Godfather 2: Your opinion regarding Fredo's death

I was reading an online discussion about this and I thought it'll be interesting to get the opinions of the forum here.

Was Michael correct to kill Fredo?
Was he wrong to kill Fredo?

Or a combination of both...

Was he correct in principle...but wrong to do it because Fredo was his brother?

Was he just wrong to do it given that Fredo was manipulated by Roth and Ola....and the fact that Fredo was is brother is irrelevant?

Would you have done the same thing?


Now, admittedly, it's easy for me to say because Fredo wasn't my brother...but call me a cold hearted son of a bitch...but I think Michael did the right thing by having that idiot wacked! You can't have a guy like that around, brother or not, who's stupidity can put the life of you and your family in jeopardy.

Thoughts?

 

Overrated piece of shit film.






























J/K

 

Freddo never died. It was all smoke and mirrors.

 

The real Fredo was abducted by aliens and was replaced by a clone to take the dive in the lake.

 

Fredo actually kills Michael in the alternative facts version.

 

He was wrong to do it... Fredo was a fool who didn't know what he was doing, not a hostile agent... This is why you see in Godfather III that Michael is ultimately haunted and ashamed of his actions

 

On the other hand, after Fredo and 4 refugees aided by Luca Brasi perpetrated the original Bowling Green massacre of 1943, Shit had to change

 

There's such a thing as "criminal negligence" in law. Being a fool doesn't excuse actions. Fredo's stupidity was a liability and the mafia is a life and death business. Yeah I get that Michael was haunted by his actions...after all that was his brother...but he did the right thing in principle. Eliminate the fool.

 

Fredo was a dangerous traitor. Michael and his family almost got killed. It doesn't get revealed what Fredo truly meant when he said "you guys lied to me" on the phone, but it's still hard for Michael to believe Fredo when he said he didn't know they would try to kill him.

You could say that Michael was perhaps giving Fredo a second chance, and he failed. He talked to Fredo about it and Fredo gets mad, exploding with jealousy, showing disdain for Vito's decision. He had acted like he knew nothing about anything, then says "oh I know that one of the judges in the trial is with Roth".

He was dangerous, his betrayal and stupidity could have gotten their family killed earlier, and perhaps later on. He had to go, unless you could keep Fredo under constant surveillance (by trusted people, and who can you trust?) to make sure he doesn't stray again.

 

Fredo's incompetence was his tragic flaw, it's standard Shakespeare

But he was family and Michael knew it was wrong to kill him

 

Michael "He's gotta go. He's a total disaster."

 

Erratic has a point. If he was incompetent enough to jeopardize the family once, who's to say it'd never happen again?

But yes, in the end Michael did in fact regret it. He regretted everything... regretted that he ever got caught up in the family business in the first place.

 

Fredo was already mad that he got passed over, when Vito chose Michael over Fredo.

Fredo: You're my younger brother, I was passed over!
Michael: That's how Pop wanted it.
Fredo: That's not how I wanted it!!! I'm not stupid like everyone says....I'm smart...I want respect!

Fredo explodes with anger at this part. Michael surely didn't help, but Fredo was just upset from a lifetime of feeling like a dumb outcast. Vito wouldn't let it get to that point that Michael did, the great thing about Part 2 that it contrasts Vito's strengths with Michael's shortcomings, but it's not like Vito suddenly felt like shit because of how Michael treated him. He was already very offended by Vito choosing Michael over him.

They never really explain in the film what Fredo really knew (there are a few things in Part 2 that are rather murky). Fredo saying "you lied to me" on the phone could mean a few things. They could have told him that Michael was going to be kidnapped, that they would kill him somewhere else away from the house, that it wasn't going to be violent, etc....But it's implied that he opened the drapes in the bedroom window. What did Fredo think was going to happen?

 

:: "I don't know who helped him make his bones, but he's not very good"