The Godfather Part IIEach generation is a link in the chain of history, reaching across time and the world, defining a family. But there's a saying about a chain being only as strong as its weakest link as well. The Godfather Part II is the direct sequel to The Godfather, and concerns the parallel plots of the ascendant "Don" of the Corleone mafia family, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), as well as the story of his father, Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro), and the advent of this crime syndicate, which began over half of a century earlier. While Vito's story sets the foundation for a legacy paradoxically built upon the pillars of illicit activity and community, Michael's tale marks the transition into a new era, one where the bonds of family represent just another complication for the Corleone empire.
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The Godfather Part II is an ambitious follow up to one of cinema's most acclaimed and recognizable films, and is itself a marvelous companion, exploring the deeper world of the Corleone family. Even more than its predecessor, The Godfather Part II is concerned with what family and community really means to its members, and how one's actions ripple outward and affect those closely bound to others within that group. The story of Vito Corleone coming to America from humble (yet violent) origins is more than just backstory--it is an integral understanding of how Michael is alike and different from his father, how their legacies mark them on an individual level and sets the tenor for the next sequence in their lineage. Vito's father and brother (and subsequently, his mother) are killed by the malicious Don Francesco Ciccio (Giuseppe Sillato), forcing the boy born "Vito Andolini" to flee to the United States, where a clerical error endows him with the new last name of his home town, Corleone. Vito lives an honest--if poor--life in New York City as a grocer, but loses his job when the local mafia head and member of "The Black Hand", Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin), makes his employer take his nephew on in his stead. Vito falls in with a neighbor gangster, a young Peter Clemenza (Bruno Kirby), who introduces him to a way to make money and get a little richer through illicit activities. Vito appears largely indifferent to the moral implications of his new occupation, but is very keen and observant, and realizes that eventually Don Fanucci will come to take his cut. Inevitably, Vito's ultimate encounter with Fanucci defines his approach to his newfound calling. Fanucci is a vicious, rotten leech, who Vito comments is so low, that he's willing to put the shakedown on poor Italians like him simply because they are without recourse. In essence, Vito adopts the role of a community crusader, a sentiment felt in the preceding film with his ironically benevolent attitude toward those under his protection, and his swiftness to execute decisive vengeance against those who would ruin the meek and helpless, as Ciccio did with his family. The message The Godfather Part II delivers with respect to Vito is that his enterprise prospers because of a genuine devotion and love in his heart more than his mere cunning.
The counterpoint to Vito's rise to power is felt in his youngest son, Michael, and how his grip on family begins to implode throughout the film. In the preceding film, Michael promised his wife, Kay Adams-Corleone (Diane Keaton) that his business would be "legitimate" within five years...seven years ago. Michael still finds himself pursuing the rapid expansion and welfare of his business with ruthless efficiency, a tactic which ends up distancing himself from his surviving siblings--Connie (Talia Shire) and Fredo (John Cazale)--who must beg an audience with him or are little more than subordinates in his world. Even an old world caporegime named Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), who occupies Michael's former home in New York City, feels betrayed at Michael's refusal to allow him to seek retribution at the disrespect given to him and his family by rivals, because they happen to be business partners of a wealthy sponsor of Michael named Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg). The appearance that Michael is solely motivated in becoming wealthy on the backs of men like Pentangeli makes the attempted assassination of him in his home in Tahoe the trigger which provokes an increase in paranoia and high-risk deceptions to root out the traitor in his collective. Michael's deep-seated distrust for those around him is evident from a conversation he has with a corrupt Nevada senator, Pat Geary (G. D. Spradlin), who Michael instructs he keeps his inner circle present during their negotiations because to ask them to leave would be "an insult". What is then ironic is that for virtually all of the subsequent backroom, private conversations to follow, Michael asks someone to leave the room, because in truth, he trusts few to none of them, obsessed with compartmentalizing information in order to assure he cannot be betrayed. Michael's paranoia is stoked so mightily that he turns to his honorary brother and family consigliere, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), claiming he is the only person he can trust--not his family, not even his wife, who might have been killed in the attack herself. But ultimately, this strategy backfires, since it is a traitor from within who tries to have him killed, and it becomes clear that it is because Michael has hoarded his trust like a miser that the true culprit is invisible to him. On the other hand, there is a sense that in the heart of darkness is where Michael Corleone belongs. His dealings with Hyman Roth--amiable as the old man may be--are dangerous, as Michael knows that Roth will try to kill him given the chance. Their celebration of their planting of criminal roots in Cuba is marked with a birthday celebration by Roth, who divides up literal and metaphorical pieces of his tribute with his fellow crooks. Michael revels in the deception, and is wound like a spring waiting to dethrone his would-be destroyer through a display of his own cunning, matching wits with the most powerful players in the underworld.
Unsurprisingly, The Godfather Part II shares moments which recall its predecesor directly. Vito's confrontation with Fanucci recalls Michael's encounter with similarly corrupt pillars of the community in the restaurant in The Godfather, including how Vito masks the sound of his gunfire to avoid drawing attention. The first communion of Michael and Kay's son, Anthony, is structurally similar to Connie's wedding from the first film, in that Michael--now firmly rooted as the "Godfather" of the Corleone family--spends most of it in his office, dealing with "the business". Vito's return to Sicily--ostensibly to secure resources for his legitimate business front selling olive oil--is to settle his earliest vendetta against Ciccio; when the younger Michael flees to Sicily in The Godfather, he asks where all the men went, to which he is told they have all died due to vendettas. Even the bloody retaliation against Senator Geary for refusing to offer a business license to Michael is with a grisly scene recalling the unfortunate end of the prize stallion of the movie producer in the preceding film. The Godfather Part II jumps back and forth between these two timelines, with the intent to make it evident how both men handle similar moments and how it underscores their individual perceptions of family. One telling scene involves Vito helplessly looking on and worrying about the health of the infant Fredo, stricken with pneumonia. Compare this with the shocking revelation Kay gives to Michael about the loss of their expected child following the attack on the villa in Tahoe. Although Connie and Fredo appear to be rolling in the excess and decadent lifestyles available to them through Michael's enterprising, they seem miserable as opposed to being comfortable. Fredo ultimately tells Michael that he resents that while he is the older of the two surviving sons, he is condescended to by Michael and made to feel like little more than an errand boy, frustrated that he can't seem to support himself. While Fredo is far from being as sharp or cunning as Michael, the younger Corleone brother's aloofness has only made these problems worse. In a sense, when Michael famously condemns Fredo in Havana for having "broken his heart", the passion in Michael (as it is with his response to Kay) is because he is forced to acknowledge that his paranoid fear is the true root of his ill fortunes with his family. This is emphasized in the final flashback of the film, which makes it clear that while Michael is quick to condemn his siblings for their apparent selfishness, he cannot claim to be without sin. One of the most poignant of scenes in all of The Godfather Part II is when Michael comes to see his mother, Carmela (Morgana King), and he asks her if his father felt that he could lose control of his family by trying to be "strong" for them. Michael's desperation in trying to keep his family as a possession or object is the tragic irony, since it reflects that while Michael is a cunning business man, he is in truth a poor family man, who fails to understand the connection between success and sacrifice, between love and control.
Recommended for: Fans of The Godfather, as this story organically continues and expands upon the rich and thrilling dynamic of the Italian mob in the early and middle twentieth century. Compared to the original, The Godfather Part II is an even more touching and heartbreaking portrait of a family falling apart, full of genuine pathos and tragedy.
The counterpoint to Vito's rise to power is felt in his youngest son, Michael, and how his grip on family begins to implode throughout the film. In the preceding film, Michael promised his wife, Kay Adams-Corleone (Diane Keaton) that his business would be "legitimate" within five years...seven years ago. Michael still finds himself pursuing the rapid expansion and welfare of his business with ruthless efficiency, a tactic which ends up distancing himself from his surviving siblings--Connie (Talia Shire) and Fredo (John Cazale)--who must beg an audience with him or are little more than subordinates in his world. Even an old world caporegime named Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), who occupies Michael's former home in New York City, feels betrayed at Michael's refusal to allow him to seek retribution at the disrespect given to him and his family by rivals, because they happen to be business partners of a wealthy sponsor of Michael named Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg). The appearance that Michael is solely motivated in becoming wealthy on the backs of men like Pentangeli makes the attempted assassination of him in his home in Tahoe the trigger which provokes an increase in paranoia and high-risk deceptions to root out the traitor in his collective. Michael's deep-seated distrust for those around him is evident from a conversation he has with a corrupt Nevada senator, Pat Geary (G. D. Spradlin), who Michael instructs he keeps his inner circle present during their negotiations because to ask them to leave would be "an insult". What is then ironic is that for virtually all of the subsequent backroom, private conversations to follow, Michael asks someone to leave the room, because in truth, he trusts few to none of them, obsessed with compartmentalizing information in order to assure he cannot be betrayed. Michael's paranoia is stoked so mightily that he turns to his honorary brother and family consigliere, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), claiming he is the only person he can trust--not his family, not even his wife, who might have been killed in the attack herself. But ultimately, this strategy backfires, since it is a traitor from within who tries to have him killed, and it becomes clear that it is because Michael has hoarded his trust like a miser that the true culprit is invisible to him. On the other hand, there is a sense that in the heart of darkness is where Michael Corleone belongs. His dealings with Hyman Roth--amiable as the old man may be--are dangerous, as Michael knows that Roth will try to kill him given the chance. Their celebration of their planting of criminal roots in Cuba is marked with a birthday celebration by Roth, who divides up literal and metaphorical pieces of his tribute with his fellow crooks. Michael revels in the deception, and is wound like a spring waiting to dethrone his would-be destroyer through a display of his own cunning, matching wits with the most powerful players in the underworld.
Unsurprisingly, The Godfather Part II shares moments which recall its predecesor directly. Vito's confrontation with Fanucci recalls Michael's encounter with similarly corrupt pillars of the community in the restaurant in The Godfather, including how Vito masks the sound of his gunfire to avoid drawing attention. The first communion of Michael and Kay's son, Anthony, is structurally similar to Connie's wedding from the first film, in that Michael--now firmly rooted as the "Godfather" of the Corleone family--spends most of it in his office, dealing with "the business". Vito's return to Sicily--ostensibly to secure resources for his legitimate business front selling olive oil--is to settle his earliest vendetta against Ciccio; when the younger Michael flees to Sicily in The Godfather, he asks where all the men went, to which he is told they have all died due to vendettas. Even the bloody retaliation against Senator Geary for refusing to offer a business license to Michael is with a grisly scene recalling the unfortunate end of the prize stallion of the movie producer in the preceding film. The Godfather Part II jumps back and forth between these two timelines, with the intent to make it evident how both men handle similar moments and how it underscores their individual perceptions of family. One telling scene involves Vito helplessly looking on and worrying about the health of the infant Fredo, stricken with pneumonia. Compare this with the shocking revelation Kay gives to Michael about the loss of their expected child following the attack on the villa in Tahoe. Although Connie and Fredo appear to be rolling in the excess and decadent lifestyles available to them through Michael's enterprising, they seem miserable as opposed to being comfortable. Fredo ultimately tells Michael that he resents that while he is the older of the two surviving sons, he is condescended to by Michael and made to feel like little more than an errand boy, frustrated that he can't seem to support himself. While Fredo is far from being as sharp or cunning as Michael, the younger Corleone brother's aloofness has only made these problems worse. In a sense, when Michael famously condemns Fredo in Havana for having "broken his heart", the passion in Michael (as it is with his response to Kay) is because he is forced to acknowledge that his paranoid fear is the true root of his ill fortunes with his family. This is emphasized in the final flashback of the film, which makes it clear that while Michael is quick to condemn his siblings for their apparent selfishness, he cannot claim to be without sin. One of the most poignant of scenes in all of The Godfather Part II is when Michael comes to see his mother, Carmela (Morgana King), and he asks her if his father felt that he could lose control of his family by trying to be "strong" for them. Michael's desperation in trying to keep his family as a possession or object is the tragic irony, since it reflects that while Michael is a cunning business man, he is in truth a poor family man, who fails to understand the connection between success and sacrifice, between love and control.
Recommended for: Fans of The Godfather, as this story organically continues and expands upon the rich and thrilling dynamic of the Italian mob in the early and middle twentieth century. Compared to the original, The Godfather Part II is an even more touching and heartbreaking portrait of a family falling apart, full of genuine pathos and tragedy.