The Godfather is a great movie and also a great book. However, beyond those accepted facts, it is not completely realistic. It is a 'bigger than life' type of film and novel but compared to real life , there are many things in the movie and book that are unrealistic. Just to name a few: 1) The attempt on Vito Corleone's life is unrealistic to a certain degree. In real life, there would have been at least two more hit men involved, and they would have killed Fredo & Vito. One of the men would have shot Vito in the head and Fredo would have been killed also. 2) The killing of Sonny at the toLl bridge is way exaggerated and somewhat unrealistic. 3) Mafia Families in New York have way more than 2 or 3 Caporegimes. A person like Micheal would never all of a sudden become the Head of a Family because he killed a police captain and was Vito's son. Just to name a few... it would take too long to name all the other unrealistic things. DON'T GET ME WRONG, FROM A NOVEL AND MOVIE PERSPECTIVE, THEY WERE BOTH VERY ENTERTAINING WITH GREAT ACTING.