While The Godfather contains many villainous figures, the lack of one true main antagonist remains a hallmark of Francis Ford Coppola’s genre-defining gangster movie. Since releasing in 1972, The Godfather‘s reputation has aged like a fine Sicilian wine, and the first chapter of the Corleone family trilogy continues to be considered a leading contender when debating the greatest movies ever made. That same debate often yields the line “a movie is only as good as its villain,” and that pearl of wisdom has been proven right on many occasions.
Heath Ledger’s Joker was crucial to The Dark Knight, Ralph Fiennes’ Amon Göth cut an unforgettably sinister presence in Schindler’s List, and the Good and Ugly would have been a lot less interesting without the Bad. Curiously, The Godfather stands apart. Plenty of nefarious figures are littered throughout the story, but pinning down one main villain from The Godfather‘s cast is far from straightforward. Even then, no single antagonist emerges from The Godfather as memorable as Joker, Göth, or Angel Eyes. Surprising that may be, but The Godfather‘s approach to villainy only makes its triumph more impressive.
Sollozzo, Barzini & Why The Godfather Doesn’t Have An Actual Main Villain
Neither Sollozzo Nor Barzini Fits The Bill
The closest thing The Godfather has to a central antagonist would likely be Al Lettieri’s Virgil “The Turk” Sollozzo, who works alongside the corrupt Captain McCluskey to push New York’s Five Families into the drug business. After being refused, Sollozzo arranges the attempt on Vito Corleone’s life, attempts to force the Corleone family into cooperating, and triggers an all-out mafia war. In terms of deeds committed, Sollozzo does more than enough to be considered The Godfather‘s most prominent villain.
Because Michael Corleone guns Sollozzo down halfway through the movie, however, it becomes difficult to consider the Turk The Godfather’s most serious threat. Lettieri’s conniving criminal is the enemy of The Godfather‘s first one or two acts, certainly, but no more. The next major candidate would be New York mob boss Emilio Barzini. As the instigator of the Sollozzo situation and the don behind Sonny’s murder, Barzini is the chief source of conflict in The Godfather – even more so than Sollozzo himself. While other families are drawn in, The Godfather is, at its core, a feud between the Corleone and Barzini families.
He may be The Godfather‘s biggest antagonist technically speaking, but Barzini would fail to crack most viewers’ lists of The Godfather‘s 10 most memorable characters.
Having said that, Barzini, played by Richard Conte, keeps a relatively muted presence throughout the movie. He receives very little characterization, development, or screen time – especially when compared to Sollozzo – and is mostly a lingering shadow silently pulling strings. Indeed, Vito fails to realize Barzini is his true enemy until surprisingly late in The Godfather‘s story. Consequently, it’s difficult to consider Barzini a true movie villain in the traditional mold. He may be The Godfather‘s biggest antagonist technically speaking, but Barzini would fail to crack most viewers’ lists of The Godfather‘s most memorable characters.
With Sollozzo dying early and Barzini rarely stepping out of hiding or openly declaring himself as the Corleones’ enemy, The Godfather is left without a clear big bad. For some movies, especially within the gangster genre, the lack of an obvious figure viewers can boo and jeer would work against the movie. For The Godfather, it becomes an enhancement.
The Meaning Behind The Godfather’s Lack Of A Clear Villain
“Villain” Is A Meaningless Term In The Godfather
In both Mario Puzo’s original novel and Coppola’s timeless movie adaptation, The Godfather is a tale defined by moral grayness. Few gangster stories are as simple as “good” and “evil,” but The Godfather goes further by introducing antagonistic forces at every step. Threat, danger, and death come from all corners – both anticipated and completely unforeseen.
Encouraging the audience to direct all of their vitriol and anger toward any single character defeats the purpose of The Godfather.
Sollozzo, McCluskey, and Barzini aside, the Tattaglia family is the chief cause of Luca Brasi’s death. Carlo Rizzi abuses Connie during their marriage, then sets up Sonny’s ᴀssᴀssination. Tessio betrays the Corleone family after being a longstanding ally. Jack Woltz is a predator, Moe Greene takes advantage of Fredo, and Michael’s Sicilian bodyguard kills Apollonia with a car bomb. Barzini might be behind a lot of the anti-Corleone shenanigans in The Godfather, but the real point is that enemies are everywhere. The line between friend and foe is a fairy tale, and all that exists is the family and those working against it.
Barzini is killed by Al Neri, on the orders of Michael, during The Godfather‘s baptism scene.
The concept of one character having a monopoly on wrongdoing works for most feature film narratives, but The Godfather is far more powerful for having the Corleones ᴀssaulted by various opponents from different angles as the conspiracy unfolds. Even if Barzini was calling most of the sH๏τs against Vito and co., encouraging the audience to direct all of their vitriol and anger toward him, or any single character, defeats the purpose of The Godfather.
The Corleones Are Supposed To Be The Villains Of The Godfather
The Godfather’s Real Villains Are Secretly The Heroes
By playing down the notion of having one central villain, The Godfather allows the Corleones themselves to be considered bad guys. Despite the many criminals who commit dastardly acts in The Godfather, Coppola and Puzo mostly refrain from building a moral hierarchy. A line is drawn between regular mafia members and abusers like Jack Woltz and Carlo Rizzi, but The Godfather otherwise puts very little ethical daylight between the gangsters themselves.
The Godfather never introduces a main villain who could be described as more of a monster than Michael himself.
The Corleone family is not overtly any more virtuous than the Barzini or Tattaglia families. Tessio’s betrayal is a calculated business decision rather than a turn toward evil, and the Sicilian bodyguard responsible for Apollonia’s death isn’t much different than Luca Brasi threatening to blow a band leader’s brains out. When watching The Godfather, there’s a temptation to view the Corleone family as a softer, kinder version of the mafia versus the more brutal, evil Barzinis. This simply isn’t true.
If Barzini had more scenes, or if Sollozzo had survived until the end, audiences would have naturally made a stark distinction between those characters as baddies and the Corleones as saviors. By not really having a main villain, The Godfather instead allows the Corleones to serve as the heroes and villains of their own story. The heart of The Godfather is the transformation of Michael Corleone from an upstanding citizen into a mafia monster who will one day lose everything he loves and die alone. That transformation only succeeds because The Godfather never introduces a main villain who could be described as more of a monster than Michael himself.
