WHERE? Where is Al after he pulls out a shotgun and saves Michael and Vincent from the helicopter attack? We then see Vincent and Michael downstairs in the basement parking lot, and Vincent pulls out a garbage can and breaks into a limo and they drive home to NYC. and by the time they're home, Al is back there! So why wasn't he with them escaping?

just something odd i noticed....i don't post much on this board, but i just noticed this and thought i might ask some of the more experienced fans.

good question maybe he made a deal with zasa too!!!
robert

I always found that odd, too. Neri must have driven to the hotel, because if you remember, Michael & Vincent took a helicopter to arrive at the meeting. But why Neri did not leave as protection to Michael is weird. Maybe it was a protection scheme. I'm just guessing here, but if something happened to Michael, then Neri could have run things for the Family. Vincent was not ready to head the Family at that point of the film. IMO, it's debatable whether Vincent was ever suitable to run the Corleone Family.

I realized that too but then I realized that toward the end, Neri was more of the business type of guy. He wasn't Michael's bodyguard anymore, he was more like consigliere, so he was basically trying to keep his hands clean.

I agree as well that Neri was no longer a bodyguard, and he would be the next logical choice to run the Corleone family. He probably went to the helicopter.

The scene was engineered that way to show us Vincent's rise in the family. Now he's in charge of Michael's personal safety. Neri probably was "running interference" for them--guarding the rear with his lupara in case Zasa had people on the ground to kill survivors.

That's a good question! All parties did make it back to NYC in time to watch it on the late night news. For me, it really does not sense for a high ranking family member as Neri to risk his life in fighting some of ZaZa easily replaceable soldiers. As you clearly pointed out Neri had a rifle and Mike and Vincent did not carry a fire arm. It does not seem feasible that they would venture to the parking lot unprotected. They lost their backup in Neri. Is this just a case in poor scene development in FFC part?

Neri wasn't just a business type guy. He still had his enforcer skills

Neri is a business type period! I just think he is just too important to be in a gun battle with soldiers. You will never see Patton on the front lines?