Realism within The Godfather

The sets and settings in The Godfather were extremely important in contributing to both realism and scenic realism. It was definitely representing the world of New York City in the 1940s. I’ll be discussing how the sets and setting made everything seem real and what the signs of realism are within the film.

The setting for the most part was in New York City or just outside of it. From my previous knowledge of the Mafia, this seems real—I know that Mafia families had been (and probably still are) in New York City. The sets all seemed to have a very natural, believable feel to them, which made them seem more real.

For example, when Tom Hagen goes out to California to talk to Jack Woltz, the setting changed and so did the sets. The style of Jack Woltz’s house was completely different than the houses in New York City. The Corleone house was older and seemed a little colder (perhaps noting that the east is colder). Woltz’s house I think had a pool, and had more gold colored hues, showing perhaps, the warmth of California. Woltz’s house also seemed flashier than the Corleone’s house, which could correlate with California or the movie director aspect of his character. All of the small details on both the Corleone’s house and Woltz’s house were part of something bigger that spoke to the audience. If the film sets and settings are supposed to be realistic and believable but if they are not, it is hard to keep the attention of the audience.

When the setting and sets switched over to Italy, a difference was also seen there—there were open mountain ranges, walkways connecting the houses and winding up through the town. It looked very different than the nice-sized yard of the Corleone’s house or the style that Woltz’s house was crafted. It seemed like Italy.

The sets and setting contributed to realism, but some of the other signs of realism were in costumes and character dimensions. When the men of the families were doing “family business” they were always dressed in black suites and possibly had a black hat to match. The men were a dressed a little more casual when they were at home discussing things.

Michael’s character transformed the most, and that development definitely contributed to the realism. The most striking part of this for me was when he saw his father, Vito, in the hospital after the attempted assassination. Michael almost instantly changed. He decided to kill McCluskey and Sollozzo. At that point, he was in the beginning stages of family business immersion, so there were things he did during the restaurant scene with McCluskey and Sollozzo that seemed very wrong (not shooting Sollozzo twice and not dropping the gun right away). But after he experienced different things in Italy, he transformed more into a hard Mafia man.

There are many things that factor into realism, but for me the most prominent things were the set and settings and then the customs and character development of Michael.