While everyone in the room eventually accepts Michael’s proposal, there is an attempt to draw a distinction between military service and criminality. Sonny, Michael’s older brother, suggests that killing on a battlefield is somehow “softer” than a criminal hitjob: “This isn’t like the army, where you shoot ‘em a mile away” (1:14:38). A little later, Clemenza stops as he walks Michael through the details of the plan to kill Sollozo and McClusky to say, “You know Mike, we was all proud of you being a [war] hero and all. Your father too” (1:17:04). Clemenza here offers Michael one last chance to consider his motives for transitioning by reminding him the re-spect military service affords him in civil society. Clemenza suggests that Michael should not feel the need to prove himself any further by killing Sollozo and McClusky. Don Vito Corleone is already proud. But Michael is no longer convinced that legitimacy is a way to maintain the moral high ground, or even that this moral high ground is worth maintaining. In the end, the honors con-ferred on “good” people did not matter because legitimate systems (the military, the law) did not serve a principle that was more important to him, the defense of his own family. Therefore, Clemenza’s comment does not prompt a reconsideration and Michael, a man trained to kill by the government resolves to kill a member of a rival crime family and a corrupt cop. In the Garden After the successful (if chaotic) hit, Michael is forced to hide out in Sicily. There, he learns that Sonny has been killed as the feud between the Tattaglias and the Corleones escalates. He returns home and is reunited with Kay. They are married and have a son together as Michael draws closer to Don Vito and as the new heir apparent to the “Family Business” assumes his late brother’s responsibilities. What soon becomes clear is that these duties blur the lines between “Family” and “Business” in complicated ways even though the sentimental intimacy implied by the former cannot be easily reconciled with the cold calculation of the latter. This tension is most clearly demonstrated in the "Garden" scene, one in which the ailing Vito Corleone, the current Don, in effect passes the torch to Michael Corleone. In their conversation, Don Vito cannot seem to keep worlds of his immediate family separate from his business concerns. Every other sentence seems to switch between spheres. In fact, in the span of the three-minute conversation (2:26:51 to 2:30:00), Don Vito’s focus shifts seven times, seemingly at random, as exemplified by his change of topic when discussing a rival crime boss: “Barzini will move against you. First, he’ll set up a meeting with someone you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety, and at that meeting, you’ll be assassinated. I like to drink wine more than I used to. Your wife and children, are you happy with them?” It is tempting to ascribe this tendency to 68
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