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'Frederico "Fredo" Corleone' is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel ''The Godfather''. In the fictional universe of the novel and its film adaptation, he is the middle brother to oldest brother Santino Corleone and younger brother Michael Corleone, and son of Vito Corleone, head of a powerful Mafia family.
Fredo was portrayed by late Italian-American actor John Cazale in Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of the novel, as well as in its sequel.

Contents

Role in the novel and film

In the sequels

As cultural figure

Expanded character

See also

References

Role in the novel and film

As revealed in Puzo's novel, although Fredo was considered the "toughest" of the Corleone boys, he was always thought of in the Corleone crime Family as the weakest of the three Corleone brothers, and therefore was given its unimportant businesses to run. He is, however, the most obedient and dutiful of the Corleone children, at least at the beginning of the book.
In a pivotal scene in the novel and film, Fredo attempts to immediately retaliate after the attempted assassination of his father on a New York street by men working for drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo. However, he fumbles with the gun, drops it, and is unable to return fire. He then sits on the street curb next to his unconscious father and weeps.
After Sonny's assassination and Vito's death, the younger Michael was appointed head of the family over Fredo, causing a deep rift between the two brothers which is expanded upon in Coppola's later sequels to the first film adaptation.
In the book it is this behavior, and not stupidity, that puts him in disfavor with his father. Though Fredo's sexual exploits are referred to in Part I, his domination by women is seen more clearly in Part II, in which he is unable to control his wild and alcoholic wife at a party. It is further shown by the fact that he runs a brothel.
In the films, Fredo's lack of intelligence plays a greater role than it does in the novel. He is seen as far less mentally acute than his younger brother Michael. Michael even uses the word "stupid" when discussing his brother with Tom Hagen.

In the sequels

At the Lake Tahoe party at the beginning of ''The Godfather Part II'', Fredo is unable to control his intoxicated wife, Deanna. After she danced with another man, he furiously dragged her off the dance floor and threatened to hit her. Deanna mocked him by saying that he "couldn't belt [his] momma," and that he's jealous because he's not "a real man."
In a flashback to the early days of the Corleone family, there is a scene where an infant Fredo is being treated for pneumonia. The scene showed Fredo to be sickly even as a youth. One might also interpret this scene as indicating that the infant had suffered from an illness significant enough to have affected his intelligence.
Fredo betrayed Michael when approached by Johnny Ola, an agent of rival gangster Hyman Roth. This betrayal ultimately resulted in an assassination attempt on Michael at his Lake Tahoe home. The film left unclear the details of Fredo's deal with Ola and Roth. Fredo ambiguously claimed that his goal in that deal was simply to get something for himself, on his own, and swore that he did not realize he was being used as part of a larger plot to kill his brother. However, in the event of Michael's assassination, Fredo would likely have led the Corleone Family, at least as a figurehead.
Michael discovered Fredo's role in the plot during his trip to Havana when Fredo let it slip out that he and Johnny Ola had been in Havana together. Michael confronted Fredo later and tells his older brother, "You broke my heart." Fredo flees in fear of his life but he is actually in no danger because Michael believes that Johnny Ola and Hyman Roth had lied to Fredo and manipulated him. Later, when Michael is being pursued by a Congressional Committee investigating organized crime he has a talk with Fredo and realizes that Fredo had both withheld important information from him about Hyman Roth's connection with the Committee's lawyer and was deeply resentful and jealous of Michael's role in the family business. Michael recognizes that Fredo is a traitor and disowns and banishes him from the family. 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 to draw Fredo in so as to have him murdered, something Michael did not permit while their mother was alive.
Towards the end of ''The Godfather Part II'', Fredo and his nephew, Michael's son Anthony, developed a relationship and were to go fishing on Lake Tahoe. However, Anthony is called away by Connie, who tells him that his father wants to take him to Reno. Fredo is left alone in the fishing boat with Al Neri and he takes the boat far out onto the lake. His suspicions prior to his death are left up to interpretation. As Fredo prays the Hail Mary, Neri shoots him in the back of the head. It is implied that Fredo's body is thrown overboard after being chained to weights.
Family members outside of Michael's power circle were told that he drowned in a tragic boating accident. Ordering Fredo's death would haunt Michael for the rest of his life, and further alienated him from his wife Kay and son Anthony. In ''The Godfather Part III'', Michael expressed deep remorse at ordering his brother's death years later while confessing his sins to Cardinal Lamberto who, in the film, later became Pope John Paul I.
Connie maintained in the third film that Fredo had drowned accidentally. This may have been in (perhaps willful) ignorance to the actual events surrounding Fredo's death, or an attempt to convince Michael that he should not dwell on Fredo's murder and instead live the lie he created. Connie probably knew or guessed that Michael had played a role in Fredo's death because, although she was the one who told Anthony that his father, Michael, wanted to take him into Reno, the camera shows that Michael was actually standing in the room that looks out onto Lake Tahoe when Fredo was shot.
Many aspects of Fredo's life, his marriage to Deanna, and his role in the assassination attempt on Michael were clarified in Mark Winegardner's 2004 novel ''The Godfather Returns''. The novel says that Fredo originally intended to become a priest but left his studies for unknown reasons, though it is implied he was molested by the priest he studied under. The novel also portrays Fredo as being gay or possibly bisexual. Although his wife Deanna knows about it, he denies and loathes this aspect of himself. He believes his sexuality to be a secret, but Michael and family ''consigliere'' Tom Hagen have their suspicions.
Within the pages of ''The Godfather Returns'', and followed up on in ''The Godfather's Revenge'', also by Winegardner, it is stated that Fredo had a child before he died, and the child was given up for adoption by the mother. Also, light is shed upon the fact that Vincent Mancini-Corleone is not the bastard son of Fredo's older brother, Sonny, but in fact, that of Fredo.

As cultural figure

★ In the television series, The Sopranos, Anthony Jr. was referred to by a teacher as "Fredo Corleone" after the dean strong-armed him into raising Anthony's poor English grade.

★ In Ohio higher education circles and among Ohio State University students and alumni, Miami University is often referred to as "Fredo University" or "Fredo of Ohio." This is due to the older Miami having been forced to watch a younger university (Ohio State) designated as the state's flagship campus.

★ In the movie ''Analyze This'', starring Robert de Niro and Billy Crystal, there is a reference to Fredo in a dream scene which replicates "The Godfather" almost exactly. Billy Crystal gets shot down as Vito Corleone does and Robert de Niro is unable to help as is with Fredo. When Billy Crystal tells Robert de Niro about this dream he had, de Niro says "I was Fredo? I don't think so." suggesting a negative connotation of being related to Fredo as well as referencing de Niro's having played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.

★ On the June 3, 2007 episode of ''Meet the Press'', Democratic strategist James Carville referred to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales as "Fredo". The reference has now taken on a whole new life as liberal pundit Keith Olbermann tends to refer to Gonzales as Fredo whenever he discusses him on Countdown. Interestingly, Bush himself now uses the nickname when referring to Gonzales ^[1]

★ In the episode "Busey and the Beach" from the first season of the HBO series Entourage, Turtle refers to Johnny Drama as Fredo during one of Drama's trademark angry rants. Turtle and Drama fight like this throughout the series, often making references to The Godfather and other pop-culture entities that have Italian stereotypes.

Expanded character

Many aspects of Fredo's life, such as his marriage and his role in the assassination attempt on Michael were clarified in Mark Winegardner's 2004 novel ''The Godfather Returns''. The novel explains that Fredo originally intends to become a priest but leaves his studies for unknown reasons, though it is implied he is molested by the priest he studies under. The novel also portrays Fredo as being gay. Although his wife knows about it, he denies and loathes this aspect of himself. He believes his sexuality to be a secret, but Michael and Tom Hagen have their suspicions.

See also

★ Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando in ''The Godfather'' and by Robert De Niro in ''The Godfather Part II''

★ Santino 'Sonny' Corleone — Elder brother; played by James Caan

★ Costanza 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire

★ Michael Corleone — Younger brother; played by Al Pacino

★ Mary Corleone — Niece; played by Sofia Coppola

★ Anthony Vito Corleone — Nephew; played by Anthony Gounaris in Godfather I, played by James Gounaris in Godfather II, played by Franc D'Ambrosio

★ Carmella Corleone — Mother; played by Morgana King

★ Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Illegitimate nephew and succeeding 'Don'; played by Andy Garcia.

References

1. http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/04/20/gonzales/index.html


★ Plot Summary - The Godfather