The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 44

THE ARTS Wed, Dec. 18, 1974 4' 1 fee mW A grander and richer Godfather9 By Stanley Eichelbaum "The Godfather, Part II," 'which opens today at the Cor- onet and Stonestown, may not be the Second Coming that all the press coverage suggests. Yet it's a whale of a movie, more ambitious, bigger scaled and more rich-, ly textured than the first. Though by no means perfect, the sequel is impres- Mafia's ancient and pernicious hold on Italian family life in scenes laid at the start of the century, both in Sicily and in New York's Little Italy. These early episodes de sive as worthy as the original and, in some respects, better.

It's obviously the movie Francis Ford Coppola wanted to make in the first place, but couldn't because of budget limitations and studio pressure and interference, The Mafia, this time, is not only mentioned by name (the word was" avoided in the first film), but its deep-seated influence on the Italian social structure is brought out in the open. We are made aware of the pict the young manhood of Godfather Vito Corleone, who was Marlon Brando in Part One. He's now portrayed with effective vigor by Robert de Niro, speaking mostly in Sicijian dialect. We see him as a poor, jobless immigrant drifting into crime to support his growing family. By the time he's progressed to a position of power in the Mafia, he has ruthlessly murdered the competition and settled a vendetta with, a Sicilian godfather' who slew his parents and older brother.

Though slow to learn English, Vito picks up enough to spit out SHOP ALL 11 BIG EVERY NIGHT, MONDAY THRU SATURDAY TILL CHRISTMAS EVE SHOP SUNDAY 10 TO 6 RM. Now! Rida Bart direct to The Big El Use the Bart Powell St. entrance to The Emporium. Al Pacino shields wife Diane Keaton from an attack by Mafia rivals his famous euphemism, "I'll make him an offer he won't refuse," Vito's story is sketchy and formances by Lee Strasberg as a Jewish Mafia boss (pat "THE GODFATHER. PART II," Paramount release; produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola; screenrjlav bv CODOola and Mario Puzo, from Puzo's novel; photogra- ny dv uoraon wiiiis; music Dy lino Rota.

With Al Pacino. Rohert Duvall. Diana Keaton. Robert da Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, D.

Spradlin. Rated (for restricted audiences). A the Coronet and Stonestown. JLJL ton crumbles under him as he withdraws behind a self-protective shell. The flashbacks to Vito's early life include grandly staged episodes showing the colorful atmosphere of Little Italy half a century ago.

Gordon Willis' photography splendidly captures the shifting moods of the rambling story. And the cast is well chosen, with outstanding per- terned, after Meyer Lan-sky), G. D. Spradlin as a crooked U.S. Senator and Michael V.

Gazzo (author of "A Hatful of as a Mafia traitor. Despite its flaws, the new "Godfather" is a remarkable, rather engrossing movie. If the public hasn't tired, of the Mafia, it should be a -winner, like the first. Wa- 9 ft perhaps too melodramatically developed to contribute a great deal to the main nar. rative, which continues the career of Michael Corleone, the Godfather's son and successor.

The father's tale is used as background to parallel and crisscross the more interesting, if also melodramatic, events which draw Michael deeper and deeper into the morass of a Mafia existence. Michael is again played by Al Pacino on a fine, low-keyed note of cold resignation to family duty fraught sy-s I with inner anxiety about the portions of Puzo's sprawling novel. Their double-stranded narrative is quite defective, allowing for no sort of cohesive structure. The pace is often sluggish and too much confusion arises from the loose, disjointed exposition, so that it's sometimes impossible to follow the drift of the various deals, double crosses and blood feuds. But Coppola's intelligent direction makes this a most imaginative gangster movie, more humanly etched than the first and never gratuitously violent.

There's, a lavishly filmed sequence of a first-communion party for Michael's son at the young Godfather's Lake Tahoe estate. Like the wedding sequence in the previous film, it establishes Michael's status as a Mafia overlord and Exotic drinks and the finest Chinese food in San Francisco from 5 p.m. Dancing every night on the deck of our schooner to sounds of the islands. For reservations call tragic rum he's made of himself. The movie takes 3 hours and 20 minutes to bring Michael around to the realization which he more or less had at the end -of the first film of being buried alive in a lonely, deadly profession.

It also makes the same points as before about the Mafia as a metaphor for Only at the Fairmont if STEVE SILVER'S TONIGHT AT America. It correlates big- business corruption of power BEACH BLANKET BABYLON with organized crime and its incongruous traditions of re III lnnl A NfcW MUMLAL Ktvut HURRY! ENDS NEW YEAR'S EVE! spectability and family hon "a crazv-wholesome musical, clean as a I I I or. SANYO The length of the second "Godfather" is perhaps pre Wnisiie uui maa as a imiidi. -Stanley Eichelbaum, SF Examiner; unii cunm TIMCC tentious and unwarranted. paterfamilias, to whom family members come hand-kissing for favors.

We watch Michael trying to consolidate his Nevada empire (the time is the late 1950s) and acquire new ho-tel-and-gambling interests in Batista's Cuba. Meanwhile, his marriage to Diane Kea Good-looking gifts by Sanyo! 19" diag. remote control color TV Tuesdays thru Sundays at since nothing much is added WW All Seats $3.00 Tickets at All Macy's and At Olvmpuf. to the Mafia story by the new screenplay director i Dinners uancing lupmioara tOtYMPUS 901 Columbus Avenue San Francisco Phone 88S.2970J Coppola and Mario Puzo fashioned from untapped 95 399 Model 91C54 is a remote control, 100 solid state TV with instant-on picture and sound. Wireless remote control unit lets you change VHF channel selection, audio level, onoff without leaving your chair.

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