Quotes

Dialogue

Bonasera: I believe in America. America has made my fortune, and I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend, not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boy friend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor, so they beat her like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered, held together by wire. She couldn't even weep because of the pain, but I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life. A beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again. [sobs] Sorry. I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison and suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like

Dialogue

Michael: Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to this personal service contract with a big band leader. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. And my father went to see this band leader, and he offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go. But the band leader said no. So the next day, my father went to see him, only this time with Luca Brasi. And within an hour, he signed a release, for a certified check for $1,000. Kay: How'd he do that? Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Kay: What was that? Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract. That's a true story. That's my family, Kay. It's not me.

Dialogue

Johnny: A month ago, he bought the movie rights to this book, a best-seller, and the main character, it's a guy just like me. I, uh, I wouldn't even have to act, just be myself. [choking up] Oh, Godfather, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Vito: [shaking Johnny] You can act like a man! [slaps Johnny] What's the matter with you? Is this how you turned out, a Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman? "Eheheh! What can I do? What can I do?" What is that nonsense? Ridiculous. You spend time with your family? Johnny: Sure I do. Vito: Good, because a man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man. Come here. You look terrible. I want you to eat. I want you to rest a while, and in a month from now, this Hollywood bigshot's gonna give you what you want. Johnny: It's too late, they start shooting in a week. Vito: I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. Now, you just go outside and enjoy yourself, and, uh, forget about all this nonsense. I want you, I

Dialogue

Virgil Sollozzo: Don Corleone. I need a man who has powerful friends. I need a million dollars in cash. I need those politicians that you carry in your pocket, like nickels and dimes. Vito: What is the interest for my family? Sollozzo: 30%. In the first year your end should be three, four million dollars. And then it would go up. Vito: And what is the interest for the Tattaglia family? Sollozzo: ...My compliments. I’ll take care of them, out of my share. Vito: So I receive 30% for finance, political influence and legal protection? Sollozzo: That’s right. Vito: Why do you come to me? Why do I deserve this generosity? Sollozzo: If you consider a million dollars in cash just finance... te salud, Don Corleone. Vito: [gets up] I said that I would see you, because I heard you were a serious man, to be treated with respect. [sits next to Sollozzo] But, uh, I must say no to you, and I'll give you my reasons. It's true, I have a lot of friends in politics, but they wouldn't be friendly very lon

Dialogue

Sollozzo: Your boss is dead. I know you're not in the muscle-end of the family, Tom, so I don't want you to be scared. I want you to help the Corleones, and I want you to help me. [hands Tom a drink.] Yeah, we got him outside his office just about an hour after we picked you up. Drink it. So now it's up to you to make the peace between me and Sonny. Sonny was hot for my idea, wasn't he? And you knew it was the right thing to do. Tom: Sonny'll come after you with everything he's got. Sollozzo: That'll be his first reaction, sure. That's why you gotta talk some sense into him. The Tattaglia family is behind me with all their people. The other New York families will go along with anything that will prevent a full-scale war. Let's face it, Tom, and all due respect, the Don, rest in peace, was slipping. Ten years ago, could I have gotten to him? Well, now, he's dead. He's dead, Tom, and nothing can bring him back, so you gotta talk to Sonny. You gotta talk to the caporegimes, that Tessio an

Dialogue

Sonny: What the hell is this? Tessio: It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.

Dialogue

Officer Phil: Now hold still. McCluskey: I thought I got all you guinea hoods locked up! What the hell are you doing here? Michael: What happened to the men who were guarding my father, Captain? McCluskey: Why, you little punk! What the hell are you doing, telling me my business? I pulled them guys off of here! Now you get outta here, and stay away from this hospital! Michael: I'm not moving until you put some guards around my father's room. McCluskey: Phil, take him in! Officer Phil: The kid's clean, Captain! He's a war hero! He's never been busted for the rackets- McCluskey: Goddamn it, I said take him in! Michael: What's the Turk paying you to set up my father, Captain? McCluskey: Take a hold of him! Stand him up! Stand him up straight! [punches Michael]

Dialogue

Tom: This is business, not personal! Sonny: They shot my father. It's business, your ass! Tom: Even shooting your father was business, not personal, Sonny!

Dialogue

Michael: They wanna have a meeting with me, right? It will be me, McCluskey and Sollozzo. Let's set the meeting. Get our informers to find out where it's gonna be held. Now, we insist it's a public place: a bar, a restaurant, some place where there's people so I feel safe. They're gonna search me when I first meet them, right? So I can't have a weapon on me then. But if Clemenza can figure a way, to have a weapon planted there for me, then I'll kill 'em both. Sonny: [laughing, along with the others] Hey, what are ya gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the family business huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain. Why? Because he slapped you in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is, the Army where you shoot 'em a mile away? You've gotta get up close like this and bada-bing! You blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. [kisses Michael's head] You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very,

Dialogue

Clemenza: [shows Michael a revolver] This is as cold as they come, impossible to trace, so you don't worry about prints, Mike. I put a special tape on the trigger and the butt. Here, try it. [Michael takes the revolver] What'sa matter? The trigger too tight? Michael: No. [fires] Ah, my ears. Clemenza: Yeah, I left it noisy. That way, it scares any pain-in-the-ass innocent bystanders away. All right, you shot 'em both. Now what do you do? Michael: Sit down, finish my dinner. Clemenza: Come on, kid. Don't fool around. Just let your hand drop to your side, and let the gun slip out. Everybody'll still think you got it. They're gonna be staring at your face, Mike, so walk out of the place real fast, but don't run. Don't look nobody directly in the eye, but you don't look away either. Eh, they're gonna be scared stiff of you, believe me, so don't worry about nothing. You know, you gonna turn out all right. You take a long vacation, nobody knows where, and we gonna catch the hell. Michael: Ho

Dialogue

Fabrizio: [in Sicilian, upon seeing Apollonia] Mamma mia, what a beauty. Fabrizio: [to Michael, in Sicilian] I think you got hit by the thunderbolt. Calo: [in Sicilian] In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.

Dialogue

Vitelli: [in Sicilian] Did you have a good hunt? Fabrizio: [in Sicilian] You know all the girls around here? We saw some real beauties. One of them struck our friend like a thunderbolt. She would tempt the devil himself. Really put together. Such hair, such mouth! Vitelli: [in Sicilian] The girls around here are beautiful but virtuous. Fabrizio: [in Sicilian] This one had a purple dress and a purple ribbon in her hair. A type more Greek than Italian. Do you know her? Vitelli: [in Sicilian] No! There's no girl like that in his town! [storms back into the cafe] Fabrizio: [in Sicilian] My God, I understand! [gets up to look at the cafe] Michael: [to Calo, in Sicilian] What's wrong? Fabrizio: [in Sicilian] Let's go. It's his daughter. Michael: [in Sicilian] Tell him to come here. Fabrizio: [in Sicilian, points thumb inside] You don't understand. It's his daughter! Michael: [in Sicilian] Call him. [Fabrizio heads inside to usher Mr Vitelli out, flanked by his sons] Fabrizio, translate for m

Dialogue

Vito: [sees Tom Hagen with a drink] Give me a drop. [drinks] My wife is crying upstairs. I hear cars coming to the house. Consigliere of mine... [puts down the drink] I think you should tell your Don what everyone seems to know. Tom: I didn't tell Mama anything. I was about to come up and wake you and tell you. Vito: But you needed a drink first. Tom: Yeah. [puts down his drink] Vito: Well, now that you've had your drink... Tom: ...They shot Sonny on the causeway... He's dead. Vito: [sighs with a quiet sob before composing himself] I want... no inquiries made. I want no acts of vengeance. I want you to arrange a meeting with the heads of the Five Families. This war stops now.

Dialogue

Vito: How did things ever get so far? I don't know. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary. Tattaglia lost a son and I lost a son. We're quits, and if Tattaglia agrees, then I'm willing to let things go on the way they were before. Barzini: We're all grateful to Don Corleone for calling this meeting. We all know him as a man of his word. A modest man who will always listen to reason. Tattaglia: Yes, Barzini, he is too modest. He had all the judges and politicians in his pocket, and refused to share them. Vito: When? When did I ever refuse an accommodation? All of you know me here. When did I ever refuse, except one time? And why? Because I believe this drug business is gonna destroy us in the years to come. I mean, it's not like gambling or liquor, even women, which is something that most people want nowadays and it's forbidden to them by the pezzonovantes in the church. Even the police departments have helped us in the past with gambling and other things. They're gonna refuse to help u

Dialogue

Tom: When I meet with the Tattaglia people, should I insist that all his drug middlemen have clean records? Vito: Mention it. Don't insist. Barzini is a man who'll know that without being told. Tom: You mean Tattaglia? Vito: Tattaglia's a pimp. He never could've outfought Santino, but I didn't know until this day that it was... Barzini all along.

Dialogue

Michael: I'm working for my father now. He's been sick, very sick. Kay: But you're not like him, Michael. I thought you weren't going to become a man like your father. That's what you told me. Michael: My father's no different than any other powerful man; any man who's responsible for other people, like a senator or a president. Kay: [laughs] You know how naïve you sound? Michael: Why? Kay: Senators and presidents don't have men killed. Michael: Oh. Who's being naïve, Kay? Kay, my father's way of doing things is over, it's finished. Even he knows that. I mean, in five years, the Corleone family is going to be completely legitimate. Trust me. That's all I can tell you about my business.

Dialogue

Moe: What do you think is going on here? You think you can come here to my hotel and take over? I talked to Barzini. I can make a deal with him and still keep my hotel. Michael: Is that why you slapped my brother around in public? Fredo: Ah, now that was was nothing, Mike! Now, now Moe didn't mean nothing by that. Sure, he flies off the handle once in a while but Moe and me are good friends. Right, Moe? Moe: I got a business to run. I gotta kick asses sometimes to make it run right. We had a little argument, Freddy and I, so I had to straighten him out. Michael: You straightened my brother out? Moe: He was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time! Players couldn't get a drink at the table! What's the matter with you? Michael: I leave for New York tomorrow. Think about a price. Moe: Son of a bitch! Do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders! Fredo: Wait a minute, Moe. Moe, I got an idea. Tom, you're the consiglieri and you can talk t

Dialogue

Vito: I knew that Santino was gonna have to go through all this, and Fredo, well, Fredo was...but I never - I never wanted this for you. I worked my whole life - I don't apologize - to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on a string held by all of those big shots. I don't apologize. That's my life, but I thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone. Governor Corleone. Something. Michael: Another pezzonovante. Vito: Well, there wasn't enough time, Michael. Wasn't enough time. Michael: We'll get there, Pop. We'll get there.

Dialogue

Tessio: I hope Mike can get us a good deal. Tom: I'm sure he will. Cicci: [intercepts the two] Sal, Tom? Boss says he'll come in a separate car. He says for you two to go on ahead. Tessio: Hell, he can't do that. It screws up all my arrangements! Cicci: Well, that's what he said. Tom: I can't go either, Sal. Tessio: Tell Mike it was only business. I always liked him. Tom: He understands that. Cicci: 'Scuse me, Sal. [disarms Tessio] Tessio: Tom, can you get me off the hook, for old time's sake? Tom: Can't do it, Sally. [signals Cicci to take Tessio away]

Dialogue

Michael: You have to answer for Santino, Carlo. Carlo: Mike, you've got it all wrong! Michael: You fingered Sonny for the Barzini people. Ah, that little farce you played with my sister. Did you think that would fool a Corleone? Carlo: Mike, I'm innocent. I swear on my kids. Please don't do this to me, Mike. Michael: Sit down. Carlo: Please don't do this. Please. Michael: Barzini's dead. So is Phillip Tattaglia, Moe Greene, Stracci, Cuneo. Today, I settle all family business, so don't tell me you're innocent, Carlo. Admit what you did. [Carlo breaks down] Get him a drink. Come on. Don't be afraid, Carlo. Come on. You think I'd make my sister a widow? I'm Godfather to your son, Carlo. [Gives Carlo a drink] Go ahead, drink. Drink. No, Carlo, you're out of the family business, that's your punishment. We're finished. I'm putting you on a plane to Vegas. Tom? [Tom produces a plane ticket] I want you to stay there, understand? Only, don't tell me you're innocent, because it insults my intell

Dialogue

Michael: [chuckles to himself] She's hysterical. Hysterical. Kay: Michael, is it true? Michael: Don't ask me about my business, Kay. Kay: Is it true? Michael: Don't ask me about my business. Kay: No! Michael: [slams on the table] ENOUGH! All right, this one time. This one time, I'll let you ask me about my affairs. Kay: Is it true? Is it? Michael: No. Kay: I guess we both need a drink, huh? Come on. [goes to the other room to get a drink as mafiosi approach] Clemenza: [kissing Michael's hand] Don Corleone.