"Michael...

...why are the drapes open?"

And with that line, and what happens next, this step in the journey of watching the AFI Top 100 (10th Anniversary Edition) lets us know that this is not our father's "The Godfather."

On with it...

Film 69

69.  "The Godfather:  Part II" (AFI Rank #32)

It was an intentional choice not to watch this back to back with the original, and an intentional choice to watch this in the same bloc as the original.  This film requires breathing room, and I gave it some.

Settle back, folks.  I'm not going to shorten this review.  I'm going to plumb the depths of this film, of other film sequels, and I'm not going to edit myself.  I'll do what I can, but I feel like this is going to be a long review.  I also will, so you know, be discussing the finale of this film, and it's a complete and utter shocker/heartbreaker if you haven't seen this film before.  I'll let you know when I get there, but I have to discuss it.

"The Godfather:  Part II" is a tremendous, important, whirlwind of a masterpiece.  I have previously expressed my opinion that "The Godfather" is my favorite film.  As such, it would be easy to say, "Well, Randy, you just have a proclivity to this particular story, and you like this film because, well, because of course you do."  That is simply not the case.  I have seen plenty of sequels in my day, plenty of films that are continuations of beloved stories.  One recently premiered in movie theatres to rave reviews by both critics and fans.  And all I saw, all I continue to see in it...is a cynical remake of a film that was FAR superior 38 years ago.  Of course, I'm speaking of "Star Wars Episode VII:  The Force Awakens."  No new ideas were explored in that film, shots were lifted from the original almost frame for frame.  Things we'd seen before appeared, as if we were supposed to say, "Hey, that's a thing!  I remember that thing!  That was a thing in that movie I loved!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Whee!  This is fun!"  It's all style, and no substance.  The Empire has no clothes.  And, the biggest travesty, the biggest mistake, was not utilizing the most compelling part of any of the "Star Wars" films:  Luke Skywalker.   You're not here to hear my thoughts on "Star Wars"...yet.

No, you're here for "The Godfather:  Part II."  I brought up "Star Wars" because it is a good comparison point for why this film is so vastly superior as a sequel/prequel than any other film cursed with continuing a story/shoehorning in older ideas.  Cleverly filmed as overlapping stories, "The Godfather:  Part II" interweaves the story of young Vito Corleone and his rise to prominence with the story of Michael, his youngest son, as he inadvertently destroys all that his father built.  It was an ambitious idea, executed nearly flawlessly by a reluctant Francis Ford Coppola and his amazing cast and crew.

Following structurally the opening of the original, this film begins in Corleone, Sicily, as young Vito Andolini (the eventual Vito Corleone) is orphaned by a ruthless mafia boss, and smuggled off to America, to Ellis Island, alone and...nine years old.  We then switch to "the present," and a religious ceremony, where his grandson, Anthony Corleone, Michael and Kay's son, is receiving his first communion.  Like the original film's wedding sequence, we see the Don, Michael, spending the day absorbed in business, occasionally stopping to make an appearance at the party.  The parallels between Michael's life and his father's are immediately shown.  Except it's not really parallel.  There is always a little feeling of joy that overwhelms that opening in the original.  None of that exists in the exposition of "The Godfather:  Part II."  A senator threatens Michael in his own home, a longtime Caporegime of the Corleone family speaks angrily to the boss, Michael's sister is a disaster, Fredo's wife is a sloppy drunk, and Kay, sweet Kay, reminds Michael that he promised the family business would be completely legitimate in five years.  That promise had been made seven years prior.  On top of that, we see Michael shoving Tom Hagen, the smartest guy not named Michael, out of the room as he discusses some business with the messenger boy, named Johnny Ola, of a powerful man, Hyman Roth, with whom Michael is trying to make some major business takeovers.  No, this family celebration hardly feels like a celebration at all.  The contrast with the original film is stark, and its impact is immediate.  It is obvious that the American dream, having been realized in the first film, is crumbling away as further and further corruption and deceit take over.

Immediately following the conclusion of the party, we are left alone with Michael and Kay in their bedroom.  I quoted the line at the opening of this.  An assassination attempt is made, with the bedroom exploding with bullets from automatic weapons.  Again, this film, this film is so much more dangerous than the first.  Yes, an assassination attempt was made on the Don in the first film, but we knew who did it, and we knew why.  This...this is a mystery...and Michael, having survived, turns to Tom Hagen and says, essentially, that anybody could have done this, even the closest of friends, because all of their friends are really just businessmen, and that this business is...well...shit like this happens.  Chilling.

That's a lot of plot.  I write about it because it is so vital to understanding this film.  As the film progresses, we get to see the rise of Vito Corleone, now played by Robert DeNiro, in flashback, as he makes his way in America.  Starting as a grocer's delivery boy,  working for the father of his eventual consigliere, Genco, Vito is shown a man named Don Fanucci, a man with an enormous scar across his throat, and a man who is obviously the local mafia captain.  Fanucci is a sloppy buffoon of a character, always gesturing in a way that makes him appear like a big shot, but watch him.  He constantly looks around for approval.  He is always seeking an audience.  He squeezes the local Italians for protection money, but he's not consistent in his demands, and he really doesn't follow up with any threats.  Vito meets Pete Clemenza and Sal Tessio through a series of circumstances, and the three of them start up their criminal enterprise.  When Vito is finally approached by Fanucci, and told to pay tribute to him of $600, he gathers Tessio and Clemenza, and asks them for $50 each.  He then meets Fanucci, gives him the $100...calling his bluff...and Fanucci...accepts the amount.  He even says that Vito should come and work for him.  Vito knows his mark, and having seen enough, kills Fanucci, and takes over the block.  Whereas Fanucci was a buffoon, interested in only himself, Vito is smooth, and generous, and helps those around him.  The scene with Signor Roberto is especially juicy.

I mentioned that Michael's story is one of collapse.  Michael, fueled by a blind conviction that he must control every single aspect of his family's...and his FAMILY'S life, or bad things will happen, does nothing but cause bad things.  He has enemies all around him, including his wife.  He loses it all.  He finally seeks counsel from his mother.  He asks how his father did things.  He asks if his father was ever worried about losing his family.  His mother replies, "How can you lose your family?"  Well.  This film.  This film shows it.

Lots and lots of other stuff happens, and eventually we learn that older brother Fredo is the traitor in Michael's family.  He didn't know what he was doing, of course, as Fredo is dumb as a stump, but he opened the door to the assassination attempt on Michael.  Michael realizes this while in Cuba as it falls into Communist control, and he kisses Fredo, HARD, on the lips at midnight on New Year's, and exclaims, "I know it was you, Fredo.  You broke my heart.  You broke my heart!"  It is a chilling scene...chilling.  Yeah.  Eventually, Fredo is brought back to America, meets with Michael, where he admits his error, and Michael decrees that Fredo is out of his life.  He then turns to Al Neri, his most tenacious/dangerous captain, and says, "I don't want anything to happen to him while my mother is alive."

On top of all of this tight family betrayal, there is a larger betrayal at work, in that Michael has been called to the U.S. Senate to testify about his involvement in the (said aloud for the first time in either of the two films) mafia.  His sins are listed, and the list is accurate.  Of course, Michael denies all of it.  Cool to the end, Michael is betrayed by the angry captain from the opening of the film, Frank Pentangeli, played by Michael V. Gazzo.  Believing that Michael tried to have him killed, Frankie agrees to testify against Michael.  He is offered government protection for life as a result, and he is ready to betray Michael.  Except Michael shows up with Frank's Sicilian brother to his testimony, and Frankie denies everything he swore to previously.  It's a tremendous scene.  It's...chilling.  There's that word again.  In the end, we are left with Tom Hagen, alone, with one of Michael's father's captains, delivering the news that his life is over.  This mirror scene from the first film and Sal Tessio reminds us that what is past is prologue.  Chilling.

I'm going to stop the plot talk.  This film is a spiderweb of plot lines, some of which are hard to keep up with, but ultimately very, very satisfying.  Coppola did a wondrous job on this film, both continuing the story of Michael, while giving us some real weighty facts about Vito's earlier life.  We get to see Don Tomassino, Michael's Sicilian protector in the original film, and we learn why he walks with leg braces.  We get to see the villa where Michael lived in Sicily.  We get to see the origins of the Genco Olive Oil company.  We get to see some old fashioned blood revenge.

And that, to me, is the overwhelming theme of the film.  It is expressed so beautifully by Kay, who has aborted a male baby of Michael's, and who is telling him their marriage is over:  "I didn't want your son, Michael.  I wouldn't bring another one of your sons into this world!  It was an abortion, Michael!  It was a son, Michael!  A son!  And I had it killed because this must all end!  I know now it's over. I knew it then.  There would be no way, Michael...no way you could ever forgive me...not with this Sicilian thing that's been going on for 2000 years!"  And that's it.  In the first film, Michael remarks about the lack of men in a village.  It is explained that they are all dead because of vendettas.  Michael, ever the loyal Sicilian, carries out this same style of rule over his own little empire.  Frankie Pentangeli can't testify because of it, Michael destroys everything around him because of it, and it all culminates in the finale.

OK.  I'm going to talk about the end of the film now.

STOP READING UNTIL TOLD BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING.

Eventually, Mama Corleone dies.  Fredo, the outcast, is at the funeral, and Michael comes to him, and clutches him in grief.  Except that he looks up, and with a cold, dead stare, looks at Al Neri.  We know the die is cast.  Michael, like in the first film, wipes out his "family's" enemies, and like the first film...kills one of his family members.  This time, it's Fredo.  Having been brought back into Michael's life, Fredo enjoys a life of quiet relaxation in Lake Tahoe on the family compound. Then, one day, as he goes out on the lake fishing with Al Neri...it all ends for Fredo.  The scene, so exquisitely filmed, is a silhouette of the two men in the boat, and we hear Fredo using his secret trick for catching fish...reciting a "Hail Mary."  We then are shown Michael, staring out the back window onto the lake, and we hear a single gunshot echo across the lake, and Michael's head drops.  We cut to the boat, and the man in the forward position, Fredo, is down.  Neri, in the rear, tentatively stands up...it is obvious that what he has done has affected him.  It's a cold, cold moment.  It is...well...it's the coldest moment I've ever seen in a film.  I mentioned chilling before...this is a plunge into liquid nitrogen.  Michael, in trying to keep his family together, has killed his own brother.  Yes, this Sicilian thing...it continues.

We then flash back to Vito Corleone's birthday, and we see Sonny, Fredo, Tom, Michael, Tessio, Connie, Carlo, and Tom's wife Theresa on Dec. 7, 1941.  They are discussing the war, and Michael admits to his family that he has joined the Marines.  It's a wonderful scene, and exceedingly cold, coming right off of Fredo's death, as we realize that of the 6 men in the scene...4 of them are dead...all by violence.  3 of them at the behest of Michael.  Some family.

I think, ultimately, that's Coppola's point.  You may think that what you are doing is best, but if you allow jealousy, or control, or anything take over, all you will do is lose control, and destroy all around you.  No, family members of ours don't die in violent deaths, generally, but that's storytelling.  It's metaphor.  Yes, it's extreme, but I know of families where brothers may as well be dead.  And how, pray tell, is that any different than Fredo's physical death?

YOU MAY RECOMMENCE READING.

If the first film was the birth of the American dream, this film is the death of it.  It's a masterpiece.  Simply a masterpiece.

Acting, as always, is extraordinary.  Al Pacino, not the caricature he became, is so dead, so numb in this film, it's hard to see what he became later in his career.  His Michael is no longer sympathetic villain.  He's just villain.  It is one of the finest performances captured on film.  DeNiro is tremendous, and became the only person to win an Oscar for playing the same role that won an Oscar in a previous film.  Duvall is Tom Hagen, believable and honest throughout, I love this role.  Duvall is so fucking good in it...bah.  Gazzo lights up the screen when Frankie Pentangeli appears, Lee Strasberg is amazing as Hyman Roth.  John Cazale gets some real dialogue to sink his teeth into, and shows a stunning range as Fredo.  Even Morgana King finally gets to speak as Mama Corleone, and she nails it.  Diane Keaton...is Kay.  She's not Diane Keaton.  That's a big thing to say, as Diane Keaton almost always feels like Diane Keaton.  Even Talia Shire shines in this.

Coppola won Best Director for this film, an honor that was not given him for the original.  He tried really hard not to direct it, begging for Scorsese to take it.  I'm glad that it wound up in his hands.  His touch is present throughout, and his sense for the material is so good, it appears instinctual.  We get just enough of the old film to remind us why we love this story, but this film is a different animal.  It's much less concerned with the pleasantries of mafia life, and much more concerned with the consequences.  The final shot, of Michael, considerably older than the final shots of action in the film, obviously alone on his compound, and sitting in a chair, contemplating his life, sums it up.  Whereas the first film ended with a door closing on the secrets, this film ends with Michael outside, completely exposed.

This film was the first sequel to win a Best Picture Oscar, and while "The Lord of the Rings:  Return of the King" is a sequel, technically, is it really?  I brought up "Star Wars" before.  I never followed through on that.  This film shows us the blueprint to putting old elements into a prequel without them feeling forced, along with the blueprint of how to continue a story to its conclusion.  "Star Wars" got this mostly right in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," but it completely missed on the prequels. "The Force Awakens" is a wasted opportunity, because it concerned itself with giving us an old story, retold, upon which to build a different mythology.  Had it just done what it should have, and CONTINUED the story, maybe I feel differently about it.  Nope, it suffers from trying to make sure we understand just how clever it is.  And it's hardly clever.

I cannot say enough about this film.  Like "Lawrence of Arabia," and its predecessor, this is one of my favorite films, and also one of the best films ever made.  It is sometimes called the greatest film ever made (TV Guide did that).  It is number 3 on the IMDB fan lists.  It's that good.  If you haven't watched it, and you skipped the spoilers above, you need to sit down and watch the first one.  Then watch this one shortly thereafter.  Don't watch them consecutively, as you'll be overloaded.  This film needs time for you to breathe.  It's a long affair, but you gotta do it.

Roger Ebert didn't love this film, but he recognized its greatness.  His take from this "Great Movies" series is here.