You're right Woltz. It does.

Another thing. This is kind of amusing: why in the world would Vito not have the mall driveway paved; why the gravel?

Actually, it gets dark in NYC about 4:30 p.m. at that time of year.

I was under the impression that Luca met with Sollozzo the night before the attempt on Vito. Late at night.

The novel lays it out that way. However, in the film, the scenes are interwoven and Fredo getting the car and Vito getting shot bookend Luca's murder.

My comment about it getting dark was meant to emphasize that a club or bar would be getting busy about that time.

Doesn't mean that it happened at the same time. Part II had (flashback) scenes interwoven with those of what was supposed to be current.

The flashback scene in II was intended to be a flashback scene and to be recognized by viewers as a flashback scene.

Can't have it both ways, oli. Those scenes are simply not chronological. They jump back and forth in time. Otherwise, according to your time idea, Tom Hagen was picked up by Sollozzo before Vito was shot.

Luca was killed long before the other scenes took place.

Okay....here's one to watch, and you can tell your significant other that it's research.

In the post-wedding scene -- when Apollonia strips down, notice how she has bikini tan lines.

Given how old-fashioned her father was, I'm guessing that's the last thing he's permit her to wear.

...I was too busy watching other parts of her anatomy...

That's where the tan lines are...

How do you know what part of her anatomy I was looking at?

Anyone notice that the a red spot like a bullet hole appears on McCluskey'd head before Michael shoots?

Sure enough. That was a squib under makeup attached to a fishing line. When Michael fires, a stagehand off camera yanks the line and the squib goes off.

For that matter: notice how the bullet hole in Mac's head appears first, while he's shot in the throat?

Yes, just like I always notice how Woltz magically keeps Hagen's wine glass filled.

... and how Manolo kept Vito's hedges trimmed.

...also just realized that Willi Cicci is one of Sonny's bodyguards when he beats up Carlo... (I thought he was originally with Clemenza???)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OEhiTHJ0EA

...and Genco (Frank Sivero)is a bystander in the same scene. lol

... scene where I believe the dead hooker is still breathing... at about 17-18.5 seconds. If you can't notice it here, I don't know what to tell you...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSxXiHRZTOY

I don't see it.

Just kidding!

No matter how many times I watch The Trilogy, there are things I notice for the first time. One of them is in the scene where Michael returns from Sicily and sees Kay for the first time. Unless I'm mistaken, he never smiles in that scene. I wonder if Kay noticed.

That scene was more like a business negotiation than a wooing of Kay. Not only didn't Michael smile (even after he told Kay he loved her--perhaps he was going to offer an affidavit to that effect), but that limo following them, and his homburg hat and black suit (looking like a pint-sized banker) made it even more businesslike.

FFC was definitely letting you know that Michael had been changed after Apollonias death. Even when he tells Kay he loves her... he's says it matter of factly..

Exactly. That's why I think that many Board members have it wrong when they cite Michael's "I'm with you now" statement to Vito when he was in the hospital. That statement represented Michael's renouncing his estrangement from his father (such estrangement is explained in the novel and somewhat also in one of the Saga's scenes). It was not meant by Michael to represent his commitment to his father's crime family and its machinations. As you appear to point out, such commitment was, in large part, a function of Appolonia's murder and Fabrizio's betrayal.

I agree with your analysis, Oli. I don't think Michael could have envisioned himself as being an integral part of the family enterprise when he said, "I'm with you now, Pop." And in any event, Sonny was still in charge. Even his decision to whack Sol and Mac was made to protect his father against another attempt on his life (and perhaps in revenge for Mac breaking his jaw, but let's not go there now).

By the time of Appolonia's murder, Michael was no longer a "civilian" because of his murder of Mac and Sol, and was a hunted man. And, Sonny had been killed. Arguably, his decision to become the Don-in-waiting was taken because there were few if any other options available to him after that point.

Yep, totally saw it.

I'm not so sure. Michael saw that Sonny was not a good Don when he sat in on the meeting when they brought the dead fish. He planned the break up with Kay, and when he got to the hospital to find no guards there, it confirmed his belief that he was better equiped to take care of Vito than Sonny was. When he tells Vito "I'm with you now" he means it more than metaphorically. I do believe that Michael thought he could be a part of the family business and remain legitimate , a self-delusion that followed him to his death, and I agree the killing of Apollonia cemented his resolve, but after Michael told Vito he was with him, the next things he did were telling. He got Enzo to pretend he was a hit man, he provoked McCluskey, and then he took over the meeting the next day when he literally vetoed Sonny and Tom's plan to "wait."

Oh DT, you are soooooo wrong. You are probably more wrong than any Board member has ever been. Ten years ago, would you have been this wrong? With all due respect, you're slippin'.

The actions that Michael took regarding Enzo, McCluskey, and the next day's meeting were all to protect Vito; they were not a commitment to the Mafia life.

???

Anybody ever notice in the scene outside the barber shop n GF2 when young Vito is talking to Signer Roberto the sign in the window says; "Black Eye Specialist"?



Here's the explanation...

http://newscentral.exsees.com/item/36a6f73f1f57979db58f442c3a5b52d2-9c72adbb34ee1f528910df1ab9e3615a

Good catch!

In the novel, Michael tells Sonny that his Sicilian is rusty, but that he and Sollozzo won't talk long. At the meeting, he is forced to switch to English to make his point. However, in GFII, he converses quite fluently with his mother and with Pentangeli.