TS: Godfather vs Godfather II

Did you catch Danny Aiello?

No! Goddamnit, now I need to watch it again.

I didn't know who Danny Aiello was the first few times I saw the film (no one did), but after Moonstruck, I probably watched it another half-dozen times before picking him out. (It's a speaking part and a memorable line.)

i have new fav moments in OG Godfather each time I watch. lately it's watching Willie Cicci chillin, gettin a shave, right before plugging Cuneo. and Clemenza sayin "oh Pauly...you ain't gonna see him no more"

also never realized that actor was the main character in Maniac o_O

The more time goes by, the more I'm convinced that the first film is the only good one. Part II has its moments, but it is hugely overrated.

weirdly I had the opposite trajectory, considering it overrated for a while and now loving it almost as much

video at first link

https://thefilmstage.com/news/watch-francis-ford-coppola-and-the-godfather-cast-reunite-in-80-minute-tribeca-panel/

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/the-godfather-tribeca-reunion

wow I started a thread on ILE

The number of people who side with Michael over Kay during Part II's abortion fight astounds me.

Well, by people, I mean YouTube commenters, so I guess I withdraw the observation.

Probably just real good Catholics.

I remember reading Rex Reed's Godfather II review in the NY Daily News when it came out (I had just seen the first on TV). He singled out that scene for praise, and it now seems to me the clunkiest scene in the film.

So, Rex Reed, off the mark for half a century.

OVA!

when AMC showed the chronological Saga in 2012, there were credits sequences for each 'episode' that featured footage not seen for decades on tv, dvd or anywhere. some of it from footage from the jettisoned final hour-or-so of GFII which was set in the 60s; Micheal walking in the woods with a teenage Anthony, having dinner with Connie etc. tiny bits of footage which of course i'm sure 99.9% of people couldn't give a toss about but it was all news to me.

https://christopherpierznik.com/2016/04/18/some-of-my-favorite-deleted-scenes-from-the-godfather-films/

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/47rX31mjEVo/hqdefault.jpg

I spent a day watching that thing when it dropped on HBO. As with Apocalypse's Redux, I'm apparently cool with Coppola plugging as much extra footage into his classics as he sees fit. It's a shame that it might not ever see a home video release.

that was fredo?! in the boat? he didn't have a tache! plus he disowned him about 30mins prev. I don't get it.
― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, March 16, 2004 2:00 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

still the most baffling post ITT

False fred

"I killed my mother's son after he shaved" - Godfather III

this was put together by a friend of ours who teaches at Berkeley, with the heavy lifting done by undergrad students. Dozens of different aspects of the film covered in a publication workshop.

http://theseventies.berkeley.edu/godfather/

fab! thanks

In 2006, EA released "The Godfather" for PS2, Xbox and PC. (See The Godfather )

Most everyone, including Brando, allowed their likenesses to be used in the game except for one major character. Can you figure out who wouldn't sign the release?

https://i.imgur.com/VlI7o0F.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/cI1r4fw.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hwbn2r6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Ntw5sJu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/a0EcMEk.jpg

^LOL

Still trying to guess? Here's another shot of Michael.

https://i.imgur.com/YopnmXS.jpg

Whoever it was, I heard he was being tough on the negotiations.

es un teléfono de oro macizo

i recently discovered that in the many non-canon Godfather novels published post-Puzo, there is one that has Michael befriending JFK (by another name) in their youth because their fathers are both bootleggers.

The guy does become president, but is shot in Miami, not Dallas.

Maybe Tarantino should buy the rights.

Heard a radio promo for an upcoming show by Gianni Russo at a casino in Niagara Falls. "You know him from The Godfather"--well, not immediately, had to look up the name. It's Carlo! Tempted to go, just so I can walk up to him at some point and say, "You have to answer for Santino, Carlo."

http://www.fallsviewcasinoresort.com/entertainment/event/gianni-russo

Just don't tell him your username.

I served as godfather for my friend's son's baptism today. I'm a devout non-churchgoer, so we had to, uh, finesse the paperwork a bit.

Anyway, I had to suppress a giggle when I was asked if I renounce Satan. Tomorrow, I settle all family business.

What I really wanted to do was give the Pentangeli answer:

"Do you renounce Satan and all his works?"

"Yeah...sure."

http://www.stinque.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/pentangeli-480x220.jpg

I had the VHS of the Godfather epic and its the one that I know.

it turns the whole thing into a sprawling dynasty tale to be enjoyed over consecutive nights... the third doesn't even seem as bad, when you dont see the joins between each film... (although its pretty obvious when we hit no.3)

Madness that its not available on DVD/Blu-Ray!

I think its available in the US on streaming, but never managed to get a VPN to make it work.

this lockdown has me jonesing for a big sprawling well made epic to take up a few evenings.

Have at it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Z9H9mG-SI

dexter fletcher directing intrigues me but part of me is kinda cringing at how this could go?

will give it a go though

Begs for an actual documentary.

One of my go-to lines is, "Tell Mike it was only business. I always liked him."

Begs for an actual documentary.

I read the Harlan Lebo making-of book many years ago, and there are definitely amazing stories there, but trying to dramatize it...I even bailed on the trailer when I heard "It's a metaphor for the American dream." The guy does look like Robert Evans, I'll give him that.

Probably get more mileage out of this treatment for De Palma’s Scarface.

I always have the same problem with shit like this & Being the Ricardos: "Oh no, will they be successful at making The Godfather??"

This could be terrible, yet I'm intrigued.

Lou Ferrigno as Lenny Montana is pretty good casting

I had to check to see if that was really him, my goodness he has aged well

update

it is very dumb, often insists on repurposing lines from the movie in different contexts like WE GET IT. PLEASE DON’T DO THAT. also we’re 4 eps in, already up to 4 cannoli references. STAHP.

Michael Goode is great as Robert Evans,
Dan Fogler’s Coppola also great, Burn Gorman does a nice Bluhdorn. The movie-specific story is engaging even with annoying biopic exposition, but there’s a lot of sidestory w Italian American League that is tedious, and Ruddy’s lovelife storyline is kinda deadweight imo.

It’s based on “Albert Ruddy’s experiences making the Godfather” which is weirdly specific & so he takes credit for pretty much everything short of the weather bc everyone else on the studio side is dead & cant sue him. Plus he’s 92 so i guess he wants his flowers.

I am kinda enjoying it now that I have accepted that it is kinda trash, sorta like a vh1 biopic. Hard not to get sucked into the story though bc hey, it’s thd Godfather yknow?

oh and Juno Temple is great, maybe my favorite

is there a scene i'm forgetting or looking at my phone during or something where michael and carlo interact at all between michael's return from sicily and their confrontation during/after the baptism? the structure of 1 is so solid and every little ironic turn (the undertaker payoff-- a weakened don having to buy peace by locking his remaining children into the drug business he fears-- michael's "escape" in sicily and his dreamlike trad marriage only knitting him deeper into the "thing" he will return to imprison kay in, both thru the ritual of the marriage itself and thru its vendetta-driven termination) is so carefully-even-mechanically set-up/paid-off, it is weird that this crime of michael's that is clearly meant to carry all this weight (summoning talia shire for her second big scene etc) doesn't seem to have anything balancing and leading towards it. i guess the sleight-of-mind is to encourage us to project our own feelings about connie/carlo/sonny onto michael, since we were actually there for the whole thing, and not on a different continent.

still prefer 2 for leaning into the epic qualities but 1 is v committed to being a perfect melodrama in a deliberately old-fashioned way that makes tiny questions like this diverting to me in a way they wouldn't be about a sloppier movie.

(not a "plot hole" question about like "why would michael want carlo dead"-- this is plain enough-- just feels like a missing floorboard that he never looks across a room at him and smolders silently or anything.)

Michael is such a genius mastermind that he didn't need to be there to figure out what happened.

yeah obviously he (and-- connie says-- everyone) suspects (and then he confirms). i'm not saying how did he know. it's just mostly the kind of movie where we would be able to see him knowing at some earlier point. 2 feels less of an obligation about this kind of thing.

I don't think there's any set-up for Michael ambushing Carlos at the end. I hadn't thought about it before your question, but now I'd say that's one of the reasons that last scene is so scary: it happens out of the blue.

it happens out of the blue

this is true-- a contrast, too, between his actual sudden murder (a decision of michael's) and the slow formal forseen see-off of abe vigoda (advice of the don's). modernist vs postmodernist godfathering

To me, this is the point: nothing gets past him and he is indeed settling ALL scores.