Everyone’s always going on about how the “baptism scene” in the original Godfather is a cinematic tour de force. You know the one: at the end of the film, when Michael attends his nephew’s baptism, renouncing Satan and all His works. Meanwhile, intercut with the scene are alternating shots of Michael’s men eliminating the Corleone family’s enemies one by one, all set to a overwrought organ soundtrack. Michael’s not scampering away to Sicily this time to lay low for a year. No sir. He’s proud new owner of the Bad Motherfucker hat. Men will kiss his ring and do his bidding.
Yeah, it’s O.K. But the scene in that movie that always gets me, even again as I watched the movie tonight for maybe the dozenth time, is the one in which Michael caps Sollozo and Police Captain McCluskey during their dinner meeting at Louis’ Italian American Restaurant. It’s nowhere near as complex as the famous sequence of quick cuts in the baptism scene, but I think it’s more effortless and effective.
Part of this is because of where Michael’s at in his development as a character in the film. By the end, at the baptism scene, he’s in charge and unstoppable in his convictions to defend the Corleone name; his actions are an inevitable conclusion.
But the scene in the Italian restaurant serves as Michael’s self-imposed initiation to the family business—will he or won’t he turn to the dark side? It’s unclear. Although he’s a freshly returned war veteran, at this point in the film he’s still very young-looking and, though serious, detached from the dealings of his family.
The scenes directly before the restaurant scene set the stage with doubts as to whether Michael can carry out the job. Clemenza and Sonny repeat advice to him: “don’t forget: two shots apiece in the head” and repeated reminders to drop the gun right after the murders. Michael has trouble squeezing the trigger of the gun as he tests it beforehand, then says “my ears!” after he fires. There’s a tense nearly silent Chinese takeout dinner in the kitchen at the Corleone before Michael leaves on his assignment.
Once he gets picked up by Sollozo and McCluskey, they feign a trip to New Jersey, possibly to shake a tail, possibly to suss out whether Michael knows the location of the meeting. He’s not supposed to, but he does, and he hides this knowledge with a seeming lack of concern.
After Michael, Sollozo and McCluskey arrive at the restaurant, they order. Sollozo talks with Michael in Italian and Michael interjects in English to demand that his father be left alone. Then, as planned, Michael excuses himself to go to the restroom. He takes a time scratching around behind the toilet tank where the gun’s been taped/hidden in advance, just enough time to make you wonder whether it’s there and whether he’ll find it. I don’t believe you can actually see him put the gun in his pocket as he leaves the restroom, which is a great touch. Instead you see his reflection in the mirror as he runs both hands through his hair. (Someone seeing the film for the first time may wonder whether he’s chickened out and left the gun in the restroom.)
Also great is how Michael disobeys Clemenza’s earlier advice to "come out blastin’." (As his father’s son, that wouldn’t be within his character. Although not adverse to swift retaliation, Michael is cautious and extremely calculative. So this could be him doing things his own way, the way he’ll conduct all of his business as don. Or it could be because he’s nervous and forgot what Clemenza told him. Or a bit of both.) Instead he walks out of the restroom, stops, makes eye contact with Sollozo at the table, then walks over and takes his seat again.
The tension at this point is high. Sollozo continues where he left off in Italian—like before, it’s not translated by subtitles, which is appropriate, as Michael’s not paying much attention anyway. The only other sound is an elevated subway rumbling by outside, growing even louder in a rush. Michael’s got a distracted stare into middle distance, occasionally glancing at Sollozo. Then he stands up quickly and cold caps the guys, Sollozo clean through his head, McCluskey in the throat, then through the head. It’s over in seconds; a bloody mist hangs in the air.
He doesn’t drop the gun right away, either, like he was told repeatedly. He’s nearly out the door when he flings it to the floor from his hand like it’s hot.
What a marvelous confluence of acting, pacing, editing, scripting and sound design. This scene, unlike any other in the film (and barely any others in any other films) makes my heart race every time I watch it.