Great topic for debate Turnbull!
1. He asks Tom, “Where’s my brother?” [emphasis added.] The last time we saw them together (after the Tahoe shooting), Michael was telling Tom he was his “brother,” and affirming his love and admiration. He could have said, “Where’s our brother?” or “Where’s Fredo?” I think this is FFC’s way of showing us that Tom’s back in the family-lawyer mode—no more brother-buddies because Michael no longer needs him to look after things while he’s gone.
A perfect example of how Michael really was the selfish manipulator. As you said, when the attempted hit on Michael happened, Tom was "his brother," the only one that Michael could trust. Then once Michael had basically figured out what was going on after meeting with Frankie and Roth, all of a sudden he had no longer had the need for Tom as the "trusting brother." Michael threw Tom right back into the category that he had placed him in back in GFI. Michael the user, the manipulator.
2. Tom doesn’t answer Michael’s question. Instead he tells Michael that Roth had a stroke, got out in a boat, is in a hospital in Miami, will recover; and that the bodyguard is dead.
--Why didn’t Tom answer Michael’s question about Fredo? Was he embarrassed for Fredo because he knew Fredo (another of his “brothers”) was the traitor? Trying to protect Fredo (and if so, why)? Afraid to admit that he didn’t know what happened to Fredo?
I believe that Tom was indeed embarrassed because of what Fredo had done. Probably embarrassed FOR Fredo. Watching Tom in that scene, it's quite evident that he was almost trying to avoid answering Michael about Fredo, as though he was afraid that he himself would have to face the fact that Fredo was indeed the traitor. I believe that Tom loved Fredo like a brother, and that Tom knew that out of loyalty to Vito, he should have looked after Fredo a little better than he did. There was both guilt and embarrassment in Tom at that point.
3. When Michael presses, Tom says, “Uh, I think he got out. He must be somewhere in New York.”
--How did Tom know he got out, and was in New York? Guessing (probably)? Or did Fredo contact Tom (Michael implies this when he tells Tom to “get in touch with Fredo…tell him everything’s all right…”).
Does all of this suggest that there was more to Tom’s relationship with Fredo than meets our eyes when we watch GFII?
It is my opinion that Tom had already spoken to Fredo. Again I think that it went back to Tom's loyalty to Vito and the Corleone family as a whole. It went back to the upbringing of Tom by Vito. And out of that loyalty somewhere inside Tom felt that he had to try and protect Fredo the best that he could. We've discussed many times on these boards the son that was most like Vito, and in the end, it was Tom who was a lot like Vito in the respect that he was the son who was with Vito more than the others, and I believe that he picked up the Vito trait that family must be protected at all costs. Tom knew that Michael had become cold and hardenend, and something tells me that he was telling a white lie to Michael about Fredo's where abouts, trying to buy some time for Fredo's well being. Tom may have felt guilt at the point that he had not honored Vito by looking out for the weak son the way that he should have. And because of that guilt Tom may even have indirectly blamed himself for what Fredo did. Somehow inside Tom knew that Michael was not going to let Fredo get away with this. I think that Tom was trying to weigh the whole situation and try and come up with a solution that would protect Fredo and satisfy Michael at the same time. Sort of in the way the the Pentangeli situation was handled.
--If so, was it part of Michael’s resentment toward Tom that led to the coldness between the two in that scene, and Michael’s viciousness toward Tom in the penultimate scene?
No question about it. Tom was probably more of a brother to both Fredo and Sonny than Michael had ever been. Tom was much closer to Sonny and Fredo than Michael had ever been. Throw in the fact that a younger Michael resented the fact that the adopted brother Tom had "discussed" Michael's future with his ("you discussed MY future with MY father") father, and you have the makings of a built up resentment towards Tom by Michael.
