The Godfather Part II 1974

The Film:

So here we go. The ongoing debate - Is this the best sequel of all time? (possibly) Is it even better than the first installment? (very much not so, in my opinion). Is it really as good as people say it is.....

Well, it still remains (technically) the only sequel to have won Best Picture - although Peter Jackson sort of spoilt that when the third part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy took the big prize. It is currently ranked third on IMDb - just behind Part 1, with both of them a whisker behind the mighty Shawshank (which I will return to in twenty films' time....)

I've seen this film a fair few times and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I like it far more than Andy did when I first showed it to him (and he was very disappointed by it) but I'm very much more a fan of the first one and would even go as far as to suggest (controversially) that this one only got the number of awards that it did in order to make up for Fosse and co swiping several of them first time round.

The Ceremony:

As the poster says, the ceremony was held on Tuesday April 8th. It was at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion again and was presented by - wait for it - Bob Hope! Along with Shirley McLaine, Sammy Davis Jr and Frank Sinatra. That's one hell of a line up - just watch the finale below! (sponsored by Ernest and Julio Gallo among others!)

This year holds the distinction of being the only time that all nominees for one award were from the same studio (Costume Design - dominated by Paramount.)

It is also the last time to date that one film has had three nominations in the same acting category - in this case De Niro fought off competition from Lee Strasberg (who didn't do much in my opinion, but don't get me started....) and Michael V Gazzo (a much more worthy contender!).

Other Notable Winners That Night:

A handful of Oscars - do you think he called them
Sonny, Michael and Fredo?

Having had to share the spoils with Cabaret two years earlier, tonight was Francis' night. He personally took three - for Film, Director and Screenplay - putting him in a select group who have done the "auteur triple" (a name I've just come up with!). A fair few films have won these three awards, but all three have only been given to the same person in the same year on seven occasions. We've seen two so far (Leo McCarey and Billy Wilder). Film buffs might be able to guess one of the other four (ok, I guessed!) but I'm surprised by the others (there's one in the 80s, two in the 00s and one in the 10s!)

Although the family pretty much cleaned up, three of the four acting awards went elsewhere - to Art Carney (seeing off Nicholson, Pacino and Hoffman!), Ellen Burstyn and Ingrid Bergman - winning her third Oscar 40 years after her first.

Best Song:

Remember Maureen McGovern going down with the ship singing the Oscar winner two years ago (last time The Godfather won)? This time she's been hired for the opening of The Glass Tower (the one that very quickly becomes an Inferno!). Seriously people, stop hiring Maureen McGovern to sing at your events!

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Ouch - that nose!

A real mix of films in contention this year. Fosse was back with "Lenny", but didn't manage to rain on Francis' parade again this time. "The Towering Inferno" was also nominated - unusually for that type of blockbuster-disaster movie, but it is a particularly fine example of the genre. Coppola was actually nominated twice as producer, with his other nomination coming for "The Conversation". All of them fine films with very fine casts! None of them were ever really likely to cause an upset, but if there was a runner-up prize it would probably have gone to Polanski's "Chinatown", which was joint-most-nominated film that year and is still highly regarded today (despite the current status of its director!). It's a long time since I saw Chinatown. I need to watch it again....

Our Verdict:

Beautiful iconic shot!

Vito and Clemenza, off to find a new carpet.....

 I know I'm going to upset a few people with this one, but the fact remains. I don't think Part 2 is anywhere near as good as Part 1. Maybe it's because the first one stands on its own, but the second one needs you to know the first one. Maybe its because the Michael sections of the second one get needlessly complicated with too many characters and situations - or maybe its because the Vito sections are so good I just keep waiting to get back to them. I've now seen this film nearly as many times as I've seen the original and I still don't love it the way that other fans of the series do.

It's all going to end in tears!

Robert De Niro is by far the best thing in the film and he thoroughly deserved his Oscar (far more than Brando did for playing the same character two years previously). He hardly utters a word of English and yet, even for those of us with very limited Italian, we are able to pick up every nuance and inflection in what he's saying, even as we read the subtitles. He's also amazing at reproducing many of the vocal characteristics and other distinctive tics that Brando gave to the older Vito, without ever actually doing an impression of him. As I said before, the Vito parts of the story are superbly done and, for me, are what makes this film great. Some people prefer to watch the whole saga chronologically, and with the chopping about that goes on here between Vito and Michael I can see the appeal - but watching young Vito with the hindsight of what he becomes adds such rich layers to both the acting and the storytelling.

This, however, is only half of the film, and I'm not as impressed with the other parts, which follow Michael as head of the Family in the late 50s. There's a lot going on and Michael's character - and his gradual rise/fall (however you want to look at it) - is developed really well. The continuing bad decisions from Fredo and the predicaments of Frankie Pentangeli (and the fates of both of them) keep the 50s story going for me, but I keep waiting for the timeline to shift back to young Vito, which sort of spoils things for me.

The birth of a Dynasty.

I'm also disappointed that more wasn't done with Diane Keaton (who had one great dramatic scene and really that was it) and Talia Shire (who was nominated for an Oscar for, basically, having a new hair-do and whingeing a bit). Two good actresses on the rise (we'll see both of them again this decade) and they had very little to do....(I know, be careful what you wish for - Sophia Coppola isn't quite the actress that her aunt is!)

I'm probably sounding far too negative in my review here. This is a great film. If you watch it alongside the first Godfather film, then that's probably the best six and a half hours of cinematic storytelling that's out there - and the time will fly by. However, in comparison to what is possibly the greatest film ever (not my favourite, but the greatest), the sequel falls a little short for me.