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After an attempt on his father’s life, a by-the-book Marine captain must kill his father’s rivals and become head of his own crime family to protect those he loves.
Michael's over arching, proactive goal once he does take charge and in the other 2 movies is to make the family business legit. (His bridge to becoming legit is to invest in Las Vegas casinos, divest his crime holdings to his ?capos.)He wants to fully assimilate, become just another regular Mike livRead more
Michael’s over arching, proactive goal once he does take charge and in the other 2 movies is to make the family business legit. (His bridge to becoming legit is to invest in Las Vegas casinos, divest his crime holdings to his ?capos.)
He wants to fully assimilate, become just another regular Mike living the American dream.
(The very first words of dialogue in the film, spoken by the undertaker, Bonasera, are not coincidental: “I believe in America”. ?But there he is pleading for the Godfather to give him justice ?because his faith in America has been betrayed by the American legal system.)
Here’s my thematic word for the story arc of the entire franchise: assimilation. ?Or two words: going legit.
And, of course, he can’t. ?The harder he tries, the more deeply enmeshed he becomes in the “lifestyle”. ?He’s made a deal with devil — and there’s no way out, no absolution.
(BTW: ?How the book and movie credibly effects Michael’s flip from staying out of the family business to becoming inextricably involved is well-worth studying in detail, beat for beat, scene for scene.)
See lessWhen her reclusive father dies without a will, his washed-up rodeo queen daughter must gather her estranged siblings in order to settle his estate.
I think you have the germ of a good idea. ?But it needs focusing and polishing.The fact that the father died without a will only becomes dramatically significant if the stakes are sufficient. ?That stakes would be that he was a wealthy man, or least materially better off than his kids. They are relaRead more
I think you have the germ of a good idea. ?But it needs focusing and polishing.
The fact that the father died without a will only becomes dramatically significant if the stakes are sufficient. ?That stakes would be that he was a wealthy man, or least materially better off than his kids. They are relatively poor; they not only want their share of his estate, but they desperately need it.
I suggest the logline needs to indicate that.
The legal issue is that when a person dies intestate, the estate is thrown to the wolves of the court system. ?So neither the daughter nor the rest of the family have control or the final say in the disposition of the estate. ?And if all sides lawyer up, legal costs can consume the estate.
So it’s not sufficient for the daughter to round up her siblings. She’s got to get them to agree on a plan to offer to the court. ?If she can’t, then the judge will make the final call. ?Which will satisfy nobody.
And it’s not just an issue of how to divide up the cash. ?The kids have to decide how to divide up his personal effects. Who gets what family pictures? ?Who gets what family heirlooms? ?The car. Their mother’s china. ?The gun collection. ?The collection of silver and gold coins. ?The real estate. ?(I’ve been involved in such a situation; ?the disposition of the cash?and real estate was settled in the will, but not the personal effects. ?It was a very tense walk through the house deciding who got what.)
I suggest the logline needs to clarify and focus on the conflict that arises from the stakes.
fwiw
See lessAfter an attempt on his father’s life, a by-the-book Marine captain must kill his father’s rivals and become head of his own crime family to protect those he loves.
Yes, we will have to agree to disagree.My version takes into account the tragic nature of his character arc. ?How he is inexorably dragged into the family business despite his original intentions to live a different life. ?What elevates the film above the genre, what makes it more than just a gangstRead more
Yes, we will have to agree to disagree.
My version takes into account the tragic nature of his character arc. ?How he is inexorably dragged into the family business despite his original intentions to live a different life. ?What elevates the film above the genre, what makes it more than just a gangster film, is that it is a study in character.
In the Act 1 wedding scene, ?Michael tells his girlfriend Kay of how his father intervened to promote the career of the singer Johnny Fontane ?by intimidating a bandleader who wouldn’t release Fontane from a disadvantageous contract. ? Then he says, “That’s my family, Kay, that’s not me.”
Oh, yeah?
Ironic last words before he’s swept up in events that prove otherwise.
After he makes the fateful decision to take revenge himself ?– and that is his choice ; nobody asks him to do it, nobody makes him to do it — Michael proves to be exceedingly competent at executing the family business. ?He is the true heir.
But that was not his original intention. ?”The Godfather” is a tragedy. ?There is no happy ending for any of the principals. ?The plot is a conspiracy against Michael Corleone, against his character, against his fate.
At the beginning of the film, Michael is straightforward and honest with Kay. ?At the end he tells her a bald faced lie. ?That not only dramatizes the 180 degree flip of their relationship but also the 180 degree flip of his character arc.
I see Michael’s character arc as ?the story hook, what differentiates the story ?from all other mob movies. What’s the story hook in your version? ?That a man does what he has to do to protect his family? ?What’s so unique about that? Particularly for a gangster movie?
I readily concede that if the script were being written today, particularly if it was a spec script, not an adaptation of a best-selling novel, it would be a very hard sell. ? The film probably wouldn’t get made. ?The idea of a such a character arc is so un-American (and un-Australian), which is to say ?un-commercial. ?Your version might be the way to go in writing and selling the script.
But that’s not the script Coppola wrote.
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