Kay had nothing to do with Michael's motivation for legitimacy. As I and others have opined, Michael's concept of legitimacy was different from most peoples. Kay was simply an accoutrement; she was utilized by him to achieve his version of legitimacy.

I liked Appolonia. wow!

Tough to say. He wanted to distance himself from the family before he even met Kay (he didn't meet her until after he got out of the Marines), but then of course everything happened.

I think that he would have even without her in his life, however I think if Appolonia had lived then he would have fully embraced being a Mafioso because A) She already knew he was (or at least suspected it), and B) She would have been like Mama Corleone and known not to ask questions or be a bitch to him.

Fuck Kay. I always hated her. Washed out American rag.

I liked Appolonia. wow!

Right, Oli.
Bringing in Appolonia adds to this interesting thread. I think Michael's decision to kill Sol and Mac was motivated by his perceived need to rescue his father from what appeared to be another, likely successful, attempt on his life. He may also at that point have decided (probably subconsciously) to finally stop rejecting his family and rejoin it ("I'm with you now, Pop"). But I don't think he committed himself to being a Mafia Don at that point.

I see his wooing of Appolonia, and the old-fashioned wedding, as a kind of affirmation of his Sicilian roots and his patrimony--maybe even a rejection of the WASP-y ways he'd adopted, which Kay personified. Had Sonny not been killed, and had Michael returned to the US not in a leadership role in the family, Appolonia would have represented another step in reconciling with his roots and his father. But, her and Sonny's murders put him in the Mafia, all the way. His quest for legitimacy was his way of dealing with his father's aspriations for him and his need to be the boss of a Mafia family. I think he loved Kay in his own way, but she was window-dressing for his quest for legitimacy. The wooing scene in New Hampshire was brilliantly done--not a hint of passion, more like a business negotiation, right down to Michael dressing like a pint-sized banker and being trailed by a limo.

I think that in spite of his words to Kay and his entry into the casino business,Michael had no intention of going legit after the killing of Sollozzo and McCluskey. At first,granted,he was a naive innocent as far as the reality of the Family business.

As things progressed,he transformed into the ruthless,lowlife Mob Boss,and I believed he enjoyed every minute of the power and fear that he generated.

After Sonny and Appolonia got killed,was the massacre of the Five Family heads really necessary? I mean,I know Barzini was going to make a move,but wouldn't it have been enough to just take out Tessio and Barz? The other Family Bosses were not a threat to Michael,except in his head.They could care less about Barzini,and just wanted to get back to business.

Same with Fredo and Hyman Roth. Both were in effect neutralized,but Mike had to go the extra mile and kill them out of some warped sense of honor.

Bottom line,Mike loved being a gangster,and despite the opportunities he had to really get out and go legit,he took none.

Turnbull, Are you sure Micheal only kills Barzini and Tattaglia
in the novel? I believe in the novel he also kills Cuneo and Stracci.

I don't think it was possible for Michael to go "legitimate" by society's standards, married or not. I think the difference would have been that if Appolonia were a "typical" Sicilian wife of that period, Michael simply would have had less incentive to pretend that he was going legit. Put another way: when Michael is dancing with Kay at Anthony's party, she confronts him with the "completely legitimate" promise of seven years [sic] earlier, and he replies, "I'm trying." If Appolonia were his wife at that point, the issue never would have come up.