The Godfather, Part II

- Blurb -

Francis Ford Coppola' s The Godfather, Part II (1974) is a magisterial cinematic work, a gorgeous, stylized, auteur epic, and one of the few sequels judged by many to be greater than its predecessor. This despite the fact that it consists largely of meetings between aspiring ' Godfather' Michael Corleone and fellow gangsters, politicians and family members. The meetings remind us that the modern gangster' s success is built upon inside information and on strategic planning. Michael and his father Vito' s days resemble those of the legitimate businessmen they aspire or pretend to be. Jon Lewis' s study of Coppola' s masterpiece provides a close analysis of the film and a discussion of its cinematic and political contexts. It is structured in three sections: "The Sequel," "The Dissolve," and "The Sicilian Thing" - accommodating three avenues of inquiry, respectively: the film' s importance in and to Hollywood history, its unique, auteur style and form; and its cultural significance. Of interest, then, is New Hollywood history, mise-en-scene, and a view of the Corleone saga as a cautionary capitalist parable, as a metaphor of the corruption of American power, post-Vietnam, post-Watergate.