When The Godfather came out, it was a huge success, garnering a huge profit and Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Marlon Brando. Even though director Francis Ford Coppola made Mario Puzo's book, he made the book come alive with such exquisite fashion that the movie flowed with such harmony. What we loved about that first movie was how the characters developed from the beginning of the story to the end especially with one line of dialogue where Michael Corleone says to then-girlfriend Kay Adams in the wedding, "That's my family, Kay. That's not me." It alludes that the crime organization does not define Michael as a character.
But because of a couple of turns of events, it is him especially during the baptism scene where he orders hitmen to wipe out the Dons of the families. The ultimate last scene, however, is the end of the Holy Grail where Michael is acknowledged that he is the new Don after he responses to Kay that he did not kill Connie's husband. (Hmmm....I don't think so.) Coppola returned to direct the movie with a few conditions including that he had nearly full control of the production and he did. You can say that The Godfather is a beloved gangster epic but it is great to acknowledge that the next chapter of the saga is a great sequel that is also considered another beloved gangster epic that set the standard for motion pictures to come.
The movie continues in 1958 where Anthony has received his First Communion and the family is having a party at Lake Tahoe. Michael (Al Pacino) has a series of meetings as the Don including a tense meeting where Senator Geary (G.D. Spradlin) wants for him to pay for a gaming license for $20,000, however, Michael offers him...nothing because they are both on the same boat in which they are both corrupted. Corleone caperogime Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) is dismayed that Michael would not help him to defend his Brooklyn territory against the Rosato brothers, who work for Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg). Because of an assassination attempt in his home, Michael leaves Nevada leaving consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) in charge.
Michael meets with Roth in Miami, suspecting that he planned the assassination, but putting a poker face on him and the situation. Later, Roth, Michael and several of their parents fly to Havana to discuss their business prospects under the government of Fulgencio Batista, even though the Cuban Revolution is ongoing. Michael hatches his plan to have both Roth and his right-hand man, Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), killed, however, he finds out that his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), that he had met with Ola previously, thinking that he was in the plan to have Michael killed all along. As rebels advance against the government, Michael, Fredo and Roth both escape separately to return to the United States.
In a flashback, the family of young Vito Andolini is killed by the local Don Ciccio (Giuseppe Silato) because his father insulted him. Vito escapes to New York City and is registered as Vito Corleone on Ellis Island in a facility. Around 15 years later, Vito lives in New York with his wife, Camela and his young son, Sonny. Everybody in the neighborhood is threatened by local extortionist, Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin). Vito loses his job because of nepotism and is reluctantly invited to a burglary by his neighbor, Peter Clemenza (Bruno Kirby), because he dropped guns at his house.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Again, the theme of family is quite important but is also at stake because that theme is handled very delicately between the flashbacks and the present time line. Still, the tragedy is lying underneath the character of Michael as Vito did not want him in the crime business, yet he was forced to enter that world. We get to see a bit of pureness in the flashbacks as young Vito interacts with Michael. Business always comes about even during an important event like Anthony's First Communion party. However, Michael tries to have his family become legitimate in five years since his father was getting sick, but that was seven years ago. But, unfortunately, Michael is not a good father because his own relationship to his wife and even to his children is almost non-existent.
Here's the sad yet subtle foreshadowing statement that is made by Vito from the first movie: "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." The problem is Michael is so focused on his business that he cannot spend time even gazing at the picture that Anthony has drawn.
Michael is trying so hard to preserve his family that he is forgetting his main family, mainly Kay. We know in the beginning that Kay is pregnant but while away on his trip to Miami and Havana, he learns from Tom that Kay has had a miscarriage. However, when Kay revealed the truth that it was an abortion, you can see in Michael's eyes that his preservation may have been ruined because 1) she was planning to take away their children and 2) she aborted the baby. In a way, Kay turned her back on him but in a way, it was Michael's fault because again, he is expanding his empire. I mean, he is torn after the first news regarding the miscarriage, he asks his Mom whether it is possible to lose his family.
But, there is another side of the problem surrounding that theme of family and that is Fredo. Fredo gets a call from Johnny Ola that if the plan is on, however, he says that he got the wrong number. But, Fredo is considered the weak brother of the family and he expresses his feelings over a drink.
However, he is considered the trustworthy brother because Fredo supported Michael especially regarding his decision of him joining in the army preceding the events of the first Godfather. When Fredo learns that it was Hyman Roth who tried to get Michael killed, he is flabbergasted because he is with Johnny Ola regarding his plan except Michael did not know about it. Fredo once again betrayed his own family after Michael stated it in the first one. You can see the pain in Michael's face once he discovers he knows Johnny Ola and Roth.
The movie ends on a tragic note once he tells Neri that nothing is going to happen to Fredo once their mother is alive. However, when their mother passes, Michael and Fredo reunite but gives the order to Neri, subtly with his eyes gazing at Neri, to have Fredo killed when they were both fishing. Michael commits the ultimate sin by killing his brother. In addition to getting Kay out of the picture, Michael ultimately pays the price by betraying the family, in both the final flashback, where his family sits down before surprising Vito, and the present where Michael is seemingly sad. But, they both end up with Michael sitting alone as "family" has withered away from his life at the moment.
Now, in the flashback scenes as it has now paralleled the very first line of dialogue "I believe in America", we see Vito living up the American Dream as he is having a living being a baker but because of ego, Don Fanucci fires him. His American Dream has been ruined because he wants to make an honest living. However, when luck comes around, Clemenza offers Vito to burglarize a place. As Fanucci learns of his criminal activity, he extorts Vito and after he, Clemenza and Tessio discuss that they need to pay him in full price, Vito replies that he will "make an offer that he cannot refuse". And, then, Vito performs his first killing as he kills Don Fanucci.
Vito is now a respected figure in the Italian-American community as his American Dream is now coming true slowly as he and his business partners are making more money and now form the Genco Olive Oil Import Company. There is a funny scene in which he tries to help a widow from being evicted. After the landlord threatens Vito, he learns of him and hastily agrees to have the widow to stay in her apartment.
There is a huge difference in character when Don Vito left Sicily as a boy and now he comes back as a man because he threatens Don Ciccio's life once again except this time as an adult, as an authority figure, he kills the man who almost took his life and American Dream away. But, again, he kills Don Ciccio because he killed his family. He avenged them.
I can go on and on over The Godfather Part II however, there is more to be seen and to take away and to discuss once the movie is over as to question why Michael turned into a villain than a respectable crime figure or respectable anti-hero like Don Vito. It is probably one of the darkest movies ever made when now figuring out what the movie is and how the characters are developed. Many people can argue that this surpasses the first movie as the best movie in the saga and even though I cannot say I'm biased because the first movie is my favorite movie ever, there are moments that could either tie the first movie or even surpass it because of how the story unfolds.
At 200 minutes, in my opinion, the movie does not feel long because again, the theme of family is at stake because how long with the Corleone family last? Well, the problem is that Fredo is out of the equation and it is a huge chunk of the puzzle gone.
As the chronological narrative and tone shifts, the feelings of masterful craft and artistry from Coppola never goes away. It is pure Coppola defined on-screen and the sequel is yet again another crime masterpiece and it took me a few viewings to accept that Part II is an excellent movie. When Coppola said that Part III is an epilogue, he may be right because Part I and Part II felt like one big novel. This movie is a richly told, though-provoking, sad conclusion to a timeline that lingers on heartbreak and tragedy for the Corleone family.
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