It might not be that important but it got me intrigued. Why would he answer the question like that? Corleone's would get 30% so 70% would remain from the split. Would he want to pay Tattaglia's 40% and get 30% for himself?
Or was it simply a rebuttal of sorts to Vito being nosey in what was none of his business?
He already salutes Tom for doing the background work, so I don't think that he thinks he is being nosey. I think it is that they are making more -- the Corleone's are on their way down when the movie starts.
shareI've never thought about that, maybe because they don't explicitly state the the Tattaglias will also get at least 30%. Vito is being offered such a high share because he's fronting the start-up money and providing police and political protection. I just assumed the Tattaglias were being paid a set amount/fee for whatever they were doing for him. In fact, if the Tattaglias were better off than the Corleones, surely Solozzo would be asking them for the million and just asking Vito to use his political influence.
share
Good points.
But even if the Tattaglias were to also get 30% of the profit, that would leave Sollozzo with 40% of a huge deal, one presumably would not happen at all were it not for both both families, Sollozzo would still make out like a bandit, so there's no controversy either way.
Personally, I think you're correct in that the Corleones would get at least twice what Philip Tartaglia would get (presuming Tartaglia is putting in some money and physical muscle) because of the political influence and political protection that Vito is known to have.
So do you think Solozzo wants to hide that he's underpaying Tattaglia's? Does he perhaps want to hide that he's overpaying himself?
Since he already told what Corleone's % profit would amount to in money he isn't hiding the actual profitability of the overall scheme. Yet he's being coy about how it would be split.
What is he trying to leave out by answering in that way?
it might be one of the many scenes in the movie that becomes a lot clearer by reading the book, which I haven't. My best guess, though, is that the question caught him off-guard and so answering it that way shut down any further questions about the Tattaglia's involvement, and also assured them that whatever the Tattaglias did make, it wouldn't affect the Corelone's share or profit.
If we want to go deeper, there was something to hide because we learn much later on that "it was Barzini all along" and that Tattaglia was merely the front for this - however, it's unclear how much, if anything, Solozzo knows about this - he could have been getting played too
"and also assured them that whatever the Tattaglias did make, it wouldn't affect the Corelone's share or profit".
This ☝️