I have never understood this scene

When Mike meets with Senator Geary in his NV office, Geary makes mention of Turnbull and the Tropigala and Mike glances at Tom with daggers in his eyes as if Tom has missed a very important detail. What's going on here? I've watched the extended version where Al Neri goes to the casino and roughs-up the manager (Turnbull?) and tells the dancers to keep dancing as he pulls up a chair and watches. Does this have anything to do with that scene? Of the entire movie, this is the only scene where I'm completely clueless. Any help is MUCH appreciated!

Al Neri goes to the casino to get rid of Klingman. Recall the earliar conversation between Ola and Mike when Ola tells Mike that their friend in Miami has no objections to moving Klingman out of the casino.

I believe that Mike glances over at Tom with Daggers in his eyes when Geary delivers the "...I despise your masquerade -- the dishonest way you pose yourself. Yourself, and your whole fucking family." line.

I have wondered about that scene myself.

Geary: Now, my sources tell me that you plan to make a move against the Tropicalla. They tell me within a week you're gonna move Klingman out.

Then Mike looks at Tom with the daggers in his eyes. And Tom looks like he screwd up. To me it looks like Mike didn't want Geary to find out. But maybe I'm wrong.

Welcome to the BB family Bo2

It wasn't for that reason that he looked at Tom. When Geary said that, Mike made no reaction although you could tell he was seething inside. I looked up the lines and found where it takes place:

Sen. GEARY: The Corleone family has done very well here in Nevada. You own, or, you control, two major hotels in Vegas -- one in Reno. The licenses were grandfathered in, so there is no problem with the gaming commission. Now, my sources tell me that -- you plan to make a move against the Tropicalla. They tell me within a week -- you're gonna move Klingman out. (This is where he looks at Tom) That's quite an expansion. However it will leave with one little technical problem. Ahh -- The license will still be in Klingman's name.

MICHAEL:Turnbull is a good man.


I'm not sure why he glances at Tom. I'm also not sure why Mike replies with "Turnbull is a good man."

I always thought that the scene is a mirror of the scene from GF1 in which the Don puts Sollozzo on notice that he's aware that Sollozzo is backed by the Tattaglias.

Sollozzo looks at Tom and says "My compliments". Tom or Tom's people had done some digging (albeit not enough) to figure out who was backing Sollozzo.

Similarly, Geary's man Turnbull had done some investigating to figure out exactly the leverage point that they could use to squeeze Michael.

With his compliment to Turnbull Michael was reluctantly acknowledging that Geary or his associates did have something on the ball. Michael's look at Tom was probably along the lines of "Why didn't you take care of this earlier" or "Didn't you know that?"

Yes, both you and Mig are correct. My apologies. I mixed up the sequence.

I don't really agree with the daggers demeanor. Mike looks at tom with a degre of surprise that Geary was able to find this out. of course, we have debated endlessly about who was the traitor in the family.

olivant. What's with you and the traitor in the family in the last two active topics?

Are you suggesting that Geary may have known about this through a traitor in the family?

Do you think it's possible that Fredo knew Geary?

Well, how many other sources could Geary, realistically, have had? And since in a subsequent scene Fredo gets a call from Ola, that cuts the potential traitor field down even more.

I highly doubt that Geary got information directly from Fredo.

I din't think so.

Bo, if you check out all of the discussion in this thread:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...true#Post388516

you may find a satisfactory answer.

I dont know about that but could Geary have known (from Roth or Questadt) that Michael's time was almost up? Therefore leading Geary to go in there and act all tough with Mike.

1. He is condescending and disrepectful to Mike more than once
2. He points the canon at Mike
3. He insists on an answer and the money
4. When Michael offers ".... nothing" HE STILL laughs at Michael albeit it with a look of concern this time(maybe thinking, is this guy smart enough to outsmart the plan)?

Here is a clip from the screenplay. It has extra content from the author that provides a little more insight into the characters thoughts. Why does Tom walk in "sheepishly"?

MICHAEL
It was very kind of you to come to
my home on this occasion, Senator.
My wife has been very concerned
with making a good impression on
the people who are our neighbors,
and your appearance here has made
her very happy. If I can ever
perform a service for you, you only
have to ask.

The door opens, and Hagen sheepishly makes his way in.

MICHAEL
My lawyer, Tom Hagen. He arranged
this all through your man Turnbull.

SENATOR GEARY
I thought we would meet alone.
...
forward to
...

SENATOR GEARY
Let's forget the bullshit, I don't
want to stay here any longer than I
have to. You can have the license
for two hundred and fifty thousand
in cash, plus a monthly fee equal
to five percent of the gross...

Michael is taken aback; he looks at Hagen.

SENATOR GEARY
...of all three Corleone hotels.

Hagen is frustrated; all his information was wrong.

MICHAEL
Senator Geary, I speak to you as a
businessman who has made a large
investment in your state. I have
made that state my home; plan to
raise my children here. The
license fee from the Gambling
Commission costs one thousand
dollars; why would I ever consider
paying more?

SENATOR GEARY
I'm going to squeeze you, Corleone,
because I don't like you; I don't
like the kind of man you are. I
despise your masquerade, and the
dishonest way you pose yourself and
your fucking family.

VIEW ON HAGEN

glances at Michael.

VIEW ON MICHAEL

makes no outward reaction.

MICHAEL
(quietly)
We're all part of the same
hypocrisy, Senator. But never
think it applies to my family.

SENATOR GEARY
All right, then let me say you'll
pay me because it's in your
interests to pay me.

VIEW ON GEARY

rising.

SENATOR GEARY
I'll expect your answer, with
payment, by tomorrow morning. Only
don't contact me...from now on,
deal only through Turnbull.

He is almost out the door.

MICHAEL
Senator...
(cold and calm)
...you can have my answer now if
you'd like.

Geary turns back.

MICHAEL
My offer is this. Nothing...not
even the thousand dollars for the
Gaming Commission, which I'd
appreciate if you would put up
personally.

Geary returns Michael's hard look; then laughs and leaves.
Slowly Michael turns to Hagen.

VIEW ON HAGEN

embarrassed at being so off the mark.

MICHAEL
It's all right, Tom, we'll talk
later. Tell Frankie Pentangeli I'd
like him to have dinner at my
family table before we do business.

From the extended script quoted above by Badabing, there's an interesting remark by Tom about Geary:

"Mikey, sometimes the biggest crooks don't like to think of themselves as crooks."
[Michael glances at Hagen, as though that last remark was unnecessary.]

So it seems that Hagen speaks out a truth not only about Geary but also about Michael.

Fredo probably knew that Geary was a regular at his brothel, but I doubt that their relationship involved anything more significant.

Though most of the dialog in that earlier script was omitted, it's logical to think that Tom might have been "sheepish" because he was likely the negotiator with Turnbull, and Geary pulled a switcheroo. And a sharp look from Michael to Tom would be consistent with the lack of confidence he'd been showing in the film to that point.
The line that Danito posted,"Mikey, sometimes the biggest crooks don't like to think of themselves as crooks," accurately states the attitude that "native Nevadans" had for "outsiders" in the casino business. If you saw "Casino," that's exactly how the County Commissioner (L.Q. Jones) treats Ace (Robert DeNiro) when Ace refuses to reinstate the commissioner's screw-up brother in law.

Maybe I am missing something. I always thought that Tom's "screw up" was that he didn't find out from Turnbull that Geary would go along with moving Klingman out with no problem.
Was that it? If so, Turnbull misled Tom so Geary could squeeze him. If Turnbull had given TOm advance notice of this, I suspect the First COmmunion invitation list ight have en different.

The scene is ambiguous--perhaps because it had been filmed with the lengthier dialog cited above, and then trimmed down. We infer from Geary saying, "That will leave you with a technical problem--the LAH-sense will be in Klingman's name," and Michael's reply, "Turnbull is a good man" [thank you, Michael ]that Michael thought everything re. the Tropigala had been squared away with Turnbull. So we can infer that Tom was left holding the bag when Geary got greedy, because Tom would have been the guy who negotiated with Turnbull.

Yes, but doesn't this mean that Turnbull lied to Tom and told him that Geary was cool with his moving on the Tropigala? Isn't this the same thing that happened to Michael and B.J. Harrison in GF III? Namely they were told that their deal was done, when in fact it wasn't?

It seems to me that Geary wanted to drop the whole thing in Mikes lap in person as some kind of power play. Why would that be Tom's fault?

Not that I really blame Tom but...

I assume that part of being a successful consigliere is the ability to discern when you are being lied to. Genco would have smelled a rat, maybe.

But maybe not. The rat they all should have smelled immediately was Hyman Roth and his Sicilian messenger boy Johnny Ola.

I didn't say I blamed Tom for the switcheroo. But Michael likely did. At that point in the film Tom was on the outs, and as we saw, not part of the Big Picture.

In the early version of the script Tom says to Mike:
"The Senator can be set up; but he thinks of himself as a clean politician. So it's got to be on terms he can live with: campaign contribution, donation to a charitable cause that he controls, things like that. If he gets even the inkling that you think you're buying him, he'll freeze up. Nevada's a funny state, they like things both ways here... All right. Turnbull says the Senator will be here at two-thirty, and he's been primed. He knows you'll want to meet with him alone, and he knows it's about the Tropicana's license. At any rate, he expects to be introduced around to some of the influential people here today, and generally treated as an ordinary guest. Just go light on him, Mikey, sometimes the biggest crooks don't like to think of themselves as crooks..."

***
So, in the conversation with Mike, Geary doesn't seem to care whether he's seen as a but he thinks of himself as "a clean politician". He openly wants to squeeze the family. He doesn't want the whole thing to be covered like a "donation to a charitable cause that he controls". He insults Michael's family and all Italians. So, the wrong information was mainly about the character of the senator. Michael was prepared for an easy game he had to play with Geary. He had to change the game, the way of playing, the moves.
That's why he gives a cold stare to Tom.


(Well, I know: The film is the film, the novel is the novel, the scripts are the scripts. But certainly we have to play little games...)