If you’ve seen (or read) The Day of the Jackal, you should know the French have (or at least had) “interrogation” techniques as persuasive as the Nazis’.
It is. No one can make a logical case for using “DeGaulle.” The whole argument – something everyone agrees on – is that it is an egregious error. There is no reason why the letters of transit (assuming they exist) would be signed by DeGaulle.
But the error is that people mistake “Weygand” for “DeGaulle” because they have never heard of Weygand (Did you before I mentioned it?) and, if they did, didn’t know how it was pronounced. Saying “DeGaulle” in 1942 as a Vichy official is as obvious an error as saying they were signed by Winston Churchill. No one on set would have allowed it go through.
I used to believe it was “DeGaulle” as well, until I actually heard of General Weygand. Once I knew what the name was supposed to be, and was able to listen for it, there was no doubt at all. Lorre is very clearly saying “Weygand.” I can’t even hear it as “DeGaulle” anymore, even if I try.
Yes - by having her walk away from her team for the majority of the World Series.
Dottie is clearly a conflicted player and sister. Obviously, as that’s one of the major themes of the movie. But despite the fact that you could shoot a 110 lb. Lori Petty-shaped rocket out of a cannon 90 feet into 7-foot tall Geena Davis and she wouldn’t bat an eye, let alone let go of a baseball, there actually is no answer to this question. The question is as unanswerable as the one at the end of “Inception” whether or not Cobb is in a dream or reality. It’s even left to the viewer to make up their own mind - it’s to realize that both answers are just as likely to be true, and it doesn’t matter what the actual answer is.
My own commonly-held misconception is that the character who chased the Roadrunner was not Wile E. Coyote. In the cartoons with the Roadrunner, he is (I think) only referred to as “the Coyote”. He doesn’t speak (except when breaking the fourth wall). His name may be shown on a mailbox or on some Acme packages; I don’t remember for sure.
There is another series of cartoons in which Bugs Bunny faces off with a character who introduces himself as “Wile E. Coyote”. He’s drawn exactly the same, but his personality is somewhat different. I maintain that they are two separate characters.
That “actor” played three different characters; the Roadrunner’s unnamed nemesis, Wile E. Coyote with Bugs, and (in a species bending performance) Ralph the Wolf with Sam the Sheepdog.
The original screenplay typescript facsimile clearly confirms that the screenwriters wrote “Waygand” (see scene number 39 on p. 19 at that link). They may have slightly misspelled the name, but it’s definitely not “de Gaulle”.
Actually I think some people do. Coppola made it a point never to show us how the Corleones actually make their money. We don’t see shopkeepers being extorted, how they obtained the corpse of a hooker they used for blackmail, or what they do to people who owe for gambling debts. And of course the whole reason they tried to whack Vito in the first movie is because he refused to use his contacts to push heroin. Granted Vito says this is because his contacts (bribed officials) are willing to ignore gambling and prostitution but would come down on drugs, but a lot of people miss that.
And there are people in real life who have a somewhat romantic view of the mob. Or at least a romantic view of the mob from decades ago. I remembe watching an interview with someone who was an entertainer back in Vegas when it was mobbed up, 50s and 60s I guess, and she said something like, “They didn’t bother anyone unless they did something to deserve it.” Yeah.
But I’m in agreement with you. Vito isn’t really a good man. Michael knew that and wanted to get away from the family, but ultimately decided to come back when he realized they were endangered.
I didn’t miss that, but I will agree that a lot of people do. Police and authorities are happy to ignore the Corleones’ rackets and extortion and prostitution as long as they’re getting paid to do so, but they draw the line at narcotics. Vito knows this, and acts accordingly. It works well for all parties.
Vito never actually asks for, or orders, anything. He drops broad suggestions as to what he would like to have happen, his sons and Hagen and Tessio pick up the suggestion, and they invariably know a guy who knows a guy. Or he will gladly dispense a favour, using the technique described; in exchange for a favour in return in the future. Briefly, he suggests something, and it happens, but there are so many people between his initial suggestion and the actual occurrence, that it cannot be traced back to him.
Vito is not a good man. But he knows how to make illegal things happen while being seen as a good man.