― kephm, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:53 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:53 (9 years ago) Permalink
― dyson (dyson), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:57 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:15 (9 years ago) Permalink
― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:20 (9 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, right?
― ModJ (ModJ), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:23 (9 years ago) Permalink
― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:27 (9 years ago) Permalink
― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:56 (9 years ago) Permalink
Even though I know the first is supposed to be the greatest film of all time and everything, I just have no desire to see it, but I can't figure out why.
― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:59 (9 years ago) Permalink
― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 04:05 (9 years ago) Permalink
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 04:18 (9 years ago) Permalink
― kephm (kephm), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:47 (8 years ago) Permalink
― kephm (kephm), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:50 (8 years ago) Permalink
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:51 (8 years ago) Permalink
― kephm (kephm), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:54 (8 years ago) Permalink
― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:00 (8 years ago) Permalink
― kephm (kephm), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:04 (8 years ago) Permalink
― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:05 (8 years ago) Permalink
― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:10 (8 years ago) Permalink
In Part II: I always liked the end of Frankie Five Angels with Tom in the prison yard.
― Jimmy Mod, Man About Towne (ModJ), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:03 (8 years ago) Permalink
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 27 August 2004 21:48 (8 years ago) Permalink
― Monetizing Eyeballs (diamond), Friday, 27 August 2004 21:49 (8 years ago) Permalink
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 28 August 2004 17:30 (8 years ago) Permalink
the deniro bits are straightforward enough. childlike, really.
but can anyone come out here and explain the rest of it?
there are two brothers michael is trying to shake down in vegas? and hyman roth is in cahoots with them, possibly? but hyman claims to be on michael's side?
they try to kill michael, and try to pin it on the old guy back from new york.
and then they try to kill that old guy, and tell him it's on michael's orders (this is confusing, because maybe it is michael!).
er, and at some undisclosed point the feds investigate the corleone family and they have to go to court.
i think i would have liked a godfather 1.5, in which vito and mo green (=bugsy siegel?) and hyman roth build up their empire of crime. i guess roth is coming out of chicago?
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 09:49 (7 years ago) Permalink
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 11:59 (7 years ago) Permalink
Brando's performance is mostly hammy crap. And if you ever see I in a theater, Diane Keaton's assorted hairstyles draw gales of laughter.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 14:51 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 14:52 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:04 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:08 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:10 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:25 (7 years ago) Permalink
Not compared to III!
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:27 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:30 (7 years ago) Permalink
does "ham" mean "jew"?
kidding.
I loved Strasberg in 2, the scene where he's talking about Moe Green (Siegel), not getting a plaque and all that...
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:43 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:43 (7 years ago) Permalink
right, but don corleone isn't a funny, warm, or human kinda guy.
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:47 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:49 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:49 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:51 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:53 (7 years ago) Permalink
Coppola himself says he could've done a smarter, more polished job on the first one (much of which he shot under rumor of being imminently fired).
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:57 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:02 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:08 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:38 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:41 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:54 (7 years ago) Permalink
Also, his performance in the film is overrated anyway! Oh noes, DeNiro learnt Eyetalian!!! Oh noes! FILM OF TEH YEAR! etc. If he learnt Eyetalian, got fat, and shaved a mohawk into his head, now you'd be talking.
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:56 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:57 (7 years ago) Permalink
see, i think the tv version (which arranges everything chronologically) basic saps out all the lyricism from part 2. also this is a bit of an idiosyncratic reading, but i always imagined that the flashbacks in part 2 were Michael's romantic imaginings of his father's rise, hence the final flashback which does seem to be Michael's memory.
― ryan, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
it's not very romantic, though! papa corleone is pretty much a thug.is the video game worth playing? it was supposed to incorporate some weird brando resurrection technology.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
Ryan's interpretation is interesting--I've never heard that proposed before.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
i've been meaning to revisit them myself -- tbh i've always found them a little hard to love, as great as they certainly are.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, May 1, 2012 5:25 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i completely agree, but it's hard to avoid them if you're teaching a class.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
I thought the second one was "objectively" the better one, in the sense that it's got qualities most critics prefer: less pulpy, slower, emphasis on chiaroscuro, foreign languages.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
i guess the game is not so good:'They never asked me if I thought it was a good idea. I went and I took a look at what it was ... What they do is they use the characters everyone knows and they hire those actors to be there and only to introduce very minor characters. And then for the next hour they shoot and kill each other. I had absolutely nothing to do with the game and I disapprove. I think it's a misuse of the film.'
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
hard to agree that de niro's corleone is presented as a thug, tbh.
― Newsy of the Worldy (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
Youth lends a certain glamor to thuggery. Also, golden, suffusing light.
― Aimless, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
in the context of the story more effort is arguably put into making his descent into violence understandable or sympathetic than in justifying much or all of the other violence we see?
― Newsy of the Worldy (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
imyo
― Newsy of the Worldy (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
vito's or michael's descent?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Lots of shots of Vito and his family enjoying their company (to emphasize their father's love) and bitter at their poverty so that the audience accepts why he chose crime. Also: the local obese white-suited Italian boss is made a sleaze compared to hollow-cheeked taciturn Vito.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
yep, and the backstory from the old country etc also.
― Newsy of the Worldy (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
Vito's whole shtick since Part I is that family absolves all sins, but i dunno if the audience is meant to buy it, except to the extent that Michael destroys his family.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
and to the extent that Michael even loves his family.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 23:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
Watched I and II over the weekend.
I - I adore Brando, not so much his delivery but all the small things he does to add color to Vito. The way he casually brushes off Solazzo's pants at the sit-down, that opening scene with the cat...he feels like a real person, somehow? I read Kael's review and I like the thing she said about how Brando internalizes all of the power of the Don. It's like his violent past is buried deep in his old man soul so you can feel his power just by him being in the room. And the quietness of Pacino just gets me. He's so measured and good in the beginning, and then measured and ready, and tough; and then measured and calculating.
II - I've only seen it once before. I def found the details of the story a lot more confusing, especially the Roth connections and the double-play Michael was making about his suspicions on who shot him up at Tahoe...but the DeNiro scenes were fantastic. And the way it was like the thread you were watching going forwards with DeNiro, by contrast wtih Pacino it's like even though he's building that empire you're seeing him lose everything that Vito gained. All through I, Vito is surrounded by associates and family and friends adn everyone is so close to him, the parties seem like huge extended families...but Michael has everyone on a pending kill list, even his own family. I have been thinking a lot about what exactly it was that bred that impulse in Michael, as though he misinterpreted the shooting of his father as a call to arms to shoot everyone who crossed his path from then on.
The last couple of scenes of II really slayed me though. That table scene with Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie and I'm kind of teary just on the weight of seeing them all alive again, lol. And then Michael staring out at the lake alone at that big mansion.
Oh, and I adore the score. Adore it. Maybe moreso in I than II though. I it was much more noticeable, felt much more like a radio melodrama with its musical cues.
sorry for the blather I've just had it in my head all day and had to get it out!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 20 August 2012 21:13 (9 months ago) Permalink
It was only over many viewings that that most of the details in II started to fall in place--there are probably still a couple that I couldn't fully explain. (E.g.: Why does Michael go off on Pentangeli the way he does during his "In my home" tirade? He seems to have made up his mind by that point that it was Roth who set him up, not Pentangeli.) My favourite line from the flashback dinner scene: "Talked to my father about my future? My future."
― clemenza, Monday, 20 August 2012 21:29 (9 months ago) Permalink
YES. That killed me.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 20 August 2012 21:39 (9 months ago) Permalink
I loved Fredo's speech in the chair to Michael too, the one you said some of the kids in your class performed upthread; the way he's flailing around helplessly in that stupid chair while simultaneously pleading for respect was hilarious and sad.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 20 August 2012 21:41 (9 months ago) Permalink
Coppola notepad
http://cinephilearchive.tumblr.com/post/39323234557
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 13:35 (4 months ago) Permalink
I really think evidence that Coppola even fleetingly considered the Indian chief from "F Troop" for Don Corleone to be p significant.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 16:49 (4 months ago) Permalink
TS: Anthony Zerbe as Sonny Corleone vs. Anthony Zerbe as Tom Hagen
― Gollum: "Hot, Ready and Smeagol!" (Phil D.), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 16:53 (4 months ago) Permalink
I didn't realize Zerbe was in his mid 30s at the time, always seemed older.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 16:54 (4 months ago) Permalink
The theatre where I saw II last night was giving these out at the door:
I'm sure this has been raised many times, but I'd never thought about how puzzling the timeline is jumping from II to III. II ends sometime after 1958--within a year, say. III is set in 1979. Mary is around, what, 6 or 7 in II? That'd make her late 20s in III. But isn't Sofia Coppola supposed to be 18 or 19 in III? Or am I mixing up the actress's age with the character's?
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:27 (3 months ago) Permalink
yeah that whole thing did my head in, I had to stop thinking about it
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:31 (3 months ago) Permalink
Literally the first time I'd ever thought about it, primarily because I try never to think about III.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:37 (3 months ago) Permalink
did you know today was the day don michael corleone traveled forward in time to die on at the end of godfather 3?
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:46 (3 months ago) Permalink
I watched them back to back a while ago (or at least, within a day or two of each other)...such a bad idea.
You need a xanax to deal wtih the transition
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:47 (3 months ago) Permalink
I did II and III within a couple of days of each other too. It's interesting to see up close just what happens to the functioning of it all when you tear out the European art film element and replace it wholesale with a US soap element.
― hot young stalin (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 13 February 2013 02:56 (3 months ago) Permalink
It took me a good hour to stop saying GAH! MY EYES
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 February 2013 02:58 (3 months ago) Permalink
i really loved III when i saw it at the movies. but i was 15 and i was so damned in love with sofia coppola. can't face seeing it again.
― SOYLENT GREEN IS SHEEPLE (stevie), Wednesday, 13 February 2013 08:33 (3 months ago) Permalink