Keep Your Friends Close, but Your 50th Anniversary Cinematic Specials Closer
The Godfather Part II
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire, and Lee Strasberg
Premiered December 12, 1974
- 1975 Academy Awards for Best Picture; Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert De Niro); Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola); Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material (Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo); Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Dean Tavoularis, Angelo P. Graham, George R. Nelson); Best Music, Original Dramatic Score (Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola)
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Al Pacino); Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Michael V. Gazzo; Lee Strasberg); Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Talia Shire); Best Costume Design (Theadora Van Runkle)
Wiki said:
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. It is both a sequel and a prequel to the 1972 film The Godfather, presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the new Don of the Corleone family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life; the other covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City.
Recap time!
Part II is a pretty impressive piece of cinema. I've read that there have been various attempts over the years on TV and home video to restructure the complete Godfather saga chronologically, but it really doesn't seem necessary. This film stands very well on its own while being deeply connected with the original.
Wiki said:
In 1901, nine-year-old Vito Andolini [Oreste Baldini] emigrates from Corleone, Sicily in the Kingdom of Italy to New York City after mafia chieftain Don Ciccio [Giuseppe Sillato] kills his family. An immigration officer registers him as Vito Corleone.
After Vito's older brother, Paolo, is killed near his father's funeral procession while seeking revenge, Vito's mother (Maria Carta) goes to the don to plead for him to spare Vito. When Ciccio refuses on the basis that the boy will grow to seek revenge, she holds a knife to his throat to give Vito a chance to escape, and is shot before the boy's eyes. A local farming family helps to smuggle Vito out of Corleone--assuming they weren't already his family, I expect that Vito would've eventually repaid that debt. The immigrants who arrive by ship at Ellis Island with Vito gaze in awe at the Statue of Liberty.
In 1958, Don Michael Corleone has several meetings at his Lake Tahoe compound during the First Communion of his son Anthony [James Gounaris].
Anthony Vito Corleone, named after his great-grandfather, Antonio Andolini, and grandfather.
Johnny Ola [Dominic Chianese], representing Jewish Mob boss Hyman Roth, promises support in taking over a casino. Corleone capo Frank Pentangeli [Michael V. Gazzo] asks for help defending Bronx territory from Roth affiliates, the Rosato brothers. Michael refuses, frustrating Pentangeli.
Pentangeli is said to have taken over the family's New York holdings from recently deceased Peter Clemenza, a prominent character from the first film. In actuality, Pentangeli was originally written to be Clemenza, but they couldn't come to terms with Richard Castellano to reprise the role. With this in mind, there's some intended resonance in Pentangeli's storyline not only with the previous film, but with the young Vito storyline, in which Bruno Kirby (billed as B. Kirby Jr.) plays young Clemenza.
Connie Corleone (Shire), who's established to have been running around with guys instead of taking care of her children, comes to the party to announce her marriage to Merle Johnson (Troy Donahue). Michael doesn't approve of this, wanting his sister to come back into the family fold. We also meet Fredo's (Cazale) wife, Deanna (highly esteemed former
Trek guest Marianna Hill), who's portrayed to be something of a scene-making floozy whom Fredo can't control. And we learn that Michael's wife, Kay (Keaton) is pregnant, and dissatisfied with how it's been seven years since Michael told her that the family business would be completely legit in five.
Senator Pat Geary [G. D. Spradlin] demands a bribe to secure the casino license and insults Michael's Italian heritage.
My Offer Is Nothing
That night Michael narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. Suspecting a traitor in the family, he leaves consigliere Tom Hagen [Duvall] in charge and goes into hiding.
Somebody opens fire on his and Kay's bedroom window, the drapes having been left open by an unknown party. The gunmen are found dead on the premises, and Michael suspects an inside man is responsible. Michael doesn't so much go into hiding as he proceeds to travel for intended business with Roth.
By 1917 Vito is married in Little Italy and has an infant son, Sonny. Black Hand extortionist Don Fanucci [Gaston Moschin] preys on the neighborhood, costing Vito his grocery store job. He begins stealing for a living with his neighbor Peter Clemenza.
De Niro earns his Oscar here, very convincingly following in Brando's footsteps. (As for Pacino, he lost out to Art Carney for
Harry and Tonto.) Alas, the only scenes of young Vito's storyline available via Fandango or the Paramount account are both of murders. The young version of Vito's wife, Carmela, is played by Francesca de Sapio. When Vito and his best friend, Genco Abbandando (Frank Sivero), have a run-in with Fanucci, Vito questions why the don preys on other Italians. The grocery store owner, Genco's father (Peter LaCorte), is said to have taken Vito in when he was a boy and regrets being forced to let him go. Vito meets Clemenza as an across-the-alley neighbor who needs him to hide a stash of guns on a moment's notice. There's an amusing sequence in which Clemenza offers to return the favor by giving Vito's wife a fancy rug, which he then enlists Vito to help him steal from a nice apartment.
In 1958, Michael proceeds to Miami, accompanied by his imposing bodyguard, Bussetta (Amerigo Tot), for a meeting with Roth (Strasberg, whose Oscar nod, while in competition with De Niro's, is also well earned); and then to snowy Christmastime New York to fill in Pentangeli on what he's up to.
Michael separately tells Pentangeli and Roth that he suspects the other of planning the hit, and arranges a peace meeting between Pentangeli and the Rosatos [Carmine Caridi and Danny Aiello]. At the meeting the brothers attempt to strangle Pentangeli. A police officer [Carmine Foresta] drops in, forcing the brothers to flee.
The brother with the garotte tells Pentangeli that it's a hello from Michael, though the purpose of this is unclear if the Rosatos actually intended to kill Pentangeli. Nevertheless, one can't blame Frank for having fallen for it, as Michael repeatedly exhibits a habit of engaging in bald-faced lies to tell people what they want to hear. I wasn't clear on first viewing who he was being straight with, if anybody. We also learn that the inside man is Fredo, who's been getting calls from Ola for inside intel on Michael.
Hagen blackmails Geary into cooperating with the Corleones by having him framed for the death of a prostitute.
That'll teach the senator to use a bordello run by Fredo! Meanwhile, Kay finds that she's effectively being held prisoner by Hagen on the Tahoe estate for her own protection.
Roth invites Michael to Havana to invest in his activities under the Batista government.
There's a nice bit of business where Roth is giving a presentation about how he plans to divide up his properties among those present, while having them served pieces of cake that has a frosting Cuba on it.
Michael expresses reservations about the government's response to the Cuban Revolution.
This includes holding back $2 million that Roth was expecting, which Fredo personally delivers to Michael. Roth talks of having a U.S. president installed who'll be in their operation's pocket. Michael confides in Fredo that Roth plans to have Michael assassinated after a New Year's party to cut him out of his business, and shares a plan to have Roth killed first.
Later Roth becomes angry when Michael asks who ordered the Rosatos to kill Pentangeli.
We learn in this scene that Roth was close with Vegas kingpin Moe Greene, whom Michael had killed in the climax of the previous film, which gives Roth a motivation for double-crossing Michael.
Michael and Ola attend a New Year's Eve party where Fredo pretends not to know Ola but later slips.
By this point, Senator Geary has also come to Havana as part of the business dealings.
Michael realizes that Fredo is a traitor and orders both Roth and Ola killed.
Bussetta garottes Ola, but finds that Roth, who plays up having a long-term heart condition, is being taken to the hospital for a stroke. (In a later scene in one of the linked clips below, Michael says that Roth has been "dying of the same heart attack for twenty years.")
I'm guessing that the soldiers were on to Bussetta because Ola was found, though President Batista (Tito Alba) had bigger things to concern himself with at this point. Checking my history, the coup did indeed happen on New Year's Eve, 1958.
Batista resigns and flees amid rebel advances, and Michael, Fredo and Roth separately escape Cuba.
Fredo runs from an opportunity to leave with Michael.
Back home, Hagen tells Michael that his wife Kay miscarried.
Michael is specifically concerned with whether the baby was a boy. This is just a little ways past the halfway point of the film, and would have been a good place to put the intermission. Instead, we transition to infant Fredo being nursed via old wives' methods through a case of pneumonia.
Vito, Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio [John Aprea as the young version of Abe Vigoda's character from the first film] sell stolen dresses door-to-door. Fanucci demands payoffs of $200 from Vito and his partners. Vito doubts Fanucci's muscle and decides to offer less.
In assuring Clemenza of his carefully calculated plan, Vito originates his famous line in imperfect English (the Little Italy scenes being largely in Italian with subtitles): "I'll make an offer he don't refuse."
He meets Fanucci and offers $100, which Fanucci grudgingly accepts. Emboldened, Vito tracks Fanucci back to his apartment and kills him.
Vito retrieves a gun that he had planted on the roof, so killing Fanucci was always part of his plan.
The Murder of Don Fanucci
Afterward, Vito breaks apart his gun on the roof and disposes of the pieces in various chimneys and pipes. He returns to his family, which now includes newborn Michael.
A Senate committee on organized crime investigates the Corleone family.
Pentangeli's henchman Willi Cicci (Joe Spinell) testifies to being a "button man" (enforcer) for the family, but is unable to implicate Michael because he never received direct orders from the don. At this point, Senator Geary is helping to cover for the Corleones as their inside man. At Tahoe, there's a touching scene in which Michael asks his mother (Morgana King) if Vito ever risked losing his family while being strong for them. Transition back to...
Vito's reputation spreads, and neighbors ask him to defend them from other predatory figures.
Vito, now sporting a suit and 'stache, is persuaded to help Signora Colombo (Saveria Mazzola), a neighbor Carmela brings to see him who's being evicted by her landlord after neighbors complained about her dog. When Vito goes to the landlord, Signor Roberto (Leopoldo Trieste) explains that he's secured new tenants who'll pay him more rent. Vito offers to pay the difference, but is refused when Vito asserts that the signora will be allowed to keep her dog. Vito encourages Roberto to ask around about him, following which the signor visits Vito's import company office and falls all over himself to accommodate the don, ultimately haggling himself down to reducing Colombo's rent to get a favorable reaction from Vito.
Just as, years later, Geary sucks up as Michael testifies before the committee, the senator publicly extolling the virtues of Italian Americans. Michael denies all of the murders he committed or ordered in the first film, and reads a statement that emphasizes his service to his country in WWII and his lack of a criminal record. The committee chairman (William Bowers) warns Michael that he may face perjury charges after the testimony of a witness that the committee plans to bring forth the following week.
Pentangeli agrees to testify against Michael and is placed under witness protection.
Frank, believing Michael set him up because of Roth's machinations, has offered to testify to save himself from criminal charges and is living in relatively cushy digs at an Army base with a couple of FBI minders (Harry Dean Stanton and David Baker).
On returning to Nevada, Fredo tells Michael that he did not realize that Roth was planning an assassination. Michael disowns Fredo but orders that he should not be harmed while their mother is alive.
You're Nothing to Me Now
Michael attends the committee hearing with Hagen and Pentangeli's brother from Sicily [Salvatore Po]. Pentangeli, after seeing them, retracts his statement implicating Michael in organized crime, and the hearing dissolves in an uproar.
The scared look on brother Vincenzo's face makes clear that Michael is using Frank's family back in Sicily as leverage, so Pentangeli does a 180 and perjures himself.
Informed by what she witnessed at the hearing, Kay tells Michael that she's leaving him and taking the children, which Michael refuses to allow.
Kay tells Michael that she had an abortion and intends to leave him and take their children. Michael strikes her in rage and banishes her alone.
The look on Pacino's face as Michael's anger intensifies following the revelation (1:50) is perhaps the best moment in the film.
In 1922, Vito and his family travel to Sicily to start an olive oil importing business.
By this point, Michael is a toddler being carried around by his father, and infant Connie is in the picture.
He and business partner Don Tommasino [Mario Cotone] visit an elderly Don Ciccio. He obtains Ciccio's blessing for their business, then reveals his identity and slices Ciccio's stomach, avenging the Andolinis.
A bit of poignancy here is that it's not even clear if Ciccio recognizes the name before he's gutted.
Michael's mother dies, and he hurries to wrap up loose ends.
At this point, adult Connie, having disappeared from the film since Act I where I last mentioned her, has fallen into line, taking care of Michael's kids while Kay is kept away. In what was clearly engineered to be Shire's Oscar nod scene, Connie admits to having acted out before as a means of hurting Michael, and pleads with him to forgive Fredo, whom Michael won't even attend the funeral at the same time as. Michael goes out and wordlessly embraces Fredo, while sharing a glance of contradictory intent with his chief henchman, Al Neri (Richard Bright).
Honestly, Shire feels shoehorned in at this point. Her role could have been cut from the film while losing very little. (Connie does serve thematically as a contrasting example of what Michael expects of his family members if they don't want to end up like Kay or Fredo.) Keaton does more to hold up the story.
Roth returns to the United States after being refused entry to Israel.
If History Has Taught Us Anything
(Fandango definitely could've sacrificed this clip for one of the more lighthearted Vito scenes.)
It has to be intentional irony that a character in 1960 uses the president as his go-to example of an unhittable target. Hagen argues that Michael has won and can afford to show mercy to Roth and the Rosatos rather than wipe them out...giving us one of the sequel's more quotable lines...
Michael: I don't feel that I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies, that's all.
Meanwhile, Fredo is teaching Anthony how to fish, sharing his secret of catching them by saying Hail Marys. After Kay is allowed a visit with the children under Connie's supervision, Michael enters as she's leaving and silently closes the door in her face (echoing the final scene of the previous film, where, after Michael has just lied to her about the hits he had committed in the climax, a henchman closes the door on her as a meeting commences).
Hagen visits Pentangeli at the army barracks where he is held and they discuss how failed conspirators against a Roman emperor could commit suicide to save their families.
Gazzo's Oscar nod scene. Frank volunteers this solution while discussing the topic very matter-of-factly.
Corleone capo Rocco Lampone [Tom Rosqui] assassinates [Roth] at the airport and is shot dead trying to escape....Pentangeli is...found dead in his bathtub, having slit his wrists. Enforcer Al Neri takes Fredo fishing and shoots him as Michael watches from the compound.
In that moment, Michael resolves to turn himself around and serve his country again by forming the IMF.
Seriously, though, this sequence echoes the series of simultaneous killings in the climax of the first film. Given that Pentangeli was meant to be Clemenza, his fate resonates powerfully with how it was Clemenza who coached Michael on his first murder, which I was reminded of while rewatching the first film between viewings of this one.
Michael recalls Vito's 50th birthday party on December 7, 1941. While the family waits for Vito, Michael announces that he has dropped out of college and joined the Marines, angering Sonny and surprising Hagen. Only Fredo supports his decision. When Vito arrives, Michael sits alone at the table while the others welcome him in surprise. The film concludes with Michael sitting pensively, alone, by the lake.
This scene features James Caan, Abe Vigoda, and Gianni Russo all reprising their now-deceased roles from the first film. Caan got a special "thank you" billing ahead of the list of featured players, where the other two appear; and reportedly was given the same amount that he'd been paid for his much larger role in the first film. Brando is said to have initially agreed to appear in the scene, but didn't show, forcing a hasty rewrite.
Ironically, Sonny is introducing Connie to her future husband, who'll beat his wife, be complicit in Sonny's assassination, and is ultimately rubbed off by Michael. All four of the deceased characters in the scene (including Fredo) owe their deaths to someone else in the room...three of them to Michael.
The clip above cuts short the playing out of Michael finding himself sitting alone at the table, a foreshadowing of where his future self is by the end of the film. I've read that this is widely considered to be the best-ever closing scene of a film.
Wiki said:
[The film] grossed $48 million in the United States and Canada and up to $93 million worldwide on a $13 million budget. [It] was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and became the first sequel to win Best Picture....Like its predecessor, Part II remains a highly influential film, especially in the gangster genre. It is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, as well as a rare example of a sequel that rivals its predecessor. In 1997, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history and it retained this position 10 years later. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Pauline Kael wrote: "The Godfather was the greatest gangster picture ever made, and had metaphorical overtones that took it far beyond the gangster genre. In Part II, the wider themes are no longer merely implied. The second film shows the consequences of the actions in the first; it’s all one movie, in two great big pieces, and it comes together in your head while you watch."
And exactly ten years later, I rode on it.
I had a traumatic experience on it when it was new, though I would have thought it was a bit later. The family used to visit Florida and go to Disney as an annual routine, and was ignorant that it was a full-on roller coaster, which I wouldn't have gone on at that age.
I was going to say it's too bad they didn't go one more episode, but if they didn't air three, that means they actually made it to 202.
Actually, it looks like it's 199 including the unaired trio, but not the pilot movie. Also, that total is based on episode numbering that counts two-hour installments as two episodes.
I'm not sure if I remember this or not. It's okay. Zero nostalgic value.
Completely new to me and does nothing for me. It's worth mentioning here that Martino played Not Frank in
The Godfather.
I definitely don't remember this. Kind of tedious.
It's not bad, keeping in mind that it's a two-parter. It's notable that Jermaine sings lead on the first part.
Good one. Moderate nostalgic value.
It's familiar, but I keep expecting it to be "Rockin' Down the Highway" by the Doobies.
Amazing. Strong nostalgic value.
A very distinctive classic of the era.
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