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BS: Keep your enemies close
#509703
09/15/08 03:46 AM
09/15/08 03:46 AM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,718 Berlin, Germany
Danito
OP
Underboss
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OP
Underboss
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,718
Berlin, Germany
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[Michael staring] Michael to Pentangeli: "He (Vito) taught me keep your friends close but your enemies closer." [/Michael staring] Even though the scene is great and Michael is telling this absolutely convincingly, I think the line is bullshit. It contradicts everything Vito has said and done. Vito didn't keep his enemies close. He didn't even keep his friends close. He didn't tell "anybody outside the family what he was thinking". There's not a single example in either the book or the film that could prove Michael's statement. Vito's enemies: Cicci, Fanucci, Barzini, Tattaglia, Sollozzo. None of them was kept close, unless you count the meeting of the families as "keeping close".
Vito's strategy in coping with enemies was different: reasoning or killing. He preferred to turn his enemies into friends. Michael on the other hand didn't know what friendship was. There was just business and the family.
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Re: BS: Keep your enemies close
[Re: Danito]
#509705
09/15/08 05:19 AM
09/15/08 05:19 AM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,325 MI
Lilo
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,325
MI
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Hmm. You could argue that Vito (and the Family) kept Carlo close. In the book he was moved back to the mall and given a better position with the union. In the movie Vito even gives him a paternal pinch on the cheek. Clemenza and Sonny keep Paulie close. Sonny inquires after his health and Clemenza brings him along for an important mission (of course the mission is different than what Paulie expects ) Very few people ever really knew what Vito was thinking. I think Michael was just expressing Vito's maxim to play your cards close to your vest.
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives." Winter is Coming
Now this is the Law of the Jungleāas old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
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Re: BS: Keep your enemies close
[Re: Danito]
#509746
09/15/08 11:43 AM
09/15/08 11:43 AM
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 11,468 With Geary in Fredo's Brothel
dontomasso
Consigliere to the Stars
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Consigliere to the Stars
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 11,468
With Geary in Fredo's Brothel
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[Michael staring] Michael to Pentangeli: "He (Vito) taught me keep your friends close but your enemies closer." [/Michael staring] Vito's enemies: Cicci, Fanucci, Barzini, Tattaglia, Sollozzo. None of them was kept close, unless you count the meeting of the families as "keeping close". Vito didn't know Sollozzo was his enemy, but he suspected he might be, so he sent Luca to get "closer" to him to find out what he had underneath his fingernails. Unfortunately Sol and Tat outsmarted Vito (he was slippin) and killed Luca. Fanucci met him for coffee and was so impressed by Vito he offered him a job. Thats close. Cicci? How much closer do you get when you go to an old man's house to get his blessing for your oil company and then whisper your name in his ear just before giving him the shiv? As for Barzini and Tattaglia, he made the peace with them and kept them close by vowing that HE would never be the one to brak the peace. He lulled them into complacency brilliantly.
"Io sono stanco, sono imbigliato, and I wan't everyone here to know, there ain't gonna be no trouble from me..Don Corleone..Cicc' a port!"
"I stood in the courtroom like a fool."
"I am Constanza: Lord of the idiots."
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Re: BS: Keep your enemies close
[Re: Danito]
#510009
09/17/08 02:57 PM
09/17/08 02:57 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 64 Pittsburgh, PA
HamptonHitMan
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 64
Pittsburgh, PA
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My interpretation has always been and still is that he meant: "Don't let your enemies know that you truly think of them as enemies. Don't come out threatening or be blatantly irate with them. Keep you feelings or your thoughts of revenge to yourself. You always want to have the advantage by keeping them off guard. Always let them think that, you think of them as friends." That is, until the time is right or you can get close enough to them and just before you kill them, you tell them. Watch for the fear and know that you finally have justice.
The greatest example was killing Don Ciccio. Vito waited until the time was right. Came in as a "friend", quietly told him who he was and cut out his gut!
Last edited by HamptonHitMan; 09/18/08 01:27 PM. Reason: name correction
Salute! Rick
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