'Dodes'ka-den' review and breakdown of Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film

Dodes'ka-den is a 1970 drama directed by Akira .Kurosawa, written by Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto and based on a book by Shūgorō Yamamoto called Kisetsu no nai machi ("A Town Without Seasons”). 

The film consists of 8 stories that are connected by an imaginary trolley-car driven by a boy named Rokuchan. The film is produced and distributed by Toho Studios with editing by Reiko Kaneko, cinematography by Yasumichi Fukuzawa and Takao Saitô, and music by Tōru Takemitsu. The film stars Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, and Toshiyuki Tonomura. Dodes'ka-den is Kurosawa’s 1st color film and won the Belgian Film Critic Society’s Grand Prix Award.

In a shanty-town within a landfill a boy named Rokuchan begins his daily routine by watching a trolley-car leave the station. Rokuchan then joins his mother at home to chant diamoku. Rokuchan’s dream is to be a trolley conductor and the walls in the tiny home are covered with trolley-car drawings. At precisely 7:00am he puts on his imaginary uniform and goes outside to inspect his imaginary trolley-car. Finally, he starts it up and starts down the road chanting Dodes'ka-den. Kids throw rocks at him and call him the trolley-freak as he passes by.

Rokuchan makes 8 stops:

• His 1st stop is the home of an old wise man named Tanba
• His 2nd stop is the home of Shima who swaps wives with his best friend to find peace
• His 3rd stop is the home of Mr. Shima and his bossy wife
• His 4th stop is the home of 5 children who get to choose their father
• His 5th stop is the home of a girl named Katsuko who faces the decision to kill herself or the man she loves after finding out that she is pregnant
• His 6th stop is the home of Hei who closes off his heart after his wife leaves him for another man
• His 7th stop is a car where a homeless man and his son build their imaginary home
• His 8th and final stop is an old man who receives a new lease on his life after drinking poison

Rokuchan’s imaginary trolley-car is real to him. This does not mean, though, that Rokuchan’s dream is without obstacles. Children ridicule him, call him the trolley-freak and throw rocks at him; vandals spray paint insults on his house; Rokuchan’s imaginary trolley-car nearly collides with a man sitting on the tracks painting a picture. Yet, despite all of these obstacles, including his mother’s tears and doubts, Rokuchan’s trolley-car rolls on.

Proverbs 29:18-- “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

But what would happen to Rokuchan if he gave up on his dream? An old man visits the town elder named Tanba depressed on account of losing both of his sons in a war and his wife 6 months later. The old man tells Tanba that he has nothing to live for and wants to die. Tanba offers the old man some poison and a glass of water. The old man takes the poison and then goes on to say that he is only happy when he is with his sons and his wife in his dreams. Tanba asks the old man if it would be right to kill himself and his wife and 2 sons who continue to live in his dreams. This existential question brings the old man to his senses and he panics after realizing that he had already taken the poison Tanba gave him. Tanba tells him that every poison has a poison that counteracts it. Tanba puts the old man at ease by telling him that he had given him a digestive instead of poison. Depression over the loss of his family made the old man suicidal, a poison Tanba cured by giving the old man the thought that he would be killing something that gave him joy--the dream of his family.

A 15-year old girl named Katsuko lives with her aunt and lazy uncle who rapes her and gets her pregnant. She has a private crush on a delivery boy who she believes will reject her upon finding out that she is pregnant. Her 1st thought is suicide but then she has another thought: what if she killed herself and the delivery boy forgot her? At this thought, Katsuko’s rage turns from herself to him, the delivery boy. He survives her attack and later she apologizes and tells him that the thought of him forgetting her--being erased from his dreams--was simply too much for her to bear. Again, as with the old man, it takes a poison to counteract another poison. Katsuko’s poison is suicide and the thought of the delivery boy forgetting her became the antidote.

Through these examples, we see that Rokuchan gets his life from his dreams. But dreams, like seeds, need nourishment and the proper environment to grow.

Matt. 13:3-8--“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.”

Hebrews 11:1--“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for...”

Pictures of trolley-cars cover the walls in Rokuchan’s home. He is at the trolley station everyday. When he stops by Mr. Tanba’s house, the old man asks him about his trolley-car; when people see Rokuchan coming, they move out of his way. Doubt is to a dream what drought is to life and when vandals write trolley-freak on Rokuchan’s house his mother wipes it off. Rokuchan turns a deaf ear to children who call him names ridiculing his imaginary trolley-car.

The same cannot be said for the small boy who lives in the car with his father. Although, he and his father share the same dream of having a nice home, the man sends the boy out in the hostile world alone to beg for food. There are no pictures of their dream home in the car as there are pictures of trolley-cars in Rokuchan’s home. And when the boy dies of starvation and food poisoning it is no surprise considering that his dream lacked the proper nourishment and environment.

But not all death is physical; there is also the spiritual death of a man named Hei whose wife, Ocho, leaves him to be with another man. The dead tree in front of his house is the metaphor for a man who has lost his dream.

John 1:12--“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name”
2 Corinthians 6:18--“And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Rokuchan’s happiness also depends on his reality. Even though no one else can see his trolley-car, he can see it and follows his heart rather than his eyes. This is also the case with Umeko’s 5 children, all of whom have different fathers. Taro--the oldest child--asks his mother’s husband whether or not he is their father. Ryo tells Taro that they are all his children but that if they don’t love him and believe he is their dad, he isn’t. In other words, Ryo gives the 5 children of his wife the power to choose him or not choose him for their father.

Choice, faith, and love makes Rokuchan’s dream real as these makes Ryo the children’s father.

What may look bad may actually be good depending on one’s perspective. At the outset of the film, Mrs. Shima is misjudged by her appearance, demeanor and the women gossiping at the fountain. She gets into an argument with a produce vendor over the price of a cabbage but when the vendor gives in and offers her the cabbage for free she takes it as an insult and insists on paying him for it. When her husband invites 3 of his friends over for dinner, Mrs. Shima makes no effort to hide her resentment. She is rude to her husband’s guests and when she leaves to go to the bath house, Mr. Nomoto sounds off to Mr. Shima about her conduct. Mr. Shima defends his wife by letting Mr. Nomoto know how hard his wife worked to prepare dinner for them.

1 Samuel 16:7--“for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Then there’s the young man mad about his job and throwing a fit. Mr. Tanba asks the young man to trade places with him. The young man calms down and feels ashamed by Tanba’s offer. All Tanba did was give the man a different perspective on his job by offering to trade places with him. Heaven and Hell are relative. One’s Hell could be someone else’s Heaven and vise versa. Rokuchan’s happiness comes from not what he sees with his eyes but from what he feels in his heart, the perspective he chooses to have on his situation. Like the landfill where he lives, there are treasures and dreams to be found among the trash.

Watching Dodes’ka-den is watching an artist with complete command of his craft. This is a very entertaining film. The film comes with a 36 minute documentary called “It’s Wonderful to Create” where the director, Akira Kurosawa, talks about the film’s production and a big budget American film called Runaway Train he planned on making that got scrapped. After getting fired from the film Tora, Tora, Tora he went on to direct Dodes'ka-den. The film runs 2:20:00 but it’s a fast 2:20:00 and is often very funny in spite of its serious subject matter. I have this film on Criterion DVD and it looks great. I highly recommend this film.

Charley Varrick steals a page out of Sun Tzu's playbook--film review!

Charley Varrick is a 1973 heist thriller by director Don Siegel based on the 1968 novel The Looters by John H. Reese. 

The film stars Walter Matthau as Charley Varrick, a former stunt-pilot and crop-duster who resorts to a life of petty bank robberies but bites off more than he can chew when a $750,000.00 haul out of a small New Mexico bank turns out to be mob money. Andrew Robinson, John Vernon, Felicia Farr, Norman Fell, and Joe Don Baker round out the cast. Although the film was well received by American film reviewers, with one reviewer--Paul Tatara--calling it “intelligent, commercial filmmaking at its finest,” the film didn’t win any awards stateside. But in 1974, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave Matthau its Best Actor award and nominated Frank Morris for his editing on the film.

Charley Varrick begins in Tres Cruces, New Mexico where a yellow Lincoln pulls up in front of a small bank. A sherif’s deputy is nearby and tells the middle aged couple in the car that they can’t park in front of the bank. Charley Varrick is disguised as a much older man and has a fake cast on his leg. His wife is behind the wheel and they put on a fake argument for the cop after she offers to cash the check and he insists on cashing it himself. The cop leaves and doubles back to the bank after running the stolen license plates on the Lincoln. Meanwhile, all hell breaks loose in the bank as Charley and his 2 accomplices exchange gunfire with the guards. The sheriffs deputies arrive on the scene and when they approach the Lincoln to question Nadine she shoots and kills a deputy, wounds the other, and takes a shot herself through her door.

Charley returns to the Lincoln with 1 accomplice; the other accomplice was shot and killed by a guard. The Lincoln speeds away and at a remote location, Charley and Harman Sullivan load the bags of stolen money into large drums inside of Charley’s crop dusting van. Nadine dies from her gunshot wound. Charley kisses her goodbye and rigs the car with explosives.

They go back to Charley’s trailer home and count the loot. Charley used to be a stunt-flyer at shows; his wife worked with him. Then, he became a crop-duster. When the combines put him out of business he decided to rob banks, small banks, a thousand or 2 here and there, nothing big. Charley looks down at the pile of money on the floor of his trailer--$50 and $100 stacks. Why would a small bank like that be holding this much money? He turns on the TV news and gets his answer: the bank reported it had been robbed of only $1500.00 and there was a quarter mil cash on his floor--they’d stolen mob money! Charley is cautious but Harman is much younger and very impatient. Charley wants to wait a few years for the heat to die down before spending any of the money. But Harman wants the good life, beautiful chicks, fancy restaurants, nice clothes and not even Charley was going to stop it from happening--right now! With a nod and a mysterious smile, Charley agrees to go along with Harman.

Charley Varrick is a pretty straightforward film; even so, there are Machiavellian lessons in it that are worth a mention, like the importance of thinking ahead; being careful in whom you place your trust in; the value in being decisive, and knowing when to keep your mouth shut. Sun Tzu, The Art of War Chapter 1. Laying Plans:

Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

And also from Chapter 7. Maneuvering:

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

The 1st lesson in Charley Varrick is thinking ahead. Art of War Chapter 9. The Army on the March:

If forced to fight in a salt-marsh, you should have water and grass near you, and get your back to a clump of trees. So much for operations in salt-marches.

Charley is older, experienced, and wise. Made his share of mistakes as a younger man, the main mistake being that of not thinking ahead and planning his future instead of robbing small banks. Old men can afford fewer mistakes than young men. Recklessness almost got him killed in the stunt plane--as a younger man--and he isn’t about to let Harman’s impatience get him killed by the mafia at this late stage of his life. No way!

The 2nd lesson in the film is to not trust anybody. Art of War Chapter 8. Variation of Tactics:

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

Charley knows that the world is about money, not loyalty. Any man that you pay for anything will always sell to the highest bidder. Charley pays $600 to Tom at the gun shop knowing in advance that the man will give him up to the hit man named Molly for a price. Charley also knows that Jewell, the photographer, will sell him out; for this reason, he gives her Harman’s picture to get Molly to kill Harman preemptively after the dummy threatened his life. Also, when Charley sets up the meeting in the wrecking yard he knows that Molly is an opportunist and that he works for Maynard but Maynard works for the mob who are willing to pay extra to find out if the bank robbery was an inside job. For this reason, Charley does a flyover and spots Molly’s car among the wrecks just as he suspected he would but Molly doesn’t know that Charley, again, has a backup plan with a little help from Maynard’s own secretary.

The 3rd lesson from the movie is speed, moving fast, being decisive. Art of War Chapter 11. The Nine Situations:

Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.

Once Harman plays his hand and issues his threat, Charley goes into motion right away, moves the stolen money out of the trailer, stops by the dentist office to exchange his records with Harman’s, and sets the man up to be killed by Molly.

The 4th lesson from the film is deception. Art of War Chapter 4. Tactical Dispositions:

The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete.

Also, Chapter 1, Laying Plans:

Pretend to be weak, that he--your enemy--may grow arrogant.

When Harman threatens Charley, Charley goes along as though nothing happened, pretending to be looking out for both of their interests, and going out of his way to earn Harman’s trust by reassurances, all the while setting Harman up for the kill. Art of War Chapter 11. The Nine Situations:

Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose.
At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.

Charley then delivers flowers to Maynard’s secretary, follows her home, and seduces her. After they make love, Ms. Fort tells Charley not to trust her boss, Mr. Maynard. The Art of War Chapter 2. Waging War:

Captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.

Also, Chapter 13, The Use of Spies:

Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.

Charley Varrick is one tight film, like all of Don Siegel’s films--lean, mean, and under 2 hours, every minute of which is completely entertaining with action, intrigue, intelligence and quite a bit of humor. The main stars of the film are Matthau and Joe Don (Walking Tall) Baker as Molly, a swaggering no-nonsense hitman that likes his eggs over easy, dry wheat toast, tea with honey, and most importantly--no whores! Charley Varrick fits Matthau perfectly as the cold calculating elder statesman to Andrew Robinson’s rash impulsive Hartman. And, actor John Vernon is also perfectly cast as the bank president out to cover his ass after losing the mob’s money.

Charley Varrick is one tight film, like all of Don Siegel’s films--lean, mean, and under 2 hours, every minute of which is completely entertaining with action, intrigue, intelligence and quite a bit of humor. The main stars of the film are Matthau and Joe Don (Walking Tall) Baker as Molly, a swaggering no-nonsense hitman that likes his eggs over easy, dry wheat toast, tea with honey, and most importantly--no whores! Charley Varrick fits Matthau perfectly as the cold calculating elder statesman to Andrew Robinson’s rash impulsive Harman. And, actor John Vernon is also perfectly cast as the bank president out to cover his ass after losing the mob’s money.

I have a couple of favorite scenes. One involves Molly repossessing the car from the brother; the other scene involves Molly and the one-legged dude named Tom that owns the gun shop. There is also a great title sequence at the beginning that’s like a retrospective on the days when things were much simpler. This is a great Don Siegel primer for those who haven’t seen any of his films, or may have seen without being aware of it.

Peeping Tom--a review and analysis of the 1960 film shocker by Michael Powell

Peeping Tom is a 1960 British thriller directed by Michael Powell who, along with longtime collaborator Emeric Pressburger--under the name of their production company, The Archers--co-wrote and co-directed The 49th Parallel, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes. 

In Peeping Tom, an insecure and withdrawn photographer named Mark gets his kicks by filming the women that he kills. The story and script are by Leo Marks, the cinematography is by Otto Heller, the editing is by Noreen Ackland, and the music is by Brian Easdale. The all British cast includes Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, and Pamela Green. Peeping Tom was controversial in its day, had a detrimental effect on Michael Powell’s career in the U.K, and was also cited by the National League of Decency as morally objectionable for its depictions of voyeurism and sadism.

Mark is a loner and has no friends except for his camera which he takes with him everywhere he goes. In the opening scene, he films a prostitute while murdering her.

Mark owns an apartment building that he inherited from his father. One day, he invites a tenant--a young woman named Helen--into his apartment and shows her home movies of his childhood. His father liked to photograph him sleeping and would put lizards in his bed to scare him. His father also liked to spy on people and film them with his camera. He even bought Mark a camera for his birthday. Helen is creeped out by his father but she is naive and too fascinated with Mark to suspect him of being like his father.

Mark has a studio above a magazine shop where he takes pictures of naked models. He also has a job as an assistant photographer on a movie set; his goal is to one day be a film director. One night, Mark and an aspiring actress named Vivian sneak onto the film set to shoot their own movie. Mark instructs Vivian to act afraid for a close-up shot and when she can’t, he shows her the spike on the leg of his camera tripod and kills her.

Helen lives with her blind mother, Ms. Stevenson, whose other senses are heightened and she knows that something is not right with Mark despite his normal appearance. She orders him to stay away from her daughter.

Vivian’s body is discovered on the movie set inside of a large trunk and Mark becomes the police inspector’s main suspect. With time running out, Mark turns his attention to completing the film documentary that his father originally started.

Peeping Tom takes acting to its logical extreme by comparing Mark and his victims with the bad actress of the film within this film called The Walls are Closing in. Where the film’s director cannot get this actress to act real, Mark gets his victims to act real through the use of fear.

The difference between the actress on the film set and Mark’s victims are that artificial--or vicarious--experiences can never be a true substitute for real experiences. The old man who buys the pictures of naked women in the store is not getting a real woman and any stimulation he gets from masturbating won’t give him the same experience as a real-live woman, either. As the nude pictures are to the old man so is murdering women and witnessing their horror on film are to Mark--an autoerotic experience to be relived and enjoyed each time he wishes to play these films in the privacy of his home.

This symbolic contrast in how we respond to indirect stimulation and direct stimulation is clearly illustrated by the actress on the film set who can’t generate the real emotions the director wants; however, upon seeing Vivian’s dead body in the trunk, the same actress has no trouble generating real emotions. Also, in the scene where Mark and Vivian are on the film set alone and he instructs her to act scared, she tells him that she can’t act scared because she feels relaxed with him. But when he shows her his true colors and closes in for the kill, Vivian gives him the performance of her life because she is reacting to something that is real!

This metaphor of autoeroticism as it pertains to acting and realism also explains why the film ends the way that it does with Mark killing himself in the same manner that he killed his victims. Again, using the old man in the store buying pictures of naked women as an analogy, Mark experiences the agony of his victims vicariously as a form of masturbation. To get the experience firsthand--as someone going from porn to the real thing--Mark impales himself with the weapon he murdered his victims with.

Peeping Tom reminds me of Reservoir Dogs. Like Mr. PInk, Ms. Stevenson’s intuition is more reliable than her ability to see. There are no graphic scenes in the film, not even the sight of blood, and no nudity. Unlike movies today, the film’s real horror occurs within your imagination. Again, Criterion did a great job. I have the DVD and the picture and sound are terrific. If you like Psycho you will probably like Peeping Tom. I know I did.

How the Godfather was able to bring Michael back to America: a review and analysis

The Godfather is a 1972 film by Director Francis Ford Coppola that follows New York crime boss Don Corleone, the challenge to his empire, and his youngest son Michael’s rise as his successor. 

The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert DuVall, James Caan, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Abe Vigoda, Sterling Hayden, and Diane Keaton. The Godfather was co-produced by Albert S. Ruddy and Robert Evans with Alfran Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures in wide release on March 24, 1972. The music is by Nino Rota, cinematography by Gordon Willis, and the editing by William Reynolds and Peter Zinner. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning 3 for Best Actor (Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay (Puzo and Coppola), and Best Picture. 

The film begins on the wedding day of Don Corleone’s daughter, Connie. According to Sicilian custom, a Don cannot refuse any reasonable request on the day of his daughter’s wedding and there are many in attendance seeking favor from the most powerful of New York’s 5 Dons. Of all the guests, there is 1 whom the Don is most happy to see and yet the 1 whose rejection weighs most heavy on his heart: his 3rd and youngest son, Michael, who abandoned him and the Family business to join the U.S. Armed Forces and then going on to date a White woman--an Irishman--outside of his culture. The Don is powerful but not immortal; he needs a successor, someone worthy to take the Corleone Family into the future. Michael’s oldest brother Santino--or Sonny as his father nicknamed him--is a superb wartime general but hot, temperamental, impulsive, and unfaithful to his wife! This last flaw is significant to the Don who is notoriously strait-laced about marital fidelity. His middle son, Fredo, has a good head for business but his weaknesses for alcohol and women and lack of personal force would make for an unworthy Don. 

A blessing disguised as a curse comes in the form of a very dangerous man--who happens to be a Turk--named Virgil Sollozzo. The Don earned his great wealth with the trucks he owned, running bootleg whiskey and selling this whiskey at speakeasies which he also owned. Now, after Prohibition, most of the Don’s revenues come from numbers and gambling. Virgil Sollozzo wants to sell narcotics in New York and needs 2 favors from the Don: $1 million dollars in cash and the judges, prosecutors, and politicians indebted to the Don to ensure that those who are caught selling dope receive the light sentences that would prevent them from snitching. In return for both, Sollozzo promises the Don a 300% return on his million dollar investment to which Sonny, without forethought nor respect for proper protocol, perks up at this proposition, interrupts his father, and creates a crack in the Family wall. Sonny catches himself quickly but not quick enough. The Don’s answer to Sollozzo’s deal is no, but Solozzo believes he can make a deal with Sonny with the Godfather out of the picture. 

All Michael Corleone ever wanted was to be accepted as an American citizen; this is why he joined the Marines. But Michael’s American Dream dies after his father is gunned down  in the streets. Michael realizes that every man has but 1 destiny, and his has always been to be at his father’s side. 

The Godfather is more than a crime story. Among its themes are family, faith, reincarnation, hypocrisy, and Christian symbolism. But the dominant theme of this film, in my opinion, is life and death and how both are intertwined throughout the film as Family power and destiny are transferred from Don Corleone to his son Michael. 

In the scene where Solozzo’s men shoot the Don, pay attention to where this scene takes place and where the Don ultimately dies at the end of the film. The scene where he is shot is set in a market where he is surrounded by life in the form of fruits and vegetables; in the garden scene where he dies playing with his grandson, the Don is also surrounded by life in the form of vegetables and his grandson who embodies new life and reincarnation as the Don is reborn through his son Michael’s takeover of the Family. Another instance of the life and death theme in the film occurs as Michael attends the baptism of his godson as, simultaneously, his soldiers decapitate the heads of New York’s 4 crime Families, with the rite of baptism symbolizing the act of dying and being reborn. 

Another theme in the film involves hypocrisy, not only in Kay’s perception of Michael’s Family but also in  the racist attitudes Italians (in the film) have towards Blacks; this despite the fact that throughout this film and its sequel, Italians themselves are on the receiving end of bigotry. When the Don calls the meeting to seek a truce with the Tattaglias to ensure his son Michael’s safe return to America following the deaths of Sollozzo and police captain McCluskey, the issue of where to sell the drugs comes up and 1 of the Dons at this meeting suggests selling their drugs in the Black community: “They’re animals, anyway, let them lose their souls,” this Don says; in The Godfather sequel, the Nevada senator cuts loose with a string of ethic slurs directed at Michael and Italians in a closed door meeting with Michael over a gaming license for 1 of Michael’s casinos. I go into more depth on these and other themes in the film in an analysis called Michael Corleone steals a page out of Sun Tzu’s playbook in my Youtube playlist Perspectives on Cinema.

I first read The Godfather all the way back in High School and it was my favorite book then as it still is today. As great as the film is, there are things in the book that clarify things that the film leaves out such as the scene where the Don calls the truce to ensure Michael’s safe return to America after being exiled to Sicily for murdering Sollozzo and police captain McCluskey. The film--for length and budget considerations--does not explain how the Don engineers Michael’s return to America. Remember, he--Michael--is guilty of murdering a police Captain making him eligible for the death penalty. Here is how the Don was able to pull this off: 

There is a young man named Felix of the Bocchicchio Family, which is different from the other Families in the respect that their Family’s trade is providing hostages to the other New York Families as pledges. Disagreements among the various Families are insured by Bocchicchio hostages. If one side fails to honor its part in this type of negotiation, the offended Family kills its Bocchicchio hostage. The Bocchicchio clan would then turn its wrath on the Family that broke the pledge and not the Family that killed its hostage. This is how the Bocchicchios get paid. But Felix Bocchicchio is different and believes that he possesses enough intelligence to survive without his Family, similar to Michael Corleone’s position prior to murdering Solozzo and the police captain. 

Felix attends law school, marries a White woman, and--after getting his law degree and having difficulty finding work--gets himself involved with a friend who works at a prestigious law firm. This “friend” asks Felix for a favor, for Felix to use his law skills on a complicated bankruptcy scam. There was a one-in-a-million chance of getting caught, this friend promises Felix, but when Felix does get caught, his 2 accomplices, both White males, testify against him and receive reduced sentences by telling the court that Felix--preceded by his Family’s violent reputation--strong armed them into going along with him. Felix gets a 5 years prison sentence. As soon as he gets out of prison, he gets a gun, finds the 2 men who’d framed him--both, at the time, eating in a restaurant--and blows their brains out. Felix waits on the police to arrive at the scene, confesses to the murders, and goes to trial where he is found guilty and sentenced to die in the electric chair. A family member goes to the Godfather for help and afterwards the Don sends his lawyer, Tom Hagen, to the prison to make Felix an offer, to see to the comfort of his widow and the education of his children in exchange for him confessing to the murders of the police captain, McCluskey, and Virgil Solozzo, both of whom Michael had killed. Felix confesses to everything with details Hagen provides him. Once the switch is thrown and Felix dies, the Don sends word to Sicily for Michael to return home to America.

There are other interesting scenarios in the book that the film leaves out but overall the film is pretty faithful to the book. Both Mario Puzo--the book’s author--and Coppola co wrote the script separately and later together incorporating elements that worked and leaving out elements that didn’t work. The sequel cannibalized off elements in the book that weren’t used in the 1st film such as Don Corleone’s backstory including him as a small boy fleeing Sicily and his pre-Don existence as a grocery clerk and the chain of events that lead to him becoming a Don. Elements new to the sequel that did not come from the novel are the storylines involving Jewish mobster Hyman Roth and Fredo’s assassination. 

When I look at how great the The Godfather is, it is hard to imagine that at the time the film was being produced, the studio considered getting Elia Kazan to direct it instead of Coppola because the studio was concerned about whether Coppola--a young and inexperienced director at that time--could handle a film with The Godfather’s $7 million dollar budget which was a fortune at that time. Elia Kazan is a great director--directed some of the greatest films ever--but I wonder how committed he would have been, as a Greek, in preserving the integrity of the Corleone Family's Italian casting (with the exception of James Caan, who is Jewish). Producer Robert Evans’ hiring of Coppola came out of his desire to make The Godfather “ethnic to the core.” It’s also hard to imagine how The Godfather would have been with Lawrence Olivier playing the Don instead of Marlon Brando. Olivier was considered for the role but turned it down to star in Sleuth which came out the same year as The Godfather, in 1972. From the outset Mario Puzo had Brando as his pick for the Don who may not have gotten the part had Olivier accepted it; the studios were reluctant to hire Brando due to the man’s temper and him coming off a couple of unsuccessful films. It’s also hard to imagine how the film would have been had James Caan been cast as Michael Corleone instead of Al Pacino. Originally, Paramount did not want Pacino playing Michael because they thought that he was too short but, again, Coppola was able to get Pacino the role who the director felt looked Sicilian. 

Even after almost 50 years, The Godfather still ranks as the best film of the gangster genre and 1 of the best films--if not THE best film--ever made in many polls. When I think of gangster films, my all-time top 3 are The Godfathers 1 and 2, and Sergio Leone’s 1984 epic Once Upon A Time In America. If I had a top 4, I would include Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas. I have had The Godfather on DVD for a while and just upgraded to blu ray and to be honest, the picture and sound quality are identical unlike the sequel which is a definite improvement on blu ray.

The Godfather Part 2, 'Regime Change:' a film review and analysis

The Godfather Part 2 is the 1974 sequel to the 1972 film, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola and both co-written by the director and author Mario Puzo. 

The sequel is told in 2 contrasting stories, 1 occurring in the present and the other in flashback: the first story picks up where the 1st film leaves off with Michael now the head of the Family in Las Vegas; the second story focuses on his father, Vito Andolini, as a 9 year old boy fleeing Sicily for America to save his life, to his eventual transformation into Don Corleone. A film most critics regard as superior to the original, The Godfather Part 2 was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 6 including Best Director (Coppola), Best Adapted Screenplay (Coppola and Puzo), Best Supporting Actor (Robert DeNiro), and Best Picture, the only sequel to win Best Picture and the only film in a series to win the award consecutively. The Godfather 2’s all-star cast includes Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Robert DuVall, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, and G. D. Spradlin. The film was edited by Peter Zinner, Barry Malkin, and Richard Marks, the cinematography is by Gordon Willis, and the music is by Nino Rota. 

The Godfather 2 begins at the turn of the 20th century on a Sicilian countryside where the father and older brother of 9 year old Vito Andolini are slain for insulting a local mafia boss who also issues a kill order on Vito to prevent the boy from growing up to seek revenge. Young Vito is smuggled on a ship, transported to America, and processed into citizenship. 

From this scene, the film fast forwards to the present and the 1st Communion party for Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) son where Frank Pantangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) from the Corleone’s New York Family complains to Michael about the fact that their rivals, the Rosato Family, are moving in on his territories. Frank wants Michael’s permission to go-to-the-mattresses--or war--with the Rosatos but Michael says no. Frank becomes upset, belligerent, and disrespectful but he accepts Michael’s order and leaves. The same night, a hail of bullets rips through Michael’s bedroom window. Michael dispatches his men who find the would-be assassin’s body in a creek. 

Michael meets with Frank Pantangeli and tells him that a Jewish mobster named Hyman Roth tried to assassinate him. Then, Michael flies out to Florida to see Hyman Roth. Hyman Roth wants to build a casino in Havana, Cuba and wants Michael to put up a million bucks. Michael, on the other hand, is reluctant about the deal because of the political unrest in the country and the possibility of an uprising by a rebel named Fidel Castro. Michael also tells Roth--who is supposedly dying and leaving his wealth to Michael and others associates--that Frank Pantangeli tried to assassinate him. 

Flashback to Vito Corleone as a young man working in a small grocery store making an honest living. The local Don named Fannucci and nicknamed The Black Hand stops by the store, helps himself to some money out of the cash register, and tells the owner to fire Vito and hire his nephew. Out of a job, Vito goes home to his wife. Someone knocks on a window and tosses him a bag full of guns. 

Back to the present: Michael talks to his brother Fredo who knows Hyman Roth’s emissary Johnny O. Whoever shot through Michael’s bedroom window knew the layout of his home and had the curtains open so the killers could see him. Fredo claims to have never met Hyman Roth. Fredo also manages the Family hotels and one day he invites Michael and others to one of the hotels to see an X-rated show with a character named Superman. Drunk off alcohol, Fredo inadvertently blurts out Hyman Roth’s name with Michael standing nearby. This outburst on Fredo’s part meant that he did know Hyman Roth and had set Michael up to be killed!

Flashback to young Vito Corleone: A fat thief named Clemenza takes a liking to Vito because Vito accepted the bag of guns and returned them without asking questions. As a reward, Clemenza cuts Vito in on a heist involving a truckload of women’s dresses. Don Fannucci gets wind of this heist and demands a cut. But Vito goes against his friends’ wishes to pay Fannucci.  Vito persuades the Don into taking a smaller cut and later shoots the Don dead. Later, and without being told, neighborhood merchants begin paying tribute in the form of money and other goods to Vito. 

Family is the nucleus of the 1st Godfather film--no matter what outside threats came, the family  stayed intact. The 1st film is about the Corleone’s war with the 4 New York Families, Virgil Sollozzo, and crooked cops;  the 2nd film is about the Corleone’s war from within as well as without as Michael  Corleone faces the Family’s enemies alone. The 1st film ends with the execution of outsiders; the 2nd film ends with the execution of a family member.  Whereas, in the 1st film, family came before everything, in the 2nd film, business comes 1st. The Godfather 2 shows both the rise and the slow disintegration of the Corleone Family, from Vito’s humble beginnings as part owner of the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company in a small New York storefront to Michael’s transformation from Don to that of a businessman in its purest sense.

But there are similarities between both Godfather films as well. The attempted murders of Don Corleone in the 1st Godfather film and Michael in this film are identical in that they are both betrayed by someone in the Family. In the 1st film, the Don is betrayed by Sonny’s impulsiveness; in the 2nd film, Michael is betrayed by Fredo who sets Michael up to be killed. Also, the enemies in both films want regime change in the Corleone ranks to get leaders they can negotiate with. 

A real life comparison to Michael’s and his father’s attempted assassinations is the Libyan Revolution. In 2009, Gaddafi said that he wanted to change his country’s trading currency from the U.S. Dollar to  African gold; this meant that his country would only accept gold for their oil instead of the U.S. Dollar, posing “a threat,”--according to French President Nicolas Sarkozy--“to the financial security of the world.”

After Gaddafi made this proposal, America staged a coup and sponsored Al Qaeda terrorists to overthrow Gaddafi. This so-called “rebellion”--as the media described the coup--destroyed a 33 billion dollar irrigation pipeline that Gaddafi built to supply his people with clean water. There were also other atrocities committed by the rebels such as the lynching of Black Africans loyal to Gaddafi and the raping of 9 year old girls. Most Libyans loved Gaddafi and his style of socialism. But--like Don Corleone in the 1st film and Michael in this film--Gaddafi was a tough negotiator and Nato needed regime change to get control of Libya’s oil, which it has since done.

Another real life scenario comparable to Michael’s and his father’s attempted assassinations is America’s overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In November of 2000, Saddam Hussein said that he would no longer trade his country’s oil for U.S. currency and would instead trade Iraq’s oil for Euros because his country no longer wanted to deal in “the currency of the enemy.” Shortly after this declaration, America used 911--including accusations of Saddam manufacturing weapons of mass destruction although no evidence of this was ever found--as an excuse to go after Saddam even though his country had nothing to do with the attacks on the World Trade Center. As a result of Saddam’s ouster, capture, and public lynching, America got the regime change it wanted as American oil company Halliburton--formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney--and other western oil companies privatized Iraqi’s oil fields. So, when negotiations in Godfathers 1 and 2 were stalled because of Vito and Michael Corleone, the enemy felt that the only way to get what they wanted was to force regime change.

The Godfather 2 ends by tying both films together. After having his brother, Fredo, executed, Michael has a flashback of his father’s birthday, the day that he announced his decision to join the U.S. Marine Corps. This scene is ironic in a couple of ways: 1) he separates himself from the Family business on his father’s birthday and becomes the new Don of the Corleone Family on the day of his father’s death; 2) Michael joins the U.S. military to fight and kill foreigners--or outsiders--on behalf of his countrymen and at the end of the sequel he gives the order to have his own brother executed.

Everyone’s disappointed by his decision to join U.S. military because his father--who is, symbolically, God--already has plans and a purpose for him. Michaels decision to join the U.S. military is out of rebellion against having his free will usurped by his all-powerful all-knowing father. Yet, in the end, he ends up being exactly what his father had originally planned for him to be. In the book, the Don says to Michael “every man has one destiny” and the film ends with Michael pondering the inescapable path of his own destiny.

The Godfather 2 is an amazing crime epic and its 3 hour running time is justified. If I had to pick a favorite scene from the film it would be where Michael eats the Florida orange Hyman Roth had sent to him as a gift. In the beginning of the film, Johnny Ola gave Michael the orange but Michael did not eat it! Only after Michael outsmarts Hyman Roth at the end of the film does Michael take a big bite out of the orange. 

The critics--as most were with Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner--were either lukewarm or negative on the film because of the juxtaposing storylines between Michael and the young Vito Corleone that most felt didn’t give the viewer enough time to connect with the characters. Years later, though, most of the those same critics, including Roger Ebert, reevaluated the film and gave it positive reviews. I admit to seeing the film years ago and dismissing it on account that I couldn’t see the film without Marlon Brando who was so powerful in the 1st film. But once I reevaluated the sequel on its own, I saw the same beauty and genius in it that I saw in the 1st film, in fact, like many have said since, I think I like it more than the 1st film. 

As far as gangster films, I rank The Godfather 2 number 2 behind the original followed by Sergio Leone’s 1984 film Once Upon A Time In America and Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas rounding out the top 4. Unlike the 1st Godfather film, the sequel’s blu ray is a big improvement over the DVD in picture sharpness, color saturation, and sound.