Good catch! If I'm remembering this correctly, I think that shot is designed to show the ongoing dissatisfaction/humiliation of Tom as he is pushed out of certain aspects of the Family business.



Michael rarely says anything without a purpose. He is absolutely trying to but a fly in Roth's ointment by bringing this up in front of everyone. I think that Michael knows that he or Roth will be dead within a few days and Michael is trying to do what he can to ruin Roth's investments just in case Roth survives and Michael doesn't.

At the opening of Roth's birthday cake scene, Michael's bodyguard looks up, looks annoyed, and takes off his hat to clean it--a bird must have shitted on it.

Olivant made a pretty compelling case for what actually happened in this scene on page 10 of this thread.

Just before that scene, Michael introduces Tom (although Ola already remembered him) as his lawyer and tells Ola that Tom only handles certain parts of the family business. Of course, that is in gigantic contrast with Tom's involvement in all Corleone business under Vito.

I've always maintained that Michael blamed Tom for much of the Corleone's misfortunes ("You're not a wartime Consigliere") One can go back even further to GFI: Michael to Kay: "He's a good lawyer. Not a Sicilian ..."

I recently noticed in the book. when they talk about maybe someone other than Michael taking out Sollozzo, they mention:

Sonny, but he has to run the Family;
Freddy, but he's in shock;
Tessio or Clemenza, but Sollozzo would be wise to them;
Some other button man, ditto;
Some young, tough kid, but that would be like calling a minor leaguer up to pitch in the Series;
So it has to be Michael.

Tom's in the middle of the conversation, he owes Vito more than anyone, but there's not even a word that he might do this.

!!!!! Excellent catch.

This changes some things for me. Does Michael notice Questadt, and if he does, does he remember him during the hearings?

When Fredo tells Mike that Questadt belongs to Roth, Michael shows a little disgust then disowns him. I have always thought this was the last straw, and that Mike could have used this information much earlier—once Fredo tells him this, and Mike realizes this, then he truly understands how useless Fredo is and disowns him because this would have helped him.

BUT, if Questadt is in the Cuba meeting, and Michael does recognize him, then he already knows that he belongs to Roth—when Fredo tells him this information, is he dismissing Fredo's intel as old, useless knowledge that does him no good?

Or to put it simply—did Mike know that Questadt belonged to Roth before Fredo told him, so this info doesn't help him? Or does Fredo tell him when it's almost too late, and that's why he disowns him?

As Sollozzo told Tom: "I know you're not in the muscle-end of the family ..." In any case, sending Tom would be "like calling a minor leaguer up to pitch in the Series;"

Thanks, but 'twasn't I who noticed Questadt in that scene, it was a sharp-eyed poster on this board at least 10 years ago. It set off a long discussion of some of the questions you raised. Some people speculated that Michael didn't notice Questadt at that meeting because, as we see in III, he had diabetes and had impaired vision. I thought that was a big stretch. Finally, another poster referred to an earlier script treatment in which Michael was supposed to have met Questadt in Havana for some purpose not revealed.

That explanation was credible: there were lots of scripts and revisions before FFC settled on the final cut. I'm guessing that Questadt was in that scene because of the earlier script treatment. Somewhere along the production line, FFC chose to abandon the idea of Michael meeting Questadt, but left him in that scene either because he didn't notice him, or because the Havana scenes (which were shot in the Dominican Republic) would be too costly to replicate if Questadt were edited out.

The boathouse confrontation with Fredo (one of the best in the Trilogy, IMO) had enormous drama. Michael was genuinely shocked when Tom told him Pentangeli was alive in the scene before. Another guess: Since Michael already knew Pentangeli had survived, FFC needed more drama for the Fredo confrontation scene, and gave him the line about Questadt belonging to Roth--it put the final nail into the coffin of Michael's relationship with his brother.

The novel says Tom said to Tess and Clem: "What about somebody really tough who hasn't made his rep yet, a good rookie?" Tessio smiled to take the sting out of his words and said, "That's like bringing a guy up from the minors to pitch in the World Series."

Kay when she phoned Michael to ask after Vito I love you, I love you, Tell me you love me even after Michael says I can't talk, Can't you say it?

Always demanding and whiny

Apollonia was also demanding and whiny Kept honing when Don Tommasino was informing Sonny's murder

I just watched the movie for the 800 billion and 53rd time last night. I notice that Tom seems to always be the one to give the bad news.

1) Senator Cauley not making it to the wedding
2) Luca Brasi wants to say thanks
3) Michael killed Sollozzo and had to leave America
4) Sonny got shot at the causeway
(and then later)
5) Kay "lost" the baby

Turnbull, you're a good man. But Tom does refer to Vito as Pop after they all leave his bedroom after telling him the heartbreaking news that Mike killed Sollozzo; Sonny's wants to go after that pimp Tattaglia and Tom counters with "let the smoke clear, Pop can negotiate."

So he did--excellent catch, Montauk!
The novel says that Vito told Tom never to forget his own father, even though Tom's father was an alcoholic and left him wandering the streets. Perhaps that's why Tom never called Vito "Pop" to his face.

Also note that Tom tells Sonny to make the deal "if your father dies" followed by Sonny's exclamation "he's not your father." Tom does refer to Vito as the old man and to Woltz Tom refers to Vito as Mr. Corleone.

That “Lou the Driver” in GFI looks exactly like Questadt, Senate Lawyer in GFII. Were they played by the same actor?

More bad new delivered by Tom:
When he calls Bonasera.
In the book, Bonasera goes through some hilarious mental gyrations speculating on the nature of the service he will be asked to perform.

In a deleted scene, after that phone call, Bonasera says to his wife, "Do you know what they have-a done now? They have-a killed someone so important that they need him to be buried by an undertaker. I curse-a the day that you and Carmella Corleone became friends."

It was Bonasera who cremated Hoffa. It's about as plausible as Sheeran's guy. So why not?

Yes. Hoffa tried to get his hearse drivers to join the Teamsters.

I was one of them and you know it lol.

I do. IJM

Not sure where else to put this question, but I've always wondered:

In GFII, when Merle asks if he could have a drink, what does Michael say to him?

It sounds like he says Che vuoi. It means what do you want. Actually, he says it to Connie, not Merle.

It sounded like something sarcastic oh boy! You shouldn't even be here and now you want a drink

If Michael was offering him, his drink of choice, why did Connie yell to Neri to get him a drink

Michael ignored Merle.

Exactly TB. As I posted above, Che vuoi was directed at Connie, not Merle. If he were directing his question at Merle, he would have said Che voule.

So Michael's what do you want? was not answering Merle asking if he could have a drink but it was what did Connie want from him

No wonder he never got his drink!

audacity of him Michael pay for their cruise too

Also, remember when he breaks the sad news after Vito says, "My wife is crying upstairs." Tom replies with, "I didn't tell Mama anything."

Oh but HERE'S a "did anyone notice" that I just picked up on.

During the Five Families meeting, keep your eyes on Tom. It's interesting his reactions, esp. as he's coldly staring down that pimp Tattaglia. At this point, he's under the impression that he's looking a the man behind the murder of his brother Sonny. Also, when Barzini sez "Then we're agreed..." He seems a little taken aback by it, while some have said this, for Vito, was the tipoff that Barzini was the culprit. The acting by everyone in that scene was golden.