In that scene from GF2 when Michael confronts Tom about another job offer in Vegas, Tom said that he turned them down......but he did look a little nervous.....I mean, who wouldn't, Michael was a monster.....but that answer was not good enough for Michael, then he got personal. Do you think that Tom was really considering that offer, and he just told Mike he said no......and Mike new better.....or was Mike just showing Tom how it can be with him, if he were to dessert the family?
My opinion is that he wanted to let Tom know how mad he would be if Tom did decide to leave the family.

No, I don't believe Tom ever considered taking the offer.
Tom knew Michael, and knew EXACTLY how mad Michael would be if he made a move anywhere. Also...my personal take on Tom is that despite any differences with Michael or his own feelings on how things were being run...he was much to loyal to the Corleone Family to ever consider going anywhere else.

And Michael knew that Tom would never leave the Family... but just the same wanted to let him know (in front of Neri & Rocco, no less) that he knew the offer was made. For some reason at this time in his life, Michael decided to degrade and embarrass Tom, the one family member who never betrayed or defied him in any way.

Apple

I think Tom was the most loyal, and I am sure Mike was verbally keeping him down to make sure he didn't dispute any of his decisions because he was a former consilierge (??) to Vito.......I mean, look how much Sonny and Tom argued.....Tom was just as smart in the business as anyone......Mike new that, so maybe he was mean to Tom to try and keep him from interferring with his opinions.
I do think that Tom would have entertained a new move in his life......I mean he went from the #2 man in the family, to just a family lawyer......he probably was pissed off. lol.

I'm not so sure. If Tom was offered a job, it's reasonable to assume that he may have let certain parties know of his availability. Tom could have said he turned them down or he could have said I'd never do such a thing. He chose the former response. To me that immplies that he could have accepted the job.

I think that Mike was still in his monster phase at that point and was capable of anything.

Tom had already turned them down, so he wasnt leaving. Michael just wanted to humiliate Tom.

Exactly! It was Michael at his most cold-hearted.
There was never any question about Tom's loyalty--none at all. And Tom, as the guy closest to Michael, would never have accepted another offer because he knew that Michael would never let him go--he knew too much.

There is an earlier GFII script (see link below) answering these questions. In this script, Tom was seriously considering the Houstan offer and his mistress (Sandra Corleone) tried to convince him to accept it a little before he entered the boathouse. In the boathouse scene, Michael thoroughly humiliated Tom by (i) showing that Al Neri's intelligence about Roth's whereabouts was superior than Tom's, (ii) showing that he knew about his affair with Sandra and (iii) questioning his loyalty. It was probably then that Tom decided not to accept the offer although he told Michael that he had already turned it down.


script

Whatever can be 'dug up' from earlier scripts did not make it to the final cut (not even as a deleted scene)...and is therefore not part of the story.

One can certainly speculate as to what happened (i.e. the 'what-if' series of threads)...but to come up with an earlier script and claim that that answers the question is not going to cut it.

Apple

This is interesting. So, the original plans of FFC and Puzo are like they never existed, but the wild speculations of anyone of us can be thought of as possible parts of the story.

Not exactly...you cannot come out and state that 'original plans' of FFC/Puzo that never ended up in the final story contain the answer to a question like..."Was Tom Leaving".

Because despite old, coffee stained draft scripts that you can bring up all you want...the question can NEVER be truly answered, only speculated and discussed by whoever cares to do so.

Because in the movie, Tom says he turned them down. Doesn't give detai, doesn't ask Michael how he knows about the offer. Just says he turned them down.



Apple

I imagine that Tom was emotionally torn about leaving. On the one hand he probably felt immense loyalty to the family and to Michael as Vito's progeny. But, he was probably disgusted and disheartened by how Michael had laid waste to Vito's legacy of nobility and honor. Afterall, he did tell Frankie that the Corleone family was like the Roman Empire -once!

AppleOnYa, relax. Just as the novel contains a lot of information that was never included in GFI due to time limitations, so does an earlier script, coffee stained or not. At least it shows what FFC and Puzo roughly had in mind. I can't see what makes you furious about this. Also, as long as people in this board come out and state things like "maybe Lucchesi was a cousin of Barzini and an old friend of Roth and so he wanted to take Michael out to take revenge for these two", I can come out and state whatever I want as long as I don't offend anybody.

Now, now girls! You can share him. Apple, you date him on friday night and Michele, you date him on Saturday night.

Sandra Corleone

This was Sonny's wife, aight?