2 days ago I was watching GF1 again. Maybe it's possible that I'm wrong, but this is what I was confused about:

In the big meeting (Vito-Barzini-Tattaglia etc) Vito says something like: '...swear at the lives of my grandchilderen..'

But at that point he didn't have one...that's what I thought. Michael didn't had anthony at that point...Sonny wasn't around anymore...Fredo didn't had childeren, nor did Connie (at that point)..

Correct or incorrect?

Incorrect.

Vito had at least seven grandchildren at that point (including Tom's children).

Sonny had four, Connie had one (Victor)(although I'm not 100% certain he was born yet) and Tom had two kids who were born at the time of that meeting. Remember they all met Vito upon his return from the hospital.

Mmm....yeah. I totally forgot that part...

SC, Not only are you right about Tom and Sonny already having children, but Connie must have had Victor by that point. When Carlo first beats her, she's very obviously pregnant. If she hadn't given birth by the time of the meeting, it would've been darned close.

New question about the meeting:

Vito says something like: "...if a bolt of lightening strikes him...I will blame some of the people in this room."

Is this part 'the lightening bolt' meant as real or as a sort of expression for something else..

Cause if it is real it doesn't make any sense to me. Then he just could have said: "If my son dies I'll blame some of the people in this room..." and that he didn't cause that was the first part of his speech were he says that nothing should happen to michael.

I think he just used some exagerations, to make clear that his son HAD TO come home safely. He knew they where gonna come after Michael, so he couldn't say something like "yeah, I kinda want him to come home, perhaps". He had to make his point of view very, very clear.

I think the "lightening bolt" comment is a part of a number of possibilities that Vito envisioned as ways Michael could be assassinated. He mentioned for example the chance that Michael would commit suicide in his jail cell.
What he was saying was that not only should Michael get home safely, but that Michael's safety was the resopnsibility of all the five families as well as their associates in Sicily.

Remember, a lot of Mafia hits appear to be "accidents" someone "trips" from a 50 story building, or happens to go into the East River with a pair of concrete boots... lots of accidental death.

That lightning bolt comment was the closest we hear of Vito ever uttering a threat. He is really telling everyone in that room that they'd better not dare even THINK about harming Michael.

I think its one of Vito's best lines in the movie.

What he was telling them was that if something happens to Michael, "even if it is not your fault, I will make it your fault and hold you all responsible."

He basically told th heads of the families that in no uncertain terms should ANY harm in ANY form, be it intentional or by accident, come to his son Michael.

But his message was MOSTLY meant for Don Barzini's ears. Don't forget that Barzini was the one behind the attempt on Michael's life and the killing of Appolonia. And it was obvious that another attempt would be made on Michael's life after the first one failed.

Don Vito, as we later learned, realized during that meeting that "it was Barzini all along," and therefore knowing that an attempt had been made on Michael's life in Sicily, he was sending a message to Barzini telling him that if he had anymore intentions of trying to have Michael killed while in Sicily, he had better call it off.

By making that speach, he also was making the other Dons aware of what needed to be done to make the peace. Because those Don's did not like a war going on. It cost them too much money and too much business, and they wanted things back to the way that they were. And now that Vito had agreed to make the peace, his doing so put pressure on Barzini because if something would have happened to Michael by the hand of Barzini, Vito could actually go to the other Dons and say " See, I sincerely made the peace and gave into the demands, but now Barzini has broken his end of the deal and has caused a war to stop."

And if that had taken place then what probably would have happened was that all the other Dons and the families would have gone after Barzini for bringing them back into a costly war.

Vito's speach gave him "insurance" that the other families in that room would back him up in case Barzini did not honor Don Vito's demand for a safe return of Michael. It also gave him insurance that the other families themselves would make sure that no one in that room, particualry Barzini, would step out of line and make any attempt on Michael before he returned home.

Because the bottomline was that it would have cost all those other families money if another war had broken out. And that was all those other families cared about, the bottom line, making money again.

It was a brilliant move by Vito.


Don Cardi

Yep in more ways than one. He knew that Michael was "with him now" and that Michael could be groomed to take over the family business. The other dons thought Sonny was a dead hot head, they knew Frfedo was a moron, and they probably thought Micheal was a lightweight who would never be able to hold his own against them. So the Don, while appearing to simply have a sentimental interest in getting Michael home was really starting phase one of the next war.

Also BTW.. I would love to hear speculation on how the Don got Michael back and "cleared of all these false charges." I would guess the waiter at Louis testified that someone walked in and killed Sollozzo and McCluskey, and that whoever it was he did not fit Michael's description. I would also bet that waiter enjoyed a financially lucrative retirement afterwords.

Well that is explained in the book. One of the other families, I believe it was the Bocchicios, had a member who had been convicted of some crime and I believe, was sentenced to death. So Don Vito made a deal with the Bocchicios. The member of the family agreed to confess to killing McClusky and Sollozo and in return the Corleones paid a handsome sum to his family for doing so. It didn't matter to the member of the Bocchicio clan because he was facing the death penalty anyway, so this was a way for Vito to get Mike off the hook and back into the country safely and at the same time the guy who confessed to the murders of McClusky and Sollozo would be assured that his family would be taken care of financially for the rest of their lives. It was a no brainer.

I'm going off memory here, and if anyone would remember this better than I and be more accurate about this it would be Plaw.


Don Cardi

Yes - in the book this was how it was explained. It was a member of the Bocchicchio family who confessed to the killings.

I don't think this was ever dealt with directly in the movie, though.

Signor V.

...me, me, ME!!!! After all, I've read the book recently too

And yes, your synopsis of how Michael is brought home pretty much explains the whole thing. Yet another segment of the book I have to admit I found completely fascinating.

Apple

"I'm a stranger in this country, I don't know the customs that well", so I should let you know that this post contains a spoiler for the book, if you haven't read it yet.

In the book, the lightning talk demonstrates that Michael is the Don incarnate. In arguing that Sollozzo must be killed, Michael says, "They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know who I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his, the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great."

150 pages later, the Don rises from his sickbed, makes the peace and says, "If my son is struck by a bolt of lightning I will blame some of the people here."

Michael's talk isn't included in the movie, but I think it's the best thing in the book.

Welcome, mustachepete!

Consider yourself (symbolically) kissed on both cheeks.

Signor V.

Not to beat a dead horse head here, but the "lightning bolt" is a hyperbolic way of saying that even if Michael dies through an honest ACCIDENT-- a seeming act of God-- Vito will suspect foul play. It's just a colorful and very succinct way of making his point.