Posted By: Danito
BS: Keep your enemies close - 09/15/08 07:46 AM
[Michael staring] Michael to Pentangeli: "He (Vito) taught me keep your friends close but your enemies closer." [/Michael staring]
Even though the scene is great and Michael is telling this absolutely convincingly, I think the line is bullshit. It contradicts everything Vito has said and done. Vito didn't keep his enemies close. He didn't even keep his friends close. He didn't tell "anybody outside the family what he was thinking".
There's not a single example in either the book or the film that could prove Michael's statement.
Vito's enemies: Cicci, Fanucci, Barzini, Tattaglia, Sollozzo. None of them was kept close, unless you count the meeting of the families as "keeping close".
Vito's strategy in coping with enemies was different: reasoning or killing. He preferred to turn his enemies into friends.
Michael on the other hand didn't know what friendship was. There was just business and the family.
Even though the scene is great and Michael is telling this absolutely convincingly, I think the line is bullshit. It contradicts everything Vito has said and done. Vito didn't keep his enemies close. He didn't even keep his friends close. He didn't tell "anybody outside the family what he was thinking".
There's not a single example in either the book or the film that could prove Michael's statement.
Vito's enemies: Cicci, Fanucci, Barzini, Tattaglia, Sollozzo. None of them was kept close, unless you count the meeting of the families as "keeping close".
Vito's strategy in coping with enemies was different: reasoning or killing. He preferred to turn his enemies into friends.
Michael on the other hand didn't know what friendship was. There was just business and the family.