** kingpengvin **, I respectfully suggest that the fact that the novel and the screenplay were written by the same person is not important here. It is unreasonable for Puzo to expect that everyone who saw the movie would also have read the book. And I make this statement purely from an “entertainment” perspective. I think that if one reads the book before seeing the movie, one gains insights that make the movie more enjoyable. But if one hasn’t read the book, one should not be penalized for not doing so.
Pardon the hijack, but I’m a real GODFATHER nut, and I just thought of something: when Michael gets back from Cuba (after learning that poor brother fredo was conned by Hyman Roth), he meets with his cronies, including Tom Hagen. He gets really pissy with Tom-Michael reminds him that he knows all about Tom’s extramarital affairs. Was that all for show (to demonstrate to the underlings that Michael ids firmly in control)? Of all the brothers, I thought Michael was closest to Tom Hagen, who really never gets his hands dirty-as the lawyer for the family, he has to be pretty clean.