My Favorite Scene: The Godfather Part II

Warning: Critical plot details will be divulged in this post.

The second installment of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather saga is about a lot of things. It’s about family, money, power, revenge. But at its core, it’s really a movie about a guy trying to figure out who the hell tried to kill him.

Early in the film, Michael Coleone’s bedroom is shot to hell as would-be assassins attempt to murder the Don. Immediately after surviving the attack, Michael sets out to find the perpetrator. Who did it, and why? Those two questions are, essentially, what fuels Michael’s section of the film.

Jumping ahead a few hours, after Michael has it confirmed that his dimwitted older brother, Fredo, was responsible for the attack, the two share a brief, heartbreaking moment together that remains one of the very best scenes from America’s best decade of cinema.

As Michael approaches the pathetic, discarded Fredo in a quiet room in Michael’s lake house, Fredo slowly begins to justify his actions, saying he had made a deal for the good of the family (i.e., for the good of himself), and had no idea Michael's life would be put in danger. Michael calmly interjects, reminding Fredo that he has always taken care of him.

And that’s when Fredo goes in.

What follows is as poetic and finely delivered monologue as you are likely to find in film. Fredo, played iconically by John Cazale, goes off on his younger brother, angrily reminding Michael that he was stepped over.

“That’s the way Pop wanted it,” Al Pacino whispers.  Well, as Fredo makes clear, that sure as shit wasn’t the way he wanted it. Fredo was the natural heir. He’s the oldest, so when their brother and father died, he should’ve taken the ranks. But instead, their father chose Michael. Why? Because Fredo simply doesn’t have what it takes. And he knows it.

Now, watch Cazale in this scene. I mean really watch him. Watch the way he bobs up in down in that chair, almost as if he’s an infant trying to wiggle his way onto the floor. Or the way he uses his right hand to emphasize his words. While you’re watching him, make sure you listen. That’s key. Listen to the way his voice cracks when he yells “I’M SMART!” at Michael. Maybe Fredo actually believes what he’s saying. Maybe he does think he deserved to be the Don, but Michael, and us viewers, know better.

With the exception of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver and Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, John Cazale’s performance in The Godfather: Part II is the best male performance of the ‘70s. There are many reasons for this, none more obvious and prevalent then his work in this scene. As far as I’m concerned, his “Stepped over” monologue is the “I coulda been a contender” of Cazale’s generation.

But the power doesn’t end there. As Michael tells Fredo that his older brother means nothing to him anymore, Coppola (with help from cinematographer Gordon Willis) ingeniously stays on Cazale’s limb body. Slunk back in that damn chair, seemingly lifeless with regret.

This scene is as miraculous as anything found in Coppola’s trilogy, and it’s something that moves me profoundly, and disturbs me inexplicably, every single time I see it. Rarely is an actor this open and vulnerable before our very eyes. This is pathetic desperation, personified.

Previous installments of My Favorite Scene include:
Babel
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Fargo
The Godfather
GoodFellas
He Got Game
House of Games
Leaving Las Vegas
Philadelphia
Platoon
Redbelt
The Rules of Attraction
Se7en
Sleepers

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