The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 74

Page 74, The Citizen, Ottawa, Saturday, Dec. 21. 1974 IT Coup for Coppola Godfather II, more than a sequel ft i I tew J( 7 i j'Tv An Event ill 181 41 IlifflE-Iiill iilKDI-ilEiii'iiiii'iM MITTUn MIC IT KOOUCtOMBWMCItOir IUCUTIW MO00MJ Miam-iMMdiiiii-ji mm m-mm ma i 1 ltd 2 THE GODFATHER PART 11 Produced Mod directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Al Padao, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro and Lee' Stmberg By Noel Taylor It obviously wasn't con- sidered to be much of a gamble to make some kind of followup to the enormously successful Francis Ford Coppola, the producerdirector who also worked on the screen-. play with author Mario Puzo took some time to be convinced however that any such sequel was neces-I sary at all.

His response to the challenge, once accepted, has been to produce not simply a continuation, but a prelude as well to extend the original in both directions and to explore in much greater depth the corruption of absolute power. It is a responsibility he does not undertake lightly. Godfather II is a much more sombre, more sub- stantial film that its pre-- decessor, an agonized con- temptation of the dilemma of Michael Corleone as he sees both his official Fa- mily and his personal one collapse around him. Godfather Al Pacino and son: a breakdown in the family needed his father's assur-'a nee now sternly bestows it, granting favors and taking life. When his friend and confidante Tom Hagen (played again by Robert Duvall) questions the necessity of more killing for the sake of revenge, Michael tells him: "If history has taught us one thing, it is that you can kill (So have these two Only when his wife threatens to take away the one family that generates any emotional response in him, does the crack.

It is a massively controlled performance. Death in the new film when it arrives is still a ritual killing. Coppola eases up on the quantity without diluting the ferocity of execution and frankly, there is no avoiding the necessity for it. Godfather II loses something in excitement because of its length, but sheer size makes it a more ambitious work. By bringing it close to the present day and digging deeper into its roots, Coppola has come up with a much more definitive explanation of the unique institution which dominates so much of the world's crime.

There will obviously be no need for a Part Three. PLAYERS and 20TH CENTURY COAST IN CANADA The occasion this time is his son's first communion to which he has invited politicians' and local upper crust. It is, by design, a tatty and much less exuberant affair than the Italian wedding party which launched the first Godfather. His first film In the course of his subsequent career, Michael calls on Cuba where the Castro revolution bursts in great depth to a part which might have been no more than a figurehead. In the centre of this crushing conflict, pounded by personal and public pressure and the ever-present prospect of violent death, Al Pacino dominates with a menacing presence which betrays nothing but impregnable By now there is no bint of remorse, or even doubt.

The son, who once had on his carefully laid plans for business expansion, and on Miami where he comes up against Hyman Roth, the outsider who remotely controls a rival crime syndicate. Roth is played by Lee Strasberg, the Actors studio head, who was persuaded into making his first film by Pacino himself a veritable scoop for Coppola. Strasberg's style, at once intense and credibly subdued gives I XU I I I I FEATURE AT: 2.00 4.30 7.00 S.SO CHRISTMAS OAY ONLY AT: 7.00 0.30 P.M. ADULTS $3.28 YOUTHS $2.71 (Mdtr 18 yrtl CHILDREN (mfcr 14) $1.00 SENIOR CITIZENS $1.00 F. if.

1 I iralTfHl ILJIL. I Oft "ODSCJA Srd NIT DRIVI-IN ONLY T3CFCC3" RrtrtATpmrifUO DMVI-tNOftNSTPJL GIFT CERTIFICATES NOW ON SALE AT ALL FAMOUS THEATRES COAST TO sm a I nQicsirii'T i i 'IST DOORS OPINDAttY: 1.00 I WW Iff PIATURE AT: 1.10, 420, i A BJ! TWrttitMt I A I No interval In the course of its three and a half hours I (without an interval) it covers a lot of ground and three generations from the arrival of the or-. phaned Vito Corleone in New York in 1901 to the Senate hearings of the early '60s into organized crime. Copolla's decision to es tablish and examine the climate of revenge which conditioned the young Vito in Sicily is one of the successes of the new production. So is Robert de Niro (from Mean Streets), a young actor who subtly slips into the role of apprentice godfather rescuing old widows in Little Italy from unscrupulous landlords by slyly making his first unrefusable offer.

De Niro even succeeds in giving birth to the husky accents which Marlon Brando perpetuated in the earlier film as the older Vito. Coppola reintroduces his audiences to Michael Corleone, dourly savoring the luxurious life at his estate on Lake Tahoe, Nevada, five years after he has assumed control of the Family. mm 1 I1 17 M. I OudOsT aHEMA 2 MMK'aUIM OMM NO RESERVED SEATS SORRYI FREE LIST SUSPENDED mm njimm wnm TI liM riKSffii 3D 'ISlfc- fee EEfenHfj Wi' 15HHD TODAY ONEMA 1 1.30-0.00-1.30 X7 a iic ciiicridiiiincm that loves a lot. If and lives a lot, and gives and gives and gives a lot.

6 Wypi ls I IfS trV NOW THROIMH THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS! i I if Ym raMP SMOwT aTzjN JANS Produced by CRAWLEY FILMS Eojtr Producer RCRAWLEY (- tl ill 11 4.1S-SJS SJ0 PJL I OnxtrfEditdbyHOwAIOAlXarrfSEAlDNFIN I I 1 1 IEXCEPT CWRtSTHAS OAY) i TECHNICOLOff A CRAWLEY FILMS RELEASE I Robert De Niro yvV 1 -J o-HQj I fapressnr as Vito 1 vr, IK I UAtlS, iZj I "zzaar uu u.11, 7.11 I FAIRFIELD. Me. (AP)B I tsa'AJUtM I Abl 700 r. I XCybLctCyL 7l I dren will not be eating I v. I I rjji C31 113 BUS.

I rthc traditional Christmas 1 I rr 'turkey dinner 'at South i '1 rieca turkeys, weighing a I ,1 1 'f of snore than 200 1 I p. i 1 were stolen from 1 1 XV( V. tht scSjqoI this week. CD I CT wll" 1 outyinjBStr 1 44EkXOUUA ttARSOTIOOKX I -u A STANLEY DONEN FILM OF LERNES AND LOEWFS THEIJITLEElIINCE Produced and Directed by STANLEY TJONEN a p.fc.nwib. Savenptaraod Lyrics by ALAN JAY LEJLNEX Mwic by FEDdlCK LCLTTE THE UTTLE WSCC Aa STARTS JZX3CAY ittussAtata ujiLspm.