Fredo in Cuba.

We all know how Fredo was able to supply entertainment for Mike's guest, but wasn't it sort of odd for Mike to put him charge of providing the entertainment, since Fredo was never in Cuba before? I would think Mike would have used the hotel's "social director".

Fredo said that Ola had taken him to the club where the sex show was being staged. I think that means he had to have been in Cuba before this trip.

Yes, but Michael didn't know that.

The only reason Michael would have had for asking Fredo to arrange the evening's entertainment would be if he knew Fredo had been to Cuba before and expected him to know what to do. Fredo had been working casinos since the days of Moe Green and would have had many opportunities to go before. Michael just didn't know that Fredo had hooked up with Ola on one of his previous trips.

Curiously, when Fredo first arrived in Havanna with the suit case, he acted as if he had never been there before. "Who do we know in Havanna?"

Even if he had never been there before, Michael knew that Fredo would have been able to show the guys a good time. It was pretty much what he had done the past years, so he knew how to find his away around the night club scenes.

So, why does Fredo ask if he knows anyone in Havana? There's nothing in the novel or films to indicate that Fredo had ever been to Cuba before.

From Fredo's dialogue it seemed to me that he was never in Cuba before. Also after some thought, it seems to me, that Mike asked Fredo to show the government people a good time, just to keep him busy and out of the way, plus as Fredo said "it was his speciality"

I agree. Fredo had a knack for showing people a good time, a skill he probably picked up running the hotel in Vegas.

He pretended to be new to Cuba just to trick Micheal into believing he didn't know Roth.

Thats exactly what i think.

Interesting theory, but one I don't completely subscribe to. We all know that Fredo wasnt smart enough to trick Mike, and it appears that Mike was completely taken back when Fredo made the revalation of Johnny Ola at the superman show.

I also think that Mike was constantly aware of Fredo's movements while he was in Las Vegas, and if Fredo was gone for at least 3-4 days, Mike would have known and questioned Fredo.

I don't think one has to be that smart to pretend you've been somewhere before.Fredo is Michael's brother, maybe mike had a little bit of a "Give you the benefit of the doubt' mentality for a short period.

Ola, you're making alot of assumptions that don't merit your speculative conslusions. Pacino's acting skills properly conveyed his characters devastation upon the realization that not only had Fredo led him on about not knowing Roth and being in Cuba before, but that Fredo might very well be the traitor in the family.

I believe at the foudation of all these discussions and questions are assumptions and speculation. In any event, just for the sake of discussion, isn't it possible that Johnny Ola could have shown Fredo where the superman show was between the time Mike asked him to provide entertainment and they actually got there?

The relationship is between assumptions and speculations, not that there should not be any assumptions or speculations.

If Ola had told Fredo about such shows, it's not likely that Fredo would have commeneted that Roth would never patronize such shows.

Johnny, although you might infer from Fredo's put-on naive attitude that he hadn't been to Cuba before, he didn't literally say that: he asked if there was anyone in Havana that he knew. I think C_L is right in assuming that Fredo, as a veteran of the Nevada casino and brothel biz, would have had occasion to visit Cuba earlier (millions of Americans did); and in any event, an old whoremaster/two-at-a-time, cocktail-waitress-banger like Fredo could be relied on to sniff out some "good times" for raunchy politicians even if Michael had been hosting them in Stalinist Moscow.

Isn't it a fact that Ola did tell and show Fredo about the superman show? And didn't Fredo comment that Roth would never go to these types of shows?

FREDO

JOHNNY OLA told me about this place. He brought me here. I didn't believe him -- but seein' is believin', huh?



[MICHAEL glances over at FREDO.]



JUDGE DEMALCO

I see it, and I still don't believe it!



FREDO

Fifty bucks, Pat. Old Man ROTH would never come here, but Old Man JOHNNY knows these places like the back of his hand. Now watch him -- he's gonna break a cracked with it.

I can agree that it is very possible that Fredo had previously been to Cuba and didn't want Mike to know, and yes, there is no doubt that person such as Fredo would have no problem sniffing out places of adult entertainment, but the fact does remain that Fredo gave Johnny Ola credit for finding the Superman show, whick leads me to think that Fredo was never in Cuba before, or that Johnny Ola was a better "sniffer" then Fredo, which considering Ola's style of dress doesn't seem very plausible.

On second thought, in watching GFII now, when Fredo comes to Cuba he tells him, "Its my kind of town". Since he just arrived at the hotel from the airport, how would he know it was his kind of town, unless he was there before? So to all please disregard all my previous replies on this matter and lets all move on.

Partying was Fredo's specialty, as Fredo himself said. I assume he could party in Antartica if he had to.

True, but he would have had problem finding ice for the drinks

"Ya might try one a them Penguin Libres..."

Fredo learned to party in Vegas when he was under Moe Green's thumb, and he improved on this skill running all those mickey mouse night clubs.

What I didn't understand about Fredo in Cuba was that he didn't know how to say "bannana daquari" but he knew about "them local drinks like cuba libres and pina coladas." He also knew enough Spanish to tell Geary he could have that read head "con gusto."

Good point! I guess you could call it "selective education" or Ola not only gave him a speed course on where the sex show was, but also on how to order drinks.

I always thought that Fredo was playing dumb in pretending he couldn't say Banana Daquari.Then he was talking about pina coladas and cuba libres because that was when he stuffed up and mentioned Roth etc and Michael confirmed he was the traitor.

He knew the name of the drink, of course, but was asking how to say it in Spanish, not realizing that the name already was Spanish. Doesn't seem to me like such an unlikely lapse in knowledge for an American in the 1950's. Fredo was probably ahead of most at the time just knowing there was such a thing as a banana daiquiri.

Excellent observation. I can fully agree that it was just part of Fredo's attempt to put on the charade of him never being in Cuba before.

Also note that when Fredo's playing dumb, you see a genuine smile on Michael's face, as if for the moment, he didn't think it was Fredo who was the traitor.