Superman act in Cuba

What kind of act was that "Superman" guy trying to do when the girl was tied to the post? Then he fell on the floor. Fredo must have had too much to drink because he gave himself away by saying that Johnny Ola showed him that place after telling Mike that he never met Johnny Ola or Hyman Roth. That was when Mike caught on that Fredo was in with those guys.

I presume it was some knid of sex act

I read somewhere that the Superman character was based on a real Superman in Cuba. With his Super Size, what kind of thing he could do was left to our imagination
Fredo by the way didn't look that he was aware what a stupid thing he just said. He didn't look drunk either to me.

When Superman is led on to the stage he is wearing a cape. The shot cuts in and out quickly, but if you look closely at the front of his cape it is sticking out as if a large object is pushing it out (gee, what could that be?) - the character Superman was also known as the "Man of Steel." So I would say the "performer" was well-endowed, hence his stage name - Superman.

Notice Fredo's interest in the act. Is this where Mark Winegardner got the idea he (Fredo) was bi-sexual?

Good point SC. Also notice the way Fredo dresses.There is other suspicious activity in the movie.For example as soon as the big gang war breaksout Clemantra uses it as an excuse to gather a bunch of mattreses and have a giant slumber party with a bunch of burly thugs.And Mo Green.How did he get that name?

"Superman" was a real character in Cuba. He was hugely endowed, and performed prodigious sex acts nightly in a club in Havana. One of the guys I worked with years ago lived in Miami and played in his high school band. As a reward, the school took the graduating band members for a weekend in pre-Castro Havana. My co-worker said that, at ever streetcorner, some character approached them with flyers for one sex club or another, whispering, "Just like Superman."

I find this interesting because as I am reading the book I've notice how much time Puzo spends discussing sex. There is a long discussion about Sonny's manhood and legendary size. There is an entire chapter that discusses Lucy's fanatical sexual desire for Sonny, the abnormal structure of her female organs and an incredibly detailed account of her surgery to correct her problem.
A lengthy acount of Johnny's exploits in Hollywood. The subject keeps coming up (no pun intended).
By the way, Fredo is described as quite a ladies man when he is in Vegas.

It's all in the dialouge --->

"That things' gotta be fake!"

Fredo:
That ain't no fake, that's real. That's why they call him Superman.

Geary:
Hey, Freddie, Freddie, where did you find this place?

Fredo (boisterously):
Johnny Ola told me about this place. He brought me here. I didn't believe him, but seein' is believin', huh?...Old man Roth'd never come here, but old Johnny knows these places like the back of his hand. Now watch him, he's gonna break the cracker with it.

Geary:
Break a cracker! I want to see him break a brick. He could knock down a building.

I don't know about where MW got the idea, but I don't think it implied that Fredo was bi-sexual. Rather, I think it was demonstrating Fredo's lack of sophistication. Michael attended the show too, but notice how he remains unattached through the show (until of course, Fredo makes his screw-up)...

I thought about that SC, but in all reality, someone who is a writer and professor has got to have the education to not jump to steriotyped conclusions. You'd hope so anyway. Notice Greary and all the other Senators and judges were also enjoying the show, maybe they were all bi as well

To Connie and Don Sonny -

My reference to Fredo being bi in that scene was said tongue-in-cheek. I should have added a " " to the end of that post.

Both of you brought up good points, though. Michael's lack of interest in that show proved he was like his father - he wouldn't let unimportant details get in the way of his judgment.

More so like his father, I think, in that he was "straightlaced" in matters concerning sex.

he definatly was straightlaced. especially comparing him to tom hagen at the end of part two. but i pose this one question: tom was pretty good guy in part one, and he seemed like a devoted husband. do you think that the freedoms of nevada led him to to cheat?

It was Coppola's collaboration in the script, I guess. He changed the character a little . Maybe, that's where MW got the idea that it's not impossible...

To SC- Really?! I figured your responce was a joke, but I have seriously considered the fact that that is where Winegardener got his "condition"

I thought it was somewhat incongruous that Michael would ask Fredo to show Senator Geary et al a good time in Cuba knowing that Fredo had never been to Cuba before.

Additionally, I thought Fredo learned the list of "local" drinks a little too quickly for a first visit. Perhaps that should have made Michael suspicious.

Good point, Olivant! It could be that Michael was testing Fredo. But a more likely explanation, IMO, is that, as we learned later, Fredo's usual assignment was to "run some Mickey Mouse nightclub." We also saw that he ran a brothel. And when Michael asked Fredo to "show them a good time," he replied, "My specialty, right?" So I think Michael expected his brother would know how to "entertain" important guests.

I think that he was not so straightlaced in those matters as his father. Though certainly much more straightlaced than Fredo, of course . Mike had many "adolescent crushes", he had no scruples whatever sleeping with Kay before wedding, and if you read attentively everything about the lust, the passionate desire to possess that he felt to Apollonia, and the description of their sexual life, you would not think that he was modest in sex...
I rather think he had good taste. And the ugly dirty sight that could excite Fredo out of his wits, had no value for choosy aesthete like Mike.

In the original script/screenplay, Tom was having an on-going affair with Sandra, Sonny's widow.
This scene is shortly after Michael asks Tom to leave when Johnny Ola arrives at the boat house, (Tom goes to Sandra's house) and just prior to Michael's meeting with Senator (I intend to squeeze you) Geary ....

HAGEN
Just now when Johnny Ola showed up, he asked me to leave them alone. Ola is Hyman Roth's Sicilian contact. I was on the inside of ten, twenty meetings with him. But today Mike asked me to leave, like an outsider.

SANDRA
Talk to him. Tell him how you feel.

HAGEN
It's as though he blames me for the ground the family lost when I was Consigliere to Sonny.

Sandra pulls Hagen to her, and kisses him passionately on the mouth.

HAGEN
I love Michael, I want to help him, be close to him. I don't want to end up a third string lawyer making property settlements for the hotels.

Sandra knows he needs her. Slowly she begins to undress.

SANDRA
We have a little time now.

Well - I can't say it is the wisest thing in Coppola's screenplay. As Puso describes both in the book, they were never meant for each other .

You will never hear me say this again- BUT I AM GLAD WINEGARDENER DID NOT RESEARCH GFR!!!!! Imagine if he had come across that! I dont think I could live in a world in which GFR was any worse.

When someone said something about breaking the cracker, where was the cracker they were talking about?