My problem with Eve's death

[stanton]

Hmm, the end of 2001 is simply fantastic, one of the best film ends ever.

The bullet ridden bed is a great and filmic idea, only that it looked too clean (the bullets must have torn big holes into the sheets) and too regulated. It looked indeed a bit strange.

[sergios specs]

never mind eve's death or the horshead from the godfather, how the hell did they get kong onto that little boat, keep him secured, fed and watered. transport him all the way to new york, and somehow manage to get him into a theatre on broadway? whilst at the same time, presumably keeping him a secret from the public untill his unvieling? think of the mess while he was on the boat. a 25 feet tall silverback must piss a helluva lot

[ShortFuse]

Gangsters are perfectionists. They are into theatrics. Deep down, they're all homos.

[Groggy]

I still think they might have been cigarette burns and not bullet holes.

[The Firecracker]

How'd they get the horshead on the bed from the godfather

If you play the mediocre video game adaption of the overrated movie you'd find out.

[ShortFuse]

If you play the mediocre video game adaption of the overrated movie you'd find out.

You can find it on YouTube.

[drinkanddestroy]

.

Even after two viewings, it's not even clear to me who the thugs are working for -- Frankie Minaldi, I am told -- or why they are after Noodles. Are they in on the plot with Max? Apparently not, from their rather sanctimonious grilling of Fat Moe. (I mean, how exercised can they be, really, about one gangster killing his partners, as they appear to believe Noodles did? After all, they are working for the same Frankie Minaldi who earlier arranged the murder of his 'brother' Joe.)

There are other obvious questions about these three hoodlums' motivation, that the screenplay never bothers to answer. Are they after Noodles' money stash? If so, why not torture Fat Moe for the key directly? When they don't immediately get any useful information out of Eve, why don't they torture her, the way they do Fat Moe? For that matter, why kill Eve, but let Fat Moe live?

And if it's really such an outrageous violation of the underworld code to kill your partners, then why does Max go 35 years without being punished for the murders of Cockeye and Patsy? Don't tell me that he rose to become Secretary of Commerce without being recognized by any of his fellow mobsters.

I believe the reason the Combination was after Noodles is cuz he ratted out their booze shipment to the cops, and they lost all that liquor. That's how it is in the book, and I believe in the movie is the same way. I never had any reason to doubt that.

(It was not Max who sent the hit men after Noodles; Max had faked his death and fled. It is clear that he was in cahoots with the unions (as we see in 1968), but I do not think it is clear whether or not the Combination knows he is alive).

However, the Combination knows that Noodles ratted them out to the cops (as Max tells Noodles in 1968, "the cops were in on it too..."), and caused them to lose that entire booze shipment; that's why it sent hit men after Noodles

[dave jenkins]

I believe the reason the Combination was after Noodles is cuz he ratted out their booze shipment to the cops, and they lost all that liquor. That's how it is in the book, and I believe in the movie is the same way. I never had any reason to doubt that.

(It was not Max who sent the hit men after Noodles; Max had faked his death and fled. It is clear that he was in cahoots with the unions (as we see in 1968), but I do not think it is clear whether or not the Combination knows he is alive).

However, the Combination knows that Noodles ratted them out to the cops (as Max tells Noodles in 1968, "the cops were in on it too..."), and caused them to lose that entire booze shipment; that's why it sent hit men after Noodles

I think somebody in the Combination knows he's alive, somebody at the top, but there wouldn't be any reason for the foot soldiers to know about it. The whole point of Max faking his death is so that he can start life over as a politician and so work his way into power as the Combination's man. That means everyone who knew who he really was had to die or be silenced some other way--Deborah, for example, was "bought off" (after a fashion). Max didn't need to send men after Noodles, that was a detail he could leave to Frankie or whoever. However, once Noodles escaped to Buffalo, the Combination probably decided (rightly) he was going to lay low and not be a threat to them so they left him alone.  (The other reason the members of the Max-Noodles gang had to die was for organizational consolidation--once Max had delivered the union to the Combination, the Max-Noodles gang was simply a redundant--and costly--layer of management).