Someone recently mentioned this in a post, but I can't seem to find which thread it was on.

However, one thing, at least for me, that I have a hard time accepting is the fact that Vito "sat back" and let Carlo abuse Connie. Coming from a strict Siclian family, I can't imagine something like this would be ignored. I know in the book Vito says something like, she married Carlo and now has to deal with it. (or something like that), yet it doesn't seem realistic to me.

Of course, never being involved with crime families, perhaps makes the difference. I just can't imagine my father having that attitude, had I married an abusive man.

Just food for thought I guess.

TIS

Yes, it's hard for us to accept today. I think it has something to do with the 1940's mindset (and as stated by both Vito and Mama)...that you simply did not interfere in a man & woman's marriage.

But in the film, the two times that happened there was only verbal abuse going on between Connie & Carlo. Only Sonny became aware of the beatings when he showed up at the apartment...Connie begs him not to do anything and rants that it was HER fault because she hit him first. Even the wife was trying to protect & make excuses for her husband's behavior.

So in the novel, were Vito and his wife actually conscious of the fact that their daughter was being smacked around by her husband? If so...then again it's the accepted social mindset of the times. You don't interfere in a marriage, until perhaps enough damage is done that some kind of retribution is warranted.

Apple

I didnt think Veto would have known about it until after he was shot.

Abuse starts after marriage in a lot of cases (surely Connie wouldn't of married Carlo if he was abusive before the marriage) and it was only soon after the marriage that Veto was shot. So Veto and everyone else had a lot more things going on, what with the advent of a families -war.

We learn at the end of GF2 that Carlo was Sonnys friend. Sonny wouldnt have introduced Carlo to his sister if he realised the real nature of Carlo.

If that was my daughter I would have strung Carlo up by the neck. So, in the future if I ever to have a daughter she isn't allowed to date until she's 36.

In the novel, Connie tells her father about the beatings because she wants to get out of the marriage. He askes her what she is doing to make him hit her. She even asks him if he ever hit her mother to which he replies something like "She never gave me any reason to hit her."

That always surprised me too, that he never helped her. In the book it was just kind of like, you made your bed know lie in it.

Sonny would have told Vito that Carlo was beating the hell out of Connie. As the oldest son he would have felt he could never keep a secret like that from Papa.

And VIto, like most old-fashioned fathers, would have told Carlo the same thing SOnny did... "YOu touch my daughter again, I'll kill ya."

And he would have done it, too. I don't think, with Luca Brasi around, VIto had to personally kill too many people any more by that time, but I think just for the personal satisfaction, Vito would have done a "Fanucci" on Carlo the next time he found out he had smacked the hell out of Connie.

And it wouldn't just be "personal," either... Vito would be sending the message... "You mess with the Don's daughter, you end up taking the dirt dive." Strictly business.

I don't think this is true.

When Sonny realizes his sister has been beaten, the weakened Vito is still recuperating from gunshot wounds.

Sonny is now acting Head of the Family, both personally and professionally...and once he & his fists have confronted Carlo would probably feel he's got things under control with no need to further upset 'Pop'.

Anyway...at this point he'd been told by BOTH his parents not to interfere in the marriage. He probably wouldn't want them to know he did just that.

Apple

Krlea, you captured the essence of Vito's value system here. Very Old School, very traditional Catholic (not that we ever saw Vito go to church.) In today's society divorce is almost a progressive step in marriage. We have a hard time accepting til death due us part. Vito believed in the sanctity of marriage and that the couple must make it work at all costs. Not a common belief today.

Being a mother of 3 that always bothered me also. but I guess that was the way it was. But if my daughter or sons was being abused mentaly or physicaly the abuser would regret the day he or she was ever born.
They would be !!!!

Hello all,
I am new here! I'm only 13 and have seen the godfather trilogy. I watched it about a month ago and have to say "IT IS THE BEST TRILOGY EVER MADE" I have been dying to talk about it but no-one at my school appreciates it at all. Finally, i can talk to adults about it lol. Please reply!

Thea

Hey there, Greek Goddess (Thea)...WELCOME to the Board!! NICE to see someone appreciate the Trilogy at age 13, I didn't really get into it until well into my 30's!!

You've found a home here, and can talk about The Godfather to your heart's content. Your classmates truly don't know what they're missing, and will probably catch up to you in a decade or so!!!

Look forward to chatting with you.

AppleOnYa

Thinking back, there was never a scene where Vito was present (later he was in the hospital), that Carlo verbally or physically abused Connie.

However, the scene at the dinner table, everyone (but Vito) was present, when he told Connie to "shut-up" and Sonny told him never to tell is sister to shut up, which could have made the rest of the family at least "wonder" because of the harsh tone he used.

Then again, I suppose it's also one of those things that you can think wouldn't happen in your family and you are sort of blind to. At least Sonny was onto it. Which, by the way, notice when he left after Connie called him, he didn't tell anyone where/why he was going?


TIS

I was always under the impression that Vito didn't help Connie because he didn't like Carlo in the first place and didn't want her to marry him. I recall the novel mentioning that Connie consented to have a "guinea wedding" to appease her father since she "had so displeased him with her choice of a husband".

I figured that Vito knew Carlo was bad news and told Connie, but she wanted to marry him so it was sort of a "don't come crying to me when you're hurt" type of deal.

TIS,
There is one deleted scene shown in The Godfather Saga where Vito stops Sonny from sticking himself in the middle of a knockdown dragout between Connie & Carlo, not very long after their wedding.

This is just as Vito, Sonny & Tom are about to discuss the meeting with Sollozzo...Tom has just returned from his visit to Mr. Woltz in Hollywood.


I have a cousin who was physically abused for many years by her husband, before they were finally divorced. This seemed to all of us like the most loving couple you could ever hope to see. Later, she revealed she stayed with him so long because they had eloped when very young (and pregnant) and once the hitting began she couldn't possibly leave him & face her father, who had warned her that she'd made a huge mistake and would one day regret having married this guy.

I always wondered but can't imagine the guilt my uncle (now deceased) must've felt after hearing that!!!

As for Sonny leaving for Connie's place...it appears he bolted out of the house so quickly and in such a rage, that it's doubtful he bothered to tell anybody where he was going. However, everyone knew that it was Connie he had just been on the phone with, so one would guess they figured out where he was headed.

Apple

I think that it boils down to this : As many other posts have said this was the mindset of the old families back then ( Yes it is hard for us to conceive that mindset today ). In my opinion Vito would not and did not interfere with the trouble in thier marriage because at that early stage Connie did NOT show physical signs of abuse and therefore in the old mindset of Vito, it was really not that serious. However I do believe that as time went on and Connie displayed physical signs of abuse ( like she eventually did when Vito was sick and Sonny had seen )and VIto saw this, then at that point he definately would have "taken care " of the problem in his own way. We must remember that spousal abuse was a very hidden thing years ago, "not to be talked about," and many woman were either too afraid to speak out about it, or were just not believed by others. I think that it was and still is a disgusting thing, but unfortunately back then it was an "accepted" thing in many cultures for a man to beat his wife if she "stepped out of line! Only in the past decade or so has spousal abuse become a more outspoken subject. But I believe, as I said, that bottom line is if Vito had seen physical signs of abuse by Carlo on Connie, then he would have stepped in. You can be sure that Michael told his father what went on with Carlo abusing Connie to the point that she displayed bruises, etc., because Michael needed to tell Vito how the abuse did eventually play a role in setting up Sonny.


Don Cardi

The Don was a subtle guy. In addition to all the reasons already posted (all of them good!), I think it's possible that the Don's butting out may have been his way of saying to Connie, "You made your bed, now sleep in it." Put another way: He obviously didn't approve of Carlo and never trusted him from the day of his and Connie's wedding. Now he was making her responsible for her actions.
Another possibility: he may well have figured that Carlo'd get his comuppance from Sonny. The Don restrained Sonny (in a deleted scene), but he probably knew that eventually, he'd be unable to keep Sonny in check.

Why should Vito interfere? There were a lot of other things going on at that time, and Sonny seemed to be doing a fine job taking care of that (or so it seemed).Vito knew Sonny was going after Carlo, and for a while before Sonny's death there was no more complaints, so they must have figured Sonny took care of it.

I tuelly hate those who abuse women. Every time I look at that scene it just makes REAL SAD!! I know it ain't real but its proof that stuff like this happens in real life. Carlo really could have caused some fatal damage to Connie's unborn child. Once Carlo got killed I thought "He truelly deserved to die."

I don't think the Don knew what was going on. Though sick in the hospital no one mentioned it to him as an item of "what should we do". Carlo was not blood and was always treated as an outsider by everyone. Unfortunately he took his frustrations out on Connie. Sonny tried to bring Carlo around by beating him to his senses and even told Connie he wasn't going to make her baby an orphan. In the end I don't think Michael even knew the whole story about Connie getting beat up because he whacked out Carlo on the premise of setting up Sonny through Barzini.