Originally posted by Boss_of_bosses:
One thing about the Godfather is that the book differentiates from the movie. So in the film Cicci had to have gotten the order from Mike to kill Tessio.
I don't quite get your logic, why if movie and book differ sometimes, it must mean that Cicci "had to have gotten the order from Mike to kill Tessio" in this
particular scene. (BTW, it is never showed or said in either that Cicci was the actual killer.) They differ in some things, but mostly movie is done very close to the text, and this scene with Tessio and bodyguards is carefully made almost word-to-word from the book. If the scene between Mike and Tom is missing, it doesn't change much.
More than that, even if we talk about the movie alone, I can't see any particular reason why he "had to have gotten the order from Mike".
1. The aim of Ciccie's appearance on their way was to stop them on the spot in front of Michael's house, so that they wouldn't enter it. To prevent it he had to say something, and it could be anything whatever, any lie that could stop them for a moment. It was not really significant
what he would say.
2. Cicci might not be the author of this phrase. "Boss says", after all, doesn't mean "Boss said to me". The phrase might be passed to him by Clemenza, or Rocco, or Neri, or anyone else who headed and organized the operation.
3. He could not possibly talk to Michael because Michael was clever enough not to talk with his buttonmen directly. Besides, there were strict rules for Don's safety. If he gave such order, there always had to be a buffer, and even if it wasn't Clemenza, as we don't see him around in the movie, it had to be Hagen, he seemed to be in charge and it was he who had to call Tessio from the kitchen.
4. He could not get the order from Mike because the operation, even the transportation of T. involved several other buttonmen and had to be planned and arranged by someone superior to them. Being just a button, he was in no way the planner of it, and surely you don't mean that Mike was going around and instructing every buttonman personally.
These are my reasons to think that his phrase was just an eligible lie.