I'm not into the whole "what if" scenarios because, quite simply, they didn't happen, so what's the point of discussing it?

But something just dawned on me.

Mike clearly wanted the WASPy wife in Kay to be by his side in order to look more American and less Italian, AKA, mobbed up.

But what if Appolonia lived?

Would he have brought her back to the states with him and kept him as a wife as he took over the family business?

How would that have hurt/helped his image? You have to think that if she lived, and came to the states with him, she wouldn't have been as naive as Kay. She knew what the mafia was all about, having lived in Sicily. Her father was a part of it!

I think Appolonia would have become a little Lady Macbeth (Lady Corleone) had she lived and would have had Michael's ear a little more than he would have liked.

I also would have loved to see how Kay would have reacted to see Mike back home with a wife. You also have to think that Mike would still have feelings for Kay too, since he left so abruptly after murdering Sollozzo and McClusky.

Who knows, maybe Apple would have ended up ordering a hit on Kay!

There is also the possibility that Mike and Appolonia would have stayed in Sicily, where Mike could have either lived out the rest of his life there in peace (which I doubt, he was "in" after the killings) or become a representative of the Corleone family in Sicily and rose to power there.

After all, power was his destiny.

Basically, where was Mike mentally when he married Apple? Did he know he would come back and take over the family business when he married her? Was he just struck by the thunderbolt and not thinking about that stuff?

What does everyone think?

I think initially he was looking for some companionship followed quickly by a "be like dad"... marry a sicilian.

I think too much is made about Kay and how it makes Michael look. As far as I know... Michael got out of bad situations because of Michael... not because of his waspy wife.

IMO Michael wanted a REAL, HARDCORE SICILIAN family. That was his goal. The once first option in Kay became a 2nd option... only because Appolonia was killed.

Michael's true love was Appolonia. She would have been the essential Italian mobster's wife too. Like a Mama Corleone.

I don't believe that Michael loved Kay in the same way after falling in love with Appolonia. He was hit by the thunderbolt with Appolonia. He wasn't with Kay.

Although I think that he loved Kay in a different way, he was not as passionate about Kay as he was with Appolonia.

If he really and truley lved Kay the way that he loved Appolonia, then he would have never waited as long as he did to contact her after returning from Sicily.

Well, I saw Diane Keaton topless in LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR.

No comparison.

Apollonia

Disagree. I think Kay was always #1.




Agree 100%.




It was STILL Love for Kay... just different love... and future/family stuff.



Agreed.




I disagree here... I think the only reason why he waited was that he had to get his "family" affairs in order. Had to be focused... remember there was no future if Michael didnt have his ducks all lined up.

The book even tells us, when he first sees Apollonia, that

"...it was nothing like the love he'd had for Kay."

Wow.... the first time he see's Apollonia he trumps the "love/relationship" that he had with Kay.... thats pretty good...

Scarfather,

Have you ever read the book?

Right DC, the book tells about he thunderbolt hitting him about Appolonia and it's in the movie also. I believe he felt comfortable with Kay, but he really loved Appolonia passionately.

No I havent.

I understand what you are saying and where you are getting it from.... but... the book and the movie are different right? According to most of the posters on here....

My point is.... He tells Kay that he thought of her EVEN when he was married to Apollonia... I believe him...

I believe that part of his initial attraction to Kay was that she was everything that every girl he knew growing up was not. She was not Italian, not Catholic, she was fair, not dark, she was independent, questioning and educated. At the time that he met Kay, Michael was doing his best to distance himself from his family and everything about them.

When he fled to Sicily, he experiences the thunderbolt when he sees Appolonia. He falls intensely in love with her at first sight. At that time, he is in a search for his roots, and Appolonia, being the good Sicilian wife, is perfect for the man that Michael is becoming. And when she is killed, I think that a large part of him dies.

When he returns to America, I think he very coldly decides to go in search of Kay. She was still in love with the Michael that she met in college, the one looking to separate himself from his family and his past. She has no idea about the man he has become, but she's getting older, living in a tiny town in New Hampshire, so she agrees to marry him.

As for Michael's feelings for Kay, I think that he cared for her, but I don't think that she ever had a shot at being #1. Michael decided that it was time to settle down and start his family, so he finds out that Kay had never married, figures that she's getting older and maybe a little nervous about being an old maid, he's comfortable with her, she provides a veil of legitimacy, and he cold-bloodedly proposes.

He does say to Kay in Part 3"you were all that i cared about.You were all that i cherished the most in this world"

I do agrre with Sicilian Babe for the most part.As in when he was living in America Kay had her appeal before he eventually fell in love with her.And while in Sicily,Appolonia was the "real" thing and he was immersing himself in his heritage with her.

Just my thoughts.

Maybe if she lived she would have grown some nipples.

Hahaha

Excellent post SB! Right on the money!

And if I might add, when Michael returns and goes to see Kay, at that point we are seeing the cunning of Michael, the manipulation. "I thought about you..." etc. etc.

She was his wife, the mother of his children. Of course he cherished her. But he never says, I was so crazy in love with you that I couldn't see straight! He uses words like care and cherish, not adore, and certainly never crazy. Only Appolonia makes him crazy with love.

Good point.I just love how many levels this saga contains.So many different view points created in so many different peoples minds.Its surreal how the power of film can create such a thing.

Appolonia was way hotter than Kay too IMO, but GF3 would be much more different if Appolonia was his wife, it may have been harder for him to get out of the life... or attempt to.

Perfectly said!
Remember that Michael was only about 26 when he landed in Sicily in 1946. He had spent a good part of his life until then rebelling against his upbringing and his roots. So, at first, I believe he thought it was a temporary sojourn and was expecting Sonny, Tom and his father to bring him home sooner rather than later. He would then resume his former life as much as it was possible to do so.
But after the thunderbolt, I think he went into a new "phase" of his life: Make up for years of rebellion by embracing his Sicilian roots. Or, as Newton said, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." He embraced Sicily through Appolonia: formal courtship, chaperoned visits, old-fashioned wedding, protection from a gabboleto (Don Tomasso). I think he might have been contemplating staying in Sicily indefinitely--until Sonny got whacked and Appolonia was blown up.

Perfectly said!
Remember that Michael was only about 26 when he landed in Sicily in 1946. He had spent a good part of his life until then rebelling against his upbringing and his roots. So, at first, I believe he thought it was a temporary sojourn and was expecting Sonny, Tom and his father to bring him home sooner rather than later. He would then resume his former life as much as it was possible to do so.
But after the thunderbolt, I think he went into a new "phase" of his life: Make up for years of rebellion by embracing his Sicilian roots. Or, as Newton said, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." He embraced Sicily through Appolonia: formal courtship, chaperoned visits, old-fashioned wedding, protection from a traditional Don. I think he might have been contemplating staying in Sicily indefinitely--until Sonny got whacked and Appolonia was blown up.

This is how Al Pacino described the relationship between Michael and Kay:

"Michael loved her when he met her and he loved her throughout his life and he loves her to this day, even though their relationship was surrounded by a lie. He not only loves her, but he admires her."

Appolonia wouldn't have had an abortion. She would have seen bearing and raising Michael's sons as her greatest achievement.

I never said that Mike wanted Kay to get him out of anything. Mike wanted to be presented as an Americanized person though, in all aspects of his life. Kay would fulfill this. Although I agree, Appolonia was his "true love".

On a side note, does anyone think that Apollonia was pregnant (obviously the beginning stages) at the time of her death? I know it wasn't mentioned in either the novel or the book, but it would add more fuel to Michael's fire.

I dont think she was.But she could've been.It would no doubt add a lot more fuel to his fire.

She would have become fat and her only english would have been monday, tuesday, saturday, sunday, friday ...

Would have? Isn't she still alive, olivant?

Would have? Isn't she still alive, olivant?

Would have? Isn't she still alive, olivant?

Do you believe that Micheal had no affection towards Kay? The question is not mentioned anywhere, but I guess Micheal would not be a mob in his personal life. Had not he been in, he would have remained a nice college boy and good civilian. As with Apple, I would agree that there is a more proportion of joys of flesh between them than that of 'true love'