Brilliant Hyman Roth speech

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2005)

Having seen this movie, oh, 100 or so times, and having frequented many of the associated worship sites, I am always amazed that fans make such little mention of that incomparable Hyman Roth soliloquy about Moe Green, after Roth confronts Michael on the issue of the missing money. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, it brings tears to my eyes every time I see it...that's how beautifully it is structured, set, and rendered (right down to that little emphysemic tic or "cardiac cough" that Strassberg, playing Roth, elected to use in his delivery). For my money, it encapsulates the entire film--indeed, the entire trilogy and its complex themes--with its electric juxtaposition of nostalgia and regret, glibness and guilt, pathos and pragmatism--"business and personal." For my money, I doubt that in all of film history, a more powerful minute-or-so has ever been shot.