Cupping, the application of suction to the body, as a healing technique has been used in many healing traditions: ancient Greek and Egyptian, Chinese, and Eastern European, to name a few, for many centuries. There's even a scene in “The Godfather II” when baby Fredo gets cupped because he has pneumonia.
Fredo has pneumonia and is being tended to by his mother and a nursemaid using a glass tumbler with a flame underneath. The thought was it would suck the illness out of his tiny body. It's a centuries old routine done by the Chinese, the Greeks and the Italians among others.
Although he is the second-oldest, after Sonny, he was usually treated like the baby of the family. A bout of pneumonia as an infant may have hurt his physical and mental development, and Fredo is generally considered weaker and less intelligent than his siblings.
After the boy left, Fredo and Neri went out alone on the lake. While they were on the boat, Neri shot Fredo in the back of the head, killing him. Neri then dumped the body overboard. Michael had been watching to ensure the deed was done.
The film never reveals what specific assistance Fredo provides Ola and Roth against Michael, how much he knew of their intentions, or what he was offered in return. While in Havana negotiating with Roth, Michael discovers that Fredo is the family traitor behind the assassination attempt on him.
Originally Answered: Why did Michael kill Fredo? Fredo was part of a plot to assassinate Michael. Arguably Fredo could have been forgiven as his character was known now and he could be controlled, but putting things in the perspective of "Corleone Family" the act of betrayal by Fredo deserves special treatment.
No, Fredo Corleone was not intellectually and socially deficient in the movie The Godfather. He was simply not as smart or as savvy as his brothers Michael and Sonny. This is evident early on in the movie when he gets caught up in a scam with Johnny Ola that nearly costs Michael his life.
The kiss is known as "Il bacio della morte," meaning "the kiss of death." In this instance, it was to signify to Fredo that he was marked for death for betraying his brother to Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) and his right-hand man Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese) in The Godfather Part II.
No way, in fact the only Corleone that would have had Fredo killed was Michael. Every other member of the Corleone family ( especially Vito) would have realized that Fredo's actions were the result of him being dim witted not because of any malicious intent!
At the Long Beach Causeway toll plaza, Barzini's men trap Sonny and shoot him to death. During a meeting with the other crime family dons to establish peace, Vito realizes that Barzini masterminded Sonny's murder. After Michael returns from Sicily, he assumes Sonny's place as Vito's heir apparent.
At the end of the film, Michael has Greene killed as part of his slaughter of the Corleone family's enemies. Neri surprises Greene while he is getting a massage and shoots him through the eye. This allows Greene's casinos to become property of the Corleone family.
We are referring to Fredo -- the middle brother of the Corleone family who is known for his incompetence, bad business ideas, heavy drinking and betrayals.
Sonny had a soft side for family and he didn't want to make Connie a widow and just beats up Carlo but not kill him. Fredo is his brother and he knows Fredo is a weakling and not the smartest guy so the worst he would have done is slap him around but definitely not kill him.
A rift grows between Pentangeli and Michael, however, that eventually results in Pentangeli betraying the family. Pentangeli's character was created in The Godfather Part II by Coppola and Puzo due to actor Richard Castellano not reprising his role as Clemenza in the sequel.
Why did Michael pretend to forgive Fredo and Carlo before ordering them killed instead of just doing so outright? Mario wanted to make a point about Michael Corleone. Michael's inability to forgive leads to the destruction of his family.
Yes. The way she reminded Michael that poor Fredo had drowned seemed to make it clear she was telling him she knew. It was her speech, manner, and inflection that inferred the truth. A woman who had become as astute and clever as Connie wouldn't just make an idle comment such as that.
The exact origin is unknown, but an Italian source identifies the bacio della morte as the kiss given to the assassin delegated to "execute" a death sentence, as if to seal the solemn judgment and to wish success on the assignment.
The Godfather's Michael Corleone is the textbook example of a psychopath. Twenty-year FBI vet Candice Delong explains why. Watch "Vanity Fair Confidential" on Investigation Discovery, Mondays 9/8c. example of a psychopath.
Immensely talented and powerful, he is undone by tragic flaws: his insatiable desire for vengeance, which creates a web of violence and recrimination that he cannot escape; his illusions of omnipotence, which blind him to the fact that achieving legitimacy is impossible; and his sense of being perpetually at war, which ...
Death. Fredo, moments before his death at Lake Tahoe. Upon their mother's death, and at the urging of their sister Connie, Michael relented toward Fredo and seemingly offered reconciliation. However, it was only a deception to draw Fredo in so as to have him murdered by Al Neri.
Hyman Roth, played in The Godfather: Part II by actor Lee Strasberg, was based on real-life mobster Meyer Lansky. Lansky is widely credited for coming up with some of the key innovations upon which the casino and gambling industry is built today.
Fredo was his brother, you aren't supposed to kill your brother. Fredo, having betrayed him, needed to be held accountable. Killing him shows the entire world that Michael is nobody to mess with. Knowing a guy killed his own brother for disloyalty makes them think twice about betraying him themselves.
