Ok, guys. And now for the discussion of The Godfather. I'd like to open it up with several questions that hopefully you guys can expand upon

- Anyone notice the significance of the Orange? What did it resemble?
- There is obviously a significant difference in the role of the Men in the family and the role of the Women in the family. What is the difference? Don Vito mentions that "Women and Children can be careless. Not Men." What does this portray about the family's views of men and women?
- Michael might have been Don Vito's son, but their intentions were different when they were each head of the house. Michael was concerned with legitimacy and Don Vito was concerned with respect. Expand upon this.

These are just a couple things I could think of. Feel free to answer these, and give us some more topics to discuss.

Right before someone died or was harmed there were oranges. But why oranges? I looked up oranges on An Online Guide To Dream Interpretation and got this:

To see orange trees in your dream, signifies health and prosperity. To dream that you are eating oranges, denotes negative vibes, dissatisfaction in your business circles, illness in the family, or separation/loss of a lover.

Well they aren't necessarily eating oranges before someone is killed but they ARE there, and the INTENTION is to eat them. Like the Don buying oranges right before he's shot.
Which got me thinking, how could this tie in, since these are dream interpretations?

Well, the movie's concerned with the American Dream. To achieve your goals. Their goals were to build a business. They were living the dream at the beginning of the movie... they were powerful, Don Vito's daughter was getting married and he had the means to give anybody anything they wanted.

As the movie goes on things fall apart (until the end), so what's that saying about the American Dream? What happens when it falls apart?
I never looked at it that way but maybe I missed something. I know Michael said in 5 years they'd be legitimate but I'm not entirely sure by that. We'd have to watch the next 2 movies to see what happens.
However if that is indeed how it is, then I would say it shows the signs of the times.
I don't have a lot for this question, though, so someone else can tackle this.



So here are some other comments/questions to add something to it, but not all of my notes because this post is long enough. The wall of text keeps growing.
Why didn't Michael say "I love you" 54:08 (unless I'm reading my note wrong) in, in front of his family when he was on the phone?

Brando's acting was amazing. The part where he says "This war stops now" around the 2 hour mark really got me.

How is authority (police) viewed in this movie?

Why show the contrast at the end of the Baptism and the killings? I would say Michael's being baptised into the business.

I don't know if this is something that was going on in the whole movie or not (I noticed it kind of late) but did anybody else not see any clouds in the sky?

Final comment: The beginning scene was amazing and really set the tone.

Another example would be when Carlo is beaten by Sonny. Carlo might not have been eating an orange, but I thought it was pretty neat that they would have Carlo wearing an orange suit.

I also noticed Oranges at the table where the head of the 5 families met with Don Vito. Like your dream interpretation, especially the part with dissatisfaction of your business circles, this could mean - 1) Resembles Don Vito's dissatisfaction of the idea of drug trafficking. He agrees to it to regain peace, although he personally does not like the idea. or 2) Maybe resembles that this peace is not going to last as long as the heads of the 5 families hope? Just throwing some ideas out there.Remember at the beginning when the guy comes in begging him to take revenge on the young men who beat his daughter? Don Vito was insulted by his way of asking him to do it, not giving him respect as a friend and only demanding it be done with the incentive of money. I noticed that Don Vito is all about respect, while Michael never asked once for respect. He wants the family to turn legitimate, and actually be known for their legitimacy.

Vito commands respect through fear.

The Italians were supposed to marry within the family. NOT incest, but maybe just another Italian. He didn't want the rest of his family to know he honestly "loved" someone outside of the family.

Not only that, but I think this shows that despite what Michael told his girlfriend, he is becoming what he didn't want to become. He denounces Satan and all his works, while his men are committing murders for him. I think this just shows that despite what Michael truly wanted, to be head of the family, he must follow in his father's footsteps.

I personally didn't notice clouds, or lack thereof. Maybe someone else did.

Yeah that's another thing. Women as strictly caregivers. It's sad that that mentality is still pretty large these days, as well.

Though he does certainly command respect through fear there's also a certain vulnerability about his character that he probably doesn't want anybody to see. See the last paragraph of this post for a reason.

It's important to note how ruthless Michael is even as soon as he begins. I have a hard time thinking he genuinely wants the business to be legit. My friend said that as the movies go on he's even more ruthless.


I'm not entirely sure about that. He was made fun of afterwards by a bunch of them too. I think it goes deeper than what you said, though what you said may also be true.



I also saw him as somewhat naive (though that's to be expected). But for sure, you're totally right. To be in a business like they're in, you pretty much have to be like his father.



Well I was digging pretty hard in the movie for things to see, and I did notice some scenes didn't have any... but like I said, I'd like someone to confirm this because I'm probably wrong.

I also noticed that when the lawyer walked out of the room earlier in the movie he walked into a door of light.

The camera angle at the end when the guy was getting choked was great as well. You could really mostly see his feet kicking through and that's all you need to see.

Another seen that choke me up was Don Vito playing with his grandson. He seemed like such a child himself. It further proved how important family is and it also put some light and more depth into Brando's character. The sudden switch from insane fun to tragedy almost killed ME. He retired from his rough business and got to (perhaps finally?) enjoy his family life. He might have been a boss but he's shown as an actual person.

geezus... haven't even got to watch it yet and already a discussion i can't read this till i watch the movie never seen the movie... its downloading right now... im excited hopefully when i get off tomorrow i'll have time to watch it.

You watch it yet? It's a fairly long movie, around the 3 hour mark.

I know it's early, but I certainly hope that people start talking about this movie soon. I mean we had 5 total votes and 2 people have discussed it. But I'm probably just jumping the gun right now so ignore this.

its hard for me to watch movies durning the week... monday through friday i work 7-4... my wife works 9-6 we both work at the same place so we carpool so i don't get home till almost 7 by the time we eat dinner and what not its time to hit the sack. and on tuesdays and thursdays we have another job and it takes about an hour so we don't get home till almost 8... but only one more day and saturday will be here and i'll watch it then for sure. and i'll probably watch it early so by mid to late afternoon i'll be dicussing it on here. it is downloaded though and ready to watch.

Has anyone else seen the movie yet, besides knoxbox? I don't want this discussion to just only go between 3 people.

haven't had a chance to watch it lots of birthdays in my faimly this week lol kept me from doing much... hoping i'll get some time to watch it soon.