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.
