Although The Godfather’s dinner scene may be the tensest moment in the entire original movie, it is also entirely inaccurate to mob life. The Godfather trilogy changed a lot of real-life details to make its story work. The Godfather star James Caan wore an almost imperceptible dental prosthetic to make himself look more aggressive as Sonny, which explains why few of his later screen roles matched the boorish machismo of Vito’s doomed son. Similarly, Marlon Brando was coated in layers of makeup to cover up the fact that Vito’s actor was only 47 when filming.

However, it is in the trilogy’s depiction of the mafia that the series took its biggest creative liberties. Legendary animator Ralph Bakshi famously trashed the original movie, saying that the mob was nothing like the honorable, glamorous outlaws depicted in Coppola’s trilogy. According to former mob member Anthony Ruggiano Jr. in a video for Insider, Bakshi was right to question the believability of The Godfather. The Godfather’s villains may have been loosely based on real people, but the original movie’s most iconic sequence could not be further from reality.

The Godfather Changed A Real-Life Mafia Detail, Resulting In The Movie’s Best Scene

Micheal’s Most Famous Kill Should Have Been More Straightforward

In The Godfather’s signature scene, a placid Michael endures a patronizing dinner with Sterling Hayden’s corrupt cop Mark McCluskey, and Al Lettieri’s rival mob boss Sollozzo. After listening to the pair mock him and nodding along to their demands, Michael excuses himself to use the bathroom, retrieves a hidden gun, and murders both men at the table upon his return. The moment is bracing, brutal, and a sudden warning of just how much more ruthless The Godfather’s Michael is than Vito. According to Ruggiano, it is also completely unrealistic.

Ruggiano pragmatically notes that, in reality, Michael should have just gone in and sH๏τ Sollozzo and McCluskey instead of dining with them first. This is certainly how Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman depicts mob killings, but that 2019 movie is notable for attempting to deconstruct the glamorized, unrealistic image of movie mobsters. In contrast, The Godfather is largely responsible for building this romantic image in the first place. It is Michael dining with his enemies that builds the tension and creates the iconic scene, turning a straightforward killing into a never-shredding affair.

The Godfather’s Restaurant Scene Saved The Entire Movie

The Tension Of The Uneasy Meal Makes For An Iconic Sequence

If The Godfather had aimed for a more realistic tone, then killings like the murder of McCluskey and Sollozzo would have been quicker, messier, more artless, and less dramatically compelling. Coppola’s movie has less fidelity to reality than drama, resulting in a sprawling multi-generational story that resembles Shakespeare more than the grubby reality of organized crime. Although The Godfather’s Fredo storyline proves Michal can be too heartless, he is always a thoughtful, calculated killer.

In reality, many mafia bosses throughout the organization’s history have been driven more by quick profit than family honor, and the killings carried out by the mob are a good deal less artful and graceful than Michael’s murder of the rival drug baron and corrupt police captain. As such, it should come as no great surprise to viewers to discover that The Godfather’s double killing, while undeniably very slick, is also absurdly removed from reality.