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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Godfather, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Crime and Justice
Power
Masculinity and Patriarchy
Family
Loyalty and Betrayal
Summary
Analysis
The narrative shifts backward in time to a few weeks before the hit on Don Corleone. Johnny and Nino are recording new music in Los Angeles. Nino fiddles nervously at a piano while drinking a glass of whiskey. They are recording a set of classic old Italian and Sicilian songs: a Christmas gift for Don Corleone. Johnny sees that Nino is nervous and offers to fix him up afterward with Deanna Dunn, a famous starlet. He and Nino sing together, but Nino handles the main melodies to spare Johnny’s vocal cords.
Fontane and Nino’s new collaboration stems from Johnny’s desire to both please his Godfather and reassert control over his life. By offering Nino a chance to make it big in the entertainment industry, Johnny believes he can demonstrate his good faith for Don Corleone as a means of thanking him for his help. He also feels sorry for ignoring Nino for so many years after he hit it big in Hollywood and wants to make it up to his old friend.
Themes
Later that evening, Johnny takes Nino to a party that functions as a “Movie Star Lonely Hearts Club,” where he insists that Nino will be able to meet and have sex with Hollywood “broads” and “dames” who can get Nino work. “It doesn’t hurt to be charming after you knock off a piece,” Johnny advises Nino. Held at the home of Woltz’s press agent, Roy McElroy, the party is a mixture of young actors and experienced starlets. Nino meets Deanna Dunn at the party and she performs oral sex on him during a darkened film screening.
The “Movie Star Lonely Hearts Club” is appropriately named. Although decked out in all of the glitz and glamor befitting a Hollywood event, Puzo presents the party as a sordid affair where sad people go to unleash their frustrations through illicit sex and substance abuse.
Themes
Although Nino enjoyed Deanna Dunn’s service, he feels that “his masculinity was insulted” because Dunn had treated him “like a goddamned male whore.” Johnny understands that Nino cannot help but feel insulted when others do him favors, and that this trait explains why he never became successful. He leads the drunken Nino out of the party.
Johnny’s brief sexual dalliance with Deanna Dunn happens in a darkened screening room while Johnny is drunk. Afterwards, he feels used and Dunn feels empty. By presenting sex stripped of all intimacy, Puzo suggests that Hollywood culture is a triumph of style over substance, where wealthy people are often devoid of everything but money. Nino seems to recognize this reality and responds by further numbing himself with alcohol.
Themes
When Johnny learns about the attempt on Don Corleone’s life, he wonders if he will still receive the financing for his film production venture. Hagen, however, assures him the money is secured, but for one film at a time. Johnny begins production on his first movie but runs into trouble with Billy Goff, the union crony who is supposed to be on Don Corleone’s payroll. When Goff demands a cut of the profits, Don Corleone has him killed. Meanwhile, Johnny and Nino’s new record is selling well, he secures a divorce from Margot, and spends time once a week with Virginia and his daughters.
Don Corleone’s deal to finance Johnny’s film productions once again demonstrates that violence is the secret weapon in his illegitimate business arsenal. Even men like Billy Goff who are loyal to the Don suffer immediate and murderous consequences once they decide to cross him for any reason. Moreover, the Don’s continued support for Johnny shows how he manages to profit from everything. Far from doing a mere kind deed for his godson, Don Corleone is helping Johnny because, in doing so, he stands to make a lot of money.
Themes
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Nino and Johnny attend the Academy Awards, where Johnny wins the Oscar for best actor. The two men attend an Academy Award after-party that descends into an orgy. The event repels Nino, who remains uncharacteristically sober, and drives Johnny home.
Puzo’s depiction of the film industry’s relentlessly hollow debauchery suggests the frankly immoral consequences of abundant wealth. It is fitting that the Mafia has a firm grip on Hollywood, because Hollywood, like the Mafia, is a shady, cutthroat culture that thrives on favoritism, backroom deals, bribery, and hedonism—though it operates within the confines of legitimate society.
Themes
