"And if that goombah tries any rough stuff...

...tell him, I ain't no band leader!"

So Woltz dismisses a gun being put to someone's head as something that wouldn't intimidate him into doing anything, but a horse head in his bed makes him capitulate?

I don't think a wealthy and powerful guy like that would have been intimidated by the horse head stunt into casting Johnny. People with lots of money who are used to getting their way in all things don't intimidate easily.

I think Fredo should have snuck into his bed.Can you imagine waking up and having that face staring at you?

There's a big difference between putting up a big bluff to an ostensibly mild-mannered lawyer over dinner, in a situation and an environment that you control completely (or think that you do)...and the visceral feeling of waking up the next morning in a pool of blood, in your very own bed.

My sense is that Woltz was feeling very full of himself during the dinner with Tom. He was becoming more pugnacious and belligerent by the minute. But waking up to find the head of his favorite race horse in his bed cut through all of Woltz's swagger & bravado in one fell swoop; demonstrating to him very clearly that the Corleones could get to him in any way they chose, at any time - and that they could easily destroy anything and everything that Woltz held most dear.

As I said in my original post, "People with lots of money who are used to getting their way in all things don't intimidate easily."

I believed that then, and I believe that now.

Woltz would have been completely freaked out by the horse head, as anybody would be. After that, it would have galvanized him.

People with lots of money who are used to getting their way in all things sometimes lose touch with reality. Once his bluster failed to imtimidate Tom and Vito, what real power did Woltz have to fight the Corleones?

People with lots of money who are used to getting their way in all things are pragmatic. Woltz realized that he was up against an adversary who could kill or ruin him on a minute's notice. It's not worth losing everything to continue a spat against a romantic rival.

The novel provides more detail. Woltz was intimidated because:

1. The horse killer got past his security, meaning that his security was no good.
2. He boasted to Tom that he was friends with J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director. But, what could Hoover do for him now? "What was the penalty for killing a horse?" he asked himself. Would the FBI even investigate a horse murder?
3. If that's what Corleone did as a warning, he must have something "infinitely more painful" in store if Woltz still didn't give in. You can infer that Woltz was afraid that, if there was a next time, it'd be his coglioni that were cut off, not a horse's head.

This is a really important point. Some guy on the east coast who you've only heard of obliquely has the power and worse yet, the interest, to reach out to you in Hollywood and buy off or scare off your security workers over something as silly as a part in a movie. He knows about your links to the FBI and is evidently unconcerned. You start to realize, as Hagen hinted, that this person is not entirely rational on the subject of his godson. Could you still fight him? Sure. Could you win? Maybe. But are you willing to take that chance. Nope.

The novel states that Woltz realized that Vito would have him killed just as easily as he had the horse beheaded and over such a simple thing as a movie role. He lamented about how barbaric such a person could be and if there was any legal path he could follow to protect himself.

Woltz probably did know J. Edgar Hoover, who was notoriously famous for his love of the ponies, and for his denial that the mob existed. But Hoover would never touch Corleone for this.

Bottom line, if Woltz whined it would make him look ridiculoous, and a man in his position cannot afford to be made to look ridiculous.

The novel makes exactly that point. Vito asks Tom if Woltz has "real balls." Tom thinks: Woltz has character, he has strength...but would he be willing to risk all on a point honor? He replies to Vito: "You're asking if he's a Sicilian. The answer is no.

To add what was said, Woltz was vain but not stupid. I think the novel said that was egotistical. It was far more crushing blow to Woltz's ego that a seemingly unknown olive oil importer could brazenly kill his beloved horse and challenge his supposed "authority." Woltz tried to build a reputation as a tough guy and in one swift move that image was shattered by Vito Corleone. And if Woltz wanted to preserve his public dignity, news of what really happened to Khartoum had to be covered up.

Woltz was also a pedophile. His reputation might have also taken a hit if that had come out.

Maybe...maybe not. In those days the press did not cover that stuff. In an uncut scene Vito rejected exposing this (even though he was personally appalled) as a way to get him.

Turnbull brings up a great point; in the novel I think the real reason Woltz was so taken aback was twofold:

1) This "nobody" from New York was able to infiltrate his mansion with its private security as though it was nothing, not only getting to his stable but getting into his bedroom. For someone bragging how they had a "personal relationship" with J. Edgar Hoover and all the power that Woltz thought he had (I believe the novel states that he had dined at the White House), his defenses were nothing. A bigshot was brought low and humiliated by some "obscure importer of Italian Olive Oil"

2) Don Corleone had no issues killing a racehorse worth a lot of money (I can't remember the exact amount, but I think it was several hundred thousand?) simply because Johnny Fontaine didn't get a part in a movie. To Woltz, that was unfathomable because of his lifestyle - who would destroy a magnificent racehorse over something as petty as someone not getting a part in a movie? I think moreso that demonstrated that, beyond the implication that Woltz might be next, that Don Corleone had zero problems with doing everything in his power to ruin Woltz over something so trivial.

The novel makes it clear that, indeed, Vito was able to render Woltz's security ineffective. It also makes it clear that if Vito could leisurely decapitate such a valuable equine, what would he do to him.

As I was reading down this thread, I was instantly taken to the Don's conversation with Tom and whether Woltz had balls. Turnbull hit the nail on the head. Tom's answer to Vito completely answered the question. Woltz may have been powerful in his world but he wasn't "sicillian" and ultimately knew he had no chance against the Corleones.

Was it a deleted scene or from the book? In my mind I, really can't distinguish. I've read the book and watched the movies so many times that they all run together sometimes.

The novel elaborately explains how Tom appreciated Vito's question and Tom's well considered answer to it. It just as elaborately explains Woltz's perspective.

Woltz didn't think that Vito was a "nobody." At dinner, he tells Tom, "why didn't you tell me you worked for Corleone." He knew exactly who he was, he just underestimated the length that Vito would go to to take care of his god son.

Woltz knew who Corleone was, but he never thought Corleone could bend his will. His parting shot at Tom was the comment "I ain't no band leader."