Posted on 06/06/2024 7:10:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I agree it was the point. And, even if another actress had played the part, I still might not have liked the portrayal of Kay. To be fair to Keaton, Coppola must have directed her to play the role the way she did. Kay came across as bland, whiny, weak, and gullible. I found a site that claims Mia Farrow, Blythe Danner, and Michelle Phillips also were considered for the part, and I'd imagine they would have portrayed Kay pretty close to the way Keaton did, as Coppola must have wanted.
No offense to Keaton. I'm just expressing an opinion here. Her tone of voice and mannerisms are more suitable in other movies.
It's fun to think of other actors and actresses in these roles. At the moment, I cannot think of another actress in the 1970's who might have fit the role of Kay, but I can think of a few actresses who fit the picture of an upper-crust WASP. Sigourney Weaver is one example, although she would not have been suitable for the part of the vulnerable Kay, either. But, an actress like Robin Wright or Suzy Amis might have worked. They were still children when The Godfather was filmed, but an actress with their tone of voice and temperament would have served as a stark contrast to Pacino's portrayal of Michael.
As a side note, many people on this forum talk about "white culture," and they want the word "white" to be capitalized. The Godfather illustrates there is no such thing. There are big differences among European cultures.
Speaking of the wrong actor in a part, I've never gotten over Pacino in Scent of a Woman—a role that absolutely, positively should have gone to Robert Duvall, I don't care how long they would have to wait for him. Duvall is even married to a South American tango instructor. Al just didn't carry off the military officer thing, IMO.
And I totally agree with you about “white” culture. There are marked differences from one of the original tribes to another -- the Celts, the Normans, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Scots, the Angles, the Saxons, the Slavs, the Teutons, the Norse, etc. Even today, the Catalonians are trying to break away from the rest of Spain.
However, the same is true of African-descended folks. Their tribal differences and ethnicities run a wide gamut, but they are all lumped under one label, “black.” Just goes to show that skin color is not the issue. Culture is.
Not just Michael, but Vito, too.
I was only referring to Part III, in which Michael's struggle reached a culmination. Vito did not figure into the plot of III in any direct way. I never got the impression that Vito searched for redemption with God, as Michael did in confessing to the future pope in the garden of the Vatican. We are shown nothing about any of Vito's fear of God. He remained a localized strongman whose sense of self-justification was as a family and community boss and protector.
Michael, however, took on building up a national entertainment mecca, assumed national coordination with the east and west coasts and Cuban outposts of the mafia, and manipulating the global finances of the Vatican. Vito was never shown killing his own blood nor having searing regret over what he regarded as necessary evils; even when Sonny was killed, he regarded him as a reckless hothead (to Tom Hagen: “I never thought you were a bad consiglieri—I thought Santino was a bad don”), and his concern was mainly to shield his wife from excessive grief (“I want you to use all your powers and all your skills. I don't want his mother to see him this way...”).
Michael, on the other hand, suffered enormously from feeling trapped in the life he originally was not intended for, and the death of his daughter and resulting permanent estrangement from Kay because of his rage- and ego-driven life choices. He lied to his blood constantly, repudiated his ultra-loyal consigliere Tom Hagen, and killed his own brother. His moral conflict and guilt were profound. He could not be what his father had been because of his overblown ambitions and the mafia's unexpectedly massive expansion, which pushed him in over his head and his tortured heart. As he had said to his mother, “Tempi cambi’.” Times change.
You are obviously a student of the series. I would add that Michael didn’t remember his own instruction to Kay . . . that Senators have people killed too. The idea of going to Vegas was to launded the entire Corleone operation and go clean. But now, instead of some other Italian families to contend with, there were U.S. politicians, and at the too level, Old World Old Money bankers who STILL didn’t give respect. You take them on because there is always one more level of power to achieve go get that elusive “security”, and you ruin yourself AND your family in the process.
Yep. A Siciian Greek tragedy...
Other examples are the Asian and Hispanic/Latino categories - each with many unique cultures thrown together into one box. On the other hand, some families have lived in the U.S. for so many generations, they cannot trace their origins to a single country, so they identify as a color. They do not understand those of us whose ancestry traces back a few generations at most to one country. Then again, the same could be said for Italians in America. I remember the older Italians identified with their own regional groups.
Back to the movie, yes, I can picture Katherine Ross as Kay. I never watched Scent of a Woman - only a scene or two - but I could picture Duvall in that part, too.
Also, I agree with you that Sofia Coppola fit the role of Mary, at least much better than Winona Ryder ever could have.
The scene with Mary (Sofia) and her cousin (Andy Garcia) making gnocchi or cavatelli with their entwined hands was so sensual—they were falling in love—or at least in lust. Unforgettable.
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