MovieChat Forums > The Godfather (1972) Discussion > Freedo should've died in the first one.....

Freedo should've died in the first one.....

posted 5 months ago by zmeyka (229)
20 replies | jump to latest

Each time, I see Vito getting shot at the fruit stand, I always wished that Freedo would have too....
He doesn't pay attention to his father being attacked, then comes out AFTER it's too late, becomes clumsy and drops the gun, then slouches down and cries like a baby instead of trying to get help...!
He really was a wuss, at least he got what he deserved in part. 2...
I know he wasn't really mob tied or had guts like Santino or Mike.... but still, you're suppose to be there to protect your father.

[–] DeckardB26354 (1196) 5 months ago

John Cazale obviously played the part of Fredo to a tee then.

[–] zmeyka (229) 5 months ago

That is true, the few scenes he had, he aced it, but they could have given him a wee bit stronger role to help his father..!

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

There was a lot going on there from a family dynamic standpoint.

Vito didn't try to make Fredo into anything more than what he was (to his credit). Santino however possessed an innate mob mentality and Vito fostered that in him. Michael? Vito also believed Michael had potential well beyond the simple mob living that Vito lived and was crushed to find out Michael assassinated Sollozzo. Vito would have been happy if it was Santino and surprised if it was Fredo.

To each his own I guess.

[–] zmeyka (229) 5 months ago

Good point, which is explained in the second Oddfather, Freedo cries to Mike saying he got passed over for being a leader or in control....! But he looked like a coward..!

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

Yeah, Fredo felt bad about being stepped over but at the end of the day, he simply didn't have what the job required. Vito recognized this, Fredo didn't.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77426) 5 months ago

Fredo was a goldfish swimming with sharks. He knew it, the whole family recognized it. The Don should have put him in charge of a numbers book somewhere out of the way and quiet, he just wasn’t a killer like Sonny and Mike.

Not everyone is a tough guy but most everyone can be of use.

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

The Don should have put him in charge of a numbers book somewhere out of the way and quiet, he just wasn’t a killer like Sonny and Mike.

Exactly, and I'm sure that's what Vito mostly used him for. He let Fredo fill in in a pinch when Pauli called in "sick", figuring he didn't need a bodyguard - which is what Solozzo was saying - the Don was slipping.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77426) 5 months ago

Very powerful men often fall down when they don’t think they can trip anymore.

Don Corleone was never the same after that shooting.

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

Don Corleone was never the same after that shooting.

Clearly he wasn't, but I was referring to Sollozzo's assessment of Vito to Michael when they were talking at the restaurant after the hit attempt on Vito when Sollozzo told Michael that he wouldn't have been able get to his father ten years earlier - the old man was slipping.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77426) 5 months ago

Oh, yes, I understood.

Time does seem to catch up to everyone. And Cosa Nostra seems to lack a retirement package.

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

And Cosa Nostra seems to lack a retirement package.

They have one Sho! It's 6' under the turf...

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77426) 5 months ago

Not exactly the Cadillac and Condo you expect!

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

It's quiet though...

[–] daveyh (625) 5 months ago

Well they eventually did that when they sent him to Vegas, and to be fair he did seem to be prospering there until Michael decided to buy Moe Greene out and move there himself, leaving Fredo once again in his family's shadow and too close to the action for his own good

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77426) 5 months ago

The Fredo transfer to Vegas never made much sense to me. At that time Vegas was loaded with gangsters, how was dopey Fredo supposed to represent the family’s interests and stay alive?

Fredo would be a rich old man if they had just stuck him in a Queens wire room running bets and left him out of the rough stuff.

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

The Fredo transfer to Vegas never made much sense to me. At that time Vegas was loaded with gangsters, how was dopey Fredo supposed to represent the family’s interests and stay alive?

I think Fredo would have been fine in Vegas if he just limited himself to what he was told and didn't try to be a bigger man than he was capable of. Johnny Ola exposed Fredo's naivete and maybe marginal intellect when he got Fredo to set up Michael for a hit.

It seemed he was doing fine at the hotel - he knew how to arrange impromptu bands and hookers for guests!!

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77426) 5 months ago

You may be correct.
Fredo was very likely doomed.

Mike could have given him a chop shop in Brooklyn, he could have been really
good at piecing out cars.

Anyway, he’s dead.

[–] daveyh (625) 5 months ago

He also utilised the cocktail waitresses

[–] ak47wong (576) 5 months ago

Two at a time

[–] strntz (12257) 5 months ago

He was on a break?