Look closely at the scene where Michael asks Sollozzo to go to the bathroom. Sollozzo does a thing with his eyes that shows he smells a rat while all the time McCluskey is cowing down on his veal, napkin stuffed in this shirt, bragging about how many young punks he has patted down, and spourting that infinite bit if wisdon: "If you gtta go you gotta go."

Then when Michael comes back and listens to Sollozzo, suddenly he draws the gun....once again Sllozzo has this look in his eyes.. almost like a wild animal .... instantly recognizing what's happening, but knowing that he physically does not have the time to stop Michael. Surely had Michael shot McCluskey first Solozzo would have grabbed the gun away. The facial expression is a brilliant piece of acting.

Likewise McCluskey seems totally clueless about what is hapening to Sollozzo, and he doesn't seem to recognize whats really hapening until after he is hit with the first bullet.
Its pretty subtle stuff, but it is definitely there.

That's one of the reasons casting played such a huge role in the success of GF. Two actors selected for relatively brief (but pivotal) roles in the film--and look how they stepped up to the plate.

I believe I recall in the novel that after Sollozzo was shot, McCluskey sat there NOT expecting to be shot, because it was among the Italians. Whether or not this was explained to Sterling Hayden, he did a great job of expressing that very same lack of emotion written in the novel.

Yes, in the novel it states that McCluskey acted or thought like it nothing to do with him.

While I agree about Sollozzo's expression when Mike wanted to go to the bathroom, I don't recall his expression when Mike shot him. It happened pretty quickly.

I agree with that. In the novel Puzo says that Sollozzo immediately knew what was going to happen and reacted quickly. However, in the film he seems absolutely clueless about what's going on.
For a tiny little moment when we only see half of his face he almost seems to be sad about what is going to happen.
Sterling Hayden obviously follows the directing of FCC to die very slowly just as Sonny and Moe Greene. Even after the shot in the forehead he's swallowing and moving his head.
What amuses me is the reaction of the waiter when Sollozzo is falling - it seems that he wants to help him. (Perhaps the actor helped Al Lettieri.)
In the pictures I took you can see the details.

The novel states that Sollozzo's reactions were so acute that he had already begun to fling himself out of the way. On the other hand, in the movie I take it that Sollozzo was the type of person who relaized that in his line of business death by murder was sometimes unavoidable. He was fatalistic and resigned to his fate at that moment.

Yeah, but the look of amazement that Michael would out fox him combined with th koledge that he was about to die was brilliant.

I notice that McCluskey is sort of doing a JFK thing the way he is clutching his throat.

JFK did not clutch his throat.

For me, I took it as "this kid is not playing along and somewhat disrespectful".

I dont think that Solozzo cared for the way that Michael was throughout entire sitdown.

Michael did the following:

[list]
[*] stared him down
[*] dismissed Solozzo with his eyes and mannerism's
[*] showed to be more cold and callous than Solozzo and I dont think Solozzo thought he would ever see THAT day when someone would out-cold him - let alone Michael "College Boy/Uninvolved" Corleone

Good point, never saw it like that before.

Sorry, I see it somehow differently. Michael does none of these things.
In the beginning he is just a little nervous, then he plays along. He never stares Sollozzo down.
When he goes to the bathroom Michael is just scared. When he doesn't find the gun first he's almost panicking. Then he tries to calm himself down. When he comes back and sits down, his nervousness increases. He doesn't hear anymore what Sollozo is saying (we don't either), he knows what is going to happen, but still hesitates. He's just scared to death. There's not one moment in the whole scene where Michael dominates Sollozo. Even when he switches to English: "... no more attempts on my father's life", he's more like a young guy who finally dares say what he wants to.

I tend to agree with your analysis. Also you must keep inmind that, when the conversation begins, Michael is sitting across from the guy who tried to murder his father. Michael is not trying to stare anyone down. He is simply reacting to Sollozzo in that role. There is no evidence of disrespect or dismissal.

I also agree....the whole focus on Michael in this scene is that he is terrified about what is happening. It begins with the very nervous "We going to Jersey?" question, and it continues in the bathroom where he has to physically compose himself before returning to the dining area. He even disovey's Clemenza and sits back down at the table, presumably to compose himself further before in an instant he jumps up and shoots.

Yeah, that's why I love this scene. We see Michael really scared (perhaps the only time in the whole trilogy). And FCC knows how to pull us into this emotion, at least when you watch the film the first time without having read the book.

And listen to his fearful voice when he's asking "We going to Jersey?"