Re-watched the trilogy recently. Upon re-watching this film, I totally forgot how Fredo is barely in this movie. Idk why, this struck me as being bizarre; however, I feel like this really makes the second film work so well.
Thoughts?
well someone's got to reply to this.
Yeah, until the Moe Green scene, John Cazale's virtually an ascended extra.
If anything was going to be great subject matter for a sequel, it would be Fredo and his relationship with the family.
It's interesting that, after appearing so timid and socially inept in New York around the family, and clearly not cut out for the mob life, the turnaround when Michael arrives in Vegas is astounding - he's confident, charismatic, jovial....maybe it was banging all those cocktail waitresses two at a time that really brought him out of his shell...
Anyway, Michael immediately shuts down the party, undermines Fredo and then effectively trashes the life he's spent years building for himself in Vegas by making an enemy out of Moe Greene. This would in all likelihood have sent Fredo into the tailspin that we see at the start of 2.
Did Michael ever think about that? Did he ever once stop to think about that?
One thing that's not explained in 1, or maybe it is in the book, I don't know - where is Fredo between Vito's shooting and release from hospital? I don't see him at the house any time in the aftermath. Maybe he's also in hospital being treated for shock? Sonny says something about sending him to Vegas to rest.
From the book...
Chapter 4
When Michael goes to the compound after learning that his father has been shot:
Thinking that Paulie had been at the scene, he asked the ferret-faced young man, “How is Freddie? He OK?”
“The doctor gave him a shot,” Clemenza said. “He’s sleeping.”
Chapter 5
When Sonny, Tom and the capos are planning how to respond to the assassination attempt:
“If we make plans,” Michael said, “Freddie should be here.”
Sonny said grimly, “Freddie is no use to us. The doctor says he’s in shock so bad he has to have complete rest. I don’t understand that. Freddie was always a pretty tough guy. I guess seeing the old man gunned down was hard on him, he always thought the Don was God. He wasn’t like you and me, Mike.”
Hagen said quickly, “OK, leave Freddie out. Leave him out of everything, absolutely everything."
Chapter 8
When Sonny and the others are still planning strategy:
Freddie was still under sedation in his own room of his parents’ house. Sonny and Michael had paid him a visit and had been astonished at his paleness, his obvious illness. “Christ,” Sonny said to Michael when they left Freddie’s room, “he looks like he got plugged worse than the old man.”
In the film, you are correct. Fredo is not seen until they bring the Don home from the hospital at which time he tells his father he is going to Las Vegas to learn the casino business.
Many years have passed since I last read the novel.
I know that Fredo discovered a talent foe the hospitality business. I think in GF II thete is a reference to Fredo's men, which implies a regrime. Did he haveen in the novel?