The novel describes Sollozzo and Brasi as men who radiate danger. The cast for these characters was perfect, I think.
I think that GF2 was a great film, but it lacked dangerous characters.
Roth? Too old.
Neri? We don't see anything really threatening of him. He washes his hands after the murder of the prostitute and (in the delted scene) slaps the owner of the casino.
Mike's bodyguard? I wouldn't want to meet im in the street at night, but no comparison to Brasi. Too soft and old.
Fanucci? Forget it.
And in GF3, every opponent is old. Mosca's nephew (or was it his son?) - ridiculous. The twins look like opera characters.
That's a good point, Danito.
I think what you observe is not an accident, but a natural effect of the changes in the Mafia and the country as time moved on.
Michael (and Roth, and Lucchesi) thought of themselves as businessmen and operated in a totally different realm than Vito did. They couldn't surround themselves with overtly dangerous characters, and kept great distance between themselves and the violence they had a hand in.
There is one dangerous character in GFIII - the Ant. He is the exception that proves the rule, serving to illustrate the difference between "businessman" Michael and "common Mafia thug" Zasa.
