Yep, when Mike asked Roth who authorized the hit on Frank Pentangeli. Hyman went into his little speech about Moe, how they came up together, how great Moe was for founding Vegas, etc., etc., and how he (Roth) never asked “Who OK’d the hit on Moe Green” as it was just business.
The Vigoda: Living or Dead joke started back in the 80s when two or more show biz journals referred to “The Late Abe Vigoda”. At the time he was not only alive but appearing on Broadway in Arsenic & Old Lace, and to combat rumors he was dead he went on David Letterman for a “Top Ten Proofs Abe Vigoda is Alive” (a mirror was held under his nose, his pulse was taken, etc.). Since then he’s been a late living legend.
He barely acted professionally before Tessio- a couple of ‘extra’ roles and some Broadway musical “cast of thousands” numbers but he’d never been able to pay the bills. IIRC he was driving a taxi part time when he went on the casting call for the Godfather, expecting to get a role as a wedding guest, but Coppola liked his look and he could act.
It doesn’t have to be Green, necessarily. Carlo could have been placed in a series of positions where he could have performed a number of “mole” jobs–this assumes of course that Michael hasn’t been able to track down and kill everyone who’s hurt the Corleones. According to Puzo, he pretty much has by the time he’s massacred everyone but I think that’s just Puzo tying up every loose end he can think of–he could easily have written it so that, in the remaining loose ends (i.e., everything that couldn’t be tied up neatly in a bow) he would have some of his revenge-contracts serving his will to nail all the loose ends, which is both more realistic and crueler.
:smack:
The only Tessio scene that I remember is his last one. Where else does he appear in the movie?
Off the top of my head…
When they got the call about where McClusky was signed out to he described Louis (It’s perfect for us), the tank and pull chain style of toilet at Louis and how it could be used to conceal the gun.
At the Don’s funeral, he approached Michael about the meeting with Barzini and sealed his fate.
Other Tessio moments:
He brings in the bulletproof vest with the fish in it. (Leading to a great Clemenza line: “It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.”)
After the failed hit at the hospital he meets Michael at the gate and gave the line: “We’ll need 'em now. After the hospital thing, Sonny got mad. We hit Bruno Tattaglia at four o’clock this morning.”
At the big meeting late in the movie with Vito, Michael and the capos, Tessio pleads for Vito to do something about Barzini but Vito defers to Michael who brushes him off. This is the foreboding that Tessio (or Clemenza) will turn on Michael.
Tessio dances at Connie’s wedding with a small girl (maybe a grand daughter?) standing on his feet.
Isn’t Tessio also somewhere in the scene when Clemenza’s teaching Michael how to cook?
I mean 9of course0 the actor who played him-i don’t ever recall seeing him in any other movies.
You are right about vigoda-the guy looked like he was 80 when he was 50! He reminds me of my grandfather-who stopped ageing when he hit 45 (he looked the same at 89).
Yes. And still working.
Apropos to nothing in particular, but I thought it was interesting that in the book the family regarded Carlo, whose ancestry was mostly northern Italian, as being just a much a foreigner as Kay (who had no Sicilian or Italian ancestry at all).
Also in the book (not the movie) it was Tom who said “It’s a Sicilian message, Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes”. Though he was a “Mick Kraut” mut, he had become fluent in Sicilian almost immediately after being taken in by the family and was a walking encyclopedia of Sicilian culture (and his wife was Sicilian), the zeal of a convert.
I think that was very true at the time. Sicily had a very uneasy relationship with Italy and brought that attitude over with them to the US. Remember Sicily was it’s own country until 1860 and is still an autonomous region. I went to wiki for this part to help explain it:
I believe I’ve read that the studio was seriously considering recasting the role of Michael, until they saw the footage of this scene; apparently that convinced them that Pacino, who was not well-known at that time, was the right actor for the job.
Not only is today Abe’s birthday, but it’s also Dominic Chianese’s (Johnny Ola). A mere kid at 78.
Happy Birthday, Uncle Junior! In on some of the best movies and best TV going. And the boy can sing, too.
The point about Tom getting smart about the Sicilian way of doing things leads me to an interesting thought.
Each son is basically the embodiment of a single aspect of the personality. Sonny is ruled by his emotions. Tom is drawn to logical appeals and reason. Fredo is, I guess, predominately drawn to socializing, social relationships, etc. Michael’s quest in 1 is, I’d argue, the balancing of them all — and controlling each of them so they are used properly without letting any dominate him. Michael can’t be too much like Sonny, or like Tom, or like Fredo, or he’ll fail.
Has anyone ever written up Godfather as a look at id, ego, and superego? Or logos, pathos and ethos?
It wouldn’t take much to paint Tom as a sociopath. He seems the least troubled of anybody (save perhaps Sonny) at killing, even (by implication anyway) orchestrating the murder of the prostitute, seems slightly surprised but non judgmental at Woltz’s child star mistress (deleted scene- basically he just sees it as something he can possibly use against Woltz, not as “OMG that bastard!”), and is colder and more methodical than any of his brothers save perhaps for Michael. Anyone else see him this way?
One thing I never understood was the way Michael treated Tom in Godfather II. Tom was apparently always loyal but Michael seemed to hold him in contempt. Why was this? Was it supposed to show that Michael thought Tom’s loyalty was a sign of weakness - a stronger man would have challenged him? Was Michael angry at Tom because Tom survived when Sonny and Fredo were dead? Was Michael really mad because Tom was cheating on his wife (which he mentioned at one point) but if so why would Michael care that much about that? I feel like there’s some key aspect of their relationship I’m missing.
The latest Vanity Fair has a very interesting article on The Godfather. Did you know that Danny Thomas was in line to play Don Corleone?
Can you bloody imagine.