The sequel! They’re adding to the “lore!” They’re expanding the Godfather extended universe! All you Godfather stans, I hope you’re ready for a wild ride!
Haha, lot to unpack there. First of all, the word “stan,” I only mention it to criticize it. I’ve never called myself a “stan” or ever even used that term before. BUT people do use it all the fuckin time, and a lot of the time they’re really proud of calling themselves a “stan” of some singer or actor or whatever. And it’s like, have you heard the actual song Stan? It doesn’t exactly go well for Stan.
Anyway, movie sequels are.. varied. Some are shit and some are good. This one is good, luckily.
Oh, one more thing I wanna say before I start talking about the actual movie. I own this on DVD, and it’s on two discs. That was kinda rare, I think, but it was fairly common with VHS tapes. Movies like Titanic or Braveheart would come in two tapes.
So, the movie. It’s kind of a double story, in a sense. There’s probably a better term for it, but the movie follows Vito Corleone from childhood to adulthood, and Michael Corleone in his continuing descent into evil. It starts off in Sicily, the old country. Vito Andolini lives in Corleone, get it? His father is killed by the Mafia, and his brother swears revenge. During their father’s funeral, Vito’s brother is also murdered. Vito’s mom tries to make peace, but the Mafia boss, Don Ciccio, won’t have any of it. Once diplomacy fails, she tries force, but is killed in the process, but it allows Vito to run away, and he eventually boards a ship bound to the United States.
And it’s the classic ship with a bunch of European immigrants in brown clothes and hats, looking hopefully at the Statue of Liberty. I’m sure people did look like that, but it’s kind of a romanticized concept. But it does provide for a good transition to Vito’s grandson, about the same age, growing up in lavish wealth.
In the wake of Michael’s brutal killing rampage, the Corleone family settled out west in a beautiful home in Nevada. Just like the first movie, there’s a big party [for Michael’s son’s first communion], which I like. I like that parallel, and I think it’s a good way to present what’s going on. What’s going on is that the party is a charade for Michael to meet with the Senator and do shady shit. The Senator is just racist against Italians which is interesting because it’s like, whiteness as a concept is a strange thing. White Americans were very racist against Irish and Italians, but, you know, I’d say they’re white.
Anyway, the Senator’s trying to “squeeze” Michael and make money off his business, and Michael tells him to fuck off. I actually love that line “My offer is this: nothing,” one of my favorite lines in the two movies. It’s delivered so perfectly, and Al Pacino’s performance is just so good. Cold and calculating when he needs to be, restrained anger when he needs to be, and unleashed anger when he needs to be. Amazing.
After the party, Michael’s and Kay’s room gets shot up, but they’re fine. So, you know, they’re trying to figure out who was behind that. And then we get another great transition with Michael talking to his son in bed, then Vito looking at his son Santino in his crib.
And, you know, Robert De Niro is my favorite actor of all time, so I obviously like his performance as well. Some of these street scenes are really well done, with people selling fruit and horse-drawn carriages [you’re telling me a horse drew this carriage??] going by. A well-made film just like the first. Vito’s neighbor Clemenza gives him his first taste in crime, as they steal a rug, which really tied the room together. Vito gets fired because of a Mafia boss guy, Don Fanucci.
I won’t go through the entire plot of the movie, point by point. There’s a lot. It’s a twisting, turning, complicated movie. But I will talk about some big scenes. First, Cuba. So Michael goes to Cuba to meet with Hyman Roth and other businessmen. And one of the men says that it [the late 1950s] was a period of the greatest prosperity for Cuba. Prosperity for whom? I know it’s a gangster movie, but it’s always funny how rich people describe prosperity as them being rich. It doesn’t matter if everyone else is fucked. It was prosperous in Cuba for rich Americans like Michael and Roth. Kennedy said it was the worst country on Earth for “economic colonization, humiliation, and exploitation” under Batista. http://www.granma.cu/idiomas/ingles/international-i/30may-Kennedy.html
That’s what happened.
While they’re driving around, Michael sees a revolutionary kill a military officer and himself. Michael then thinks, “Hey, these communists sure are dedicated to their cause. They might win, and then I won’t be able to exploit this country any more.” And he’s right. On New Year’s Day, Batista resigns and that’s also the day that Michael tells Fredo that he knows that Fredo was the one who gave away his location to Roth, who tried to kill him. Emotional scene.
I will say that after the New Year’s scene, and the revelation that Kay had a miscarriage [so we think at the time], Michael’s story becomes a bit less interesting for a bit. It’s not terrible, but it was very interesting in the first half, then slows down a bit. The congressional hearing, the Frank Pentangeli stuff, it’s not as good as the first half. It’s better when Michael is dealing with Hyman Roth and trying to figure out who betrayed him. I find the Vito storyline to be more compelling. I also just think Vito’s a better character, but his descent into committing murder is uhhhhh… very.. gripping. I don’t know adjectives right now. Movie is good. I like movie. Movie good.
Anyway, the scene where Vito kills Don Fanucci is the best scene in the movie. That’s because it is the genesis of everything, it’s the start of the whole Corleone family. A poor immigrant taking on the powerful, violent, oppressive Mafia boss. The poor immigrant risking his own life to take that of his villain. This, and Vito’s later murder of Don Ciccio, are the only murders in these two movies that I’d categorize as “punching up,” so to speak. The latter is retributive, revenge for Ciccio killing his father, brother, and mother. The former is the most “punching up” of all the murders. Fanucci was impeding on Vito’s ability to make a living, under threat of violence. Killing one man, however justified, makes him more likely to kill the next one, maybe justified as well, but he keeps going. And you know, power corrupts and all that. Who said that anyway? I just looked it up. His name is John Dalberg-Alton. He’s a guy from the 19th century with a big beard. Classic.
One scene with Michael that I really like is him talking to his mom. He asks her about Vito, if he cared deeply about his family. She says yes. He asks, if he was to be strong for his family, could he, in the process, lose his family? She thinks he’s talking about his wife’s “miscarriage,” when in actuality he’s talking about his brother Fredo. She says you can’t lose your family, and Michael says times are changing. He’s kind of predicting his own end of his descent, killing his own brother.
Diane Keaton also gives an incredibly emotional performance, especially in the scene in which she tells Michael that she had an abortion instead of a miscarriage. Powerful performance, her desire to end this whole thing, her choice to not take another one of Michael’s sons into the world.
One last scene I’ll talk about. Michael is still planning to kill Hyman Roth and they’re like, “That’s impossible, man!” And Tom is like “it’d be like trying to kill the President, it’s impossible!” Little did Tom know about a Mr. Lee Harvey Oswald. Anyway Michael says, “If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone.” …except Fidel Castro, right? Haha. He literally could not be murdered.
Anyway, The Godfather II is a near-perfect follow-up to the perfect first film. I enjoy the historical fiction aspect of the film, especially the scenes in Cuba. And Fredo’s character takes a much bigger part, and I like that. John Cazale gives a deep performance. It’s a well-made film in every way, one of the greatest in American history and just film history in general. Oh, and I also like the parallel at the end of Fredo getting killed while reciting religious prayer, and the murders in the first ending while Michael is at a religious ceremony. Nice touch there, Mr. Coppola. Oh and Mario Puzo as well. It’s a-me, Mario Puzo!!
Lefty Forrester 