The Godfather story
The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy, based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel of the same name. It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a fictional New York crime family. The story, spanning 1945 to 1955, chronicles the family under the patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando), focusing on the transformation of Michael Corleone (Pacino) from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.
21 total · 4 choice · 7 major · 10 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| loyalty | choice | the whole story circled around various people's loyalty or disloyalty to the Corleone family, especially: the sons, Luca Brasi, Tom Hagen, and the baker remained remarkably loyal |
| organized crime | choice | The whole film centered on the life and activities of one Sicilian mafia family in America. |
| the desire for vengeance | choice | A man came to the don for extra-judicial vengeance on behalf of his daughter. Michael for his father and later his wife. |
| vendetta | choice | The Corleone and Tattaglia crime families got a good old Sicilian vendetta going. |
| betrayal | major | Sonny was outraged at Paulie Gatto's betrayal of the Don, so had Paulie executed; Fabrizio betrayed Michael in Sicily and Apolonia died for it; Tessio betrayed the Corleones to Barzini after Don Vito died; Carlo was revealed to have arranged Sonny's execution |
| brother and brother | major | Michael, Fredo, ... |
| coping with a loved one being in peril | major | the Corleone kids when their father was mortally wounded |
| coping with the death of a child | major | Don Vito Corleone was devastated after his son Sonny got killed. |
| corruption in society | major | political connections were alluded to, and there was a bought police chief |
| father and son | major | the Don with his various sons |