Sonny retaliates by killing Bruno Tattaglia. Fearing the escalation of war, Sollozzo and McCluskey requested for a meeting with the Corleone family, where Michael himself guns down the two men, before he escapes to Sicily where he is to be protected. The Corleone family gears for war against the five families who are united against the Corleones. When Vito returns home from the hospital, he learns that Michael is now 'involved', and cries painfully.
Meanwhile, Carlo Rizzi is badly beaten up by Sonny when the latter learns that Carlo is beating up Connie. Because of this, Carlo becomes a traitor and cuts a deal with Tattaglia and the Barzini to have Sonny killed. Sonny is eventually ambushed in a tollbooth where his body is riddled with bullets.
Vito doesn't seek revenge for Sonny's death, and instead forges a ceasefire with the other families so Michael can come home. While in Sicily, Michael has married a local girl, Apollonia, revealing his whereabouts to the other families. A bomb is planted in his car, but it is just Apollonia who gets killed since Michael isn't riding with her when it went off.
Michael returns to New York and reunites with Kay. Contrary to what he promised her years earlier, Michael is now the new boss of the Corleone family (since his older brother Fredo is too weak to be in control). He assures her though that the family business will be completely legal within five years. Michael starts reorganizing the Corleone family's organizational structure. He is planning to move their operations to Nevada, so he goes to Las Vegas and tries to buy out Moe Greene to acquire control of his casino business. Moe refuses.
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Figure 3. Screen grabs of the scene showing Michael trying to buy out Moe Greene and the scene showing Fredo being warned by Michael never to take sides with anybody against the family again. This was reenacted by ToyHollywood.com in this video. |
Don Vito suffers a fatal heart attack, but not before he can warn Michael that the latter's life is in danger because someone inside the family can turn traitor and have him killed in a meeting with their rivals. True enough, a capo named Tessio was later confirmed to be a traitor.
Michael quickly moves and orchestrates simultaneous assassinations on all his rivals while standing as godfather to Carlo and Connie's son. The following are killed: Don Stracci, Moe Greene, Don Cuneo, Don Tattaglia, and Don Barzini. After the baptism, Michael cleansed his family of traitors: Tessio and Carlo Rizzi were likewise killed.
Later back home, Kay overhears Connie wailing that Michael has murdered her husband. Kay asks Michael if it is true that he has ordered the killing of Carlo. Michael says 'no' and Kay believes him and smiles with relief. The movie ends with the doors of Michael's office closing on Kay who was standing outside, where she can see men kissing Michael's hand and calling him 'Don'. He is now the Godfather.
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Figure 4. The two dons in 'The Godfather' - Vito (left) and son Michael (right) Corleone |
Information on the movie's full credits may be found at:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/
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