Never before in the history of cinema has a movie won best picture at the Academy Awards and then had it’s sequel win best picture. That was the case until THE GODFATHER PART 2 Won Best Picture in 1975. While many look at THE GODFATHER films as being all part of one big movie, much like THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, part two and three of THE GODFATHER films stand on their own in my opinion. The question that is the most hardest one of all to answer is which film is better part one or part two.
THE GODFATHER PART TWO tells two different stories about a father and son and how they rose to power and became the head of the most powerful crime family of all time. The film starts out with the story of “Don” Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) and how he came over to America as an immigrant orphan boy at the age of nine after his parents and brother were murdered by an Italian Gangster. It tells the tale of his life in America and how he became the cities most loved crime boss. The other story is of his son’s rise to power. Michael Corleone is now the new “Don” of the Corleone crime family and now lives in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He is a successful business man and owns a few casinos in the state. The movie is basically the story of both men’s rise to power and the trials and tribulations that each man had to go though to get the power they earned to be the most respected and feared crime bosses.
THE GODFATHER PART TWO may seem a bit more slower than the original film, but it still holds it’s own as a masterpiece right nest to the first film. It’s a film that shows us the origin of Vito Corleone whom Marlon Brando played in the first film as the older, much wiser “Don” and the character is played by a young Robert De Niro in this film growing up in Italy as a boy and fleeing to America and starting off as a poor man and becoming a rich and powerful one. In retrospect Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is also growing into his father’s role and the story tells the relationship between them when Michael was a kid, to how he grew up to be his father successor, but at the same time how he becomes more of a selfish person than his father was. The script is great, another true masterpiece by writer Mario Puzo and Director Francis Ford Coppela.
Just like the first film, The acting is one of it’s crowning achievements. While Al Pacino was nominated for an Oscar in the best actor category this time, he still did not win, despite another great performance as Michael Corleone. Robert De Niro on the other hand took home his first Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as Vito Corleone. The films supporting cast was full of some old faces such as Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in one of his last performances before he passed away. Diane Keaton as Kay, Michael’s wife; and Talia Shire as Connie Corleone. The film also stars Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth, a Jewish crime boss who was friends with Vito Corleone and G.D. Spradlin as the sneaky Senator Pat Geary. It’s a cast that performs very well together and even the characters in other supporting roles help round out the cast.
The production value is probably the best thing about this film. It honestly had me wondering if the budget was bigger for part two than it was for part one. It was actually on thirteen million, more than double of the original film which only cost six million to make. The thing with the second film is the back story takes place in the early 1900’s up though the depression era of the 1930’s. The set design looks so realistic and the costume design is so well done, that one can’t help but sit back ad take in the feel of actually being there in the film during that time period. The film did go on to win the Oscar for set design and art direction, but came up short in the costume design category losing out to THE GREAT GATSBY.
In all THE GODFATHER PART TWO won twice as many Academy Awards than the first film did with a total of six awards, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Music: Original Dramatic Scene, Best Director, and Art Direction. It’s no wonder its an issue that can be argued among film critics and fans as to which film is better, the first on or art two. I personally can’t chose, as corny as that sounds I like them both equally. I don’t think you can watch the first film, without wanting to go on and watch the second one right away.
THE GODFATHER PART 2 DVD comes in the box set or can be bought separately. Your best bet is to buy the box set. All three films are part of the Coppola Restoration box set. It comes with all three films with the original directors commentary, and a two disc supplements DVD, which includes all the goodies related to the making of all three GODFATHER films. The supplements discs come with all the original behind the scenes footage, additional scenes, Filming locations, Corleone Family Tree, The music of THE GODFATHER, Historical timeline, profiles on the filmmakers as well as Photos and storyboards. The second disc. is full of all new features such as The world of THE GODFATHER, a featurette titled The Masterpiece that Almost Wasn’t; When Shooting Stopped, Emulsional Rescue Revealing THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER on the red Carpet, and four short films on THE GODFATHER. This is a must own set for not only fans of the GODFATHER Films but for aspiring filmmakers.
Like I said in my review for THE GODFATHER, many would not consider these film to be horror films, but they are thrillers that do contain real life horrors that human beings deal with everyday. Organized crime takes many lives each year, and it’s only escalated worse as times goes by. I was watching a television program a few month back where a real life mafia member still in jail for his crimes back in the day, said that the so called gangsters of today are not real gangsters, they are thugs who are more like animals than real men. The gangsters of the past were respectful, they never killed unless it needed to be done, and they never took there anger out on another man’s family. They took care of their families and gave them all they could have ever wanted and they never, ever hit or disrespected their wives. What the second film does is show us how that respectfulness changes with time and how the gangsters of the past, who were breaking the law, but keeping business as business, was the foundation that would lead to the angry gangsters of today. THE GODFATHER PART TWO in a way shows that bridge, but showing how Don Vito Corleone was a well respected gangster and how his son Michael grew to be vengeful in his business. It a tale that shows that violence and greed get worse with each generation.
– Horror Bob
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