The Godfather Part II

“I don’t feel I have to wipe everyone out, Tom.  Just my enemies”  Micheal Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather Part II

As always, there are major spoilers below.

Recently Fathom Events held a screening for The Godfather, Part II.  Due to a technical issue the film started with sound but no picture.  In the audience we heard the gunshot that murders of Vito Andolini’s brother during his father’s funeral but did not see it and I recall being more aware than ever of the power of that gunshot disrupting what was already a tragic event.  A community in Sicily is trying to survive but is kept ever oppressed by the local mafia family, headed by Don Cicio, who seems to do little but try to destroy any potential threat to his power. 

Eventually the picture was restored and restarted and I had the joy of seeing this magnificent film on the big screen for the first time.  For three hours and twenty minutes I was mesmerized.  Prior to this in discussions with other cinephiles I always rated the original Godfather as a superior film, due to its slightly tighter structure and the balance of Brando’s Vito Corleone and James Cann’s Sonny with Al Pacino’s Michael.  It is not until late in the film that we in the audience are even aware that Michael is the lead character.  However the experience of watching this film causes me to rethink that.  The Godfather Part II is both bigger in scale in that it tells two stories over a longer timeframe than the original and on a bigger stage.  We see Vito’s life in Little Italy as he gradually establishes himself.  Returning director Francis Ford Coppola (with co-writer Mario Puzo-author of the original novel) shows us an opera, The San Rocco Festival in Little Italy, as well as the immigrant experience at Ellis Island at the turn of the twentieth century.  Michael is in Cuba when Castro takes over on New Years’ 1959 and later we see him in a Senate sub-committee hearing.  Yet the story revolves primarily on Michael’s fall and Vito’s rise.  Any other characters who appear are tied to the fates of the two leads.  

This focus does lead to some unexplained plot points.  A few that I picked up are:

• 1    It is never explicitly stated what Michael, Hyman Roth and the other mafia heads are planning in Cuba but presumably it is to grow their casino business under the Batista government. 
• 2    Why does Hyman Roth try to assassinate Michael, especially at a time when he is growing a business with him? 
• 3    What is the dynamic that prevents Pentangeli’s from testifying against Michael when he sees his brother?  Is it shame or is there some threat implied?  If anyone has an answer to any of these questions I am happy to hear it.

Al Pacino does some of his most powerful work in this film.  For an actor who is now known for his loud voice and restless persona Michael is remarkably still and calculating.  Pacino manages to make Michael’s increasing coldness fascinating.  For example in the scene in which Michael tells Fredo that he wants Fredo out of his life, Michael’s cruel lines are more effective for the suppressed emotion in the delivery, as well as their effect on Fredo, who is so vulnerable.  On the rare occasion when Pacino uses his blasts it is unexpected and scarier because it is usually tied to something very personal (ie WHERE MY WIFE SLEEPS!).

The Irishman, a new Netflix film now that also features Pacino and DeNiro, and The Godfather Part II do similar things to each of their lead characters.  Both men respond with such severity to attacks on their family members that they lose the relationships with the very family members they were trying to protect.  Michael leaves his family after the early attempt on his life and not only fails to comfort them, but essentially leaves them as prisoners.  He focuses on revenge against Roth for trying to take something from him while trying to convince himself that it is for the protection of his family. 

A few weeks before watching this I visited the Lake Tahoe for the first time, in the late fall.  I was charmed by the serene breeziness.  The winter setting of Lake Tahoe here capture its charm but also its isolation particularly in the scenes when Kay is stopped by Hagen when trying to leave the compound as well as in the final sequence.

The Godfather Part II can be seen as a companion piece to the original film in which many of the scenes either reflect or comment on scenes in the original.

•  There is a big family party at the beginning during which the Don conducts business.  A wedding occurs in part I in which Vito grants every request and a communion occurs in Part II in which Michael coldly denies each request. 
•  An unsuccessful assassination attempt against a Corleone changes the family forever.
•  The climax has a series of slayings against the Corleone enemies.
•  A presumably peaceful trip to Sicily turns out to be just as violent as the action back home.
• Kay exits both films by having a door shut in her face.

Diane Keaton, who I usually think of as a more comedic actress, brings a weariness and anger to Kay.  Kay seems to regret her decision to marry Michael at the end of The Godfather as she realizes that she is in a life of crime that she wants no part of.  There is a small scene after which Michael comes back from Cuba and sees Kay sewing and does not know what to say to her as she has lost her baby.  So he takes what has now become the norm for him, and just does not engage her.  Is Kay supposed to be trying to put her life back together?  A scene in which Kay and Michael could have come to some understanding when she visits the children is ended abruptly when Michael closes the door on her.  Again Michael permits his anger to overcome any humanity that might have changed the course of his life.

Some people have criticized the dual structure but especially on this viewing I found it more intriguing and a relief.  As Michael’s story gets progressively darker every now and then we cut to the more sensible Vito which is a welcome change in tone.  Coppola starts this by showing how Vito arrives in America and starts to build his family.  Vito’s decision to enter a life of crime, even though he largely does it in an honorable way, gradually builds to the moment in the story when one of his two surviving sons kills the other. 

DeNiro’s interpretation of young Vito is unique while still feeling in step with Brando’s.  Although he does not look much like Brando he carries himself with pride, looks people in the eye, listens with empathy and speaks in a more muted version of Vito’s husky voice.  One of DeNiro’s best moments is when Vito looks at one of his sick children (I forget if the film says which one) and wordlessly shows how helpless he is. 

Vito and Michael are both cunning but Vito was able to not allow life’s difficulties to ruin his humanity and was able to see the bigger picture, even as a little boy.  In the first few minutes of the film Vito loses his entire family, is forced to flee to America and then quarantined with smallpox and his response to is to sing at the sight of the Statue of Liberty.  When he faces trials as a young man he does so with grace.  Michael allows the attack on his father and the murder of his wife in The Godfather to gradually blacken his heart.  The attack on Lake Tahoe and the discovery that his brother was involved lead him to push everyone he loves away further.  Michael could never have built the alliances that Vito has because he lacks Vito’s compassion even though he is capable of running the family afterwards.  The Corleone family as a business is as strong as it has ever been at the end of Part II, but the family Don Vito built has been largely destroyed. 

John Cazale’s Fredo, who was easy to overlook in the first film as his most memorable scenes center around about other characters (his failure to protect Vito during the hit or his defense of Moe Green), gets a meatier part here, as the film is constructed to lead to his murder.  The looks at Fredo’s marriage, his inadvertent involvement in the attempt on Michael’s life and the fallout from it as well as his scenes with Anthony near the end give Cazale a chance to show true pathos in Fredo’s tragedy.  Fredo, who does not have the savvy of his other family members, but despondently is aware of his lesser status, spent his life trying to fit in with his high profile family.  His chance for respect ultimately led to his demise.

The deaths of the brothers of both Vito and Michaels bookend the film and are revealed with the sound of a gunshot.  Michale has him killed out of a desire for revenge but his immediate reaction is to drop his head and recall his father’s probably 50^th birthday, right after the attack on Pearl Harbor, during “happier” times.   Much had been written over Marlon Brando’s absence from the scene and how he failed to show up for filming.  I think the film is better off for his absence as DeNiro’s Vito is just as compelling and if Brando had appeared too much of the focus would have been on him and not on Michael’s journey.  The unexpected appearance of the long deceased Sonny, introducing Carlo to Connie (setting the stage for a miserable marriage for his sister Connie and his own violent demise) is welcome.  There is a sense of family in that scene and the biggest impact of the scene is to see Michael before he lost his soul.  The film’s concluding shot of Michael alone in his compound with pain and no warmth in his eyes right afterwards punctuates the effect. 

Coppola is in full command of the material.  He was under a lot of pressure in The Godfather but here he had the full support of Paramount and was allowed to do what he wanted with the characters.  Coppola had big ideas and by giving the film a longer running time, was able to tell his parallel stories and show the effects of this life on the Corleone family. 

Gordon Willis, who was the cinematographer on the first film, returned here.  He used a lot of dark lighting in the interior scenes with Michael and lot of shadows.  During the Vito period scenes he seems to filter the natural light.  Coppola, Willis and Walter Murch put together a memorable assassination sequence reminiscent of the deaths of Sollozo and McClusky when Vito tracks and eventually murders Don Fanucci during the Feast of San Rocco in Little Italy.  Vito tracks the don across several rooftops, removes the lightbulb to both obscure himself and allow time to aim, and cold bloodedly shoots him in the chest and throat, while using a towel to muffle the noise.  In other films a sequence like this might be given a last minute obstacle such as someone else he would have to fight or a misfiring gun.  However, as in the killing in the earlier film, Coppola is interested in studying the process and the aftermath of such an attack.  Murch cuts to a shot from the fire in the festival right after showing Vito’s towel on fire.

Frankie Pentageli is an added character originally written as the memorable Clemenza from the first film.  When the actor, Richard Castellano, refused to return, the character was killed offscreen and replaced.  Michael V. Gazzo does not seem as dangerous and lacks the charisma of Clemenza.  His high voice is a little grating, but I think it is supposed to be since the character is supposed to be annoying.  The final scene in which Hagen subtly convinces Pentageli to commit suicide would probably work better if it had been Clemenza since I did not see much tragedy in Pentangeli’s death. 

In none of the films do we see the damage caused by the Corleone’s on society.  We do not see kids fighting drug problems after the family enters narcotics, nor the lives of the prostitutes being mistreated by pimps that would work for Corleones, nor of business owners not receiving good they have paid for but been stolen nor of people fighting gambling problems.  I do not think the films are better or worse for this but find it an interesting omission.  Coppola does not try to tip the scales in audience sympathies but simply shows us these characters going about their business and lets the audience determine their own feelings on it.

The inclusion of Senator Geary who starts off proudly standing up to Michael to then be manipulated into defending him is an effective touch and is an example of how the mob can control politicians.  G.D Spraulin gives Geary a hypocritical demeanor that is fun to watch in each of his speeches.

The music is again provided by Nino Rota, who composed the themes everyone hums from The Godfather, and Carmine Coppola, Francis’ father, who conducted the orchestra.  The Godfather Waltz is played a few times.  The Love theme only appears briefly as this film is not about people getting together.  Of the new themes my favorite was “The Immigrant”. 

In conclusion The Godfather Part II is a thought provoking masterpiece.  If you can give it the time, and have seen the first film, come check it out.  If you have already seen it, watch it again here as you will probably find something new to appreciate.  *****