Santino

Santino “Sonny” Corleone is the oldest son of Don Vito Corleone in Mario Puzo’s 1969 bestseller, The Godfather, which provided the basis of the 1972 major motion picture by Francis Ford Coppola (followed by sequels in 1974 and 1990). Our idea of Sonny is brilliantly captured by James Caan in the role; he is as good-looking, entitled, cocky and brash as we had come to picture him. As the heir apparent to the don, Santino takes his role in the family very seriously. He is a good (if unfaithful) husband and father and loyal supporter of his father. Naturally, adhering to the romantic notion that the Mafia are merely “family” men, Santino is a soft spot when it comes to women and children, which serves his childishly brutal brother-in-law well for a while. Santino is also the reason why the family consigliere, Tom Hagen, had been adopted into the family as a boy. All this notwithstanding, Santino is ever ready to hold up the family’s honor and finances, and no act of violence is too dramatic for him to eschew in this pursuit. It all comes full circle for him while he is acting don; the opposing gangster Barzini’s men ambush him at a toll booth and riddle his body with bullets. And we, the audience, feel true sorrow along with Vito Corleone when he says: “Look how they massacred my boy.”