Re: Questions on "The Godfather" series

On Jun 11, 1:43 pm, hanco...@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Bravo cable recently broadcast the series. Could someone help out
with some questions, if I may, on some of it? Thanks!

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1) I missed parts of it. At one point in the story does Part I end
and Part II begin (e.g. their moving to Vegas)?

The Godfather ended with Al Neri shutting the door on Kay when the
capos came to kiss Michael's hand and call him "Godfather" now. Part
II opened with the funeral of Vito's father back in Sicily.

2) When they moved to Vegas, they appeared to leave their loyal
'enforcer', the heavy-set man, behind. (The guy who was shown doing a
number of hits for the family). Wouldn't he have wanted to come to
Vegas, too for the better opportunities? Given his loyalty, wasn't it
kind of a demotion to leave him behind?

Clemenza was the capo, the heavyset guy in question. Michael decided
to move to Nevada cause that's where the casinos were, and also
because he though he could direct his empire better from there. It
was implied (and maybe mentioned specifically) in the book that
Clamenza would take over the Corleone family back in New York. In
Part II, the actor who played Clamenza didn't come back to reprise his
role--I think a money issue. So they invented the character of Frank
Pentangeli. To answer the question, Clamenza would have stayed in New
York, and ran the Corleone family there; that would have been his
reward, being in charge of the family business.

3) When Michael was hiding out in Sicily, one of his bodyguards,
Fabrizio, apparently planted a bomb for him but ended up killing
Michael's wife. Why would Fabrizio turn on him? Just more cash?
Indeed, given the known and certain penalties for disloyalty, I'm
surprised so many characters turned to a rival family (as Abe Vigoda
did at the end of Pt 1).

Frabrizio wanted to come to America and the Corleone family's enemies
paid him to set the bomb. In the Godfather Saga, they show the scene
filmed for the original movie but cut, of someone killing Fabrizio on
Michael's orders.

4) In Pt 2, for the hit on Roth at the airport, wouldn't the hitman
know it would be a suicide attack given all the cops that would be
around him? In other words, the hitman getting shot was to be
expected. Why would a hitman accept such an assignment?

As Rocco said, it would be difficult. They never did explain how they
got the guy to go along with the plan. My own opinion was that he was
either not very bright and thought he could get away with it; or they
picked a guy who was in a bad way--convincted of murder and awaiting
sentence, or dying of cancer, something like that--and said, Hey,
we'll pay your family a million bucks after you do this, regardless of
what happens to you.

5) In Pt 2, who was the traitor to Michael that arranged for him and
his wife to be machine-gunned in their bedroom? Again, for the
hitman, wouldn't that be a suicide assignment?

That was Fredo. He didn't know it was going to be a hit, though.
Roth lied to him. And if you don't tell the hitmen the full story,
they don't know the danger involved. Greed and gullibility go a long
way.

6) At the end of Pt 2, Michael has Tom shot. I couldn't understand
this because Tom had been absolutely loyal to the family for years and
served well. Was it because Tom got that job offer he didn't report?
Was it because he said a hit on Rothman would be impossible?

No, that was Freddie who got shot in the boat, out fishing with Al
Neri. Freddie betrayed Michael; he had to die. Tom lived happily
ever after...so to speak. :)

It seemed to me by the end of Pt 2 Michael had lost his humanity and
became worse than his late hot headed brother Sonny.

Well, okay...:) That's what was so fascinating about the movie. :)

It was obvious that Hyman Roth was based on real life Meyer Lansky
(except Lansky was one of the few to die of old age). Was Michael,
his father, and the rest of the family based on any real life mobsters
or just all fictional?

Mostly fictional. Don Vito's personality was actually based on Mario
Puzo's mother, of all things. Fictional characters, real life setting
and background, though.

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