I just wanted to throw this out for discussion. I have often wondered if Fredo did not have some form of Autism, even if it was on the higher functioning end of the Autism spectrum (maybe like Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified [PDD-NOS] or Asperger's Syndrome [like it is rumored that such men as Einstein and Bill Gates had/have]).

I say this because of the obvious challenges he seemed to face intellectually in both Godfather I and Godfather II. Also, in Godfather II, we see that when Vito's mother was talking to the Dom that killed her husband and her oldest son, she is asking him to spare Vito's life. Her reasons are that Vito did not talk much and was "slow" (I am paraphrasing). This, too, could have been a sign of autism or autistic traits, even in Vito. So, then, if Vito was a person with autism of some sort, then, it is possible that the trait was passed from Vito to his son Fredo. Autism is known to be passed typically from the father's side.

I am a Special Ed teacher and have both a husband and a son who have diagnoses on the autism spectrum. Fredo reminds me a lot of my husband. Granted, I know that the actors were given direction to act like the characters, but, as it stands, Fredo portrayed many tendencies of Autism and/or the personality traits of people who would have had Autism during that time, but, because there was no wide-spread knowledge and diagnosis, would have been rejected, ridiculed and suffered low self-esteem.

In Godfather II, Alfredo as a baby is shown to have been crying and sick all the time. When I first saw this, I thought that maybe his being sick and having high fevers as an infant somehow contributed to his mental deficiencies. Upon subsequent viewings, I then thought that maybe Fredo was not "sick", per se, as much as he could have been a child with Autism, whose sensory "mechanisms" are not firing correctly and he was crying because of being overstimulated. Additionally, children with Autism can sometimes be "sicker" that children without Autism.

In Godfather II after Michael's mother dies, he is talking to Fredo, asking him why he betrayed him. Fredo goes on to say that he was tired of having to take orders from Michael, his younger brother (I am paraphrasing). He tells Michael something to the effect of, "I'm not dumb like people say I am. I'm smart. I can do things." This says to me that he had always been treated like he was dumb or slow, probably because he did odd things -things that could possibly be attributed to Autistic behavior. (I might add this is where I could really make the connection between Alfredo and my husband, as my husband is the "black sheep" of his family, with his mother accusing him of "not trying hard enough" to succeed, but, she had been too ashamed to get him tested for Autism when he was younger; we got him tested when we got our son tested. My husband has always felt like he played "second fiddle" in the family to his younger brother).

I would LOOOOOVE a discussion on this, if anyone cares to comment. Thanks!