> Was Michael Corleone really too cold and ruthless?
Too cold? Yep. By the end of GF2, he's pretty well alienated -- or in Fredo's case, killed -- everyone in his family except for his children and Mama Corleone. Vito would have never allowed that to happen to his relationships with his family. Perhaps because when he arrived in America he was all alone, a twelve year old orphan, he especially valued those relationships.
The scene in front of the hospital, where he and Enzo smoke cigarettes -- Enzo's hands shake, Michael's don't -- says something about them. Some have suggested that Michael's relative calm is due to his having been a Marine in combat during the war, so it's understandable that he'd be steady and Enzo would be nervous. But I'm not so sure of that. Enzo was a captured POW who was allowed to work in the community to help with the American war effort, which was how he met Nazorine and his daughter. So, Enzo had seen combat too. His reaction seems more realistic to me; I've never been in combat, but if I were I hope I'd stick it out and do my duty, like Enzo, not running away -- but I also think that by the battle's end I'd have done full dumps of my bladder and lower bowels.
Yeah, there's a special coldness about Michael. Even at Connie's wedding, his manner toward Kay doesn't seem all that loving; more like a brother with a normal personality would act, say, toward a friend of Connie's whom he didn't know very well -- a host being polite toward a guest.
Too ruthless? Most of his killings were justified. Sollozzo had tried to kill Vito and would surely try again. Killing McCluskey was doing the public a service, raising the community's average IQ and improving the gene pool. Killing Barzini was justified as revenge for Sonny's death, as was killing Tattaglia. But was it necessary to kill the heads of the other NYC Families? Probably not, they would have fallen into line. He really had no reason for killing Moe Greene than because he had publicly humiliated Fredo. He probably could have merely expelled Fredo from the Family instead of killing him. And finally, there's the hooker he murdered to set up Senator Geary -- a truly innocent victim. So yes, too ruthless.
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marktayloruk (2502)
a year ago
Wiping out all the other Family Heads was just fantasy. Even if practical, the authorities would have got suspicious! In the book was only Barzini.and Tattaglia - after Moe.
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