In the always fascinating movie business, not everybody can bear extreme success. Passed a certain point it can be more damageable than failure, because it creates expectations no human being can live up to. That raises the following question : What about THE GODFATHER : PART II? Didn't it raise the stakes in every possible way? The legend of Francis Ford Coppola possibly benefited from this movie more than from anything else he's ever made. If THE GODFATHER was much, more more than a movie, THE GODFATHER : PART II is much, much more than a sequel. It makes the original looks like it's just and elaborate prologue for what's about to go down.
THE GODFATHER : PART II picks up a few years after Michael (Al Pacino) decided to move the family to Nevada, in an effort to insulate their business from the law *, follwing on his promise to his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) to become a legitimate businessman. In seven years, he has taken over two major hotels in Las Vegas and one in Reno and he is preparing a takeover of another hotel **. To do that, he needs the approval of a Floridian businessman named Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) an old partner of his father who wants a lot more than a simple cut of the action to agree to the takeover. He wants Michael in deep on a gigantic business deal that's about to go down in Havana. That deal is endangered when someone is attempting on Michael's life on the day of his son's first communion.
An interesting aspect of THE GODFATHER : PART II is that it reverses roles with the first installment. The viewer witnesses Vito's arrival to America and rise to power in a pre-war world where everything seemed a bit less complicated and it follows Michael at the height of his reign. It puts the accomplishements of the Corleone family in perspective and stresses how far both Vito and Michael have pulled their family. The movie also deals with the selfless nature of both Dons, as the viewer witnesses them take risks (both physical and emotional) and put their personal feelings aside for the greater good. You cannot get a more romanticized, tragedian portrait of a crime family, there are even direct allusions to the Roman empire and the traditions of antiquity. I'm sure it offended some people back then, I'm sure it still does today. But it's too good of a story to offend me.
Oh Fredo, FREDO!
An interesting symbol in THE GODFATHER : PART II is Michael' wife, Kay. I think we can all agree she isn't much more than a symbol? She represents his desire for the American Dream. The quiet American life with the wife, the kids and white picket fence. Kay obstinately refuses to acknowledge Michael's way of life and goes through great pain and sacrifices just to get back at him, for being who he is. Taken literally, Kay's actions are silly, übermoral and make her a thoroughly sexist character, yet Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo were too smart to fall into this trap. Kay is the embodiment of Michael's inner struggle. Of the life he wants being ill-fitting to who he is.
My favorite part of THE GODFATHER : PART II (and I believe somebody's favorite part) is Michael's relationship to his older brother Fredo (John Cazale). It is perhaps the most tragedian aspect of the movie. I believe it is the perfect embodiement of the relationship of the characters to its audience that I discussed in my review of THE GODFATHER. Fredo is blinded by his desire for power and respect. He has always been perceived as the weak link of the three Corleone sons, yet he was always benevolently taken care of and implicated in the family's business. Fredo is starved for power and respect, but he doesn't understand the selfless nature the job demands. It creates tensions between Michael and him, because Fredo perceives whatever Michael does as a personal power play. The relationship between the two surviving Corleone brothers is nothing short of fascinating.
I tried not to spoil anything in case you've been living under a rock for the last thirty years and haven't watched the Godfather movies. It's that good. THE GODFATHER and THE GODFATHER : PART II forever changed the perception of the outlaw for the American public, who had to choose between Jesse James and the Boogeyman before the Corleone family came along. They are smart, funny, loving and more important, they have jobs, live among us and look like us. The way they fiercely defend each other and what they have appeal to the best of our instincts. They are criminals, they kill people, yet we can't help but love them. They have changed our culture, forever altered and romanticized the way we perceive criminality as a society. They are the birth of modern, mainstream crime fiction.
* The family has always operated illegal gambling rings in New York.
** More or less identified as the Tropicana.