Godfather II question

[OrangeSkin]

It'd been quite some time since I'd seen the Godfather flicks, so I bought the box set a couple days ago.

I remembered most of them pretty well, but there were some things I was a little confused about in II.

The Michael/Hyman Roth/Frank Pantangelli situation confused me a little bit. Why did Michael go to Miami, tell Roth that Frank was a dead man, the go to New York and tell Frank that Roth was a sneaky rat? And then Roth apparently tried to whack Frank? I was kind of befuddled about that.

Also, how did Fredo and Johnny Ola fit into the picture? I figured out that Fredo was somehow betraying the family by working with Johnny, but I wasn't sure exactly how. Basically, how did Johnny fit into the plot? He was just sort of there.

And who shot into Michael's bedroom at the beginning of the movie? Was it Fredo or somebody else? I don't remember ever finding out in the movie.

I need to watch it again to pick everything up I guess, but those were some things I was confused about.

[Riggo-toni]

Johnny Ola, played by the same actor who is now Uncle Junior on the Sopranos, was Roth's messenger boy.

Roth (based on Meyer Lansky) wanted to kill off Michael to expand his own empire and possibly avenge the killing of Mo Green (Bugsy Siegel). So, he sent Johnny Ola out to schmooze with Fredo. Johnny apparently managed to convince Fredo to let a couple of his guys into the communion party to talk to Michael; but instead of being negotiators they turn out to be hitmen. They are the ones shooting at Michael.

Michael knows Roth has screwed him, but he also realizes someone in his inner circle has betrayed him, and unless he finds out who, he will continue to be in danger, even if he has Roth knocked off.

So, he decides the best strategy is to pretend like nothing's wrong, and suck up to Roth. He convinces Pantangeli, who is a boss of a subordinate family caught up in a war for territory against the Risotto brothers - one of Roth's subordinate families, to temporarily acquiesce to Roth's demands. He figures this way Roth won't suspect that Michael suspects him.

But, Roth isn't quite so gullible, and decides to hit Pantangelli. He has the hitmen claim they are following Michael's orders ("here's a gift from Michael Corleone"), not Roth's, so that Pantangelli's people will want revenge against Mike. Essentially, Roth wants to start a civil war among the Corleones to weaken them. When Pantangelli survives, he falls for it, believing falsely that Michael is in Roth's pocket and has tried to kill him off, so he decides to testify against him to get back at him.

p.s. To better understand GF2, rent the now out of print Godfather Epic which includes deleted scenes from both the first 2 movies, and presents everything in chronological order, instead of flashbacks. You'll even get to see the scene where Clemenza introduces young boy Heyman Roth to Vito.