Question: What exactly did Fredo do to help Roth (that led to the assassination attempt at Lake Tahoe)? Fredo says ‘I never knew they would try to kill you'. Ok, but what was going on exactly then? What did he think was going on? What *was* going on? All we know is Michael's room got shot up and Fredo betrayed him, leading to the event.
Factual error: When Michael meets with Hyman Roth at his home in Florida the television is on and you can hear the announcer calling a USC/Notre Dame game. The meeting takes place in the late 1950's, but the announcer is Tom Kelly, a long time USC announcer who didn't start calling their games until the 1960's.
Suggested correction: The announcer calls out Don Buford and Luther Hayes. These players were on USC's roster together only in 1958. Therefore, the game must be the 1958 matchup that Notre Dame won 20-13. This is not a factual error.
The announcer has the voice of Tom Kelly, who did not announce USC games until the early '60's.
The point is that given the announcer heard is calling a real game from 1958, it's almost certainly the actual announcer from that game. There'd be no point in hiring Tom Kelly to call a fake game. The announcer must just sound like him, but be someone else. Tom Kelly isn't in the credits, which he would be if he was specifically cast in that role.
Corrected entry: When a young Vito is sitting on the steps with his family during the parade there is one child missing. We know Michael is sitting on Vito's lap. Connie is on Carmella's lap. So either Fredo or Sonny is missing in this scene. (02:05:25)
Correction: That's Fredo on Carmela's lap. I can see why he would be mistaken for a girl, though. Michael is the baby on Vito's lap, and we know Connie is younger than Michael...therefore, she wasn't born yet. So all three boys are accounted for.
Michael is the youngest child of their 4 children. I was wondering where the fourth child is, but looked it up, and Michael is the youngest of the family.
I don't know where you looked it up, but that info is wrong. The youngest is Connie (Constanzia) Corleone, and she's Carmela and Vito's only daughter. After Fanucci is shot during the Feast of San Gennaro scene, Vito returns to his family and when he picks up the infant, he whispers to him in Sicilian, "Michael, your father loves you very much" (02:05:40). At this point, Connie hasn't been born yet. Later, when Vito and Carmela visit the town of Corleone in Sicily, all 4 children are with them. Carmella holds infant Connie, and Vito holds little Michael (02:44:00).
Corrected entry: When they are questioning the senator about the dead prostitute you can clearly see the corpse breathe when he sits next to it. (01:12:40)
Correction: She is breathing because it is a set up. The Senator is drugged and slightly delusional, taking time to even recognize Hagen. The hooker is in on it, as Michael Corleone is very unlikely to order a woman to be murdered due to his principles and his sympathy for a woman's death (Apollonia). This is why her breathing is extremely noticeable.
Don't forget in Part 1 when the button men kill Tattaglia, they bust into the room where he is having sex with a prostitute. They kill both of them.
Correction: That's not her breathing - it's her body flexing as the senator moves about, and the mattress moves slightly as he does.
Just before Tom says "All that's left is our friendship." The rhythmic movement of the bed sheet is too difficult to miss.
Corrected entry: The initials on Michael and Kay's duvet cover in the Las Vegas assignation attempt are wrong - they say MCF not MCK.
Question: When Michael says to Tom, "if history has taught us anything, it's that you can kill anyone." Who is he referring to?
Answer: No one in particular. He was simply meaning that many historical figures who were extremely powerful (Julius Cesar for example) were assassinated. He means that no one is untouchable.
I disagree. I think he was referring to when he assassinated that police captain and the Turk and everyone in the room told him it was impossible.
Corrected entry: During the communion party Senator Geary thanks Tony's parents for their donation. Then he asks "Mike, Pat, and Kay" to stand up. He should have said Tony instead of Pat, as Pat is his own first name and Tony gets up with his parents. (Intentional in-joke.) (00:14:05)
Correction: This post is incorrect. The Senator said "Pat" and then quickly corrected himself and said "Kay," in reference to Michael's wife. The misspoken name was put in to show how fake the Senator was and that he didn't even know Michael and his wife all that well, to the point where he actually thought her name was "Pat," before correcting himself in mid-sentence. He was NOT trying to say "Tony." The misspoken name was on purpose and not a movie mistake.
I've always thought this odd too since the senators name was Pat.
Respectfully, I have watched that scene over and over and get no sense that the senator is "correcting" himself, he just says the wrong name. It is possible that he had so little respect for Michael that he got his son's name wrong because he didn't care to remember it, but I do not think he was correcting himself at all.
Question: Whatever happened to Sonny's wife and children?
Answer: There is a deleted scene from the movie (I'll put a link for you in the end!), where Theresa and Sonny's daughter, Francesca, attend the party for Anthony's communion and ask Michael's blessing for Francesca's future wedding with a man. At some point Michael says that "My brother Sonny died many years ago. And I guess I've been sort of a father to her, rather than an uncle." I would assume this means the children were raised close to him, because as we see when Connie discusses with him, even her own children stay with Michael's family; or close. (Connie's son was caught in Reno, Nevada for some petty theft). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Ucj4YFosk.
Continuity mistake: Al Pacino is accused of killing the 5 family leaders in 1950. In "Godfather part I" the killing of the 5 family leaders took place in 1955. (00:15:20)
Suggested correction: Michael is accused of "devising" the murder of the heads of the five families in 1950. Devising means planning, so while it may have taken about 5 years to successfully carry out, Michael begin planning the murders in 1950.
How is Michael accused of plotting the murder of the heads of the five families, as he himself is head of one of the families, yes five people die but Moe Green is not head of a New York family. It's been a long time since I have seen the film but that always stuck.
For alliteration purposes, five families seems to sound better then four families. Vito also asks for a meeting with the heads of the five families to stop the war, but he is one of the heads so he does not need to say five families, as if Tom would not think to include Vito in the meeting.
This is a common mistake made by viewers. Although there were, in actuality, 5 families in real life, there were 6 families. The script should have said "the other five families..." (or, better yet, just "the other families..." to make it clearer.
Question: At the start of the movie, Connie hates Michael. Was it just the death of their mother that made her change her feelings towards Michael? Or were there other factors?
Answer: Connie always hated Michael for ordering the death of Carlo (unaware that he was responsible for Sonny's murder) however she puts away her hatred to get Michael and Fredo to make up.
Connie didn't hate Michael. In the book, she was initially upset and angry that he had Carlo killed and confronted him, but within a few days, she apologized, telling Kay, Michael's wife, that it was all a mistake. Carlo was a physically abusive husband who never loved Connie and only married her because she was Don Corleone's daughter. Connie quickly realised she was far happier and much better off without Carlo.
Answer: Connie never hated Michael. Their relationship became strained because he disapproved of her jet-set, life-style, she was neglecting her children, and he dislikes the men she has relationships with. She is dependent on her brother for money and resents having to beg for more. She changes somewhat towards the end of the movie, partially because of her mother's death and Fredo being killed, and after Michael so cruelly cut Kay out of his life. Gradually, Connie starts to become more like Michael and by the third film, takes a more active role in the family business.
Answer: In the movie Connie says to Michael when she wants to come back that she hated him when Carlo died, and she did things to hurt Michael and herself, but she had come to realise that Michael is only doing what he has to do for the family, being strong for the family. She wanted to come back and take care of Michael and the children.
Answer: Fredo was offered money and business opportunities by Michael's enemies for providing what he thought was relatively harmless information about his brother. Fredo naively believed that Michael was never in any danger.
raywest ★
Fredo did know it would be a hit; otherwise, what is the point of opening the drapes? It's made very clear it was an anomaly and that someone on the inside obviously opened those drapes to give hitmen a clear shot.