Sonny Corleone

Santino 'Sonny' Corleone
Sonny Corleone played by James Caan
Born	December 31 1916(1916-12-31) New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	August 7 1948 (aged 31) Long Island, New York, U.S.

Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. In the novel and film, he is the oldest son of New York Mafia Don Vito Corleone and Carmella Corleone. He has two brothers, Michael and Fredo, an adoptive brother, Tom Hagen, and a sister, Connie. Sonny was portrayed by James Caan in the film.

Role in the Godfather saga

Sonny is the most impulsive and violent of Vito's children and, before Michael's rise to power, the most involved in the Corleone crime family, eventually rising to become his father's underboss. Although Don Corleone loves his younger brother Michael the most, he originally designates Sonny as the heir to his crime family. Sonny is not without a softer side, however; at the age of 11, he meets a homeless boy, Tom Hagen, who thereafter lives with the family and becomes the family's consigliere. He also acts as a protector to his younger siblings, especially Connie. The book reveals that he secretly cannot bring himself to harm women or children, or anyone who can't defend themselves, which may be what saves his sister's husband, Carlo Rizzi. The normal course of events in Sonny’s life is upturned when Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo comes to Don Vito with an offer of entering the drug business, backed by the Tattaglia family. Vito rejects the deal, although Sonny shows slight interest. Sollozzo responds by trying to assassinate Vito, in hopes that Sonny will take over the Family and go into the drug business. The assassination attempt fails but leaves Vito near death, although he eventually recovers. Sonny takes over as acting boss and prepares for an all-out war against the Tattaglias and Sollozzo. Michael, who had previously distanced himself from the family's criminal enterprise, volunteers to kill Sollozzo and his ally, police Captain McCluskey. Sonny is initially against the idea, but Michael talks him into it. Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluskey, at Louis's Restaurant and is sent immediately to Sicily to wait out the inevitable crackdown on the Five Families. Bruno Tattaglia, Don Philip Tattaglia's son, is also killed in his nightclub. In retaliation, Tattaglia's partner, Don Emilio Barzini, enlists the help of Sonny's brother-in-law, Carlo Rizzi, in setting a trap for Sonny. Sonny had already given Carlo a savage beating upon learning that Carlo was abusing Connie, unintentionally revealing a weakness. To draw Sonny out into the open, a vengeful Rizzi inflicts a particularly vicious beating on Connie, who telephones Sonny, begging for help. In a fit of rage, Sonny speeds out of the family compound unaccompanied and heads for Connie's apartment to confront Rizzi. As Sonny approaches a toll plaza, a number of Barzini's men emerge with Tommy Guns and viciously gun him down.

Role in Godfather sequels

Sonny appears in the original Godfather and in its sequel, The Godfather Part II. In the latter film, he briefly appears in a flashback scene portraying the family dinner in which Michael announces he is volunteering to fight in World War II. He is angered by Michael's decision, and he berates his brother for risking his life "for a bunch of strangers." The flashback reveals that Sonny introduced Carlo to Connie and the rest of the family, hence their later marriage. In the novel as well as the films, Sonny is portrayed as a womanizer, despite being married. His wife refuses sleep with him because his large penis makes sex painful for her. His most prominent dalliance in the saga is with Lucy Mancini, a friend of Connie's. The Godfather Part III reveals that he fathered a child with Lucy (this was invented for the film, as Lucy in the novel does not have any children by him.) That child, Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone, grows up to succeed Michael as Godfather.

Family

• Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando; in Part II played by Robert De Niro as young adult Vito Corleone
• Carmella Corleone — Mother; played by Morgana King
• Costanza 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire
• Fredo Corleone — Younger brother; played by John Cazale
• Michael Corleone — Youngest brother; played by Al Pacino
• Tom Hagen — Unofficially adopted brother; played by Robert Duvall
• Mary Corleone — Niece; played by Sofia Coppola
• Anthony Vito Corleone — Nephew; played by Anthony Gounaris in Godfather I, played by James Gounaris in Godfather II, played by Franc D'Ambrosio
• Sandra Corleone — Wife; played by Julie Gregg
• Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Son; played by Andy Garcia.

Trivia

• Although in the movie, Sonny is born in 1916, the novel places Sonny's birth in 1910
• Coppola staged Sonny's death scene in The Godfather to be reminiscent of the final death scene of Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) in Bonnie and Clyde.
• Coppola had the car radio play the broadcast of the baseball playoff game won by Bobby Thomson hitting the Shot Heard Round the World. This would place Sonny's death on October 3, 1951, contradicting the novel by three years.
• Among the actors auditioning for the role of Michael during casting for The Godfather, one unknown off-Broadway actor named Robert De Niro also read for Sonny's part, as well as Michael's, without success. Raw footage of him in the scene where Paulie Gatto offers to kill Rizzi can be seen on the DVD. Eventually, Coppola cast Caan in the role and gave De Niro the part of Paulie, but "traded" him to the film The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight for Al Pacino, who soon got the part of Michael. Anthony Perkins not only auditioned for Sonny, but also for Tom Hagen.
• Sonny's death scene has been parodied several times on The Simpsons, including in the final scene of "All's Fair in Oven War," an episode in which Caan lent his voice. In that episode, the tollbooth death scene is re-enacted as part of Cletus Spuckler's revenge on Caan for "stealing" his wife Brandine's heart. The scene where Sonny beats Carlo Rizzi has also been parodied, in the episode "Strong Arms of the Ma".
• The tollbooth scene was parodied along with the execution montage in the final scene of the "Dabba Don" episode of the series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In this scene the Ant Hill Mob from Wacky Races gun down Judge Mightor from their car.
• Sonny's car is riddled with bullets and the windshield is blown out. Later, as Sonny lies next to it, the car is seen with its windshield in perfect condition; completely unshattered.
• Sonny's car initially appears to be the source of another continuity error: It looks as if it is his bullet-riddled car that Michael's girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) asks Tom about when she visits the compound. However, at that point in the film Sonny hadn't been killed yet. This is, in fact, incorrect. The destroyed car was from a bombing mentioned in the book but omitted from the film.
• Caan ad-libbed the scene at the beginning of The Godfather, where Sonny accosts a photographer, destroys his camera, then pays for it. The camera he wrecked was a vintage model from the 1930s.

References

• Plot Summary - The Godfather