The Drapes

No explanation needed

I think Fredo's only part in Michael's murder attempt was opening the drapes, and giving Hyman Roth's two gunmen a clear shot at him.

Fredo later says he didn't know it was going to be a hit. Now I realize Fredo is stupid, but what other earthly reason would there be for him to open the drapes unless it was going to be a hit. So either Fredo lied to Mike about his role in the hit, or someone else opened the drapes.

I'll have to agree. It seemed Fredo was telling the truth when he said that he didn't know that it was going to be a hit. No one is that stupid.

According to the alternate script, referred to elsewhere here recently, Fredo thought it was going to be a kidnapping.

He may have left the drapes open so that the kidnappers could see when Michael was in the room.

Maybe Ola and Roth told Fredo that they heard that Kay was "hot-looking," and they wanted a peek at her while she was undressing

[/qb][/QUOTE]Maybe Ola and Roth told Fredo that they heard that Kay was "hot-looking," and they wanted a peek at her while she was undressing [/QB][/QUOTE]
also, he said he sometimes wished he married a girl like kay.

Fredo could have been convinced by Roth that he was only going to scare Michael. Fredo would have fallen for that.

Both reasonable theories (although I'd think Fredo knew by this time that NOTHING could 'scare' Michael Corleone), both of which prove that no matter how you look at it, by working with Roth Fredo was conspiring AGAINST his brother, and...even if he was too dumb to realize that the potential result could be Michael's death....knew that something bad would happen to him or a member of his family. Especially if he assisted in enabling something to occur at the Tahoe estate...where everybody lived.

Traitor. Deserved to die. Didn't know.

Apple

: [/QB][/QUOTE]
he said he sometimes wished he married a girl like kay. [/QB][/QUOTE]


Now, see I always thought this proved that Ceingartner was right about Fredo being gay. The sentence Fredo unntered has always been misinterpreted. What Fredo said is that he wished he'd married a GIRL, like Kay.

What if Connie did it?

I really don't think Fredo could come into his brother's bedroom just like that to open the drapes!!
His part in that attack was probeblly pointing out Michael's room.

New guy here with an observation.

Whoever opened the drapes had to have done it while Kay was in bed asleep, due to her surprise at seeing them open when she awoke. I would assume that only immediate family or possibly a maid could access the bedroom without arousing suspicion. I can imagine Fredo doing this, perhaps thinking it was merely a signal that he had pulled off his part in whatever scam he thought he was involved in. I still have a problem with the dead hitmen though. Who killed them? It couldn't have been Fredo unless he was a knowing accomplice to the assassination attempt. I don't think he was. If the guy who killed them could get away, why couldn't they all get away? Did Roth arrange it that way so that Michael would suspect Frankie?

This is a nice site! I've already found answers to questions that have bugged me for years.

Intriquing ideas, and those who share them are always welcome here. Welcome, wedgehed!


Just a thought - your argument is based on someone opening the drapes while Kay was in bed. Isn't it possible that they were opened before, and Kay only noticed it later (just before the shooting)?

Can you imagine Kay getting ready for bed with the drapes open?

OK, I'm sure we can all imagine it!

I just think it would be against her nature to do so.

Mea culpa. I forgot who I was talking about.

Yes! A new guy with a fresh perspective (welcome wedgehed). For as many times as I've watched this scene, I always wondered to myself when Kay says, "Michael, why are the drapes open", either she didn't notice them when she got into bed (highly unlikely) or somebody opened them while she was asleep (more likely, but still a risk.) It wasn't until then that I knew it was Barzini along - oops wrong film, nevermind.

How about this theory. Fredo is approached by Johnny Ola to open the drapes; he gives Fredo a dumb excuse....they want to get photos of Michael and Kay to frame him or extort him. Fredo buys it, but not sure how to pull it off. He and Connie are talking after her "I need money" plea to Michael and Connie is pissed. Fredo says he can float her some dough if she does this little favor for him. Go open the drapes in Michael's room while Kay is sleeping. If she wakes up, just say you were upset and wanted to talk to her about Michael. Pretty good, huh?

Possible but not probable. Assuming she gets ready for and goes to bed with her bedroom drapes closed any other evening...it's unlikely that a woman like Kay would one night simply not notice that they were open.

Keeping in mind that this is after all fiction and the drape thing is simply an overlooked flaw in the script which FFC/Puzo never dreamed would be so overanalyzed, there appears to be no other answer than someone would have to have snuck in and opened the drapes as Kay slept in her bed.

WHO opened them? Well that's left to be voted on above...

AppleOnYa

BTW, I voted for Other because Connie wasn't a choice. But who better to sneak in there than Connie. She would be less threatening or suspicious than any of the men mention.

Gotta go with Fredo.

It has just came to me!
We do know of someone who was in Michael and Kay's bedroom!
Could it be Anthony who open the drapes while he placed the drawing on his father's pillow?
Suppose he showed it to his uncle (Fredo) and he told him to open the drapes?

Well, anything is possible. The only problem with that is that there is no evidence to prove such a thing possible.

Hmm, wedgehed has got me thinking here (or should I say guessing?) I never made the connection that someone opened the drapes after Kay was asleep. I'm going to take wedgehed's logical information and concoct a crazy theory from it.

After the shooting when the alarms were turned on, Rocco came running to the house, and he had a pronounced limp. (Now here's where I make my crazy assumption): He was the one who had gone into the bedroom after Kay was asleep to open the drapes; but he banged his foot against a dresser or something while stumbling around the darkened room.

OK, now I'll get a little more sensible: The alarms are going off, Rocco has arrived at the house, and he sees Michael outside. He is among the very first people to know that the hit failed.

Shortly after, Michael is inside the house talking with Tom while the search continues outside for the shooters. Michael tells Tom his belief that the shooters are dead already, killed by someone on the inside because they botched the job. (Note that when Michael ordered Rocco to capture the assassins alive, Rocco's first response was, "We'll try.")

It is Rocco who leads Michael to the dead bodies of the shooters. Since Rocco had been outside, unsupervised by Michael or Tom, it could have been Rocco who murdered them. When Tom Hagen orders Rocco to get rid of the corpses, Rocco looks around and asks, "Where's Mike?" I don't know if that holds any significance; it could simply mean that Rocco would rather get his orders directly from Michael instead of from Tom. But I suppose one could also theorize that Rocco wants to gauge how closely Michael is watching him. If Michael is on his tail, observing him like a hawk, that could mean that Michael is suspicious of him.

Subsequently, during Michael's travels to Miami and Havanna, he has this different body guard. Rocco seems to have less to do. At the end of the movie, when there is a meeting among Michael, Rocco, and Tom, Michael is harshly critical of Tom because Tom didn't confide a job offer to him. Michael is testing the loyalties of his inner circle, and perhaps Rocco's presence was a deliberate move by Michael to illustrate how he demands absolute fidelity.

Of course, Rocco's other reason for being present is to receive his orders to kill Hyman Roth. Perhaps Michael has been doubtful of Rocco's loyalty for a while, and maybe this is the reason he sends Rocco on what is essentially a suicide mission, for he knows that once Rocco shoots Roth, the FBI agents (or was it the police?) accompanying Roth at the airport will turn their guns on Rocco.

None of this means that Rocco and Fredo were in cahoots, or even that they knew about each other's role. Roth / Ola may have approached each man separately.
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OK, I know this theory has quite a few holes. The more observant Godfather experts can tell me if Rocco always walked with a limp. Maybe he had a limp going back to the first Godfather, but I just never noticed it.

While I was typing this theory, other logic lapses came to me; but instead of posting them here, I'll let the rest of you point them out. It gives us one more hypothesis to debate and argue about; that is, if you think my 'lil old theory is worth debating. Thanks for reading it.

I like your theory, I dont want to comment on it as a whole right now, but I did want to point out that Rocco's limp is a result of a war injury.

Ah, MM Tom Hagen, I learn something new here every day. Was that tidbit in the movie or in the book? I don't remember it being mentioned in the two GF films.

I don't think we saw too much of Rocco in the first GF (at least not a lot of him walking around), so that war injury is entirely plausible -- and it makes more sense than Rocco kicking an armoire in his boss's bedroom.

Off the top of my head, that is a book fact, but Im not completely sure on that.

And dont mention the clarification, just one GF freak helping out another.

Somebody (an interviewer) must have asked FFC the questions about the drapes and who killed the hitmen...
Or not?

Chances are, you wouldnt get a straight answer. If FFC intended for the fans to know all the intricate details of Roth's plot in GFII, he would've put them in the movie. The ambiguity of the whole situation is intentional.