By Brandon Nolta

Some sequels are inevitable, due to money or, very rarely, story requirements. In the case of THE GODFATHER, the original made such a splash that a sequel was approved before filming on the first installment wrapped. Fortunately, Mario Puzo’s novel was so rich that making a sequel made sense story-wise, and so Francis Ford Coppola and Puzo managed to do the unlikely: whip up a second installment in the Corleone saga that was just as good as the first. THE GODFATHER is one of the great films of American cinema; THE GODFATHER PART II manages to match it.

For part two, Coppola and Puzo took the story down two parallel tracks. In the track directly following THE GODFATHER, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), having consolidated the Five Families’ power under his aegis, faces the task of expanding his reach in the late 1950s in Las Vegas and Havana while dealing with treacherous gangster Hyman Roth (legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg) and troubles within the family, particularly his shiftless brother Fredo (John Cazale). In the track that follows the original novel, viewers follow a young Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro) from his arrival in New York in 1901 to his first days as a godfather in the 1920s to him finally attaining vengeance for the deaths of his family that got him sent out of Sicily in the first place.

Most of the surviving characters returned for the sequel, and thanks to flashbacks, even a few of the dead ones. The only one who didn’t come back was Marlon Brando, who really didn’t get along with Paramount at the time, but viewers won’t miss him. The reason for this is twofold: Pacino and DeNiro. Before they became the iconic, oft-imitated superstars of today, both men were giving naturalistic performances like the ones in this film. Pacino plays Michael as smooth and controlled, only erupting in anger once or twice during the entire film; he even keeps calm in the famous “You broke my heart” scene with Cazale in a Cuban nightclub.


DeNiro is just as cool and thoughtful, making Vito completely free of posturing or effect, and thus all the scarier in his logical application of bonhomie and violence. Filmed two years before TAXI DRIVER and the “You talkin’ to me?” attitude that has haunted him ever since, DeNiro captures the screen and completely earns the Oscar he won (Pacino was nominated but didn’t win). Of course, it’s not just DeNiro; everybody turns in great work, as demonstrated by the fact that four other cast members (Pacino, Lee Strasberg, Michael Gazzo and Talia Shire) were nominated for Oscars that year.

Much has been written about the other elements of the film: the understated score, the magnificent cinematography, even the use of color and symbols throughout the film (the most famous example being that any time you see a Corleone and an orange in the same scene, somebody’s in trouble). Let’s not belabor the point any further: THE GODFATHER PART II is indeed a masterpiece, one that manages to add to its predecessor without suffering in the process. Very few sequels can manage that, and none of them match up to the standards Coppola set with this one-two punch about the Mafia. I don’t know that I’d want to see them again, as I’m still not enchanted with Mob flicks as a rule, but I’m glad I saw them at least once.