I have to admit that while I had seen THE GODFATHER maaaaaany years ago, I have never seen
THE GODFATHER PART II until now.
I was so intrigued by the first that I figured I'd give it a go.
it's a long movie and I could give it a long review, but I'd rather try at least to just freeform a few quick impressions.
1. if I had to be confined to one space for the rest of my life, I would chose
FREDO'S SUNROOM
2. SPEAKING OF FREDO,
JOHN CAZALE is amazing in this film. I'm surprised he did not get a nomination for supporting actor, I really have to say, if we have to speak in terms of superlatives, his is the best performance in the film.
3. I don;t think I've ever realized how
DEADLY HANDSOME DE NIRO was at the start of his career, ALSO, I enjoyed how he sort of retroactively worked to salvage BRANDO'S work in the previous film (I know some would say "homage") he was an absolute MOVIE STAR.
4. I kept pausing and replaying
the ITALY scenes in this and in THE FIRST FILM so I could check out the different plants- I spotted FOUR O'CLOCKS and (I think) GLADIOLUS and IRIS and OLEANDER and PRICKLY PEAR but was especially surprised to see some lovely HOLLYHOCKS- which were prominent in the scene where DE NIRO disembowels the dude who killed his family and then has a shootout. IT WAS also fascinating to see how they restored the garden from the first movie to the second.
5. I'm glad that whoever STYLED THE LADIES HAIR did not do to DIANE KEATON what they did on the first film. Lord, do I ever understand her bangs now.
6. I did not know that
MICHAEL V. GAZZO was the same guy from AN EPISODE OF COLUMBO I saw where he played THE VICTIM. He is
a DAMNED HOOT, I don't know HOW he did THAT THING where HE SEEMS AT ALL TIME TO HAVE A DEMON SPEAKING THROUGH HIM or maybe HE'S DUBBED IN A JAPANESE ANIME, because he his this wild quality of speaking...Man, if this guy read THE EVENING NEWS i would tune in EVERY NIGHT.