Please explain...


In the film's beginning a funeral is being held for Ciaran Hind's brother, a funeral paid for by Mr. Rooney (Paul Newman) the bootlegging boss. But wasn't Mr. Rooney also responsible for the death of Hind's brother? And if it was murder, Ciaran Hinds might have accepted its necessity, but would he (and all those mourners) have attended a traditional, back-slapping, pint-pouring Irish wake? Does any of this make sense, or am I missing something?

reply

Thats how it happens in the mafia. They kill their own, then the killer throws a big wake. And usually, the wife/kids of the deceased are taken care of, for awhile anyway, to smooth things over.

reply

I don't remember it being explicitly said that Finn McGovern's brother was murdered by the mob or anybody else, all I know was that we saw the Sullivan family and others at the brother's wake. Then Finn shot his mouth off in front of everybody, got hustled out, then Conner and Michael Sullivan Sr. were sent to straighten him out, things went wrong and Finn got shot by Conner.

reply

None of the civilians knew it was murder. It looked for a moment like the brother was going to tell everyone but they whisked him away before he could. The only ones who knew were the few gangsters and the only one who was upset was the brother who knew that it was actually Connor who had been stealing from his father.

reply

well if he was shot, I figure everyone there would have known it was murder, they just didn't know by whom

reply

Yes I suppose that's true, they must just not have known that it was Rooney who ordered it.

reply

Here is how I understood it:

Rooney thought Finn's brother was robbing him (it was Connor skimming) and had Finn's brother killed for it.

Some of the insiders might have known what really happened, but most people at the wake did not know the details. Finn suspected/knew what happened, and begins to talk about it at the wake and is hustled out.

Rooney tells Mike and Connor to go talk to Finn, to explain to him that business is business, and it is time to move on. Finn makes the mistake of letting Connor know that he (Finn) knew it was really Connor stealing.

______________________
Noah's Ark is a problem.

reply