I dont know whether anyone else noticed but when Anthony is called back from fishing with Fredo and Neri, and is leaving the boat, Neri appears to be helping himself to a wide smile, why would he do that?


For that matter, I don't recall seeing Neri coming even close to smiling in any other scene.

I think hes smiling beacause, well he knows exactly why Anthony is leaving-its not just to go Reno with his father-its beacsue Neri knows that Anthony's uncle is about to die. Neri looks at the way Fredo is acting and the smirk Neri is giving off shows him as probably thinking "what a pathedic smuck...". Neri doesn't smile too much but he has in the movie at appropriate times. Neri is just a stiff kind of guy who only laughs at sick things such as this.

...or maybe Richard Brite just had a giggle spell he was trying to repress, who knows...

He's smiling because he's falling in with Fredo's little speech to Anthony, about how he'll have to teach him his special little trick for catching fish some other time. It's as if he's saying, "Gee, Anthony, isn't Uncle Fredo awfully nice?" That way, nice Uncle Fredo can go off in the boat with nice Al, with no fear of what's ahead.

It's a little offtopic but i dont want to star a new topic for this question.
Does Micheal Corleone ever laugh/smile in the godfather trilogy (except part 3 cause than he does is several times)?

Maybe he smile once, but he never laughed.

In the deleted scene, "Francesca to marry," Michael is very friendly and even laughs slighly after he suggests that Francesca's fiance take a course in business administration.

Yes

Neri doesn't seem like the type that he was an "Uncle Al" to Anthony so I don't think that Neri had a relationship with Anthony. Neri wasn't smiling when Anthony was planning to go fishing with them. His smile could have been due to the Anthony's abrupt disconnection from the fishing trip. Now Fredo's hit can go as scheduled.

And when he's taking to Anthony after the shooting, about his picture.I think there's only three times that actually made the final cut.