Posted on 12/05/2017 7:16:51 AM PST by SeekAndFind
I saw the ads for “The Americans” but never watched it. Sounds interesting........;)
So say you?
Tried to watch it once. It was boring.
It got a little racey. At times it did contribute to the plot, but other times it seemed a bit gratuitous. I was a child of the 80s and it did a good job of capturing the era and cold war spy tradecraft. It was well written and the character development was way better than most tv these days.
“III has many brilliant things in it”
Michael to Vincent: “so kill him, what does that have to do with me?”
Also the transition of power from Michael to Sonny’s illegitimate son Vincent.
I loved “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” (didn’t care for Part III.) In Godfather Part II, however, I’ve never quite understood exactly what Fredo did and did not do in betraying Michael. When the attempt was made on Michael’s life in his bedroom, who left the curtains open so the gunmen would know when Michael was in the room? Fredo? If so, how could he not know there was going to be a hit? Immediately afterwards, with men and dogs searching every inch of the compound, who got to the gunmen first and killed them? Fredo? Given how ineffective he was in Part I when Vito Corleone was gunned down at the fruit stand (fumbling with the gun, dropping it, and so on) it just doesn’t seem plausible that Fredo quickly found the gunmen and very efficiently killed them both before anyone else could get to them. If someone else killed the gunmen, how did that person avoid detection by all of the men searching the compound?
bump
It’s the tragedy of how a good-hearted person, like Michael Corleone got sucked into his Father’s world.
Because Mussolini chased the Mob out of Italy.
My take on Michael Corleone is different. Rather than being a good man who was drawn into the dark world of his father and older brother against his will, my impression is that Michael was a cold, calculating sociopath by nature all along.
He was originally destined for a non-criminal career for practical rather than moral reasons (Vito wanted a member of the family in legitimate business or in politics). However, when the opportunity to engage his violent, sociopathic side presented itself, Michael took to it like a fish to water.
What I think happened was Michael saw that Sonny and Tom Hagen were going to lead the family to ruin. Notice how many things Tom got wrong during the movie. I think Michael came to the painful conclusion that he was the only one with the smarts to save the Corleone family.
The turning point was when Michael saw Vito was unguarded in the hospital. How incompetent was Sonny to allow that to happen?
Sonny’s men got rousted by the cops. Not incompetence, good maneuvering by the enemy with very lucky timing by Michael. If he shows up a few minutes earlier he probably gets rousted with Sonny’s men, a few minutes later the hit already happens.
And don't underestimate the impact of seeing Appollonia blow up in front of him. That may very well have been the thing that turned him into the monster he became.
I really enjoy watching Vincent get transformed from Sonny’s kid (total hot head) to Michael’s kid (very calculating and controlled). Outside of the incest plot 3 is good, would have been better with Tom but contracts screw things up.
The real family tragedy wasn't Michael but Fredo - he fits your description of a basically good-hearted man who happened to be born into the wrong family much more than Michael does. You get the impression that the not so bright but affable and gregarious Fredo would have done great in hospitality services or the entertainment world if literal life or death decisions weren't involved.
LOL, banging cocktail waitresses two at a time, sure would be doing great.
That’s also what made the flashback scene at the end of GFII so poignant. It was Fredo who defended Michael when Michael said he was joining the Marines.
Michael would have been perfectly happy settling down with Apollonia. Just watch him at the wedding reception.
Another good moment is where Fredo tells his nephew to say a Hail Mary before putting bait on a hook, and he really means it - evidence of Fredo's naïve and child-like but sincere faith. In contrast, Michael goes through the motions of Baptism and First Communion for his children as a calculated effort to appear legitimate and respectable (especially when he's having his enemies gunned down) while most likely believing in none of it.
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