How did Michael Corleone go from an honorable Marine who wanted nothing
to do with his family's business to a ruthless Mafia don who ordered a hit on his own brother?
His dramatic transformation is nothing short of remarkable.
When "The Godfather" begins, we meet the Corleones, a highly respected and feared
mob family run by Don Vito Corleone. Vito deals with some mob-related business while a gigantic
wedding for his daughter is going on outside. We are also first introduced to Michael Corleone,
just back from the Marines, as well as his girlfriend Kay Adams.
In these early scenes, we get a clear sense that Michael has yet to be corrupted by his
family's shady and often violent dealings. He makes this especially clear to Kay,
who's troubled when Michael pulls back the curtain ever so slightly on his family's line of work.
"That's my family, Kay. It's not me."
This is Michael at his most innocent, a far cry from his state at not just the end of the
first film, but the trilogy as a whole.
After not playing ball with the head
of another mafia family, Vito is shot in the middle of the street,
forcing his hospitalization. Michael discovers his father's state after seeing a newspaper headline.
Michael quickly dashes to the hospital where his father is being looked after,
only to discover that the entire place has been cleared out. With no guards or any kind of,
Vito is helpless and extremely vulnerable to any manner of follow-up attacks from his enemies.
Michael quickly realizes this and springs into action, convincing a lone nurse to help him move
Vito into another room. He's then greeted by Enzo, a friend of the family whom his father helped in
the past. Enzo is visiting to check in on Vito. After sending Enzo outside to pose as a guard,
Michael shares a tender moment with Vito, telling his father that he's here to protect him.
"I'm with you now. I'm with you."
Shortly thereafter, Michael is confronted outside by Mark McCluskey,
a corrupt police captain, as well as a few of his men. After some heated words,
Michael is severely beaten by the police until Tom Hagen and some of Vito's associates arrive
and de-escalate the situation. It's not only masterfully suspenseful but gives us
just a small taste of how Michael can quickly take control of the situation in his own way.
After the hospital incident, Michael finds himself dragged into his family's mafia
activity. Michael's heated interaction with McCluskey has led to some tension
between the Corleones and drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo. This is because Sollozzo
ordered the hit on Don Corleone, and McCluskey is on his payroll.
Sollozzo seemingly wants to smooth the situation over, but Michael's older brother Sonny,
the acting Don, suspects something sinister. Looking to take matters into his own hands,
Michael pitches the idea of meeting with Sollozzo and McCluskey for a sit down where
he would kill them. Tom Hagen, the family's lawyer, advises against this as the fallout
could reignite a war between the various mob families. Despite Hagen's recommendations,
Sonny opts to approve Michael's idea and begins helping him in planning out the hit.
"It's not personal Sonny, it's strictly business."
The night eventually arrives and Michael, after fishing a hidden gun out of the bathroom,
kills both men in the middle of a restaurant. Not only is it one of
the film's most brutally violent scenes — it also shows that Michael's descent into
darkness has officially begun. The innocent Marine we met in the film's opening scenes is
slowly but surely accepting his role within his family's dark, destructive dealings.
Following the murders of Sollozzo and McCluskey, Michael's family wisely gets him out of the
country for a while to avoid the fallout. To ensure his protection, Michael is sent
to live in Sicily under the watch and protection of Don Tommasino, an ally of the Corleone family.
It's here Michael gets a little reprieve to enjoy life, which isn't difficult among the
landscapes of Sicily. He also falls in love with a local woman named Apollonia Vitelli. Michael
eventually marries Apollonia with the intention of spending the rest of his life with her.
Meanwhile, back in America, Sonny is violently gunned down by a siege of
gangsters at a toll booth. Michael is informed of his brother's death and ends his time abroad,
seeking to return to America with his new wife. However, just before they depart Sicily,
a car bomb intended for Michael goes off with Apollonia still inside the vehicle,
killing her. For the first of what will be many times, Michael's dealings with the family business
have cost him something he loves. This is a key moment for Michael's still-ongoing transformation,
as the death of his wife ignites his role as the head of the Corleone mafia.
"Then be a friend to Michael. Do as he says."
After his return to America, Michael reunites
with Kay and marries her. They have two children named Anthony and Mary. It's also during this
time that Michael steps in as the new Don. Michael's transformation really reaches its
apex as he's now more than willing to crank up his ruthlessness when needed.
This final transformation is cemented during the baptism scene. It's here
that Michael takes control of the Corleone mob. Prior to his death,
Vito tells Michael that Don Emilio Barzini, the man responsible for Sonny's death,
will be coming for Michael next. This prophecy is soon revealed to be accurate. Michael takes
action in the most brutal way possible — he wipes out the heads of all five mafia families.
As Michael attends the baptism of his sister Connie's child,
we're treated to a brutal sequence of the five heads being taken out in gruesome
fashion. Not only is the sequence a testament to Francis Ford Coppola's
stellar direction but it effectively cements Michael's dark descent into a life of crime.
Michael's life as the Don becomes increasingly difficult in the events of "The Godfather
Part II {two}," set three years after the first film. When we're reintroduced to the
Corleone family amidst yet another large gathering, Michael is firmly set as Don.
"My offer is this: nothing."
The kind and bright-eyed young man from the first film has already become a distant memory, replaced
by an eerily broken person. However, there's a sense that Michael is becoming increasingly more
disillusioned with his role, even though he's forced to keep up a dominant facade.
Things get knocked for a serious loop when, much like his father before him,
Michael's life is nearly lost in a mob hit. Late one night, a barrage of gunshots tears
apart Michael's home. Almost immediately, Tom Hagen concludes that the only way this could've
happened is if someone within the family was secretly in on it. As a result, Michael
is a bit more paranoid and on edge, another factor affecting his crumbling mental state.
In "The Godfather Part II," Michael tells his older brother Fredo:
"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart."
He says this after uncovering Fredo's true level of allegiance to the family.
It isn't until New Year's Eve while he's doing business in Cuba that Michael finally figures
out that it was Fredo who sold him out. It becomes clear that Fredo knows Johnny Ola,
the right-hand man of mob boss Hyman Roth. Roth is the likely suspect for who organized the hit
on Michael. After this discovery, things are irreparably damaged between Michael and Fredo,
with Fredo believing he should've been the one to take over when Vito died.
"I'm your older brother Mike and I was stepped over."
Michael banishes Fredo from the family but says that he won't be
harmed as long as their mother Carmela is alive. Carmela eventually passes on,
which serves as a cue for Michael to begin tying off loose ends, including Fredo.
"I can handle things. I'm smart! Not like everybody says."
Despite Connie doing her best to convince him to forgive Fredo,
his time is officially up. One day while out fishing, Fredo is shot in the head
and dumped into the water, all while Michael looks on with a somber glare.
What's important to note about "The Godfather Part II" is that it's telling
two stories intertwined – Vito's rise to power and Michael's fall from grace. The former is set
in the early-1900s and tells the story of a young Vito Corleone working his way up the mafia ladder.
As we see Vito steadily and violently build what will one day be the Corleone crime family,
we have a front-row seat to see it all burn down. By the time the credits roll,
Michael has lost his wife and set up the murder of Fredo. So not only is Michael's marriage
finished but his entire immediate family are all dead. The last we see of Michael in the film,
he sits alone on a bench, staring out into space. Though judging by the music
and Michael's thousand-yard stare, we can safely assume he's wondering just
how everything could go so wrong. This somber conclusion is the first taste of
the more mentally withered Michael we end up seeing in "The Godfather Part III {three}."
When we catch up with Michael at the beginning of "The Godfather Part III," again at another
family gathering, he's firmly in his 60s. Long gone is the hopeful young guy we met
back in the first film, replaced by a worn-out man with ample regrets.
One of the many subplots active in the film involves Sonny's son,
Vincent, becoming romantically involved with Michael's daughter Mary. Creepy romance aside,
this development results in Michael naming Vincent as the new Don after he chooses to step down.
"You won't be able to go back. You'll be like me."
"Good."
You can't talk about "The Godfather Part III" without talking about Michael's daughter Mary
Corleone. It's very clear that Michael is still very protective of Mary. This
is why he tries keeping her and Vincent apart, due to Vincent's organized crime
affiliations. Little did Michael know just how well-founded his fears were,
especially when the film's shocking climax rolls around. After a night at the opera,
yet another attempt on Michael's life is made on the stairs of the building.
Following some gunshots, Michael is wounded. He then looks over to see Mary, who's been hit point
blank in the stomach. We're then treated to a tragic image of Mary's parents cradling her as she
dies, with Michael letting out a blood-curdling scream. Despite his best attempts to walk away,
it seems the powers that be needed to take one last thing from Michael — his daughter.
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."
With one of his own children now dead because of his own past sins and decisions, Michael
has truly become a broken man. However, when it comes to the film's final image of Michael, this
is where things get a bit interesting. In 2020, "The Godfather Part III" was recut to better fit
the vision that Coppola originally envisioned — with resequenced scenes and altered musical cues.
One such change appears during the ending, which originally sees a frail and gaunt-looking Michael,
clearly at the end of his life. In that original scene, we see Michael all alone,
succumbing to his old age and falling out of his chair, similar to how Vito died in the first film.
In the recut version, however, the film instead fades from old Michael to a quote that reads:
"When the Sicilians wish you 'Cent'anni', it means 'for long life'...and a Sicilian never forgets."
Michael has indeed been blessed with a long life. But when you
consider how much he's lost, it might just have been a curse.