I bet they were like
Because it was clear as day that it would happen.
This is pretty much it, he was a clearly fundamentally flawed character that clearly couldn't run the business, and he ended up being the exact opposite of what Michael eventually became later on in the film.
It's predictable that he would die, but how is it predictable that he would die
right then and there? How would the original audience have any clue that the hit men would know exactly when and where he would show up, if we just saw him spontaneously jump into a car in anger? (Unless they were already spoiled by reading the novel?) There's not much on screen that would tip viewers off that it would happen BEFORE he got to his sister's.
This thread actually inspired to rewatch the whole movie between yesterday and today for the first time in decades. The scene is still shocking, even though its the specific scene I was looking for.
It's kind of an overly complicated setup for a murder, actually. Relying on a character not "in" on the murder to call the victim at that exact moment, and for him to drive that exact route, and for no other car to be in between his car and the hitman's car at the toll booth.
Brando at the funeral home was an incredible piece of acting, you felt Vito’s pain looking at his first born lying on a cold slab.
face
