Fat Moe

[wiseguy]

I wonder what you guy's feelings are about when Noodles says to Moe "I bought back the key to your clock".
Why would or did he take the key anyway, and why keep it for all those years?

Since,I am a newcomer, i haven't read all the topics thoroughly yet, and do not know whether my comment has already been written by someone else.

I think, SL (Sergio Leone) want to draw our attention to the clock key at the beginning of the scene by the quote " I bought back the key to your clock ". So I have followed what Fat Moe did with the key. He immediately opened the clock, inserted the key and then turned to Noodles and asked a question. I noticed that while Noodles answering the question, Fat Moe stands still and does nothing.After the question answered by Noodles, a close-up scene of Fat Moe followed.  On this scene, all you may see that the key was not there. How could it be possible that it disappeared while Fat Moe was doing nothing ?. My comment is that SL want us to think that all these scenes are a dream of Noodles. If there are other comments or questions, I would appreciate to read or answer  them.

Wise

[cigar joe]

Now I'm going to have to watch this again. For some reason I always though the key was for the locker at the station and they (the Gang) kept it in the clock, but the clock must also have a key to wind the spring. Doesn't Fat Moe wind the clock at some point?

[Walter]

At the start of the film when Noodles gets the key, Moe notes that "it is all yours now."

What is the enterpretation of that?  Moe found out?  Someone told him?  The group told him?  Noodles forgot that detail in his dream state ( )?  Sloppy editing?

They could have let Moe in on the secret, but that is not likely, in my opinion. The film - and the gang - are to ritualistic for that.

I prefer to think that Moe understood that the key was the key to the common funds, from the start. But he didn't know where it was, or what the key could unlock.


And no, I  don't think Moe wound the clock while the key was gone. Several possible interpretations: He doesn't care, his friends are gone and he just couldn't care less.

The stopped clock reminds him, and connects him, to the past. When he was somebody, an official associate of the hippest hoodlums in town, and not someone some two-bit punks could mess around with by closing time.  

[Drizzt]

Maybe Moe kept the key to the locker and the key to his clock on the same key-ring, so when Noodles takes the keys, the clock stays unwound for 35 years, which is also cool imagery for time standing still for Noodles.

[JFM]

On this scene, all you may see that the key was not there. How could it be possible that it disappeared while Fat Moe was doing nothing ?.

Continuity error. It's supposed to be there, but the entire scene, various angles, were shot at different times.

We may credit SL with lots of genius, but we musn't think that every single detail was carefully thought out with a message/meaning.

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jfm

[conradv]

So is there some signifigance to the clock ,other than "time stopping for 35 years" and where the locker key was hidden?

Seems that was an important scene when the clock was rewound.  I don't remember the clock playing that big of a part in the 30's.

[conradv]

I have a question - did Moe know about Deborah's son?  If so, why didn't he tell Noodles?

Moe said that he hadn't seen Deborah in 3 years (I think), so he should have known about the son.

[Groggy]

Well, Larry Rapp was in a couple of other movies.  According to the IMDB (and take it for what it's worth) he was buddies with Joe Pesci and worked with him on a movie before OUATIA, and Pesci suggested Rapp for Fat Moe.

[Juan Miranda]

I have a question - did Moe know about Deborah's son?  If so, why didn't he tell Noodles?

Moe said that he hadn't seen Deborah in 3 years (I think), so he should have known about the son.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

David is not Deborah's son (he calls her "Deborah" and not "mom"). This is a common error.

He looks like Max because he is Max's son.

Deborah tells Noodles that Max/Secretary Baily had married a wealthy woman and had a son. She died at his birth. This never named wealthy woman is David's mother, not Deborah.

[conradv]

Ah.  I thought he just called her Deborah instead of Mom bacause they were at her "work".

[mikimouse]

Of course Fat Moe would have had an idea as to what the key is for. Whatever the key was for, whatever it was, was now David's. Simple.

[Paco Belmondo]

Moe must have known by the way he asks "Who took it?" after Noodles tells Moe he thought that he might have taken it.  The way he says it makes it sound like he knew exactly what Noodles was talking about.

[cigar joe]

I always thought he knows too, after all it was his speakeasy and it seems as if he was accepted into the group in the 20's.