Why doesn't Don Corleone want to see Luca

How come Don Corleone doesn’t want to see Luca Brasi on the day of the wedding? When Tom tells him that Luca wants to see him, he asks Tom, “Is this necessary”? Clearly he doesn’t want to see him. Luca is definitely a devoted follower of Don Corleone. Is he possibly afraid of what favor Luca might ask for? Or maybe he limits how often Luca can see him, this way maintaining a certain awe that Luca would have towards him. Or just maybe Luca has bad body odor.

And what happens to Luca after this scene. Did he stay for the rest of the wedding? Wouldn’t it have been great if he was next to sing after the old guy? There could have been some danger in that though, because if people didn’t like his singing, we might have had a blood bath take place that would make the horse head in the bed seem like kids stuff.

Many scenes end up on the cutting room floor.

But, as the novel explains, it was only Luca who could make Vito feel nervous because Luca was an uncontrollable force. Luca let Vito control him. Also, Luca's reputation was well known in the underworld and allied community, so his presence might make some people uncomfortable. Afterall, it was a celebration.

Luca probably had an IQ of around 4, so as has already been mentioned, he was so unpredictable. . . sort of like a Pitt Bull on a short bus.

Now Vito was no scholar, but even he could see it would take extra effort to carry on a conversation with poor Luca.

More detail: Tom tells Vito, "He didn't expect to be invited..." I took that to mean that Vito's nervousness about having Luca around lingered until it meant that Luca's invitation was a last-minute decision.
Probably Vito felt a) Luca's fearsome appearance would make other guests nervous; and b) his presence would be a reminder to some people that the Corleone empire rested on the kind of brute force that Luca represented.

So continuing with this thought, would it also be possible that Vito was trying to gain some sort of respectability by disassociating himself from sinister types? Keep in mind also this dialogue at the wedding:

VITO CORLEONE

Prego.

(then, to Tom Hagen, after Bonasera leaves the room)

Ah, give this to ah, Clemenza. I want reliable people; people that aren't gonna be carried

away. I'm mean, we're not murderers, despite of what this undertaker says.

I think there are two reasons. First, maybe Vito was afraid Luca would ask him to do something that he could not do, thus breaking the notion that no Sicilian could refuse a favort on the day of his daughter's wedding. This would incur Luca's wrath
and as is mentioned before Vito feared Luca cause he could not control him.

Second, he did not want to have to meet privately with Luca when he had so many other things to do.

I think he was relieved when Luca came to deliver the money for his daughter's wedding purse privately instead of in public.

Finally, I do not think Luca stayed for the rest of the party. He probably took those sandwiches that were thrown at Paulie and
went home.

I always saw it as Vito,wanting to get through everybody on the list as quick as possible,so he could then go and enjoy his daughters wedding.The tone in Vito's voice,seems to sound impatient,rather than fear.

VITO CORLEONE

I want you to go tonight; I want you to talk to this -- movie bigshot, and settle this business

for Johnny. Now, if there's nothing else, I'd like to go to my daughter's wedding.

One of the deleted scenes was an early encounter between Vito and Luca. Neither ever talked about it. It happened in the sauna. Luca still had feelings, but Vito wanted to put it all behind him.

That's when Vito said "Luuuuuuuuca....you got some splainin to do!"

I always took as if the Don, was uneasy about Luca. Maybe he was somewhat afraid. Luca was a very dangerous man and possibly could turn on Vito? As it is known the Don was the only person that Luca was afraid of. Maybe it was the other way around too?

We all know Luca was a devoted follower of Don Vito. My guess is that it was Vito's fear of losing the friendship of Luca. You see Vito was very careful with his friendship with Luca. He might be afraid to screw up some petty thing when meeting with Luca, which would reduce Luca's loyalty towards himself. Luca didn't have a normal mind, making him somewhat uncontrollable. We all have such kind of person around ourselves.

Now keep in mind that Vito's question to Tom was not about inviting Luca to the wedding; it was about meeting with Luca. As I said in my post above, only Luca could make Vito feel nervous and, like anybody, he sought to avoid nervous situations.

I think Vito was genuinely annoyed and wanted to get back to his daughters wedding.

If I remember correctly, he met with Nazorine and Johnny after Luca. So, he couldn't have been in too much of a hurry to rejoin the wedding.

As Tom mentions when announcing his desire to see Vito...Luca is not 'on the list'.

Don Corleone has probably had to see quite a few people on this his daughter's wedding day in addition to Bonasera, Enzo the Baker and his godson, Johnny Fontaine. One would guess that by the time Luca is brought up he's had enough and would wonder what the heck the big lug could possibly have to say.

Apple

That's exactly right Olivant. Exactly why Vito asks Tom if it's necessary that Luca sees him.

I always thought the Don saying "is it necicery" meant that he knew what Luca had to say I doubt he was scared to be in a room with Luca.

Actually Brando just didn't want two people in the room who didn't know their lines.

Right, Vito was not scared of Luca. But as others mentioned Luca was the only person who could make Vito nervous. Considering Vito's own fearsome reputation that says a lot about Luca..

On Connie's wedding day perhaps Vito just didn't feel like taking all the energy needed to show Luca that he valued and respected him. The Don was trying to have positive thoughts...

Another possibility: Luca was Vito's principal assassin, and he didn't want to be reminded of the "dark side" of his criminal empire on his daughter's wedding day.

Then again there was that night years ago when they had to spend the night in Hoboken and there was only one bed. The Don didn't like to be reminded about it, but Luca never forgot.

Hmm this might explain Fredo's tendencies (according to Lebo).

I was going to say it is because of the "chain-of-command" and "insulating" oneself as a Don, but Luca reports directly to Vito anyways, doesn't he? Luca was not on the list and as others have pointed out Vito just wanted to go to his daughter's wedding so he probably just wanted to know what Luca wanted in more detail.

This is just a thought. I've always thought that Luca didn't expect to be invited just because of his relationship with Don Vito and the family. I think Luca may have had a self-depreciating opinion of himself--at least with regard to Don Vito. He seemed very nervous before seeing the Don--repeating and repeating his lines as if he were to speak to the Pope or something. He was amazed that Don Vito thought enough of him to invite him to the wedding. I don't think that Vito feared Luca, I always felt that Don Vito was only annoyed at having to talk to Luca on his daughter's wedding day. After knowing the reason that Luca wanted to see him, he probably felt like a heel and then decided to allow Luca to see him. I just think that Vito felt a little annoyed that Luca wanted to see him until he found out why Luca wanted to see him. I'm probably wrong about all of this because all of this is just my impression of the scene.

~ Sadie

Thats a good take on it, SS. Welcome to the boards (a year and half late).

SC: Thanks for your welcome! I was a member under the same name awhile ago and posted much more frequently. However, I am teaching again and it is always a demanding and time consuming job--but I love it very much. So, I haven't really had a lot of time to spend on this board. I decided to see if my name and password would go through, and it didn't. So, interestingly, I had to check into the "new" board (new as opposed to the "old" board when I first joined) using the same name and password! I guess what inspired me to check out the board again was I was watching "The Godfather", a special on A & E tonight. AND, I am watching it for the second time tonight. I could actually say the dialogue with the sound turned off, I've seen it so many times!

Well, thanks again for the warm welcome! I hope to see more of the board as time goes on.

~ Sadie

In the novel, Luca kills his child because he doesn't want anyhting generated by his loins to be a part of this world because he realizes what an animal he is and doesn't want those genes passed on.

That's awful! It sounds like this real life hitman called "The Iceman". I can't remember his real name, but there was a special on him (I think it was A&E, but I'm not sure). He was interviewed by a psychologist, I think. He appeared so cold-blooded and heartless, but I think it was just an act. I think he was starved for love and this was his way of not allowing it to bother him. He did marry and had 2 or 3 children, whom he loved very dearly. His family did not know what he did for a living. Near the end, when his wife and children found out who and what he was, they left him. He died in prison after only a few years. I don't remember what he died of, but it was such a sad, sad program. I wanted to cry for him.

~ Sadie

His name is Richard Kuklinski. He worked with Roy DeMeo, a notorious Gambino capo and I thought I remember hearing that he was involved in the Castellano hit.