The Godfather Trilogy 5 Reasons Michael Corleone Was The Better Don (& 5 Why It Was Vito Corleone)

The Godfather Trilogy: 5 Reasons Michael Corleone Was The Better Don (& 5 Why It Was Vito Corleone)

The Godfather trilogy saw two men leading the Corleone family: Michael and Vito. The real question is who was the better capo?

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The Godfather Trilogy is often seen as the best film series of all time. And there are plenty of facts to back this up. The three movies were nominated for 28 Oscars collectively and won 9. They also grossed $512 million at the box office, which was a lot at the time.

The first film had Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) as the boss of the Corleone Crime Family while in the second and third films, his son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was in charge. Father and son handled things very differently while at the helm, so who was the better mob boss between the two?

10 Michael: He Was More Ruthless

While Vito preferred to reason issues out with his enemies, Michael had them killed. In the first movie, viewers got a sense of just how ruthless Michael was when he killed McCluskey and Solozzo in a diner for being involved in his father’s shooting. It was arguably one of the best movie scenes of all time.

He also ordered the killing of the heads of the other five New York crime families on the same day. To top that, he killed his brother Fredo and his brother in law Carlo despite his sister begging him not to do so. Mob bosses have to instill fear and Michael did this perfectly.

9 Vito: He Had A Conscience

Vito refuses to sell drugs because he feels it is a dirty business that ruins lives. He also refuses to accept money in order to get someone killed because he feels it is not the right thing to do. He is simply not a reckless, temperamental, and inhumane gangster.

“What have I ever done for you to treat me so disrespectfully?” Vito also asks this to a man who has wronged him. Attempting to reason with enemies is not the way most mob bosses prefer to go about things. Another don would have simply ordered a hit.

8 Michael: His Unpredictability

The most fascinating thing about Michael is that it was hard to tell what he was really going to do. Unlike Vito who said he couldn’t do something and really couldn’t do it, Michael was full of surprises. He became the godfather of Connie and Carlo’s child only for him to get Carlo killed shortly after.

He also assured Fredo that he would never kill him because he was family only for him to do it. And he patiently waited for their mother to die first before proceeding. The fact that he never really spoke much made him more unpredictable.

7 Vito: The Iconic Intimidating Voice

Thanks to Brando’s good acting, Vito Corleone spoke like he hadn’t yet swallowed the steak he was chewing last night at the dinner table. This made him sound very intimidating. He chose his words carefully and leaned his head forward a little bit just to make sure the other party understood him well.

From the way he spoke, it was hard to tell whether he was happy or he was going to strangle someone the next minute. Apparently, Marlon Brando decided to speak this way after going through the novel and coming across a scene where Don Corleone had been shot in the neck. He figured his voice must have changed.

6 Michael; Business Acumen

Vito was only a boss in New York City but Michael managed to expand the business empire to other territories. He went to Las Vegas and attempted to make his business legitimate so as to prevent the feds from sniffing around. He faced some opposition from some of his associates but he had them killed.

By 1979, nearly all of Michael’s operations were legitimate. He had sold his interests in casinos and hotels and was only looking to make clean investments. He was good at delegating responsibilities too. Peter Clemenza, Joey Zasa, and Salvatore Tessio were all given their own territories to manage.

5 Vito: He Built His Empire From Scratch

Vito came to America as an immigrant. Both his mother and brother had been killed by an unreasonable crime boss in Sicily. In Little Italy, New York, he started small by working at a grocery store before becoming a petty thief and later morphing into a respected gangster.

Michael found a ready-made criminal empire. The Corleone name was already big and all he had to do was to keep things that way. He definitely deserves credit for expanding the empire but in any given scenario, the founder will always be more revered than the incumbent.

4 Michael: The Best Character Development

Has there ever been a movie character with such a good story as Michael’s? He never wanted to be a mob boss in the first place. He swore to his wife Kay that he’d never get involved in his father’s business, only for him to be forced into it by circumstances. Unusual circumstances usually give birth to the best antiheroes. Walter White is a good example.

When the time came for someone to succeed Michael’s father, there was no one else but him. Sonny had been killed, Fredo was too weak and Vito’s health was declining. Vito’s adopted son Tom Hagen was the only other man worthy of being boss but the fact that he wasn’t Italian disqualified him.

3 Vito: Relationship With Family

“A man who doesn’t spend time with the family can never be a true man.” These words were said by Vito and they can never be truer. And it isn’t just about spending time with family. It’s about getting along with them. A crime family only works well if all the family members (blood or not) love the boss.

Whereas Vito had a great relationship with everyone, Michael frequently fought with his wife. He couldn’t get along with his sister or brother in law either. He eventually ended up dying in isolation while Vito died a peaceful death with his family closeby.

2 Michael: Survived All Assassination Attempts

Michael faced more threats to his life than Vito and he impressively managed to dodge them all. Plenty of enemies from Hyman Roth to Lucchesi tried to kill him but failed. The fact that there were many attempts on Michael’s life yet none succeeded showed just how smart and careful he was as a boss.

However, his survival didn’t come without a price. His first wife Apollonia ended up dying as an unintended target during one of the many assassination attempts. The same thing happened to his only daughter. Most gangsters end up getting killed or locked up. Michael avoided both of these.

1 Vito: He Had A Longer Run As A Gangster

Experience is vital in any business. According to the trilogy, Vito properly immersed himself into the world of crime in 1920. He began by buying and selling stolen dresses before setting up an olive oil business. By the early 1930s, he had set up his crime family, He remained at the helm until his death in 1955.

Michael’s years as a gangster ran from 1951 after he came back from hiding to 1979 when he gave up all criminal operations. And before becoming boss, he had no proper foundation in the criminal underworld since he had spent his earlier years in college and the military.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/godfather-trilogy-reasons-michael-corleone-better-don-vito-corleone/

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