Jack Woltz Character Analysis

Woltz is a wealthy and powerful Hollywood movie producer who bitterly resents Johnny Fontane after the latter has an affair with Woltz’s young girlfriend. In addition to his money and influence within the movie industry, Waltz also has connections with the President of the United States and the FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover. A greedy, pretentious, and power-hungry man, Woltz is also a womanizer and a pedophile who preys on underage girls hoping to break into the film industry. At the request of Johnny Fontane, Waltz meets with Tom Hagen, who offers to use Don Corleone’s influence within the labor industry to quell the producer’s union troubles if Woltz agrees to cast Fontane in his new picture. When Woltz angrily refuses, Corleone’s henchmen decapitate the head from Woltz’s prized racehorse, an act that forces Woltz to give Fontane the role. Woltz embodies what Mafia members call the pezzonovante, the big shots who wield power and influence within legitimate society, but who do not understand that real power entails a willingness to operate completely outside of the law.