I always wondered why he didn't have her killed since she killed their unborn child?

I guess because he didn't want to kill the mother of his two beloved kids.

I believe there was an unwritten rule that women and children were immune to whacks.

Mike killing a defensless Woman?

Never

Mike always has feelings for Kay as it's evident in GF III, as he wishes to reestablish a relationship. Michael knew he could never harm Kay as he would always protect her.

Yeah, he drew the line at killing a brother.

(Don't forget the hooker with Senator Geary).

I just think he still loved Kay also.

It's hard to figure, since he had his own brother killed. I think he loved Kay as well, but his anger over the abortion made him snap.

A better question perhaps, do you think Michael would have had Kay killed after hearing about the abortion, if they didn't have any other children?

TIS

Kay was Mike's last link to the innocence he cherished. Despite his anger over the abortion, he still loved her. He never gave her the whole "Kay, you're nothing to me know speech." That was reserved for Fredo - the brother that tried to have him killed.

Also, keep in mind, in the beginning of GFII, Kay reminds Mike that he's two years late on his promise to make the family legitimate. I believe he knew that he was responsible for Kay going over the edge, deep down. He wouldn't kill her for those reasons, at least.

Why kill his brother but not Kay? In the boathouse scene, Mike assured Fredo, "I've always taken care of you." He was rebuked "You've taken care of me? I'm your older brother Mike and I GOT STEPPED OVER!" Simply, Kay had venom for the marriage (for which Mike knew he had some responsibility), Fredo tried to have Mike killed so he could take over the family and show he's "smaaaat". That's a world of difference to a confused man.

Personally, I'd have killed Tom. (Oh, this will start a brawl!)

ur damn right this will start a brawl!! tom hagen? killed? wtf? please elaborate why you would have killed tom, the man who was 100% loyal to the family dispite being sicilian....

Don V,

I'm curious as well. Why on earth would you have Tom killed?? He was loyal to the Don til the end. Sure he wasn't Sicilian, but I think he was very appreciative of everything Vito did for him, and he did consider himself a son.


TIS

Well,

If Mike Got Back with Kay in GF III He MUST have loved her. Personally I would have carried hate to the grave...

As opposed to the acts of Fredo, Carlo, Tessio...what Kay did was more of a personal betrayal to Michael than something that would put the Family and the Corleone Empire in peril.

Hurt and horrified as he was, it was no reason to have her killed.

And by the way once she spilled the beans about her abortion, I do not think he loved her any longer at all. All one need do is watch the look on his face as he shuts the door on her, then turns away. Total disdain.

What we see in GFIII, made nearly 20 years later, is nothing to go by....the supposed
'reconcilliation' of Michael and Kay was made up solely to find a reason for Pacino & Keaton to have some sentimental scenes in the picture.

Aside from all that, I agree that Michael would not take from them the mother of his children.

Apple

Maybe Mike did have Tom killed... I always thought his tone of voice was a bit strange when he tells the Archbishop that Tom didn't get to see Andrew become a priest...

i think when he said tom should have been whacked i think he assumes that tom know about kay's abortion. but i of course i think that tom knew nothing of the abortion, otherwise he would have been honest with mike. besides he would have stopped kay if he knew she was gonna attempt it. anyways we also know that mike didn't have tom wacked. come on, why would mike do it. like apple said tom has been loyal to the family his whole life, i don't see anything stopping him from being loyal. but i do dissagree with apple when she says that mike no longer loved kay, and that bringing in diane keaton was just a ploy for sentimentality. mike never lost love for her, that i can say is probably a big reason he didn't have her killed. he was hurt, very hurt as any father would be. he wanted her to stay, he pleaded with her before she dropped the bomb. any reaction from him afterwords was just angre. and u can't go with what someone does when they are angry. but in part three mike has had enough time to calm down and realize above everything he loved her. and that if he had the chance he would change everything to be with her. if only he could have!

What is this about having Tom killed?? I never heard of that..was it in the book? Also, how did Sonny find Tom hagen in the street?

We may never know if Mike did have Tom killed, and if so, for what reason. We know he died at some point in the 70's, so it couldn't have been about Kay's abortion. It will remain a mystery unless we ask FFC himself...

Tom died from a stroke per GFIII movie I believe

Tom Hagen wouldn't be murdered by the corleone family. He's a valueable asset and also was the only person Michael fully trusted during the attempted hit on him. Tom Hagen probably was sick and died. Also I'm pretty sure Francis wanted Robert Duvall, who plays Tom Hagen to return in the role for Godfather Part III, but he wanted too much money and the studio wasn't going to pay the sum.

I believe that Michael didn't have killed Kay killed, because he had a softspot for her. As ruthless as he was, he could not bare the loss of another wife. After losing Apollonia, he lost a big part of him. He would've only cause more internal wounding if he killed Kay.

x out 1st "killed"

You raise a good point here TIS.


I happen to think the reason why Micheal didn't have Kay killed is due to their 2 kids Anthony, & Mary. Maybe he just couldn't look his kids in the eyes knowing what he had done if he had kay killed.

Plus maybe he feared one of them or both of them would figure out like Anthony knew that Micheal had Fredo killed.

But to answer the question posed by TIS. Yeah I believe he would have.

A better question perhaps, do you think Michael would have had Kay killed after hearing about the abortion, if they didn't have any other children?

TIS [/QB][/QUOTE]


That is the proverbial 'question'we all need to be asking ourselves

Don Lights - I agree with you Michael does love Kay and I personally think Michael is an extraordinary man

wes - my piont exactly

The absence of the Tom Hagen character is the biggest single weakness of GF III, since the question of Hagen's loyalty is rather pointedly brought up on a couple of occasions in GF II ("Can't I get a straight answer from you any more??" "I heard you got a job offer from the other hotel.. why didn't you tell me about it??"), and after seeing GF II the question in your mind is whether at some time in the future Hagen would challenge Michael for control of the family.

(IMO, rather than killing off the character, FFC should have recast Hagen if he couldn't get Duvall to take the role. Michael Moriarity would have been fine in the role of Hagen. Just as the case of Pentangeli v. Clemenza, writing the character out because the actor wouldn't come back created an unneccessary and awkward break in the plot lines.)

I've only seen GF III 3-4 times as opposed to dozens of times for the other two, but the impression I got was that the circumstances of Hagen's death were made intentionally murky, which to me raises the possiblity that Michael did have him whacked.

I am 100% sure that is not the case.

With what Michael was going through during Part III, there is no doubt he would have felt remorse towards Tom being murdered if that had been the case. He was not a blood brother, like Fredo, but just as much of a brother (well, more of a brother) in every other way.

No chance he was bumped off in my opinion.

Hmm, now that I think about it a little more, if Michael did have him killed, he would have mentioned something about it in the confessional ... "I had my brother killled, and a man as close to me as a brother...", which he did not do.

So you're probably right. I guess I would change my opinion as to whether Hagen had been whacked or not from 50-50 odds to maybe 75-25 that he had not.

I still got the definite impression that Hagen's death had been somewhat murky in nature. On the other hand, it's known that the GF III script had to have some radical surgery kind of late in the game due to the fact Duvall refused to sign on and the sudden necessity to write his character out, so maybe this was just something that "fell through the cracks."


Maybe I need to go watch GF III a few dozen more times ...

I thought they said Tom Hagen died from a heart attack and that was the cause of his death. I would never think that Tom Hagen would betray the family or be a fool like Fredo was in Part II.