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Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
#612060
08/22/11 06:53 PM
08/22/11 06:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,325 MI
Lilo
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,325
MI
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I don't have the text with me right now but I believe that after Vito has murdered Fanucci, Clemenza is busting his chops a little bit about the money and Vito says something like "Look I'll pay you back. How much was it again?" and starts counting out the money and smiles at Clemenza and Tessio. They decline the return of the money. The novel reads something (paraphrasing) along the lines of "Vito Corleone was not then aware of the impact his smile had on people. He smiled as if there was a private joke only he got". But obviously that intimidated both Clemenza and Tessio.
Similarly Vito was able to impress or intimidate Luca Brasi, who was famously uncaring about anyone's life, even his own. When explaining this to Michael, Vito said that a Luca's fear was not that he (Luca) would lose his life but that you would be the one to kill him.
Again though what would make a Luca choose to follow (or fear) Vito? I mean Vito got him out of jail but what else could explain the apparently legendary loyalty granted to Vito? Luca is apparently so extremely loyal to his Don that no one -friend or enemy -would ever believe that Luca would turn.
At the same time the possibility that Luca had turned was evidently enough to give hardcases like Sonny and Clemenza the heebie-jeebies. And despite this legendary loyalty even the Don is nervous around Luca, and doesn't want to meet with him at the wedding, even though presumably he had okayed the invite.
So what did the Don have that could cow men like Clemenza and at least temporarily Luca? I don't think the Don was more personally violent than Luca..
"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 Jungle—as 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: Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
[Re: Lilo]
#612121
08/23/11 11:29 AM
08/23/11 11:29 AM
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 599 Toronto, Ontario
dontommasino
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 599
Toronto, Ontario
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I'd say the Don wasn't even as personally violent as Clemenza either, but he did have the courage to do what Clemenza and Tessio wouldn't and that was kill Fanucci. I believe that the novel states that after Vito kills Fanucci that Tessio and Clemenza avoided him for several weeks and then came to him in obvious respect. I think at that point the two of them realized that Vito had the foresight and cunning that they might have lacked. I don't think Vito gave the two of them any evidence of his future skills before murdering Fanucci.
Luca is obviously a much more complex character than both Clemenza and Tessio. To be honest, I don't have an explanation for Vito's handling of him at this time because I haven't read the book in awhile and can't even find my copy. I am listening to the audiobook presently so perhaps I can provide some insight in a few days.
Last edited by dontommasino; 08/23/11 11:31 AM.
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Re: Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
[Re: Tony Mosrite]
#615206
09/21/11 06:58 AM
09/21/11 06:58 AM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,325 MI
Lilo
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,325
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nice thread huh?
it's cool for us to discuss and delve into it but things left unsaid like that in movies and such are a classic, efficient device. how did Vito earn Luca's respect? we don't know and that's the cool thing about it. you can make up your own background.
it's like the suitcase in Pulp Fiction or the russian guy from "Pine Barrens" (Sopranos) Yeah. It's interesting and maybe as you point out it's better left unexplained. Everyone reacts to Luca as if he's a two legged rabid Cane Corso. So for Vito to bring him to heel so to speak, Vito had to be even scarier than we know.
"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 Jungle—as 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: Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
[Re: Lilo]
#615210
09/21/11 09:06 AM
09/21/11 09:06 AM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,718 Berlin, Germany
Danito
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,718
Berlin, Germany
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So for Vito to bring him to heel so to speak, Vito had to be even scarier than we know.
I believe, it's something else. Imagine how it feels being Luca. Everybody hates or fears you. And then, when you're really down, somebody treats you like a friend, shows understanding and respect. Vito made Luca important, he paid him more money than he could earn anywhere else. Seems that Vito radiated omnipotence. (Even Genco believes in the end, Vito would be able to stop death.) So whatever Luca expected from life, he believed (probably rightfully) he'd get that from Vito.
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Re: Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
[Re: Turnbull]
#645048
04/25/12 04:18 PM
04/25/12 04:18 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 15,024 Texas
olivant
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 15,024
Texas
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Luca's fate was sealed anyway. ...and Vito sealed it when he sent him on that ridiculous mission to "make them think that you're not too happy with our family." Had Vito not done so, I wonder how Sollozzo would have gotten rid of Luca since it seems thathe had to do so.
"Generosity. That was my first mistake." "Experience must be our only guide; reason may mislead us." "Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read."
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Re: Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
[Re: Sonny_Black]
#656863
07/24/12 05:52 PM
07/24/12 05:52 PM
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,776
Dwalin2011
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,776
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Both Luca and Vito should have been dismembered alive: one for burning a baby alive, the other for helping to cover it up. What they did really stands out even among all the mafia murders they committed. I know its off-topic, I just can't help it every time I remember those 2. That's an interesting opinion for someone who is strongly against the mafia; its activities and methods. Well, I may have been exaggerating, but still... Maybe I just was angry because nobody of the main characters in the novel got any punishment from the law. What bothers me is that there are people in real life who actually like the scumbags. I mean, the book and the movies are interesting and realistic, but the characters (Vito, Luca and Michael especially) are really despicable.
Last edited by Dwalin2011; 07/24/12 05:54 PM.
Willie Marfeo to Henry Tameleo:
1) "You people want a loaf of bread and you throw the crumbs back. Well, fuck you. I ain't closing down."
2) "Get out of here, old man. Go tell Raymond to go shit in his hat. We're not giving you anything."
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Re: Don Corleone and Luca: Scary
[Re: Lilo]
#678419
11/22/12 01:32 PM
11/22/12 01:32 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 385 Tampa, FL
waynethegame
Capo
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Capo
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 385
Tampa, FL
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Luca would have had to be gotten rid of, simply because the plan was to always kill Vito; remember the last family who tried had their Don killed by Luca, and Luca went after the Irish guys who shot Vito the last war.
Sollozzo genuinely may have wanted a guy like Luca in his operation, but as Luca says he would never go against the Corleones. If Luca had been left alive and then the hit on Vito happened, Luca would have turned on Sollozzo in a heartbeat (in the novel Sonny says before he finds out about Luca that he was going to sic him on Sollozzo and Tattaglia).
Luca had to be taken out because otherwise he would have been an unleashed hurricane.
Wayne
"Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger." Don Lucchesi
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