing better than acknowledging a character that
plays a role that is highly respected and feared. The plot was very interesting and easy
to follow. The literature to this book as opposed to The Rainmaker is that Mario Puzo is
better at describing a setting vividly to get a good mental picture as to what is going
on. The characters in both the movie and book are easy to relate to because of the
Italian side of my family. Whenever we have family get togethers and our Mafia picnic, I
see the same socializing/ conduct that happens in the story/film. There is one single
person that is in my family that is assumed to be the Godfather. I guess I can say that
is because my parents strongly urged that I foreclose myself from talking about it to the
other people in the family. Acting in the movie including Marlon Brando (Don Vito
Corleone), Al Pacino (Michael Corleone), Robert Duvall (Tom Hagen) and Diane Keaton (Kay
Adams) all had contributed to a great life-like effort. With those mentioned and along
with a handful of others was their acting debut. The only thing I feel was not well
thought out about the movie is the characters picked out to play the parts. Some of them
were not considered to look like they were Italian. Along with that the sons of the
Godfather did not resemble each other, the father, nor the mother. The setting in both
the movie and the book were accurate. A lot of the Italian families that just got off the
boat resided in New York. The reason for that is because it was the direct route from
here to Europe. The dialog throughout the film/book was not that of the native Italian
language. The story was in a sense, wasAmericanized. The Italian names were there and the
Italian culture was there, but the dialog was in English for the most part. The dialog in
the story was done in a hierarchical structure; the most important of people were spoken
to accordingly. The main focus in this paper is to discuss the differences between the
novel and the film. I would like to reiterate that the characters, setting, and dialog
are all topics of interests that are different. Opposite to that the violence, Don Vito
Corleone, and Michael Corleone are similar in both mediums. With those six main
differences/similarities I will provide four supporting occurrences for each topic. The
characters in the book were more put into detail. The ones to be mentioned that were not
in the movie may not reflect that they might have had a one second part that could easily
be passed up. The characters that were not included on the movie but not in the book are
Nazorine, Margot Ashton, Enzo, Katherine, Filomena, Anthony Cappola, and Billy Goff. Of
course there are more to be added to the list, but I am simply making a statement. The
idea of listing and describing all of them would be tedious. Nazorine is a baker that is
described as a pudgy and crusty as his great Italian loaves, still dusty with flour that
scowled at his wife. Katherine is Nazorine's daughter. Enzo was Nazorine's baker helper.
Filomena is the one that Nazorine scowled at his wife. Margot Ashton, along with being
Johnny Fontaine's wife, was described as a beautiful woman with an angelic face, soulful
violet eyes, and delicately fragile but perfectly formed body. Anthony Coppola was a son
of a man Don Corleone had worked with on the railroad yards in his youth. Billy Goff was
the most powerful man in the movie labor unions. All in all the book is more likely to
describe in detail about the characters. The scene where Genco Abbandando has cancer and
is visited by Don, Johnny, Sunny, Tom, Michael, and as well as others in the hospital is
also excluded in the movie. Three days later Genco Abbandando dies. The book started out
with Amerigo Bonasera in New York Criminal Court Number 3 for a case involving his
daughter. The case was based on vengeance on the men who had cruelly hurt his daughter.
After thinking about why the book started out with the case and its significance, I
didn't find any evidence in its connection with the book. The case was not included in
the movie, which comes to my second difference between the literature and the film. Other
setting that differs from the film is that the book lacked mentioning of Don Vito
Corleone's wife. In general, I feel that women were not important to the characters and
the outcome of the story. Still the theory of women not having rights holds to be true
with Mario Puzo's work. Mary Kay was really the only female character in the novel that
has much bearing as to what goes on. If I were the one to write the novel I would have
stressed more women roles. Could there be any conflictions with the wives of the male
characters as to how and why they killed other people? Those type of issues were not
addressed in the book that could be very likely to happen in those type of situations.
Paulie Gatto was on the Godfather's hit list now. Paulie Gatto was one of the Godfather's
caporegimes (bodyguard) and was being replaced by Rocco Lampone. Rocco Lampone worked for
the Godfather as an internship for a little while. The scene consisted of Clemenza, Rocco
Lampone, and Paulie Gatto. The Godfather found out that Paulie Gatto was getting paid by
Sollazo and didn't want an unfaithful man as his bodyguard. The difference lies in that
Clemenza made a stop to eat at an Italian restaurant before killing Paulie. The book has
its differences with the dialog from the movie. The first reference to that is when the
book basically states that the laws don't work for justification purposes, but the Mafia
does. The Mario Puzo uses a couple of words that are not used in the movie, for one being
caporegime. As mentioned before, a caporegime is any of the bodyguards of Don Vito
Corleone. My assumptions are that it is an Italian word. Another word used in the book,
but not in the film is pezzonovante. Pezzonovante is a word that means gun. Just like
caporegime, it is also an Italian word. The time in Michael Corleone's life after he shot
Solazzo and Captain McCluskey where he is hiding from the police presents another
difference in dialog. While being in Italy, there is some conversation in the movie where
others are speaking in Italian. The book is strictly written in English so the Americans
can understand it. The Godfather written by Mario Puzo and the film directed by Francis
Ford Coppola have more similarities than differences. The similarities can't all be
pointed out, however some can be brought out. The main topics of interest for
similarities are violence, Don Vito Corleone, and Michael Corleone. The way that Jack
Woltz's horse, Paulie Gatto, Sonny Corleone, and Luca Brasi were killed in the same
fashion from the movie to the book. Jack Woltz's horse Khartoum is a retired bred that
was purchased for six hundred thousand dollars. The reason the horse came about was
because Tom Hagan was there to visit/request that Johnny Fontaine get the part for the
next movie. Being that Jack Woltz was the most powerful man in the movie industry, he
could be very resourceful for Johnny Fontaine to become famous. Jack Woltz denied the
grant for Johnny's part in the movie so Don Vito Corleone had Jack's most precious thing
killed. Jack Woltz could only wish that his horse be more head strung. Paulie Gatto was
killed like mentioned before; the simple fact that he was being paid off by ( Solazzo )
one of the Godfather's enemies. Rocco and Clemenza took Paulie to a field and killed him
where Clemenza supposedly had to go to the bathroom. Sonny Corleone ( Santino ) was
killed and set up after Connie Corleone and Carlo Rizzi got into a fight. Sonny when
finding out that Carlo Rizzi had hit Connie, he went to go after him. There was prior
animosity between Carlo and Sonny because Sonny had beat the heck out of him for hitting
his sister before. Sonny on his way to get Carlo, he was blocked in to a security gate
and shot at. Luca Brasi, one that was feared by all but only feared the Godfather, got
erased by Tattalia and Solazzo. Luca Brasi was brought to a meeting with Tattalia and
Solazzo to be offered a more generous dividend for his efforts. The two thought that such
a brute force on their side would be a benefit to them. Luca Brasi's life ended when they
had strangled him to death. Don Vito Corleone, the Godfather of the Corleone family,
reflected the same person in both forms of the story. Don Vito Corleone was a man to whom
everybody came for help, and never were they disappointed., verbatim from the book. Words
of I'll give them an offer that cannot refuse were mearly a reference to a part of his
personality. He made no empty promises, for he didn't let anyone down. Don Corleone would
take other people's problems to heart. The things that he did for people were looked at
as a favor. He didn't look for pay out of a deal, at least not directly. Don Vito
Corleone believed in the theory that you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Between the
two ( book and the movie ) there was a happy medium in how the Godfather was shot by
Solazzo and others not mentioned. Solazzo shot the Godfather because he did not want the
family to do anything with dealing drugs. Solazzo being pro drugs, thought he could get
his way if he killed the Don. Michael Corleone was the youngest son of Don Corleone and
the only child who had refused the Godfather's direction with the business. The
description of the physical appearance matched that of the book. The literature and the
film were also both synomous with Michael Corleone in regards to his personality, how he
killed Solazzo, how he killed Captain McCluskey, and how he became the Don. In summation
of the book and the film, I feel that each has their entities. The vivid descriptions
that Mario Puzo uses to effect the readers' minds could not brought to life without
Francis Ford Coppola's film version. Reading the book was sincerely my first positive
experience I have ever had with reading a book. Honestly, I have opened myself for the
first time to reading books. That is why I am happy that the book and the novel are so
closely related. I liked the book more because I will always look back at it. To sum it
all up the differences are certain specifics of the characters, setting, and dialog. The
similarities consist of violence, Don Vito Corleone, and Michael Corleone.