Recently, I accidentally revisited the classic gangster movie "The Godfather" trilogy, the grand era background, the ups and downs of the plot, the distinct character image, and the philosophical lines, which together achieved the unshakable film history status of the "The Godfather" series.
The "Godfather" trilogy took more than eight hours to shape the image of the three generations of Godfathers of Victor, Mike and Vincent, and Mike, as the soul of the trilogy, showed the audience the image of a tragic hero in the quagmire of an era, shouldering the heavy responsibility of saving the family and reviving the family, and struggling to move forward for the whitewashing of the family all his life, whenever he approached the ideal of life, the tide of the times beat him back to the original form again and again!
Because the film has been adapted and recreated on the basis of the original work, the character setting and background are different, so this article will be based on the film "Godfather" trilogy, from the performance of the three generations of Godfathers of Victor, Mike and Vinson in the film to analyze why Mike exhausted his life but could not wash the success, does not involve the original work, I hope readers know in detail.
First, family issues. The old godfather has always paid attention to the teaching of words and deeds, according to the different personalities of the three sons and the adopted son Hagen, the eldest Sonny participates in family affairs, the second Fredo assists Sonny, the younger son Mike enters politics, and the adopted son Hagen serves as a family adviser, and in order to ensure the safety of his daughter and son-in-law, he does not let them interfere in family affairs. After Sonny's death, the old godfather took over the family again, and the old godfather faced the crisis, endured the situation, and asked the five major families for peace, buying time and space for Mike, who had originally taken the political route, to take over the family patriarch, while Fredo, who was originally an assistant, became a commoner and continued to run a hotel in Las Vegas.
Compared with the old godfather, Mike has no arrangement for the family succession problem, of course, this has the factor of whitewashing, and if the whitewashing is successful, there is no need for a successor. In the case of unsuccessful whitewashing, Mike has never cultivated a younger generation, if it were not for Vincent's birth and talent, I really don't know who Mike was looking for to take over the entire family, not to mention that Mike did not care about Vincent at the beginning, if it were not for Connie's support, Vincent would not even have the opportunity to turn out. For the family members are also constantly suppressed, he divorced his wife, directly forced the second brother Fredo, marginalized Hagen, killed Carlo to convene his sister Connie to resent, and finally the third concony supported Vincent to seize power, betraying Pantanguli to bring himself a crisis.
You have to ask, how did Mike push Fredo against him? After the assassination of the elderly godfather in the first part, Fredo was sent to Las Vegas alone, running a hotel under the protection of a local gang, and has never been involved in family affairs since, in fact, he has separated from the family and become independent. But after Mike took over the family, assassinated Moglin, acquired the Las Vegas Hotel, Fredo's hard-earned property became the Corleone family property, Fredo had nothing, and later in charge of the family reception, was considered stupid and stupid by his brother Mike, calling for eight years. Although Mike took over as patriarch is the meaning of the old godfather, but the acquisition of the Las Vegas hotel, arranging for Fredo to be responsible for the reception is Mike's meaning, if Mike does not buy the Las Vegas hotel, Fredo has a piece of his own property, Mike when the patriarch has nothing to do with him, Fredo will not be stepped on by his brother Mike for eight years, and the two brothers with the best feelings will not accumulate eight years of resentment and go to the point of turning against each other. From Fredo's last words, "Johnnyola had promised him that he would betray Mike and have his share of the estate," we could hear Fredo's desire to restore his own estate and his helplessness to be pressed to the ground by his family.
Second, crisis public relations. In the face of problems, the old godfather will always be the first to salute and then the soldiers, first white and then black, first Hagen to come forward, and it is uncertain that the two major leaders will be used. Johnny's problem handling is proof of that. After his own assassination and the siege of the five major families, the old godfather did not go to war like the reckless Sonny, and also saluted and then soldiered. First of all, he was intolerant, ceding interests through negotiation and cooperation, winning time and space for the family to recover, and facing Carlo, the undercover son-in-law of Bashlinan, who was inserted in the family, he was able to repeatedly appease and entrust him with heavy responsibilities to paralyze his opponents and create opportunities for Mike to finally achieve a Jedi counterattack.
In the face of the crisis, the old godfather always puts the safety of the family first, for the safety of the family members, abandons the investigation, gives up the network resources, gives up the territory, finds out the situation and then settles the account afterwards. After Mike's assassination, the first thing he did was to start an investigation regardless of it. In order to test Haymen rus, betray Pantanguli, and say to Haymenros that "Pantanguli should die", when The younger brother Rosado brothers of Haymenros were in New York and Pantanguili were fighting for land with Pantanguli, originally Haymenros wanted to do it, Mike's words directly gave Haymenulus a reason to do it, "Since Pantanguili deserves to die, then I will help you get rid of him", which is the subtext that Haymenros did not say. Later, in Havana, Mike asked Haymenus who ordered the killing of Pantanguli, and Hemelos and Gonnyola had a confused expression that meant "Didn't you say that Pantanjuli should be damned?" Mike's tumultuous operation directly betrayed and forced the anti-family elder Pantanguli, resulting in the final accusation of Mike himself, who could only blame his own crisis public relations methods.
Third, team management. Clemansha and Teysio are the left and right hands of the old godfather from his youth, Klynmansha has a straightforward personality, dares to fight and dare to kill, Andsio has a sinister personality and is good at stabbing a knife in the back, and the old godfather has a very good grasp of these two people. After Mike took over as patriarch and had a conflict with these two, the old godfather used his majesty and wisdom to take the initiative to help Mike appease, so that he did not force these two to rebel on the spot, saving the strength for the family Jedi counterattack. Although in the end, Tessio rebelled, the old godfather also reminded Mike and cleared the hidden danger in time. After Mike took over as patriarch, his adopted son Hagen's son-in-law Carlo entered the scene, and it was also the old godfather who appeased his adopted son Hagen and son-in-law Carlo respectively, avoiding the family split. Without this series of operations of the old godfather, with Mike's personality, after he takes over the family, it is likely that there will be a collective rebellion of Clemansha, Teysio, Hagen, and Carlo, mike will completely become a lonely family, and he will be swept away by the four major families in New York, so the Corleone family will never have the opportunity to turn over. Hagen was reused during the old godfather period, and everything was arranged through Hagen, including the mobilization of Clemansha and Tessio, which not only achieved the first salute and then the soldiers, but also maintained the majesty of the godfather.
But during Mike's time, look at his team, Hagen was the maintainer and liaison of the old godfather's network resources, and he was marginalized by Mike and was not qualified to participate in family affairs. Mike's closest people are Al and Rocco, these two people are the gold medal assassins of the New York Brawl period, such a team composition is not the godfather, this is an enhanced version of Pantan gully, basically equal to Mike shirtless, directly back to the old godfather's early entrepreneurial period. Pantanguli, who was an elder of the family, was directly betrayed, and Fredo was trampled under his feet. How does such a team build networks, and how can it achieve family whitewashing? So in the second part, Mike leads such a team to meet with Councilor Grey, which is an insult to Senator Grey, and Congressman Grey will speak out and shoot at Mike! Such results are predictable. In this meeting, Hagen's strengths can not be played at all, Mike also spilled the resentment of the failure of the meeting on Hagen's head, Hagen's proper back to the pot man, that wrong! In contrast, the elderly Mike's team in the third part reuses white hair (in fact, white hair is Hagen's character), and the assassin is used last, which is what whitewashing should look like.
Fourth, the treatment of interests. The old godfather's understanding and treatment of interests has always been focused on the long term, rather than just money. In the face of the baker Nazzolin's request, the old godfather can only harvest friendship, the old godfather is willing to use huge network resources, and the baker's son-in-law Enzo visited the hospital after the assassination of the old godfather, and Mike saved the old godfather's life, leaving a possibility for the family to revitalize; for the godson Johnny's request, the old godfather was soft and hard, helping Johnny to return to the top, and Johnny also brought huge benefits to the Corleone family in the operation of the Las Vegas hotel; in the face of Solozo's huge interest temptation, Sonny, Hagen has shown a strong interest, only the old godfather has a long-term vision and a firm direction, insisting on not participating and refusing to use human resources to leave room for the family to whitewash. After Sonny's death, it is also for the family's long-term consideration, immediately giving up many immediate interests, adopting a contraction strategy, avoiding new conflicts with the four major families, and at the same time laying out the hotel industry in Las Vegas to revitalize the family.
The interests in the eyes of the old godfather are more connections, the friendship of the old godfather is to build connections, and the five major families in New York in the movie need the protection of the old godfather's connections! And the benefit in Mike's eyes is only money! His good deeds were only for the sake of fame and did not play a role in whitewashing. For the sake of profit, Mike does business with Hymenulus, directly asks Pantanjuli not to spoil his business, and does not care about Pantanjuli's advice that "the old godfather never believed In Hemethros", but suspects and even betrays Pantanjuli, so that he almost falls into The Condom of Hymenulus. But Van Hymenos was a little harsher, killing Mike in Havana, and the Godfather ended the drama in the second part. Strictly speaking, this time Mike's business with Haymenros has no benefit to the family's whitewashing. Who is Hemelos, the gang old man, and the younger brother is the Rosado brothers. Could it be that whitewashing must be far away from the bottom of the Pantanguli, and can it be close to Haymenros, who is also a gang elder? What logic! If Mike wants to whitewash, he should approach Congressman Grey, ambush Congressman Grey, and do business with Councilman Grey's people, not people like Hymenrose!
In the third part, the reason why Mike is able to fight back in the jedi lies in the legacy of the old godfather's connections, the successor Vincent was supported by Connie carrying out the old godfather's route to retake the old godfather's neighborhood, Al was handed over to Mike by the old godfather, the dead man who assassinated Rusic was Don Massino's person, and Don Massino was the old godfather's close friend. It can be seen that the old godfather's network resources are the key to Mike's final victory, not the money that Mike has struggled for all his life.
The reason why such a problem arises is rooted in the different growth environments of the old godfather and Mike, which have created different personalities, patterns and ways to deal with problems.
First, the personality of the character
Victor is the first generation of godfathers, the movie "Godfather 1" opens, the old godfather Victor in the office to meet the funeral home owner Bao Nasara, baker Nazorin, killer Luca and goddaughter Johnny, although there is not much ink, but a majestic, wise, forbearing, caring family and compassionate old godfather image suddenly appeared, and the personal image of the old godfather shown at the beginning of the film has a good impact and promotes the trend of the entire family.
The reason why the old godfather Victor formed such a personality is inseparable from his growing environment. When he lost his parents and brothers as a child, he ran from Sicily to New York under the protection of his neighbors and friends, and struggled to survive in New York with the help of his neighbor and later assistant, The family of Jay Anko, a life experience that cultivated the sympathy of the old godfather, so he would respond to the requests of his neighbors. The tradition of parents and brothers being killed by the mafia and the Sicilians developed the personality of the old godfather who cherished the family members very much. When the young Victor started his business in New York, he was blackmailed by the underground gang represented by Van Lenchi, and during the battle of wits and courage with these people, he developed the majesty, wisdom and forbearance of the old godfather!
This personality allows the old godfather to see the overall situation clearly when dealing with gang affairs, think clearly, make correct decisions according to the situation, and more than once help the old godfather to be reborn in the crisis.
Mike's personality, in a word, is tough, simple and rude, extreme, which is why Mike has been frustrated. From the second part using only Al and Roque, to the third part using only "white-haired" lawyers, one extreme to the other, never as rigid and soft as the old godfather.
Second, the strategic pattern and tactical operation
In the movie, the old godfather laid out the route of family whitewashing from the beginning, which can be summed up as keeping the basic plate, opening up legitimate industries, and practicing politics. Tactically, Sonny intervened in gang affairs from the start, Fredo sent his old godfather to work, that is, to take over the legal olive oil business, Hagen was responsible for the legalization of family affairs, and Clemansha and Tessio were the family's last line of defense, and Mike was in politics. After Sonny's accident, the family personnel adjusted, Mike took over the family affairs, Fredo went to Las Vegas to open up a new legal industry, and Hagen no longer served as a military master, responsible for the legalization of the family property. Hagen's adjustment I thought at first had another meaning, but I overestimated Mike's ability, and after reading three books, I found that Mike did not consider the reason for the old godfather's adjustment of Hagen. Hagen no longer serves as a military division because the family wants to hand over New York to Clemansha's control, no longer fight and kill, Hagen's role should no longer be a military division, but let the family lawyer, let the family property, affairs legalize.
After the death of the old godfather, the Mike Sau operation began, there was no strategic layout at all, only Mike's one-man show! First gave up the basic disk, after the end of the New York Purge, Mike actually gave up the basic disk in the case of absolute superiority, and was unwilling to give up completely, remote control beeping, did not give Pantanguli the opportunity to speak, resulting in PantanCülli almost being wrapped in dumplings, and finally rebelled; close to Al and Roque, completely returned to the early days of the old godfather's entrepreneurship, embarked on the old road of fighting and killing, look at roque and Al's performance in the film, it is completely a thug image; take away Fredo's property, and use Fredo as a waiter, The hotel industry prepared by the family for whitewashing has completely become Mike's money-making tool and forced freddon against Fredo; marginalizing Hagen means completely abandoning the family's personal resources and completely abandoning the legalization of family affairs, so Mike can only do business with gang elders like Haymenros, and there is no way to hook up with Senator Grey. It was not until Hagen acted patriarch that he eased relations with Councillor Grey, and judging from what Hagen said to Councilor Grey when dealing with the issue of dancers, Hagen was quite handy in maintaining his connections; killing Carlo made Connie resentful, and it was worth thinking about whether it was necessary to kill Carlo in the case of the family Jedi killing the four major families. If it weren't for Hagen's conciliation, Connie would never have forgiven Mike, and there would have been no third conciliation in which Connie returned to the family and supported Vinson. As for why Hagen reconciled Connie's relationship with Mike, because when Carlo confessed to colluding with Basini, only Mike, Hagan, and Clemansha were present, and Kliemansha died in the second part, and only Mike and Hagan knew about this matter, and the reason why Connie forgave Mike was that Hagen explained to Connie behind her back, which was not directly shown in the film. Because of strategic mistakes and operational errors, Mike in the second and third parts has been thwarting!
For Mike, the best arrangement should be to get rid of Moglin, Fredo continue to run the hotel to wash the shore, Pantanguli is responsible for stabilizing the basic disk, Mike leads the family into the financial industry, and Hagen runs as a family lawyer to maximize the family's interests by legal means. Wait until the right time to let the Pantanguli family stand out and separate from the Corleone family, thus legitimizing the Corleone family estate. However, Mike played a good hand of cards and robbed his brother Fredo's hotel, and Fredo resented; abandoned the New York basic disk and at the same time assumed himself as the patriarch to point fingers at Pantanjuli, the successor of Clemansha, which caused Pantanjuly to be dissatisfied; finally ran to New York to enter the financial industry, installing his close confidant Vincent to offend Pantanjuli and then Jozaza; for his own ideals, he emptied the casino business and offended the gang elderly; in order to control the company, he offended Rugasi and others. This wave of tumultuous operations came down, making enemies everywhere, Mike actually did not die in three parts, if it were not for the protagonist's aura, he would definitely not survive two episodes.