Which is a more Tragic Event..

Hey guys. Just watched the Godfather 1, which I haven't seen since november. But I was just wondering, when you first see these 2 scenes (right when the event actually happens, not the aftermath and scenes that follow) which scene do you guys think is more sad/tragic...when Don Corleone gets shot in the street or when Sonny gets pumped on the causeway.

I think that although Sonny actually dies in his scene, the fact that he's shot about a thousand times just makes his scene disgusting and revolting, and not necessarily tragic/sad.

Don Corelone on the other hand, is a sad/tragic scene because he is afterall the Don and the cornerstone of the empire. Also, the fact that he is an older man makes it a little depressing. However, Don Corelone does not die. And we are left with that ambiguity at the scene.

Just wondering what you guys think.

this is a tough one, but i have to choice don vito's shotting since you dont know if he is going to make it or not...and seeing fredo's reaction doesnt help matters either. now though with the reactions afterwards i would choose sonny's murder just because of tom and don vito's reaction to the news and the body of his oldest son.

I too go with Vito's assassination attempt.

For me it would be Sonny's assassination. He has nowhere to run, you hear him screaming and all he had been trying to do was to protect his sister.

Tie --- the discourse between Tom and Vito when Tom breaks the news, and the grief-stricken look on Vito's face when he says "Look how they massacred my boy."

I'm not sure that "tragic" is the right choice of words. Both Vito and Sonny were murderers in their own right. When you choose to live by the gun, it can't be considered "tragic" when you die by it. Maybe "sadder" is a better way to put in. And in that case I'd give the edge to Sonny because he was younger, he had young children, and his parents had to bury their son, which is the saddest thing in the world. To me, the only tragic death in the trilogy was Mary's. She was a total innocent, proving that the old adage, "we only kill each other," is a total crock of shit, accident or not.

Carrying on an incestuous relationship makes her a total innocent?

Okay, half-way innocent.

You bet your gnocchi half innocent.

Hey, if you can't keep it in your pants, keep it in the family. That's what I always say.

I agree with you PB. A form of the death penalty can be considered the fitting consequence of committing murder. However, Mary's murder was not a consequnce of her actions.

I'd go with Vito's near assassination. If he would have died, then power would have unquestionably gone to Sonny, and that would have been disastrous, IMO. He lived long enough for Michael to realize he wanted in, and was "with" Vito, and therefore suitable for power and control of the family. I believe that even if Sonny had not been whacked, Michael still would have been given power.

No, but Worst Actress Ever ought to count for something!

Vito would of lived, but this was the end of Santino, i did feel sorry for Vito the first time cause i thought to myself that he had died already.