Just watching again after many yrs, and just had a thought and wanted to see what u fellas think

Ok, Sollozzo let's them know where the meet will take place so Michaels family feel
at ease

Which is how they smuggled in the weapon for Michael in advance

But why then, did Lou the driver suddenly make the u-turn ( ok I know it was to lose Michael's guards) but then they end up going to the prearranged restaurant anyway

Doesn't quite make sense, I mean all michael's driver had to do was head to the restaurant which is exactly what he did.

The whole point of losing the tail was to take Michael away from any backup, therefore would have made sense Sollozzo picking a new restaurant and disrupting any plans for a set up

If he was content with sticking with the original choice then the sudden u -turn was pointless.

Not to mention, by suddenly taking off with Michael, the Corleone family would assume mike was in danger. And dispatched men to see if he was ok at the restaurant. Which is the complete opposite of what Sollozzo would have wanted

Therefore again, doesn't make sense for Sollozzo to still head to prearranged restaurant.

The scene was a terrific scene by the way, was just as good the first time I watched it. So I understand why the director did what he did with the " gun in toilet "

Could have been more believeable had Sollozzo picked a random
Restaurant after losing their tail, and Michael realises he hasn't got the weapon

Picks up a kitchen knife and slaughters them both (we know Vito) was good with a knife

Tony, I think he made the U turn not to lose the guys but to see if anyone was follwing them. If he would have seen a bunch of cars making U-turns on that bridge they would have most likely picked a new spot! Since they didn't, they proceeded to the resturant because they knew they were not being followed.

I agree with Beanshooter. The U-turn wasn't to lose anyone, it was to see if anyone was tailing them in the first place. In fact, Sollozzo probably relaxed a little bit when he saw that nobody was tailing them, because remember at that point nobody expected Michael to pull off a double murder (let alone of a police captain).

Exactly. That's why it's helpful to read the novel which makes it clear why Lou jumped the median.

I have a question. What happened to Lou? He just disappears, did he just drop them off? Did somebody shoot or stab him outside? Was he somewhere getting something to eat? Was he just a driver and didn't want to get shot himself? He just vanishes.

He probably went off to whatever hangout the rest of Sollozzo's henchmen were at. He couldn't have gone in as it would have violated the conditions (the novel mentions that technically by him even being there as the driver it broke the terms of the meeting). So yeah, he dropped them off and went off to wherever, and as he was just some mook we don't know if he was killed in the war or whatnot.

As Micheal exits the restaurant, Sollozzo's vehicle is empty. I imagine the Corleones took him out.

Sollozzo didn't let the Corleones know where the meeting would be. That's why they had to figure it out by finding out where McCluskey would be at the time of the meeting.

Sonny found out where the meeting would be by calling his contact at McCluskey's precinct.

The novel provides further detail:

Sonny's contact at McCluskey's precinct was Detective Phillips, who tried to protect Michael outside the hospital. He's the guy Sonny contacted in the movie. A police captain had to leave word where he'd be at all times, which was how Phillips knew where he'd be.

In the novel, Sollozzo had a man in the restaurant at another table, to whom he looked when Michael asked to go to the john. The man nodded as if he'd checked the bathroom. But, after Michael whacked Sol and Mac, he pointed the gun at the man at the table, who looked away and showed his empty hands. Novel also says the police questioned Sol's driver, who claimed he didn't know anything.

True TB. That's why it's so helpful to have read the novel before seeing the film. It fills in alot of blanks and answers alot of questions that are asked in these threads.

If Sollozzo was so paranoid that the only person he would meet with was Michael who was then an outsider, wouldn't he frisk him on the way back from the bathroom?

Would that have mattered Don Kostic? When he came out of the bathroom he was packing. He would have shot whoever tried to frisk him and then shot Mc Cluskey or Sollozzo! Same ending!

Yes, he wold have frisked him when he came out of the bathroom if he had watched the movie before the meeting.

It wouldn't have mattered. However if Sollozzo was smart enough and careful enough to frisk Michael BEFORE he went into the bathroom, he would have done so afterwards. Michael would then likely kill him, but Sollozzo wouldn't just overlook the possibility that Michael returned with a weapon.

Remember that McCluskey felt him up pretty good when Michael first got in the car.Then he gets check out by Sollozzo before he goes to the bathroom just to make sure. I love when McCluskey says, "I frisked him. I frisked a thousand young punks!"

Yes but Sollozzo would have frisked him again when Michael came back.

My original answer then still stands Don Kostic!

Dude are you reading me? I'm not saying the outcome would be any different, what I'm saying is that it's completely illogical how Sollozzo just lets Michael sit down and does not check him again after Michael returns from the bathroom.

It's not illogial to me!

Nor me.

It simply doesn't make sense that he would frisk him before and not after.

However, that tense moment when Michael just sits, thinking, and there is train going by is in my opinion the greatest part of the scene.

Michael was searched and he had no weapon on him.
The location of the meet was secret.
Nobody followed them.
The bathroom was searched by Sollozzo's man and no weapon was found.
So why would Sollozzo think that Michael came back from the bathroom with a weapon?

If anything, the fact that Sollozzo's man searched that bathroom and didn't think to look behind that tank is implausible. Either he didn't bother actually searching it, or he's the Stevie Wonder of gangsters.

Because he's paranoid. The fact that he frisks Michael himself when he stands up, even though he was already frisked before his eyes shows his paranoia. This is the man whose father he tried to kill. As far as Sollozzo knew, Michael could have come back with a kitchen knife. He's not gonna take any chances.

Clemenza actually predicts that Sollozzo would try to frisk him after he comes back with the gun, and that's why he tells Michael not to sit down again but to immediately blast them and leave.

However, Michael does sit down and it's Sollozzo's carelessness that gets him killed. But the problem is, Sollozzo would never display such carelessness.

Thanks for clearing up my question guys

Also, I'll have to agree with don somewhat. I agree that Sol was very paranoid and suspicious. Someone with that mind frame would most certainly frisk again. And ok I agree Sol's men searched the toilets/ lost the tail/ did two frisks prior

But who's to say michael didn't remove a big pipe in the bathroom and was about to splatter their brains over dinner. Not that it would have made much difference

As to what happened to Lou, unless the book stated otherwise, perhaps a mistake was made?

Doubt Lou would have went on a walk whilst a big meet was going on

No, you're wrong about Clemenza. In the film he simply told Michael "Then when you come back, you come out blastin'".

In the novel it was Michael who inquired about taking a gun with him to the restaurant. Clemenza never stated anything about Michael's being frisked because it was Tessio who counseled him about conduct in the restaurant.

The reason he tells him to come out blastin' is because he expects Sollozzo to be paranoid and frisk him again. He doesn't say it explicitly, but it is logical.

Watching the film, I do not think Sol liked the idea of Michael going to the bathroom in the first place. It is McCluskey who says "you gotta go, you gotta go," and then Sol reluctantly allws Michael to go. But he is still unsure, and he looks in vain to his "bodyguard," who by now is more interested in his veal, and who says, "I frisked a thousand young punks."

Maybe Lou went to pee somewhere outside, as Lou coming into the restaurant would cause alarm.

As for Sollozzo expecting the possibility of Michael coming back with a pipe or a knife from the kitchen...
What would have prevented Michael from stabbing Sollozzo in the eye (GF III) with a knife or fork from the table they were at??

I guess they never adjusted their thinking, but once they knew where the meeting would be the Corleones maybe should have discussed sending a dozen guys through the front door together instead of having Michael grope around for that little gun.

The driver doesn't have a name in the novel, and the restaurant is called "Luna Azure." In the movie, the former is given the name Lou and the latter is changed to Louis Italian-American Restaurant. It seems very unusual to introduce unrelated people named Lou and Louis in consecutive scenes. It appears likely, then, that Lou and Louis are the same person and that at the moment of the shootings he was in the kitchen prepping his cutlets for the next day's lunch crowd.

A constant theme in the Trilogy and the novel is that people underestimate other people and suffer the consequences. Sol and Mac underestimated Michael because he had been a "civilian" up to then, and because he stood still for Mac breaking his jaw. Mac frisked him in the car and Sol jammed his hand into Michael's crotch before the went to the john. That would have been enough for both of them,