Yes, now that I have seen Godfather 2, I can admit to you that I had never seen it before. Pretty shameful. In fact, I haven’t seen the first Godfather since high school, so I may have to follow up with another viewing of that soon. Anyways, Godfather 2 is considered by IMDB voters to be the 3rd best movie ever. I don’t know if I’d go that far, though I did think it was a stunningly wonderful movie. Pacino brought a shrouded mood to every seen he was in, and John Cazale was terrific as Fredo. It was obvious that he was going to get whacked in the end, but it was still upsetting. The beauty of the film was that you hated just about every major character in the film at one time or another, and you sympathized with every major character at one time or another. I thought the only weakness of the film was the somewhat farfetched return to Italy to take out Don Ciccio. And I’m not sure I understood why Michael decision to go into the Marines at the end was so significant. Did I miss something? All in all, though, a wonderful film, and perhaps even my second favorite mob movie of all time. Goodfellas is still, in my mind, the best. A-
PREVIOUSLY IN THE CLASSIC MOVIE PROJECT: North by Northwest.
