The Big Picture
- The cat in
The Godfather
serves as a stroke of brilliance, showing Vito’s loving kindness and his ability to balance playing with the cat while discussing a serious matter. - The cat’s presence adds to the discomfort of the opening scene, enhancing the tension and establishing Vito as a nigh-omnipotent and potentially intimidating figure.
- Villains stroking cats has become a popular cue for “evil,” but the cat in
The Godfather
defies expectations, showcasing Vito’s complexity and humanizing the character.
It’s one of the most memorable opening sequences in one of the most iconic movies of all-time. After the crooning of some mournful, luscious instruments (courtesy of composer Nino Rota), Francis Ford Coppola‘s magnum opus The Godfather opens with a single, tight close-up. For the next two minutes, actor Salvatore Corsitto unveils a monologue as undertaker Amerigo Bonasera while the camera slowly pulls out to reveal its position of watchful judgment behind another man’s shoulder. For new viewers, the tension is immediate and almost unbearable. For those familiar with the film, the stress is still instantly ominous. What kind of man is Bonasera pleading to with such impassioned ferocity?
When the camera finally switches to the imposing but relaxed form of Marlon Brando‘s Don Vito Corleone, the pieces fall into place. This isn’t merely an immensely powerful man, although Vito Corleone is indeed that. As New York City’s leading mafia don, he exists beyond legal repercussions and can order an assassination as easily as he can order breakfast. Vito Corleone values respect and reciprocal friendship. He simply wants to attend his daughter’s wedding and instead finds himself beset by demands. There’s also a cat happily lounging on his lap. The image of a villain lazily petting a cat as a visual shorthand for menace is now so commonplace as to be parodied. However, including an animal wasn’t planned ahead of time. It was a stroke of superb, random luck that just so happened to become a cultural milestone.
The Godfather (1972)
Don Vito Corleone, head of a mafia family, decides to hand over his empire to his youngest son, Michael. However, his decision unintentionally puts the lives of his loved ones in grave danger.
- Release Date
- March 14, 1972
- Director
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Writers
- Mario Puzo , Francis Ford Coppola
- Tagline
- An offer you can’t refuse.
- Website
What Is the Story Behind Vito Corleone’s Cat in ‘The Godfather’?
The Godfather‘s disastrously troubled production is nevertheless full of fun cinephile trivia. A Time Magazine piece from 2012 shared forty such treats for the film’s fortieth anniversary. Myths are debunked (Brando did not, in fact, stuff his cheeks with cotton balls to achieve Vito’s specialized vocalities), scenes are rendered even more harrowing (the horse head), studio interference almost ruined organic perfection, and moments of improvisation and mistake informed and improved The Godfather‘s most integral moments.
One of those unplanned moments was a cameo from one of the film’s most famous felines. Coppola was a director who preferred planning, but he didn’t hesitate to incorporate what worked on set at the moment or adjust in post-production as needed. Enter the gray and white cat wandering around the Paramount Pictures studio lot. “The cat in Marlon’s hands was not planned for,” Coppola states in the Time piece. “I saw the cat running around the studio, and took it and put it in his hands without a word.”
The Cat Almost Ruined ‘The Godfather’s Opening Scene
Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t explain his reasons for impulsively incorporating the cat, nor if the cat belonged to someone on set or was a friendly stray. But it went off without a hitch — mostly. Brando “loved children and animals” and had no issues with a strange cat taking up residence on his lap for a while, let alone petting it naturally while delivering an exemplary performance. Likewise, the cat had no problem crashing the party. It seems to relish the attention, headbutting Brando’s palm, rolling around, and playing with his hand like this is just the best day ever.
In fact, the cat purred so loudly that there were audio problems in post-production. “They couldn’t understand a word [Brando] was saying and feared they would have to use subtitles,” the article explains. It’s a behind-the-scenes moment that Paramount+’s series The Offer, a 2022 drama fictionalizing The Godfather‘s journey to the screen, recreates in Episode 7. As Justin Chambers‘s Brando plays with the cat, the sound operators express their concerns to Francis Ford Coppola (Dan Fogler). The director declares, “We’ll fix it in post.”
Thankfully, whatever magic the sound crew and editors employed ensured that Marlon Brando’s performance wasn’t lost to the sounds of a blissful cat. Its purring is inescapable for those with a good ear, though. One might even say the cat did some improvising of its own in subsequent shots, like flopping down on Vito’s to presumably take a nap. Where’s the Oscar for animals?
What Does the Cat Mean in ‘The Godfather’?
The Godfather is a film that interrogates the nature of fictional empathy. It makes the villains its antiheroes and humanizes a bunch of murderous criminals. We empathize with the Corleones and their associates precisely because they’re sketched as so recognizably sympathetic. A line as oft-quoted as “leave the gun, take the cannoli” isn’t just a darkly comedic punchline but evidence of this sympathetic infusion: don’t waste the dessert your wife cooked. Whether one can truly call Vito a villain is splitting vernacular hairs, but there’s no question that The Godfather‘s opening sequence establishes its titular Godfather as a nigh-omnipotent man who intimidates and terrifies.
Likewise, Marlon Brando’s performance isn’t traditionally menacing. Yet, his patience, his gentle remonstration of Bonasera for not approaching him in friendship, and how owing a mafia don a favor might be interpreted as a threat from a man with lesser morals, all enhance the scene’s discomfort. Vito can be called a cat, ever-watchful with concealed claws. Between Vito’s feline friend and Blofled’s ball of white fluff from the James Bond franchise, villains stroking cats became a popular non-verbal cue for “evil.” Dr. Evil’s (Mike Myers) faithful Mr. Bigglesworth from the Austin Powers franchise is a direct parody of Blofeld (who debuted in 1963, whereas The Godfather hit theaters in 1972), while a variety of Western animations have had their fun over the years (Inspector Gadget, DuckTales, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, etc).
1:09
Marlon Brando Prevented a Promising Actor From Being in ‘The Godfather’
In a different world, it would’ve been Burt Reynolds, and not Al Pacino, who was starring as Michael Corleone.
Whatever Francis Ford Coppola’s thematic intentions were, that cat remains a stroke of instinctive brilliance. For one, it shows Vito’s loving kindness, a personality trait one wouldn’t associate with a man in his position. It also demonstrates his control. This is a mafia don listening to a personal assassination request, and he discusses the situation as casually as if they were chatting about the weather over a cup of coffee. He can balance playing with a cheerful cat he would never harm with the formalities required of favor-asking. Even if an audience comes to respect (and love) Vito, that’s something to be feared.
The Godfather is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
