Should Michael Have Killed Fredo?

[jsmith]

a couple of years ago i picked up a VCD of the godfather trilogy on ebay and reviewed that whole sequence which i had almost completely forgotten about. i had not watched it in a good long while and it was fascinating! i then decided that the VCD quality was crap so i wrote the guy who sold it to me and he promptly sent me another version which was slightly better. a few months later the DVD came out so i had to have that too, so now i have two versions on VCD plus the DVD collection...

[Limited Edition]

The only reason Michael didn't kill Fredo was because of their mother. He waited to kill him until after she was gone, out of respect for his mom.

Don

[SHYNE]

Fredo was a turd. He sold out his brother for his own greed. Death to traitors!

[jsmith]

Originally posted by Kuan
Poor Fredo, he was born like that.

Poor John Cazale, I wish he could have stayed around longer. He was great in Dog Day Afternoon...

[Kuan]

Michael Corleone in GF II is a cold hearted SOB. I just watched it again for the 1923529th time last night. Poor Fredo, he was born like that.

[DanielG]

Do you remember the MAD magazine satire of GFII? Michael tells Connie -- I won't harm Fredo while momma is alive -- and then he turns around and says -- Rocko, put a hit out on momma -- lol

[BENZ-LGB]

The scene in the Havana "S&M" club where Michael finally realizes that Fredo has been lying to him about his connection to the hit on Michael is just priceless. The look on Michael's face says it all.

Should he have killed his own brother? What choice did he have? Fredo sold him out and in doing so risked getting Kay and Michael's kids killed. Michael had no choice.

Killing Fredo sets up the "moral" struggle in Part III. Michael tries to escape his criminal past, he even tries to go legit. But the sins of the past keep dragging him back. Of all of his "sins," fraticide is the one sin that haunts him the most.

Which "part" did you enjoy the most? Part I? II? III?

I like Part I, especially the end scene, where they keep cross-cutting between Michael baptizing Connie's kid and reciting the various sacraments of the Catholic church and the scenes where Michael whacks the opposition and becomes the undisputed leader. Very powerful editing.

But Part II is my favorite.

BTW...of all the polls that I've seen here, this is got to be one of the strangest. What next: should Capt. Kirk have whacked Khan?