The Godfather: Part II question

[joebuck20]

@Two_Many_Cats

But if he didn’t think it was going to be a hit, why would Fredo pull the curtains open? Why else would Johnny Ola want the curtains in Michael’s private bedroom open unless he had hitmen waiting for Michael to show up in a vulnerable spot?

I suppose he thought that maybe Michael’s enemies could have somehow gotten leverage on him by watching him get it on with Kay. Kind of weak, I know, but then again Fredo’s not a particularly bright guy either.

[davidw]

@Two_Many_Cats

But if he didn’t think it was going to be a hit, why would Fredo pull the curtains open? Why else would Johnny Ola want the curtains in Michael’s private bedroom open unless he had hitmen waiting for Michael to show up in a vulnerable spot?

I mean, even Fredo couldn’t be too stupid to figure that one out. Of course he knew.

We don’t know for sure that Fredo opened the curtains. Maybe he just let someone into the private area of the house (to look for business papers or something?), and they went back there and opened the curtains.

[minlokwat]

@The_Second_Stone

“Michael Corleone says hello” would be for the benefit of any bystanders as ordered by Roth so that people would blame Michael. That it was Pentangeli himself was all that much better for Roth. So when word gets out if the bartender or anyone else overhears it, it looks like Michael has ordered the hit. Thus Michael is in a war with the Pentangeli regime and not Roth.

That’s interesting and had never occurred to me. And while it seems perfectly plausible as you describe it, I’m still not sure it holds up to scrutiny.

If I remember the scene correctly, the bar was empty without any pain-in-the-ass innocent bystanders about. The barkeep had to have been in on what was going down though, granted, he might not have been up to speed with all of the details.

And while the “Micheal Corleone says hello” line might have been intended only for him (I mean there’s really no point in directing it to Pentangeli since he was supposed to wind up dead) it seems the ad-lib served only to muddle an already twisted plotline of who ordered the hit on whom and which part of the family is double-crossing the other side.