Please help me: in Part 1..WHY were those guys at the courthouse anyway? I watched the movie many times and still ant see a link to a previous scene explainign why they were there..originally I though they were all gunned down on the church steps......I must be missing something....

Hi Legend and welcome to the board. The guys at the courthouse? I assume you mean Barzini getting shot at the end of the film? Thats something I think will go unanswered, as its really not that important why he was there. The important thing is that while all the heads of the other families were being eliminated, Mike was in church, giving him an alibi.

It wasn't the courthouse. It was city hall. As a wiseguy with plenty of relationships with politicians, that's where you find them. It was a meeting of some sort.

You SURE about that?

The novel describes Barzini's death scene as being outside an office building in Rockefeller Center. The filming location was, in fact, a courthouse building in Foley Square. I don't recall any mention of it supposed to being City Hall.

It took place the same day as the baptism, so it would have been a saturday. It's more than likely that on a weekend, whatever reason Barzini would have had to be exiting a building (which did not look like an office building to me, but very much like a government building), it would have been a meeting of some sort. Given the structure of government in New York City, it's likely that the building was meant to represent a city or borough hall.

You know what happens when you ASSUME?

THanks for the response..Yes I noticed that Michale was in church "denouncing" All of Satans works..LOL ..its not an i mportnat part of the movie just something that "bugged" me/.lol

City Hall makes sense also..especaiialy on a Saturday or Sunday..some"guy" Passng a bribe envelope stuffed with cash to a politician maybe?? lol Thank you all for responding..just one of those things that BUGGED me

He had a secret meeting with the judges and politicians that Vito had in his pocket like so many nickels and dimes.

GOOD POINT!!! I never though of the ALIBI of being in church!!!! Thanks ////Legend(gee that Micahel is slick huh?? lol)

Actually, Barzini IS shot on the steps of a courthouse.




Are you sure about that? What makes you so sure that it was a Saturday just because a baptism was taking place?

My brother lived in Battery Park. We drove past that courthouse all the time and always remarked, "Hey, Where's Barzini?".

Don't forget... that was the ending scene in "12 Angry Men", too.

I never knew that!

I always assumed it was a Sunday. That's the only day that I ever knew of the Church scheduling baptisms, but I guess it is a diocesan rule. I always assumed it was a courthouse, and wondered why he was there on a Sunday.

Well, Kly, the baptisms I attended were always on a Saturday. That's because the priests and other church staff were occupied with masses on Sunday. There's nothing in liturgy that that says on what day it should take place.

As far as city hall goes, the building was probably chosen by FFC because it is an imposing structure. It was probably meant to represent a city hall rather than a courthouse because it would not serve a Mafioso's interest to be seen with judges or officers of the court. On the other hand, it would not be surprising to anyone that a Mafioso or any other citizen was meeting with municipal or borough officals on a weekend whether for good or ill.

olivant, you're speculating here.

It was not meant to represent city hall rather than a courthouse. It was MEANT to be a courthouse.

"Courthouse" never registered on me when I saw that scene for the first time. The combination of the chauffered limo and the impressive building suggested to me that Barzini was assuming pre-eminence (contrast with Vito's peasant garb in his last scene) and respectability--which lent a nioe touch of irony when he was gunned down on the steps.

Agreed. It was the imposing structure. Everyone else was in a less grandiose position, i.e. in bed with a hooker, in a revolving door, on a massage table, coming out of an elevator, and sitting in the front of the car with Clemenze in the back seat. Barzini was the "first among equals," so he got the grandiose killing.

Speaking of which the only thing in III that surpassed the other movies was the shot of the archbishop in full garb spinning downward under a great dome.