Why does Michael still have that black eye he got from McCluskey’s punch when he meets Apollonia? A lot of time passed.. The family went to the mattresses, they ate lots of pasta at the safe house, they played some piano, Connie got pregnant, Sonny killed Tataglia, Don Corleone came home from the hospital, they put out lots of bad press about McCluskey, things were loosening up. But Michael is still healing from that punch?
shareI had wondered that myself. Perhaps the punch did a lot of damage, like a broken jaw or broken bone around his eye. Maybe a broken bone in the face. That would take a lot longer to heal.
shareAlways thought the same thing. He was still using a hankie to wipe off the drool also.
shareIn the book if I remember correctly, he got an injury in the eye so it teared all the time
shareIn Vegas, Fredo remarks that Michael had to get plastic surgery to regain his appearance. So it’s implied that he had more than just a black eye
shareIt’s called a hematoma which can take months to heal
shareMcCluskey broke Michael’s jaw, this type of injury takes months if not years (maybe up to 1.5 to 2) to heal correctly.
This means swelling/bruising throughout the entire jawline and throughout the orbital region.
My girlfriend and i make the same stupid jokes when we watch 2 and 3 "let's see if he still has the blackeye.."
he even seems to have it on his wedding day...
The wedding was a short time after Michael had his jaw broken and the film makes a point to emphasize that his jaw was broken.
It’s all explained in the details.
it made no sense, yet some people claim that the books explains it.
Getting hit by a cop, moving to sicily, the clear passage of time, meeting a girl, having a courtship and then marrying. yet still having the blackeye is silly.
could he have had damage to his jaw? bones? of course, 100%, but the bruising would have gone down. bruising is one thing, damage is another.
it almost makes me think that al pacino took a punch by accident and actually had a black eye.
But in all my 30 something years on this planet, i've never seen someone have a black eye being single, without knowing his wife, then meeting her, getting to know her and then having the very same black eye on his wedding day..
but i'm sure you have some expert medical knowledge that will make me look stupid...
I don’t have any expert medical knowledge to throw your way, just that in my mind, the fact that the seriousness of Michael’s injury was emphasized in the film, was explanation enough for me to explain his swollen face and bruised eye socket throughout the Sicily sequence.
shareI play a lot of sports, i've known people who have had very serious injuries, broken bones, never saw anyone who had brusing that lasted for months.
a quick google search says that brusing in it's most extreme cases wont last longer than 2 weeks. tops..
theres no way that michael killed sollazo, moved to sicily, all these mobsters were arrested, tried, put behind bars, he meets apallonia, they like each other, he proposes, they marry.. in 2 weeks.
films can be great, but they aren't always realistic
I completely agree with you, “films can be great….” but in this case the details given leading up to and throughout the Sicily sequence are more than enough for me to suspend any disbelief I may have while watching the film.
share