Agreed. That's my philosophy too: the movie is the movie and the book is the book. In my earlier post, I was conceding that it is clear in the novel that Kay knew that Michael had killed by his own hand before she married him. Others believe this is a good indication that she was similarly informed in the movie.

So I'm a little confused, DC, by the rest of your post . We similarly agree that we should go by the movie as to Kay's knowledge of Michael's past. In the movie, she never asks where he was during those two years and she's never told. It's never brought up. Yet you believe that before the hearings, she knew very well that Michael had killed others personally. How did she know if it's never imparted to her in the movie?

What I find odd is that, if she knew Michael was a murderer -- not just the orderer of murders, but a murderer himself -- then why is she so upset by Connie's accusation that he had Carlo killed? Why does she press Michael for an answer and hope so fervently that it's not true if she already knows what he's capable of?

This leads me to theorize that even though she knows that Michael is a mafia chieftain and no where near legitimate -- and that she knew all of this way before the Senate hearings -- the hearings struck her with one final thunderbolt: Michael can and has killed in cold blood himself. At that moment of the hearing, ALL her delusions are stripped away for good and she can no longer shy away from what she previously didn't want to face. The chairman states everything in plain, unqualified English: head of America's most powerful mafia family, cop killer, mastermind of the murder of the five families...

Also we are aware that, at the time GF1 was made, the film makers didn't know that they would soon be making a GF2. When GF2 was filmed, I think FFC took the opportunity to tie up the loose end of Michael's absence not being explained to Kay; and I think he employed the Senate hearing as the source of her discovery (or her realization, if you prefer). I picked up a reaction in her face when the McCluskey-Sollozzo murder was mentioned -- although it wasn't in the closeup I thought it was (... but that's for my next post).