The SHOCKING Rise Of Sonny Corleone | The Godfather Explained 

I prefer the original novel's version of events, but that could be a bias based on the respect I have for Puzo as the originator of the story. I also feel that Vito having nothing to do with Tom's being orphaned makes Sonny bringing him home with him and Vito taking him in mean more. It shows a true kindheartedness in them both.

Coppola never said it, but he knew full well while filming most of Sonny's scenes that he was not going to have them in the final film. But Coppola did say, he filmed all those scenes with Sonny to trick the producers into thinking James Caan was going to be the main star of the movie, not Al Pacino. James Caan was a pretty big movie star in the 70's; while no one knew who Al Pacino was at the time. Coppola would send 'dailies' (movie scenes) back to the producers in Hollywood to update the funders of the movie and to make them happy with film's progress so that they would not pull funding from the movie. Most of these 'dailies' were mostly Sonny's scenes.

The deleted scene when Sonny, Tessio, and Michael talk about if Clemenza was a traitor was a good scene. they should of kept in there

that dialogue between Sonny and Vito at the later end of this video was great, this writer did a really good job writing that scene, it was intense.

It is too bad they don't have an uncut version of this movie with all of the scenes included!

Just got done reading The Family Corleone a couple months ago and I completed it in a week, absolutely enthralling and could not put it down. Would love even more content from the book if possible 😁

Wow! It's shocking to hear Vito, Clamenza and Tessio killed Tom's father and Sonny put the squeeze on his own father.

Another retconned detail is Vito calling his eldest son by his nickname. The old man was the only one who only ever called him Santino.

Sonny needs his own movie

It's not the runtime that determines if a character is the main character. I agree it would have been much better to see more of the complete Sonny, but the Shakespearean tragedy of The Godfather is clearly structured with Michael as the main character. He is the one who changes the most - from likable outsider to monstrous boss. All other events are understood through the lens of Michael. Sonny is what is called the main character's shadow; i.e. a character who deals with the same problem or challenge as the main character but in a different or contrasting way. The challenge is "rule the Corleone family in the father's place", and we compare the two approaches and thereby learn who they are and are led to ponder thoughts of right and wrong, duty and honor, family and society, even Heaven and Hell. Another case of the mainc character seeming to be a supporting character at first is Ripley, in the first Alien movie. At first viewing the audience believed Captain Dallas was the main character, but he dies and gradually Ellen Ripley comes into focus as the real main character. An even more fascinating example would be Chief, the huge native American in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. He's in the background all the time, but is watching Jack Nicholson's rebellion and tragedy, and it is witnessing Nicholson that causes Chief to change and also take his own life into his own hands. We don't know how he will fare after the movie (and book's) ending, but at least we know he is free, if only for a short while. If some will argue Nicholson is still the main character, I won't argue. I'm just trying to illustrate the point.

It is a crying shame so much of Caan’s role was cut from the film, but I understand why. It was definitely for the focus on Michael. He had Vito’s stoicism, Sonny’s capability, and learned when to feign frailty from seeing his brother Fredo crumble underneath of it. It makes Michael more of a Goldilocks character than when compared to a much more thoughtful Sonny

As soon as i thought i was out.. They pulled me back in

"How did the Don's son join the family business" 🤦

Excellent! I saw your interview with Falco and really enjoyed it. I've always thought that Sonny was more realistic as Vito's successor. I always felt cheated that Sonny was removed from the film so early, and we never knew anything about his early life. He was actually the real deal. I look forward to more information about Sonny. Maybe in the future we'll get a movie about Sonny, written and produced by Falco.

It’s a shame they didn’t release the full Godfather trilogy with all the deleted scenes for their anniversary last year. My favorite deleted scene is when Al Nieri goes to shake down a casino owner in 2. Al is one of my favorite characters so to see him in a scene by himself is great. Also- when Fabrizio is blown up outside his business in 2 after betraying Michael in 1. It’s like an 8 second scene. It’s baffling why they cut that out of the movie.

Which is why Barzani had to resort to the dirty tactic in involving Sonny’s SISTER and brother-in-law…. Sonny’s Sister, not his wife cuz

Sonny temper helped him wage a war agaisnt the 5 famlies that would have been impossible for vito or micheal...patience is not a virtue when 4 famlies ate trying to wipe you out. He managed to fight them to a stalemate...and if his plan had gone thru he would have wiped the other 4 dons. His mistake was not killing carlo the first time.

I'd love to see the whole movie without all those scenes cut out. It would be a long movie but it would be great. I hope someday that someone does it.

the deleted scenes are amazing and some of them even very important, specially the ones that really open your eyes about Sonny but Capolla was still right in cutting them out because he didn't want the movie to be too long and the focus was on Michael's character arc, he did a great job directing the movie.

It's always been my dream to ruin some journalist's camera then casually throw a hundred dollar bill on the ground and walk away, like Sonny at Connie's wedding. Then he's like, excuse me, that's a Hasselblad 500c and it's worth a thousand bucks. Then I run away like Usain Bolt.

This is by far my favorite of your videos. I’ve liked your others for quite a while, but this one was excellent. Well done

Classic break down as usual, I love this channel

The story is so good and more complex than I first thought Vito killing Tom's dad n adopting him is so interesting... It would of also made the version of tgf3 with Tom as the bad guy way more interesting

over the years as I became more of a fan of the movie and the books, I realized Sonny is much more interesting character than I realized, I used to think he's dumb but he's actually smart, being a hot-head doesn't make him dumb, it just makes him dumb in the moment.

Wow lots of great insight and backstories I didn't know about as Godfather fan! Great job!

Great video

Another superb analysis

These videos are so interesting

Excellent analysis, integrating the book details about Sonny and his start and rise through the family.

Excellent; thanks.

Thank you, very insightful.

CR..you too...are operating at a slightly different level. Some of the best work yet, and you've done some great stuff. Sonny was highly underrated and I always thought and said so, but these books really put him in the proper perspective that he should have been. Not going to say much else but needless to say..this was most impressive. An awesome drop and highly nuanced breakdown.

Great video! Would have loved that movie!!!

This was excellent

The best content.

I do like watching the Godfather Saga that shows the 2 movies in chronological order mainly because it shows all those deleted scenes. Great video and insight as usual!

The question is: Where did Santino get that reddish brown hair ? Mama Corleone, you have the floor !?!

Great job pal genius

I literally thought about this yesterday when comparing AJ Soprano and Jackie Jr to C and Henry Hill and in how they were actually taken under the wing of older men. Which made me think about Fredo is a version of AJ or Jackie if he had been let into the family without guidance and how Mike was left alone and didnt want in.

You've just made your bones with this video.

If we saw "more" of Sonny, then it would have been Boogie Nights, not the Godfather 😀

Amazing

Just wanted to comment to be in the first ten 🏆

Great video and it really makes Sonny's line "When it comes to the action, I'm as good as anybody" make sense. Where as how they showed him in the movie he wasn't portrayed as good as everybody more like his battle strategy is mostly just mindless brute force. The scene on the causeway was a little hard to believe even for a hothead. He's very upset, powerful and knows it in a huge hurry yet stops to pay the toll. He would have pushed right through their car or floored it in reverse slammed into a forward gear and took off. He had a v12 lincoln sure, but it seems unlikely they'd not have some decent power and wouldn't be so far behind everything is over and all shooters completely out of sight. That being said thankfully Godfather 4 didn't come out at least then and star fake captain planet, oops DiCaprio (flies about on private gas guzzling jet btw).

Love the content Cineranter have you covered Boardwalk Empire? Season 3 is one of the best ganster performances by Bobby Cannavale as the madman Gyp Rossetti, this is a very under rated tv series.

Was The Godfather family depiction inspired at all by the Kennedy family? Joe Kennedy Sr was very much a Don Corleone type figure. His first son Joe Jr was supposed to be the one to lead the family, but died in WW2. Even the Kennedy compound seems to be the inspiration for the Corleone compound

Hear me out here what if the film took the story in this direction. Sonny and Michael running the family business together as boss and underboss

There are so many possibilities for additional movies. Falco's book and others, or something totally new, could be a rich source of material. A million prequel possibilities

Give me the novels version any day of the week. Tom being raised by and working with the very men who orphaned him? Sickening.

PLEASE DO EXPAND ON SONNYS CHARACTER! I've read the book and would love for you to delve into it in a 20-30 minute vid.

3:01 Sonny’s sister and brother -in -law!

I don’t think Michael was a monster. I think he was a very tormented individual that was pulled in to a life he didn’t want but in the end it became his calling and his embracing of it ultimately led to success but at the same time his downfall and all the torment destroyed him in the end. Unlike Sonny, Michael wasn’t made for the life. But the life made him.

The elephant in the room is no one is ever made and Hagan couldn't be made .....and why is there two underbosses?

Saying this is very difficult for me but if Puzo doesn’t die and they make that 4th prequel type film could challenge GODFATHER 2 as the greatest mob film or film at that of all time godbless from TRENTON NJ

The writers of this story do such a great job that i often have a certain problem....distinguishing this from actual history. Like "Game of Thrones" I have an issue distinguishing REAL history from the fictional story that is told. They put so many details, and so much thought into the back story of each character and/or their family's history, that sometimes it feels like actual history. Worst part is, I originally thought... if actual history was this interesting i would've made better grades in high school. But the truth is most of these stories, as well as GoT, stories are based on actual REAL history. In conclusion, I've learned that actual history is pretty interesting but they don't make movies or tv shows on it.

I hate it when a new party deliberately changes (or tries to change) the perception of a previous party’s work. I hated it when Disney made Luke Skywalker responsible for Kylo Ren turning to the Dark Side, and I hate Vito Corleone being made responsible for Tom Hagen being an orphan.

I loved the movie but I have read the novel and other books by Puzo several times and love the books much better.

3:03 *Sonny’s sister and brother-in-law.

I am sure that if Carlo had been kind and faithful to Connie, Sonny would probably have not been wanting to strangle him as often!

Only thing thats weird os hearing Vito call Sonny " Sonny" he always called him Santino

Fredo - “I can do tings, I’m smart, I was your older brother and I was passed over.” Fredo felt no remorse about the shoot up.

The alternate story of why Tom Hagen was brought into the family, makes no sense - Vito Corleone himself avenged his own father, though it took decades to make that happen - why would Don Corleone take in the son of a man he had killed, and place his family at risk of revenge, were Tom Hagen ever to learn the truth of his father's death? It is a very unlikely plot point, IMHO.

I been writing my own prequel for the SOPRANOS BECAUSE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK WAS SO HORRIBLE ITS EMBARASSING. The film begins with 19 year old Tony making his bones with the killing of willie overall the black numbers kingpin in a dingy basement in Newark

7:40

Who is Bussetta ?

The Anglo-Saxons invented guns? Mazin.

It is explained in the book

If I recall correctly, Tom's dad was terrible to him and he was going to end up bad off on the street either way, not to justify that, but the eye infection and what not. The story of Tom's death in the other book and how he met Sonny and the predator Sonny helped him fight off on the street was sad, he died thinking of Sonny he truly was his brother.

I love this channel!! THANKYOU 🙏

i don't think it would have made a difference whether Sonny spoke his mind or said nothing at the Solazzo meeting.

When I read the book I was upset because it is obvious that Sony would have been a much better Don than Michael. He was cunning, smooth, was not only smart but also streetsmarts and he knew when not to hit. It is a shame he committed the sin of speaking out of turn which started the whole war and caring for his sister the way his parents wouldn't. All in all Sonny is a better character than Michael and James Caan was right to be upset because Sonny was such larger, deeper, complex and more interesting character than Michael and one who could have made the family great, not bring it down this weird road to "Legitimacy" that Michael never could. Like old mobsters say "You either leave the life or spend your life talking about how you left the life" Sonny left it, Michael wasted his life talking about how he was "going to" leave it.

2:13 it's probably the dress he was wearing

Bar-Zini - I see what you did there

I know this is unrelated but I have a question. In the scene where Clemenza is prepping Michael and showing him the piece he will ultimately use to deal with the Turk, it seems like Michael is well a noob. But that makes no sense. He would have been very familiar with at least a few different weapons systems from his time in the war. So basically. What gives? Why is a war hardened veteran treated like a kid with his first popgun

What's left out here is that Vito told Sonny to never tell Tom about his father's death because Tom would be obligated to kill Vito to avenge his father. Vito's mind worked in an instinctive Sicilian way - it's all about vendettas and making one's own justice.

All i can visualize while you recounted santino conversing with vito was marlon brando viciously murdering a Robert duval caricature and my heart broke......Then i saw Robert dinero as i rightly should and thought....yea he did that sh*t

It's not Sonny's "wife and brother in law" it's Sonny's SISTER and brother in law.

Lol.... Sonny Was Something Else

As much as Sonny got around do you think he might of had other children running around that either he did or did not know about? Not including Vincent Mancini Corleone.

People have to read the book 100× better than the movie it explains everything. And the movie was forbidden to use the word Mafia..The book they took the oath just much better.

I'm not a fan of having Vito kill Tom's father. Part of the reason, I beleive Tom's story is there is to show, that even though the Corleone's are ruthless men and will do anything and everything nessesary to protect their interests, there is still good in them, as they are willing to take in an orphan with nothing in it for themselves. It adds depth an nuance to the story. If Vito killed his father, then taking in the boy is just a way to releave guilt. I think it makes a big change to the story of the Corleone's and of Tom Hagen. Now you feel differently about him, as someone being decieved and being loyal to a man and family that killed his father. And the Corleone's are now worse...not only did they kill someone but they decieved his son and he beleives hes one of the family. It just takes some depth away from Vito and makes him more of just a ruthless criminal, that everything he does is about himself, and I dont think that is story Puzo was trying to tell.

That book doesn’t sound like Vito at all

3:03 Sonny’s wife? How was she involved?

one point I realise but you seem to not paying attention is how Sonny is stubborn hot head that's what I saw in the movie and I see the same as anyone but his stubborness to get into family business while his father told him many times I don't want this for you and yet still want that life

you sound just like Robert whittaker

Sonny was the Goat.

every person who sits on the chair of godfather suffers from one hamartia or another vito was unable to calculate attacks on himself or his son, santino had the heat but seldom head and also kept a hoe, michael also could not calculate a lot of things, vincent was a woman player no one was perfect, to be a standard for everyone else

Michael wasn’t a monster, his wife Kay was, he should never have got back with her.

It was Blasphemy for rhe Author to Change the Original Story. It is a Big Reason Why I absolutely HATED THE FAMILY CORLEONE. The way the Book made Luca Brasi act was also Terrible. They changed some things about him as well. Not near as Terrifying. That Book Stunk

In the book there is a lot more stuff with Sonny and that bridesmaid he was banging. She has some kind of deformity and but Sonny is not fazed by it and continues to see her on the sly. After he dies, his mistress moves to Vegas and shacks up with some cosmetic doctor - a very boring side story in the book.

In the novel, it was because he had a massive hog, and they were all in awe of him because of his massive mortadella.

Thats not what whitewashing means. You mean they "broad brushed" him as a hot head.

IT'S AN INSULT FOR SOMEONE TO CALL YOU A GANGSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This narrative is begging to become a movie. Just to put one out there...do you think if Sonny became head of the family and fredo betrayed the family he would have killed him?

Sonny should have killed Carlo, the first time he beat him up.

There is no rise and fall of Michael. He rose to the top, and the trilogy ends with him old in his villa in Italy. I’d call that on top.

I think with time and age - Sonny would have been the Don for the family.

Why is every fucking thing shocking? You know it’s a movie, right?

I don't think Michael is a monster, misguided perhaps. He is a victim of circumstance largely...Sonny was an indispensable character in the Godfather saga referred to constantly in the three movies although absent, and absence keenly felt, and of course shown in flashback at the end of Godfather II, and of course reborn in the character of Vincent in the third film.

Shows what a nasty family they were, Ordering Sonny to kill a guy who accidentally wounded his father when the guy was trying to save him.