All language subtitles for The Godfather Legacy HC 720p HDTV EN Sub_Subtitles01.UND

>> I'm gonna make him
an offer he can't refuse.
>> FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: It's a

metaphor for capitalism in
its purest form.
>> There would be no way

you could ever forgive me.
Not with this Sicilian thing
that's been going on for 2,000

years!
(yelling)
>> JAMES CAAN: It's not

glorifying bad guys, but you're
glorifying what people would do
for their family.

>> Do you have any
interests or control over
gambling and narcotics?

>> I challenge this
committee to produce any
witness or evidence against me.

>> What do you think,
this is the army where you shoot
them a mile away?

You got up get up close like
this-- bada-bing!
You blow their brains all over

your nice Ivy League suit.
(gunshots)
>> AL PACINO: Sure, I met mob

guys.
(rapid gunshots)
I'm lucky they liked it, that's

what I say.
(chuckles)
>> NARRATOR: It was a book that

caused a sensation
and a film that is considered
one of the greatest ever made.

After more than four decades,
The Godfather and its sequels
still manage to entertain,

engage, frighten,
and involve.
>> Just when I thought I was

out, they pull me back in.
>> NARRATOR: It is the saga of
an American family.

It is the story
of America.

>> I believe in America.
America's made my fortune,
and I raised my daughter in the

American fashion.
I gave her freedom, but I taught
her never to dishonor her

family.

>> PACINO: A few months ago,
for the first time I'd watched

The Godfather, and there's
this beautifully shot scene

where the guy comes to the
Godfather and asks him to

help him.

And starts relating the story of
how his daughter was abused.
>> Do what I beg you to do.

>> What is that?
>> PACINO: I thought this is
what made the movie.

Everyone can relate to that.
The universe can relate to that.
Here's a guy, got really tragic

problems, his daughter being
raped and beaten.
He goes to the Godfather because

nobody else will help.
>> We've known each
other many years, but this is

the first time you ever came to
me for council or for help.
Now you come to me and you say,

"Don Corleone, give me justice."
But you don't ask with respect.
You don't offer friendship.

You don't even think to call me
Godfather.
>> PACINO: Everybody feels that

thing of, if only I had
some place I can go to get
justice, to get taken care

of, to be helped.
>> Be my friend...
Godfather?

>> PACINO: It's everybody's
dream to have the father, the
godfather, call it a godfather,

who comes and helps
you with your issues.

>> ALBERT S. RUDDY: I was
sitting in my office one day and

got a most astounding phone call
from Stanley Jaffe, who was the

president of Paramount Pictures,
saying, would I be interested in

producing The Godfather?

Of course, at that point, I
hadn't read the book.
So of course, I said, "It's my

favorite book."
I then went right out and I
got a copy of The Godfather.

And of course, like everyone
else in America, I couldn't stop
reading.

I read it in one sitting.
>> NARRATOR: Originally
published in 1969,

The Godfather was author Mario
Puzo's fifth novel, and unlike
his previous efforts, it

became a huge bestseller.
The story of a New York-based
crime family, The Godfather was

attracting interest even before
its publication.

>> PETER BART: Puzo's editor
called me and said, "He has

written 60 pages of a new book,
which he feels, and I feel, has

real commercial potential.
Could find an audience, unlike

his other books."

I said, "What is it about?"
And he said, "The mafia," and I
thought, oh, no.

>> RUDDY: Paramount had done a
movie two years prior to that
called The Brotherhood,

which was a financial disaster.
They were totally convinced
nobody wanted to see "a mob

movie" anymore.
>> TODD BOYD: In early
Hollywood, there were a series

of popular gangster movies like
Little Caesar, Public Enemy,
the original Scarface.

Gangster films were thought of
as B movies in a lot of cases,

um, not very important, not very
significant.

>> Crime breeds crime,
and one gang of outlaws is

linked to another.
>> BOYD: And gangsters were
seen as a social problem,

as a societal menace.
>> FBI, Dillinger.
(gunshots)

>> BART: But clearly Mario Puzo
had a book that was beyond the
standard mafia sort of tale.

>> ROBERT VISCUSI: In The
Godfather novel, Don Corleone
is painted not as a disease,

rather he's painted as God.
He's a father to his family.

This is something entirely new,
and this is the great

ideological innovation that Puzo
introduced into the whole

conversation.

>> NARRATOR: In a surprising
move, Paramount Pictures
production chief, 38-year-old

actor-turned-mogul Robert
Evans, hired a relatively
unknown director with a short

list of credits and an
audaciously long name,
Francis Ford Coppola.

Although he had made a handful
of Hollywood films, including
the big-screen musical Finian's

Rainbow, starring Fred Astair,
Coppola considered himself an
outsider, a maverick with a

strong independent spirit.
He preferred to operate from
Northern, not Southern

California, where he was running
his own production company,
American Zoetrope.

And for him, filmmaking was a
family affair.

>> COPPOLA: In those days--
I was about 27-- I was

determined to be what we
called, uh, up there in San

Francisco, a personal filmmaker.

I wanted to be involved in the
cinema rather than to be a big
Hollywood director.

>> BART: And Francis was
interesting because the idea of
doing a mafia story from the

point of view of a director
who's really interested in
making independent pictures,

that's what struck us as
fascinating.
And typically, Francis Coppola,

when confronted with the
material, didn't want to do it.
>> COPPOLA: Much of the

original book was a potboiler.
So, it was not a film I
particularly wanted to do, but I

had no money and my then-young
assistant, George Lucas, said,
"Francis, you got to get a job,

because the sheriff's gonna
come and put a chain on the door
of American Zoetrope, 'cause we

haven't paid our bills.
Do this movie."
And so I ultimately took the

job and wrote the screenplay.
I just took the novel and went
through it and underlined

everything that I thought that
I could use.
>> TALIA SHIRE: Francis was up

against it.
You could've gone either way
with that book.

You could have made it into a
great gangster piece.
However, he wanted more.

He wanted the subtext.
He wanted the inner life.

But that takes a lot of courage
on the part of a director, you

know, a lot of courage to pull
that off.

>> NARRATOR: Coppola's
outsider's approach to
filmmaking quickly made itself

evident as he began to cast the
film.
For the leading roles, he

preferred actors who were either
unknown, unlikely,
or, in the case of Marlon

Brando, unpopular with the
Hollywood studios.
But in an effort to prove that

he could convincingly play an
Italian mobster, the 47-year-old
actor submitted to a makeup and

wardrobe test.
>> BART: Marlon Brando was not
the sort of person that you

would go to if you worked for
a studio.
Brando was self-destructive and

was pretty well burned out.
But we finally agreed, over the
objections of other people,

Coppola's going to direct this
movie, so let him decide that he
wants a Marlon Brando.

>> NARRATOR: But there was one
actor who was universally
favored by both Coppola and the

studio: James Caan.
>> 68.
>> Action.

>> Michael?
>> Hmm?
>> Why are all those people

bothering your father on a day
like this?
>> Oh, well, that's because they

know no Sicilian can refuse a
request on his daughter's
wedding day.

>> COPPOLA: He was up for
Michael, but I always
imagined him as Sonny.

He's not Italian, but Jimmy
knows about Italians, 'cause
he was raised in Sunnyside,

right... a few blocks next to
my grandmother.
>> CAAN: I don't think it

mattered if I was Italian or not
Italian.

You know, Italians were guys
from Sicily or Naples or

wherever.
We were playing Americans,

who happened to be Italian.

>> NARRATOR: But of all
director Francis Ford Coppola's
casting choices, perhaps the

most controversial and
difficult for the studio to
accept was his choice of

newcomer Al Pacino for the role
of Vito Corleone's youngest son,
Michael.

>> BART: Evans had a concern
about Pacino, because he was
very young.

>> 209.
>> BART: His screen tests
weren't terrific.

>> Action.
>> Michael, why are all these
people bothering your father on

a day like this?
>> Why are you bothering my
father?

(laughter)
>> Do you want to be like him?
All the favors he does for

people, all the respect they
have for him?
>> Oh.

>> Oh.
>> Is he like you?
>> Nobody's like me.

You know that.
>> Cut it.
>> COPPOLA: Bob Evans wanted

someone like Ryan O'Neal,
or even Redford, for Michael.
Wanted a good-looking guy and

stuff.
I realized at one point, Bob
Evans wanted a guy that sort

of looked like him, and I wanted
a guy that sort of looked like
me, you know.

>> 104.
>> COPPOLA: But I had Al
Pacino's face burnt into my

mind.
>> Well, this is a slow wedding.
This isn't a wedding.

>> PACINO: I was thinking, why
would Francis want me to play
that part?

I'd much prefer Sonny.
The one that's more robust,

more, uh...
There's more to play there.

There's more fun there.

How do you play Michael?
I thought, but he sees me as
Michael.

I thought, gee, he's seeing
something I don't see.

>> NARRATOR: Production on The
Godfather began on
March 23rd, 1971.

The principle location, the
Corleone's family compound, was
on Staten Island, New York, at

the family home of Edward
and Mary Norton.
Seen here for the first time are

home movies taken during the
film's preparation and shooting.

>> ED NORTON II: My mother
documented the entire process.

My mother is a fanatic
for detail.

She actually wrote a diary, too,
of when they showed up,

what they did every day.

They actually built an addition
onto the back of the house that
would be the Godfather's den

for that famous scene where the
people came in and
asked for favors.

They put up an eight-foot
plywood wall and then put
plastic sheeting in front of it

to simulate stone.
The wall closed off the house.
There was a gate, so that formed

the compound.
>> NARRATOR: Despite the
intensity of the film's dramatic

storyline, the atmosphere on the
set was often disrupted by the
outrageous antics of the actors,

particularly those
of Marlon Brando.
>> CAAN: I remember the day they

bring him home in the stretcher.
So me and Bobby, we both picked
it up and started to take him

upstairs, and my gonads
near hit my ankles.
I mean, I said, "Holy geez."

Well, what he did, he had put
about 500 pounds of plates
underneath the mattress.

(laughs) He started to laugh
after about three steps.
He just thought I was

hysterical.
>> NARRATOR: But for Francis
Ford Coppola, writing, producing

and directing The Godfather was
no laughing matter.
Cost overruns, production delays

and constant interference from
the studio made the experience
of making the film a nightmare.

>> COPPOLA: I was in deep
trouble throughout the whole
making of The Godfather as far

as the studio was concerned.
>> BART: During the shooting,
Francis was almost fired-- for

example, he didn't warn us that
he was shooting the film very
dark and they were

trying to experiment.
>> RUDDY: Paramount said,
"What are you guys doing?

We're not making an art house
movie here.
And who's Al Pacino?

He's a midget."
>> BART: There was a plot afoot
to name a successor to Francis.

I didn't know about it and
neither did Evans, which really
pissed me off.

>> RUDDY: We're all on the edge
of being shown the door, okay?
That's how it was.

>> COPPOLA: It was on such a
track to be a failure.
Everyone hated it.

I remember we were all in the
editing room, and everyone was
talking about this sensational

movie, which was called
The French Connection.
And one of the assistant editors

says, "It's really exciting and
electric, a real movie."
Then I said, sort of fishing,

I said, "Well, I guess by
comparison they'll think The
Godfather just a long, boring,

dark movie."
And he said, "Well, yeah,
I guess you're right."

>> BART: The people at Paramount
saw it, and unanimously felt it
was too slow and too talky, and

at two hours and 20 minutes,
would not really be
a success commercially.

>> NARRATOR: The Godfather had
its worldwide premiere at
Loew's State Theater in New York

on March 15, 1972.
After years of negotiations and
bitterness on all sides of the

production, the fate of the film
now rested in the hands
of the public.

The Godfather, as a motion
picture, was completed.
But The Godfather legacy

was only just beginning.

>> Don Corleone, I am honored
and grateful that you have
invited me to your home

on the wedding day of
your daughter.
>> That man over there is

talking to himself.
See that scary guy over there?
>> He's a very scary guy.

>> Well, who is he?
What's his name?
>> His name is Luca Brasi.

He helps my father out
sometime.

>> NARRATOR: The Godfather tells
the story of an Italian-American
crime family.

Set in the 1940s, the plot was
loosely inspired by real-life
mobsters who operated out

of New York City.

>> COPPOLA: The book The
Godfather didn't reference

anything real; it was filled
with innuendi about,

who was the Godfather?

Was he Profaci or was he
Genovese?
So I went to the

local library and I took out
four books on the New York
Mafia and I read them all.

And I began to know about the
so-called Five Families.
And I started to know

about the real story.

>> GIANNI RUSSO: Well, I had
several conversations with Mario

Puzo, and basically he told me
he used three different

godfathers.

Obviously, Carlo Gambino was the
image of Brando and all of
that in the garden.

And then the line about, "You
have all these politicians in
your pocket," that was

Frank Costello.
And Joe Profaci was Genco Oil,
'cause he was the olive oil

king of the world.
So using those three characters
is how he came up with

Vito Corleone.
>> NARRATOR: Unlike other mob
films, Coppola and

author-turned-screenwriter Mario
Puzo chose to show the
characters' more vulnerable,

human side.
>> COPPOLA: Being an Italian-
American, I knew my own family,

who were a family of musicians
and tool-and-die makers, but
living in New York, and so I

knew what the family life
was like.
I was very much anxious to draw

upon my own family in terms of
how we lived and what it was
like in the house and what we

ate and what the day-to-day feel
of an Italian family was.
But I used as much of my own

memory of my family to give it a
kind of authenticity, and that
was my approach.

(lively music playing)

>> GEORGE DE STEFANO: The
Godfather presented this image
of a familial culture that was

rooted in centuries of history,
and it gave this image of this
stability and continuity.

>> Hey, Paulie, let me
have some wine!

>> DE STEFANO: That opening
sequence of the wedding reminded

me of Italian-American weddings
I'd attended as a child.

Everything that the people did,
the way they talked to the way
they pronounced certain foods,

the envelope with the money
given to the bride.
>> 20-30 grand?

In small bills, cash?
>> DE STEFANO: They were the
most Italian Italians I'd ever

seen in a movie before.
>> Maron. If this was somebody
else's wedding, sweet tonnato!

>> GIANNI RUSSO: It really gave
it the flavor-- the oil and
garlic as we call it-- of

the movie. (laughs)
>> NARRATOR: For movie-going
audiences in the 1970s, the

world they were living in was
being threatened by drastic
social change.

>> OFFICER: Move it!
>> PROTESTERS: One, two, three,
four, Tricky Dick,

stop the war!
>> NARRATOR: Institutions like
marriage and family were targets

of the counterculture, and The
Godfather's focus on the
strong, tight-knit bond between

Don Vito Corleone and his
mobster family was by contrast
both traditional and reassuring.

>> You spend time with
your family?
>> Sure, I do.

>> Good, 'cause a man who
doesn't spend time with his
family can never be a real man.

Come here.
>> TOM GUGLIELMO: The Godfather
is this perfect reflection of

its time period in a lot
of ways.

And perhaps for members of the
audience, they were comforted by

the fact that here you have very
traditional, very clearly

defined male roles and
female roles.

>> NARRATOR: It is during the
wedding scene that the audience
is introduced to The Godfather's

rich tapestry of characters.
There's Connie, the daughter,
whose marriage to Carlo Rizzi

becomes the catalyst for the
drama that follows.
Sonny, the quick-tempered

oldest son.
Fredo...
>> Hi.

>> How you doing?
>> NARRATOR: ...the dim-witted
but sensitive middle child.

>> This is my brother Mike.
>> NARRATOR: Tom Hagen...
>> The Senator called.

He apologized for not
coming personally.
>> NARRATOR: ...the adopted

son, who serves as the
Corleone family's consigliere.
>> Salud.

>> NARRATOR: Clemenza and
Tessio, the trusted lieutenants.
Luca Brasi, the enforcer.

And Michael, Don Vito's
youngest son, the war hero who
has, so far, managed to remain

uncorrupted by the
family business.
>> Michael, you never told

me you knew Johnny Fontaine.
>> Now, when Johnny was first
starting out, he was signed

to this personal service
contract with a big band leader.
And as his career got better

and better, he wanted to
get out of it.
And my father went to see

this band leader.
Within an hour, he signed
a release.

>> Well, how'd he do that?
>> My father made him an offer
he couldn't refuse.

>> What was that?
>> Luca Brasi held a gun to his
head, and my father assured him

that either his brains or his
signature would be on
the contract.

That's my family, Kay.
It's not me.
>> PACINO: I don't think Michael

ever felt really comfortable
in himself.

And I think he had to acclimate
to the new America and

its values.

To the point where he actually
enlists into the army and
becomes a war hero.

>> DR. ROBERT PHILLIPS: He is
the quintessential outsider,
it would appear.

In fact, to some extent, it
almost seems like he's mocking
his family.

"This is what they do.
This is not who I am."

Michael is a war hero.
Michael is a person who is so

far removed from the family
business, and by design.

>> NARRATOR: In The Godfather
films, members of the Corleone
family are depicted not as

one-dimensional criminals, but
as multilayered family men whose
chosen business is crime.

>> ALEX ROCCO: What made it hold
up was the values that Don

Corleone, played by Marlon
Brando, had for his children

and his family.
As twisted as they were, in his

mind, everything he did
was for them.

>> CHRIS MESSENGER: We see
ourselves in their family

rituals.
You're invited to their

weddings, you're invited to
their baptisms, you eat

spaghetti in their kitchens.

>> You start out with a little
bit of oil.
And you fry some garlic.

Then you throw in some tomatoes,
and tomato paste, you fry it,
you make sure it doesn't stick.

>> PACINO: Imagine a film that
had these gangsters feeding
children and cooking.

This was unheard of.
It puts you right in the
kitchen.

Right in the living room.
These people were us.
>> NARRATOR: In the film,

a turning point for the entire
family comes when Don Vito
Corleone stifles attempts by a

rival gang to add the sale of
narcotics to the mob's list of
illegal operations.

>> I need, Don Corleone, those
politicians that you carry in
your pocket.

Like so many nickels and dimes.

>> BOYD: Don Corleone doesn't
want to sell drugs.

This turns out to be a mistake,
it turns out to be the wrong

decision from a business
standpoint, but morally he's

uncomfortable with it.
>> MICHAEL CHERTOFF: There's

almost no area that the mob
didn't earn its money.

Construction, extorting money
from people who were building

buildings.
Gambling, loan sharking.

But they tended to stay away
from narcotics.

>> It's true, I have a lot of
friends in politics.
But they wouldn't be friendly

very long if they knew my
business was drugs instead of
gambling, which they regard as

a... a harmless vice.
But drugs is a dirty business.
>> BOYD: The point is, in

capitalism, morals are often
changing and evolving to fit the
needs of the situation, and I

think that's what you see in
The Godfather.
So, one is not uncomfortable

because morals and the
construction of morals are
constantly being questioned.

>> NARRATOR: The tensions
between the Corleone family and
their rivals escalate,

resulting in Don Vito being
gunned down in the street.
(gunfire, shouting)

>> SPITZER: We should never lose
sight of the fact that these are

criminals, crooks, thieves,
murderers, dispensing drugs and

heinous activities to our
society; and yet after you watch

The Godfather, you begin to
feel for the Marlon Brando

figure.
(sobbing)

>> I want you to take care of
that son of a bitch right away.

Paulie sold out the old man.
I don't want to see him again.

Make that first thing on your
list, understand?

>> What time are you gonna be
home tonight?

>> I don't know.
Probably late.

>> Don't forget the cannoli!
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> FATHER ROBERT LAUDER: You
catch yourself saying, my gosh,

they've got me rooting that
someone murders somebody else.

That kind of thing, I think, is
possible.

You can be sort of seduced into
this and you find out, what am I

doing?
You know, this is bad.

(gunfire)

>> NARRATOR: But the moral
ambiguity of The Godfather

challenges the audience's
notions of good and evil.

>> Leave the gun; take the
cannolis.

>> SELWYN RAAB: You almost
liked them; you humanized them;

you rationalized them; you
justified what they were doing.

You could see what motivated
them, and you could understand

that they were loyal to their
own family, to their own ideal

of ethics.

>> PHILLIPS:
Compartmentalization is a
phenomenon that the brain uses

to separate out feelings.
Good feelings, bad feelings.
And it's a phenomenon that makes

people like Vito and Sonny and
Michael compartmentalize the
good, the bad and the ugly.

>> CAAN: It was all for the
sake of family and I think that
came from Francis, and Francis'

handling of a subject that could
otherwise be extremely coarse.
But you don't really so much

remember the violence as much as
you do the relationships.

Everything was sort of condoned
because everything was done for

the family, everything.

>> What are you doing here?
You're not supposed to be here
now.

>> I'm Michael Corleone.
This is my father.
There's nobody here.

What happened to the guards?
>> Your father just had too many
visitors.

The police made them leave about
ten minutes ago.
I'm sorry, but you will have to

leave.
>> Uh...
You and I are going to move my

father to another room.
Now, can you disconnect those
tubes so we can move the bed

out?
>> That's out of the question.
>> You know my father?

Men are coming here to kill him.
You understand?
Now help me, please.

>> NARRATOR: After the
assassination attempt on his
father, Michael Corleone is

compelled to join his brothers
in protecting and avenging him.
>> I'm with you now.

>> NARRATOR: A decorated war
hero, Michael will now fight to
defend something even more

important than his country...
>> I'm with you.
>> NARRATOR: ...his family.

But in guarding Don Vito,
Michael Corleone is drawn into
the very world of crime and

corruption from which his father
struggled to shield him.

>> I thought I got all you
guinea hoods locked up.
>> What happened to the men who

were guarding my father,
Captain?
>> Why, you little punk!

Take ahold of him!
Stand him up!
Stand him up straight.

>> YOUNG: There's a great
turning point.

The horror is worse than we
imagined life would serve up.

And because of these tragedies,
we are changed.

And that is what happens to
Michael.

>> Let's set the meeting.
Get our informants to find out
where it's going to be held.

If Clemenza can figure a way
to have a weapon planted there
for me...

...then I'll kill 'em both.
(laughter)

>> Nice college boy, huh?
Didn't want to get mixed up
in the family business, huh?

Now you want to gun down a
police captain.
Why?

'Cause he slapped you in the
face a little bit?
Huh?

What, do you think this is the
army, where you shoot 'em a mile
away?

You gotta get up close, like
this-- bada-bing!
You blow their brains all over

your nice Ivy League suit.
Come here.
>> Sonny...

>> You're taking this very
personally.

>> PACINO: I think Michael is
always thinking on his feet.

I think he was a pragmatist.
That's what made him a good

leader.
He was practical.

And I think he knew that things
happen.

And you deal with them.
So, in a way, you could say he's

a survivor.
>> LOUIS FERRANTE: Michael's

choice to go shoot Sollozzo
and McCluskey was something that

every gangster could relate to.
He had his father's honor on the

line.
So he's doing what he's doing

for an honorable reason.
Every mob guy on his way up

makes his bones somehow.
And that was the day that

Michael made his bones.
>> NARRATOR: Reminiscent of the

hero's great exploit described
in many ancient myths and

legends, Michael's act of
revenge will forever change his

destiny.
>> COPPOLA: Myth is derived

from basic human principles.
Myth originates to try to

illuminate human behavior, human
life, and so it's in us.

It's in our souls.

>> YOUNG: At some point, the
hero will face a challenge.
If he can rise to that, then he

can show he is the extraordinary
leader that is blessed and can
take power.

(train rumbling)

(choking)

>> YOUNG: The moment Michael
takes up the family business,
he changes himself forever.

He has redefined his life story.
He has departed from one world
and entered another.

>> NARRATOR: While Michael
Corleone escapes to Sicily, his
brother Sonny begins fighting a

bloody mob war.
>> BOYD: You break the law,
you pay the price.

What you see with the gangsters,
if you break their rules, you
will pay, there will be no two

ways about it.
There is something about that
sense of vengeance that's

utterly affirming.

And if that means someone has to
die, then unfortunately someone

has to die.
>> COPPOLA: People always

love the antihero, because
deep down everyone feels they're

an outsider or that they're
not enfranchised.

They love the bad guys in the
Westerns, they love Billy the

Kid.
You tend to like the criminal.

>> SPITZER: It's sort of this
love of the people outside the

norms in whatever way, who
stand up and fight back even if

they go down in a fusillade
of bullets.

There's something that we've
romanticized in our culture

about that.

>> Dillinger was put in the
custody of Sheriff Lillian
Holly.

She boasted that she could keep
him, and he boasted she
couldn't.

This didn't prevent the amazing
happy family picture in which
the sheriff posed with Dillinger

in apparently affectionate
intimacy.

>> MICHAEL FRANZESE: It's the
glamour, it's the money,

it's the power, it's the...
I want that girl, she's mine.

I want that business, I'm taking
it.

I drive in the best car, you
better respect me.

People are turned on by that;
they really are.

They key in on the glamour, and
I think that's prominent

throughout all of society in
general.

>> DE STEFANO: For many people,
it's the fantasy of outlaw-hood,

the idea of the lone individual
who makes his own destiny,

who isn't subject to the rules
of conventional society.

The man with the plan who puts
it into play, and is not a

nine-to-fiver, and isn't subject
to a lot of the constraints that

us regular folks have to deal
with in our daily lives.

>> Flashbulbs almost obliterate
the figure of Al Capone, who had
himself obliterated so many

others.
This is one of his many trips to
Cook County Police Station.

A writ of habeas corpus barely
dry, he is free again.

>> HARLAN LEBO: I don't know if
we're all fascinated by

gangsters as much as we're
fascinated by men of action.

These were deliberate, ruthless
men.

They are unsavory, horrible
people and murderers.

Yet there's something attractive
or compelling about them that

really fascinates everyone.
It's part of American culture.

>> JENNIFER MASCIA: In pop
culture, the way that they've

co-opted the gangster,
The Godfather, I still see the

romanticization.
But when my father was arrested

in front of me when I was five,
I had an idea he was a criminal.

But it wasn't until I confronted
my mother when I was 17,

I realized he was in the
mafia.

My mother said that taking life
was part of my father's
business.

It was an unintentional
byproduct of what he did.
And she made it sound like it

was a spontaneous thing that
happened.
But five times?

Six times?
You know, somehow he got it in
his head that violence could be

a solution to a problem.
>> NARRATOR: But while Sonny and
Don Vito struggle to maintain

their power in New York, their
rivals are about to exploit
another weakness: the women of

the Corleone clan.
And even Michael, exiled in
Sicily, will discover his

greatest vulnerability.

>> Since McCluskey's killing,
the police have been cracking
down on most of our operations.

And also the other families.
There's been a lot of bad blood.
>> They hit us, so we hit them

back.
>> (whispers): Where's Michael?

>> It was Michael who killed
Sollozzo.

>> NARRATOR: While his family
wages a bloody mob war in New
York City, Michael Corleone is

sent to hide out with friends in
Sicily.

There, in his father's ancestral
home of Corleone, he meets a
beautiful local girl...

...named Apollonia.

>> YOUNG: Michael is sent off to
Sicily to hide from American
law.

It's not America, it's not New
York, it's not the cosmopolitan

world, it is Eden.
It is innocence itself.

Or so it appears.

>> NARRATOR: While hiding out in
Sicily, Michael treats Apollonia

with respect, in sharp contrast
to how his brother Sonny behaves

back home.
>> Hey!

I'm gonna knock you dead, you...
>> PHILLIPS: I think sex has an

interesting role in The
Godfather films.

Clearly, in many instances,
there is the dichotomy between

what people do in their
families.

They have a wife, they have a
family, but they have a gumar.

And it is an acceptable part of
the culture.

>> NARRATOR: The release of The
Godfather in 1972 came duringa

time when gender roles were
being challenged.

>> PAGLIA: The Godfather films
appeared at a time after the

women's movement had revived in
the late 1960s.

Masculinity in general was being
denigrated by the very
inflammatory rhetoric of the

early women's movement.
Men were losing a sense of what
they should be and who they

should be.
>> NARRATOR: In contrast, The
Godfather reflected the

traditional role of men as the
head of the family.
>> Well, Papa never talked

business at the table and in
front of the kids.
>> Hey, shut up, Connie.

>> Hey, don't you ever tell her
to shut up, you got that?
>> Okay.

>> NARRATOR: Women, however,
were powerless.
And nowhere was this more

apparent than when Sonny notices
that his sister has been
brutally beaten by her husband.

>> What's the matter?
Huh?
What's the matter?

>> It was my fault!
>> Where is he?
>> Sonny, please.

It was my fault.
Sonny, it was my fault.
I hit him.

I started a fight with him.
Please, Sonny.
I hit him, so he hit me.

I...
>> Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh.
>> CAAN: The way Francis handled

it and Mario handled it, there
was no choice.

The guy had it coming.
If he didn't do it, there was

something wrong with his honor.
>> Come here, come here.

Come here, come here!
>> FERRANTE: When Sonny threw

the broomstick at Carlo, I mean,
that was funny.

First of all, when we were
beating somebody up, anything

that wasn't tied down, we hit
the guy with.

I mean, that's just the way it
was.

You know, if your shoe fell off,
you hit the guy with your shoe.

>> CAAN: I mean, there was no
rules that said it's okay to go

break some guy's head open.
But they were living in a world

that was full of that.
You get into that world, it's

just automatic, right?
>> You touch my sister again,

I'll kill you.
>> MESSENGER: The Godfather is a

deeply male dream of patriarchy
and order.

And within that dream, the
Corleones demand absolute

respect for their family and
their family's welfare.

But they have no respect for
anyone else's family and for the
larger American family, which

they treat with contempt.
That is seemingly the major
contradiction in the Corleone

version of respect and honor.

>> NARRATOR: Back in Sicily,
Michael Corleone's shy courtship
of Apollonia is more than a

romance.
He seems to be seeking
redemption from his act of

murder and from the crimes that
have contaminated his family.
>> YOUNG: Apollonia in mythic

terms is called the temptress.
She is very attractive and
alluring.

Michael is in lust and in love.
As a psychologist, I would
speculate that he has a

projection of some quality that
he cannot get at home.
A quality of otherworldliness.

I would call it innocence.

(horn honks)

>> No! No, Apollon...

>> NARRATOR: The death of his
innocent bride convinces Michael
that there can be no redemption

for him, no chance for future
happiness or atonement.
No turning back.

But, perhaps, of greater
consequence to the fate of
Michael Corleone are the events

involving his sister Connie back
in America.
>> I hate you!

>> Now, go ahead!
Now I'll kill you!
You guinea brat, you.

Get out here!
(Connie sobbing, screaming)
(belt cracking)

>> SHIRE: Beating up a pregnant
woman is such a horrific thing,

even though we know that Sonny's
being set up.

>> Hold on.
You just wait there.
>> SHIRE: But that's Sonny's

role in the piece.
He's the older brother, you
know; he's got to do this.

>> Son of a bitch!
>> CAAN: He beat up my sister,
and he knew that I was

passionate about my sister, and
he did it again, and he trapped
me.

>> Sonny, Sonny, come on!
Get out here!
>> FERRANTE: The Greeks said

character is destiny.
The Godfather movies said
character is destiny without

saying it.
Sonny's character was his
destiny.

His hot temper came back to
get him.
You know, they knew if they

caused a problem for Sonny, he's
gonna leave now to come there
when his sister cried on the

phone.

(screaming)

>> CAAN: The biggest thing was
the shooting of me.
I mean, that was, but that was--

when you look at it, that was
a ballet.
I say, "Hey, Francis, you

putting, like, 147 squibs on
me," and they just blew up.
That was pretty violent, but I

don't think the picture was
about violence.
It was about people who could be

violent because they were
screwing with their family.

>> NARRATOR: The brutal,
ritualistic death of Sonny
reminds the audience that the

Corleones live and operate in a
violent world.
It also catapults the story into

an unexpected direction.
>> I want you to use all your
powers and all your skills.

I don't want his mother to see
him this way.

>> NARRATOR: With Sonny dead, no
one in the Corleone family is
safe.

Don Vito has lost his oldest
son, and the Corleones are now
more vulnerable than ever.

>> Look how they massacred my
boy.

>> My youngest son was forced
to leave this country, because
of this Sollozzo business.

All right.
I have to make arrangements to
bring him back here safely.

Let me say that I swear on the
souls of my grandchildren that
I will not be the one to break

the peace we've made here today.

>> NARRATOR: In what is widely
considered to be The Godfather's
third and perhaps most dramatic

act, Michael Corleone returns
home to America following his
exile in Sicily.

>> How long have you been back?
>> I've been back a year.
Longer than that, I think.

>> NARRATOR: But Michael is no
longer the wide-eyed American
war hero.

>> It's good to see you, Kay.
>> NARRATOR: He is now cold,
cynical and remote.

>> PACINO: You find things in
all characters you play to like.

Well, you like his struggle,
you know, when you think of it.

Having to deal with the things
he's dealing with.

>> I'm working for my father
now, Kay.
>> PACINO: You like his

conflicts, what he goes through,
and how he tries to manage this
world that he has inherited.

>> But you're not like him,
Michael.
I thought you weren't going to

become a man like your father.
>> My father's no different than
any other powerful man.

>> Uh...
>> Any man who's responsible for
other people.

Like a senator or president.
>> Do you know how naive
you sound?

>> Why?
>> Senators and presidents
don't have men killed.

>> Oh.
Who's being naive, Kay?

>> BOYD: When you think
about, for instance, the

conversation Michael has
with Kay upon his return from

Sicily...

>> Kay, my father's way of doing
things is over; it's finished.
Even he knows that.

I mean, in five years, the
Corleone family is going to be
completely legitimate.

>> BOYD: ...the transition is
amazing.
He goes from being this guy

in this military uniform with
his girlfriend, to someone who
sees himself as a powerful man

conducting business.
It just so happens that,
in his line of business,

things take place that maybe
don't take place in other
lines of business.

>> NARRATOR: Michael's
transformation is
vividly portrayed as he

rekindles his relationship
with Kay.
Unlike his awkward, boyish

courtship of Apollonia, Michael
now behaves less like a lover
and more like a negotiator,

conducting a business
transaction.
>> I want you to marry me.

>> It's too late; it's too late.
>> Please, Kay, I need you.
And I love you.

>> BOYD: Michael sees the
relationship with Kay
as business.

You know, it's business, never
personal.
He needs someone to raise his

offspring, who will eventually
become the matriarch of the
family.

>> NARRATOR: The change in
Michael Corleone's character
is contrasted with that

of his father Don Vito.
>> I want you to arrange to
have a telephone man check all

the calls that go in and out of
here...
>> I did it already, Pop.

>> You know, it could be anyone.
>> I took care of that.
>> Oh, that's right.

I forgot.
>> NARRATOR: The aging crime
boss now appears tired and

weak...
>> What's the matter?
>> NARRATOR: ...and finally

willing to transfer his power to
his youngest son.

>> COPPOLA: It was the story of
a family and it was kind of

Shakespearean in that there was
a great king and he had three

sons, and each of the sons had a
part of the talent of the old

man but none really all of it.

The youngest had the cunning,
and the second had the
sweetness, and the older had the

rage and the violence.
>> I knew that Santino was going
to have to go to through all

this... and Fredo, well...
Fredo was...
and I never, I never

wanted this for you.

>> REVEREND LAUDER: I heard
a mafia leader once being

quoted saying, "Most of us do
not want this for our children."

>> I don't apologize-- that's my
life-- but I thought that...
well, when it was your turn

that... that you would be the
one to hold the strings.
Senator Corleone.

Governor Corleone.
Something.
>> Another pezzonovante.

>> YOUNG: There is always a
drama when power is passed,

whether it's presidents,
kings or gods.

This goes back as far as
recorded history and before.

A great deal of power is
amassed, the Godfather gets
older and others are waiting to

try to push him aside.
Will his son be able to rise to
the occasion and preserve the

family privilege?
That is the story.

>> Give me a orange.

(moaning eerily)
(Anthony crying)
>> Oh, no... (chuckles)

>> TALIA SHIRE: It was Marlon
Brando who cut the rind and made

a monster of himself, which is
an extraordinary piece of

acting-- the genius...

because he's dying with his
grandchild, but as a monster.
>> COPPOLA: I never knew, for

example, the famous symbolism
of the orange that I put into
The Godfather.

I just did it.
After a while, there were
enough oranges that it began to

be a metaphor for some
impending doom.
But, you know, you don't always

know.
(wheezing, groaning)

(Anthony laughing)

>> NARRATOR: With the death
of his father, Michael
Corleone's dark transformation

is complete.
>> YOUNG: The old saying, "The
sins of the father are visited

upon the children."
The hero's task often begins
taking on the unfinished

business of the father.
>> NARRATOR: During the funeral,
Michael plans a crime wave

of murders and executions.
>> After the baptism.
>> NARRATOR: All of his father's

enemies will be destroyed.
>> Then I'll meet with Don
Barzini and Tataglia-- all the

heads of the Five Families.
>> NARRATOR: Or, as he puts it,
"all of the family business"

will be settled.
>> Michael Francis Rizzi, do you
renounce Satan...

>> I do renounce him.
>> COPPOLA: The birth of drama
comes out of ritual, so that

it seemed obvious to me
to tell all the stories
through the various rituals--

combine them all during
the baptism ceremony.
>> And all his works...

>> PHILLIPS: So that, again,
there is this ability, uh, to

compartmentalize, to observe
very sacred and solemn

traditions in the Catholic
Church and in with that, are the

killings of the people who stand
in his way.

>> I do renounce them.
>> ANASTASIA: It was

fascinating cinema, but if you
took each one of those things

individually, they were
horrific.

They've kind of desensitized the
idea of murder.
>> And all his promises?

>> I do renounce them.
>> JENNIFER MASCIA: When I see
people being shot...

...people being whacked, like
the famous baptism scene, I just

think, you know, this isn't
real, it's not real, you know.

The truth is so much more
horrific.

>> Will you be baptized?
>> I will.
(priest speaking Latin)

Michael Rizzi, go in peace and
may the Lord be with you.
Amen.

>> MASCIA: My father couldn't
live with it, according to my
mother.

He would have nightmares.
In real life, it takes a
psychic toll that you

don't see in the movies.
>> NARRATOR: In The Godfather,
the wave of killings continues

as Michael eliminates
anyone who might threaten
his family or his power.

>> You have to answer for
Santino, Carlo.

>> GIANNI RUSSO: Carlo was a
thread through the movie,

obviously, because with
Carlo undermining the family and

marrying into the family and
getting Sonny shot, you do

something wrong, you're gone.

>> Hello, Carlo.

(groaning)
>> RUSSO: I mean, yes, it was
violent... but if you join the

club, you should know the rules.
>> NARRATOR: In the film's
chilling final scene,

Michael Corleone has
formally assumed his father's
role as the Godfather.

>> BOYD: He's pulled into
the game.
And over time, he has to become

something he didn't necessarily
want to become.
Something his father didn't want

him to become.
>> Michael, you lousy bastard!
You killed my husband!

>> BOYD: He has to become a
gangster, and eventually
transform himself into the

Godfather.
>> She's hysterical.
>> Michael, is it true?

>> Don't ask me about my
business.
>> No...

>> Enough!
>> NARRATOR: He also commits
what is, perhaps, the

ultimate act of betrayal.
>> This one time...

This one time, I'll let you ask
me about my affairs.
>> Is it true?

>> No.
(sighing, sobbing)

>> MICHAEL FRANZESE: I think
most of the guys with the

old-time thinking kept
everything away from their

wives.
You know, their girlfriends

might've known something, but
the wives didn't know anything,

and that was certainly by
design.

You tried to protect your
family.

>> MICHAEL CHERTOFF: I think,
actually, mobsters tend to

treat women less well than in
the movie.

There's the scene at the end
when you see Diane Keaton, who

plays his wife, looking into
another room, a kind of darkened

room, you see people coming up
and basically bowing and kissing

Michael Corleone's hand.

And then the door shuts and you
realize that she's now gonna be
shut out of his new life.

That's a great metaphor for what
the mafia is.
>> NARRATOR: Although Michael

Corleone's transformation
from innocence to evil may have
been where The Godfather ended,

it was by no means the end of
the story.
The Godfather legacy

would continue.

>> NARRATOR: The morning after
its New York premiere in 1972,
critics and audiences began

praising The Godfather as
"gripping," "explosive" and
"brilliantly dramatic."

By the end of the week it was
obvious-- the film that director
Francis Ford Coppola feared

might be a failure would
become a global phenomenon.

>> RUDDY: I remember
driving to the office Wednesday

morning when we opened, 8:30 in
the morning, it was raining

outside, and at the Astor
Theatre, there were lines

around the block.

Something bizarre happens
occasionally in a movie, where
it becomes more than just a

movie.
It becomes an event.
>> COPPOLA: The whole success

of it totally shocked me.

All I can imagine is the devil
must have popped out behind a

hedge and says, "Hey, if you
sell me your soul, I'll make The

Godfather the most successful
movie ever made."

Something like that must have
happened that I don't
remember, because maybe

when you make deals with the
devil, part of it is you don't
remember.

>> Please have your tickets out
and ready, and please keep the
line moving.

>> LEBO: The Godfather at its
peak was making about a million

dollars a day, which doesn't
sound like a lot today,

but in 1972, it was incredible.
That was a gigantic hit beyond

anything that Paramount could
have imagined.

>> NARRATOR: Almost overnight,
The Godfather became a pop
culture phenomenon.

Movie memorabilia such as
posters of Marlon Brando as Don
Vito Corleone sold in the

millions.
40s style "mob-chic" became
something of a fashion craze,

and memorable lines from the
film became part of the national
dialogue.

>> I'm gonna make him an offer
he can't refuse.
>> It means Luca Brasi sleeps

with the fishes.
>> You got to get up close like
this-- bada-bing!

You blow their brains all over
your nice Ivy League suit.
>> COPPOLA: Jimmy should be

getting a royalty on things
like, uh, "bada-bing,"
because he picked that all up

from the guys he wasanging
out with.
>> CAAN: It was like, you know,

having fun.
It was a lot of improvisational
stuff then.

I mean, the whole bada-bing
thing, none of that stuff was
written.

>> NARRATOR: Another unintended
consequence of The Godfather
was its immense popularity with

real-life mobsters.

>> FERRANTE: The Godfather
was absolutely hands down the

mafia's best recruiting tool.
It kind of put a veneer on

criminal life.

It made it okay to be a crook.
Instead of being ostracized by
being a criminal, you were kind

of put on a pedestal because
everybody in your neighborhood
saw The Godfather.

>> MASCIA: My parents, forget
about it.
They would go around quoting

The Godfather to each other
all the time.

And that mythology actually
became part of our language with

each other, part of our running
inside joke.

They actually absorbed some of
the customs, like the kissing of
the ring, into their real lives.

They became the myth.
>> NARRATOR: The Godfather went
on to earn a total of ten

Academy Award nominations,
winning three, including Best
Adapted Screenplay,

Best Actor for Marlon Brando,
and Best Picture of the Year.
For Paramount Pictures, the

enormous box-office success of
The Godfather made the idea of
a sequel irresistible.

But for Francis Ford Coppola,
the director who had been
plagued with the studio's

frequent threats to replace him
during production, the
invitation to return to the

world of the Corleones was not
so appealing.
It would literally take an offer

the 34-year-old filmmaker
couldn't refuse.
>> COPPOLA: I had no desire

to do a second film.
I only made it because I was
given carte blanche to

make the second Godfather
totally on my own.
And I had always had an idea

about doing a film about a son
and a father in the same story.
>> NARRATOR: The Godfather:

Part II was set in the late
1950s.
>> Mama!

>> NARRATOR: The story featured
many of the same characters
from the original film...

>> I thought you was never
coming out west, you big bum.
>> NARRATOR: ...but now with

a darker and deliberately
more political tone.
>> My lawyer, Tom Hagen,

Senator Geary.
>> And I intend to squeeze you.
I don't like your kind of

people.
I don't like to see you come out
to this clean country and your

oily hair.
>> NARRATOR: Most particularly
changed is Michael, the

ruthless new Don.
>> Trying to pass yourselves off
as decent Americans.

The dishonest way you pose
yourself, yourself and your
whole family.

>> NARRATOR: He is now a far
cry from the reluctant crime
boss depicted in the first

film.
>> Senator...
we're both part of the same

hypocrisy.
But never think
it applies to my family.

>> PACINO: I can only speak
from the character's point of

view; I could tell you about the
character, the struggle he was

having, which-which was made
him a depressed person.

>> So, let's just say that
you'll pay me because it's in
your interest to pay me.

But I want your answer and the
money by noon tomorrow.
>> PACINO: There's no doubt

when you see Part II, the
melancholia just starts to come
in.

>> Senator,
you can have my answer now, if
you like.

My offer is this.
Nothing.
Not even the fee for the gaming

license,
which I would appreciate if you
would put up personally.

>> NARRATOR: In the film,
Michael Corleone must face what
is perhaps his deadliest threat,

because, unlike his mob
opponents in the past, this time
his enemy is someone within his

own ranks.
>> Michael, why are the drapes
open?

(gunfire)

>> MESSENGER: Certainly in the
second Godfather film,
that night the assassination

attempts on Michael Corleone
and his family.
They shoot right in the

bedroom windows.
>> Kay, you all right?
Are you hit?

(panting)

>> MESSENGER: And therefore the
idea that the gang is safe

within their own... their own
compound is-is-is wrong, and

that's how the second movie
really begins.

>> NARRATOR: Determined to
uncover the traitor, Michael
suspects that Hyman Roth, a

life-long business partner of
his father's, is behind the
attack.

Enlisting the help of his capo,
Frankie Pentangeli, Michael
deviously plots his revenge

against crime boss Roth.
>> My father taught me many
things here.

He taught me in this room.

He taught me, "Keep your friends
close, but your enemies closer."
I want him completely relaxed

and confident in our friendship.
Then I'll be able to find out
who the traitor in my family

was.

>> PHILLIPS: The betrayal of
one family member against

another, it would be a horrific
event, uh, if anyone

perpetrated this act.

But it's perpetrated by friends
or family members.
Evil is always more dangerous

when it takes the cloak of
familiarity.
>> NARRATOR: But The Godfather:

Part II is much more
than a sequel.
Using an elaborate series of

flashbacks, the film weaves
together contrasting characters
and events.

Juxtaposed against the modern
story of Michael Corleone is the
more nostalgic tale of his

immigrant father, Vito Andolini,
the orphaned casualty of a
bloody Sicilian vendetta.

(gunshot)

>> NARRATOR: After escaping to
the United States, young Vito,
now renamed Corleone, follows

the path of many Italians who
fled poverty in an effort to
seek freedom and fortune

in a new land.
>> TOM GUGLIELMO: Anyone who
knows anything about U.S.

immigration history will
recognize these images.

The Godfather was the-the
first big epic tale about

European immigration.

There's a desperation.
He comes as a young boy.
He has nothing on his back, no

resources, very few connections
as far as we can tell.
He's clearly living a pretty

poor existence in Lower
Manhattan.
That's his life.

>> NARRATOR: In the role of
Vito as a young man, Coppola
cast 30-year-old Robert De Niro,

fresh from his success in Mean
Streets, Martin Scorsese's
gritty portrayal of modern

gangster life in New York.
Young Vito, like many American
immigrants, works menial jobs to

feed his growing family.

He witnesses local gang boss
Don Fanucci terrorizing his
Italian neighborhood.

The corruption reminds Vito of
the injustices he had hoped to
leave behind in Sicily.

>> Vito, come here.
Come on.
>> COPPOLA: People had left the

Old World because of the
aristocracy and traditions and
advantages that certain

families had because of their
connections and their name, and
America was supposed to be, uh,

where all that was gone, and
there was really a government
that was gonna look out for you.

And to some extent, that was
true, but very often, to the
lowly immigrant it wasn't true.

>> GUGLIELMO: If you didn't
think the system in America
worked for you, the mafia was

an option around the system.
>> NARRATOR: Now the young Vito
must make a choice:

either live as a coward...

(gunshot)
...or as a criminal.
(screaming, gunshot)

There would be no turning back.

>> Now, Mr. Corleone, you have
been advised as to your legal
rights.

We have testimony from a
witness, a previous witness, one
Willy Cicci.

He has stated that you are head
of the most powerful mafia
family in this country.

Are you?
>> No, I'm not.
>> The witness has testified

that you are personally
responsible for the murder of
a New York City police captain

in 1947, and with him, a man
named Virgil Sollozzo.
You deny this?

>> Yes, I do.
>> Is it true that in the year
1950, you devised the murder of

the heads of the so-called
Five Families in New York
to assume and consolidate your

nefarious power?
>> It's a complete falsehood.

>> It's rather a suspicious
coincidence that the records

which showed these matters were
destroyed six days after the

break-in at the Watergate.

>> Mr. Chairman, the adjectives
that you're using: "clear,
coincidence" and

"suspicious coincidence..."
>> Well, don't you think
it's rather suspicious?

>> No, I don't.
>> NARRATOR: Filmed in the wake
of the sensation-filled

Watergate hearings in 1973, The
Godfather: Part II offers a
pointed political metaphor as

Michael Corleone comes face-to-
face with the very senators and
politicians his father Vito had

hoped he would grow up to be.
But as seen in the film, the
government-- like the mafia--

is equally corrupt and
contaminated by greed.

>> MESSENGER: It's a brilliant
achievement in cinema.

And only goes to show how
aware Coppola and Puzo were

of how integrated business
and government, politics and

nations were to mob control.
>> SPITZER: When I was in

Manhattan's D.A.'s office,
you had a convergence of corrupt

politicians, corrupt union
leaders in organized crime.

And that sort of intersection of
three forces when corrupted was

extraordinarily powerful.
>> MICHAEL CHERTOFF: There was a

time in the United States when
the mob did have a lot of

influence in political life in
certain cities.

And they had either bribed
politicians or bribed judges or

had influence through the labor
unions on what was going on

politically.
>> FRANZESE: We did favors, we

expected them in return.
You know, even political favors.

I had, without mentioning his
name, one of the most powerful

Democratic leaders of the
Democratic Party who was in New

York was very tightly involved
with us.

We had to go to all his
fundraisers.

Whenever we needed a favor, we
went to him, sat with him many,
many times, so that goes on

quite a bit.

>> NARRATOR: Set against the
backdrop of the mob's activities
in pre-Castro Cuba, the film

chronicles Michael's rising
influence in politics
and business.

But at a meeting in Havana, he
discovers the identity of the
traitor within his family.

>> I know it was you, Fredo.
You broke my heart.
You broke my heart!

>> NARRATOR: Throughout the
film, Coppola and Puzo sharply
contrast the story of Michael

Corleone's struggle to retain
control with that of his
father's acquisition of power

and influence during the 1920s.

>> PHILLIPS: Vito is extremely
committed to gathering respect.

There is nothing more
important to him.

>> Grazie, grazie.

>> PHILLIPS: Vito is seeking the
acknowledgment of his ability to
provide protection.

The ingratiation of a community,
if you think of how he started,
taking care of widows who were

being overcharged in their rent.

All of these sorts of things
really are the coin of the realm
for Vito.

>> Grazie, grazie.
>> PHILLIPS: Michael is very
different.

In many respects, he runs his
family like a well-oiled
military operation.

No room for error, no room for
questioning authority and
absolute annihilation of any

enemy who stands in his way.
>> NARRATOR: But Michael's
determination to hold onto the

power he inherited will
ultimately cost him the very
family he claims he is

protecting.
>> I know you blame me for
losing the baby.

I'll make it up to you, Kay.
I swear I'll make it up to you.
>> Michael, you are blind.

It wasn't a miscarriage.

It was an abortion, just like
our marriage is an abortion!
Something that's unholy

and evil!

>> GUGLIELMO: It's really the
first time where she does

contest Michael's power and
does call him out for all

the horrible things he's
been doing.

>> It was a son!
A son, and I had it killed
because this must all end!

I know now that it's over.
I knew it then.
There would be no way, Michael,

no way you could ever forgive
me, not with this Sicilian
thing that's been going on

for 2,000 years!
(yells)

>> YOUNG: Throughout Greek
mythology, the hero king is

undone by his own arrogance.

>> You won't take my children.
>> I will.

>> You won't take my children!
>> They're my children, too.
>> YOUNG: Someone with great

authority, wealth, the
advantages of life gets full of
themselves, takes their strength

a little too far, and ends up
lost or alone or dead, and to a
degree that happens to Michael.

>> NARRATOR: As if to leave
audiences no doubt about his
descent into corruption and

self-loathing, Michael Corleone
commits what is perhaps his
ultimate crime: ordering the

murder of his brother Fredo.
>> Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners.

>> SHIRE: It's one thing if your
enemy hurts you, but if a
brother kills a brother...

(gunshot)
...that's tragedy.

Now you're moving in another
direction, and you know that has

to have some kind of
consequence, spiritually.

>> PACINO: It shows Michael, the
only way for him to survive, was

to assume this kind of person
with these ideas and

these ideals.
Killing his own brother, you

know, it's like a Greek tragedy.
>> COPPOLA: Mario questioned the

murder of Fredo-- which was not
in the book and was my idea--

as being, you know, too much.
And then he sort of relented

when I said, "They won't kill
him until after his mother

dies."
He says "Okay, then

it's all right." (laughs)

>> NARRATOR: The Godfather: Part
II paints a sad portrait, not
only of the Corleones but of a

tarnished American dream; a
dream that began with optimism
and faith, and became

contaminated by betrayal and
disillusionment.

>> CAMILLE PAGLIA: At the very
end, when Michael is sitting in
his house at Lake Tahoe

utterly alone, utterly cold.
Just his eyes, totally
conscious, totally sleepless,

watching.
He's become Roman.

It's amazing piece of
underplaying, steely

understatement.
That is it. That captures it.

>> NARRATOR: But for Michael
Corleone, his journey has
not yet ended.

His unspeakable crimes
require atonement.
But from whom does a godfather

seek redemption if not
from God himself?

>> NARRATOR: In December 1974,
Paramount Pictures released The
Godfather: Part II to critical

and commercial acclaim.
The film went on to earn 11
Academy Award nominations,

winning six, including Best
Actor in a Supporting Role, Best
Director and Best Picture,

a feat unmatched by
any movie sequel.
>> PACINO: It's the story.

It's a good story.

It's about human beings who are
going through things, in a way,

and I think that's what
Francis was able to capture.

And so you're able
to follow their struggle.
>> NARRATOR: In the wake of The

Godfather: Part II's success,
Paramount Pictures executives
begged director Francis Ford

Coppola to write and direct yet
another sequel.
But exhausted by what had been a

four-year process, the
35-year-old filmmaker refused.
>> COPPOLA: I always vowed I

would never make another
Godfather.

I never thought there should be
more than one Godfather film.

I never subscribed to the idea
that a successful movie had to

have more of them made,
because I knew it was just

a commercial decision.

>> NARRATOR: But during the
decades that followed, rumors
persisted that a Godfather film

was in the works.
Rumors that turned out to be
true when, in 1989, it was

announced that Francis Ford
Coppola had agreed to helm
the project.

>> COPPOLA: The third one got
made 15 years later, when I was,
like, absolutely in all kinds

of dire financial need.
I wanted to call it The Death
of Michael Corleone.

I always saw the third movie
should be more like a coda.
It shouldn't be like

a third installment.
>> What'd you come here for?
>> I came here to protect

my son.
>> I spent my life protecting
my son.

I spent my life protecting
my family!

>> NARRATOR: Once again
co-written by Francis Ford
Coppola and Mario Puzo,

The Godfather: Part III
concerns Michael Corleone's
efforts to achieve legitimacy

for both himself and his family.
>> Smile!
(applause)

(chanting in Latin)
>> NARRATOR: This leads him to
forge a financial and political

alliance with the Roman Catholic
Church.
>> In nomine Patris...

et Spiritu Sancti.
>> NARRATOR: And, in the
process, he seeks spiritual

forgiveness for his past sins.
>> Amen.
>> I killed men.

And I ordered men to be killed.
>> Go on, my son.
Go on.

>> I ordered the death of my
brother.
He injured me.

I killed my mother's son.
>> PACINO: Michael is letting go
of this character he's become.

Killing his own brother--
he wanted to be forgiven for
that.

He wanted to move on and-and
become what he was before he
was... started in the family.

>> MESSENGER: Michael now wants
to buy off his immortal soul.

It's a very intriguing storyline
because he wants to give a

billion dollars to the Vatican
and then have the Vatican

disperse this money through a
foundation, and therefore

somehow believe that he is not
going to burn eternally.

>> NARRATOR: But Michael's
almost desperate efforts to
atone for his past sins are

thwarted when he discovers that
forces within the Catholic
Church are even more corrupt

than the mafia.
>> COPPOLA: I have always known
that the Catholic Church--

which, uh, is a story that's
thousands of years old--
its history is nothing to be

proud of.
They're masters of immorality.
>> The church owns 25% of a

large corporation.
Immobiliare.
>> That's true.

>> And the Vatican vote is
necessary for control.
The Corleones are prepared to

deposit $500 million in the
Vatican bank at such time as
Mr. Corleone receives majority

control of Immobiliare.
>> $600 million.
>> PHILLIPS: Michael is a very

tragic figure.

He'll never be legitimate.
It's the classic line.

>> Just when I thought I was
out, they pull me back in.
>> PHILLIPS: It's at that point

that he realizes he will never
be legitimate.
He can't be.

And that is his greatest
frustration and the greatest
cross to bear.

>> Our true enemy...
has not yet shown his face.

>> Michael!
(screams)
Michael!

>> NARRATOR: But in
The Godfather: Part III,
Michael Corleone is not only

spiritually weakened, he is also
physically handicapped.
(gasping)

>> PACINO: Francis puts in his
battle with this disease.
He has this diabetic kind of

a recurrence and you could see
that's a metaphor for what's
died in him.

>> NARRATOR: His battle with
disease now makes the once
formidable Michael vulnerable

to attack by a rival mob boss.
>> As for Don Corleone, well, he
makes it... very clear to me

today that he is my enemy.
(rattling)
>> What the hell is that?

>> It's a hit.
Let's go; follow me.
>> Let's get out of here!

(people shouting)

(machine-gun fire)

>> Mikey!
This way!
>> Go! Go!

>> NARRATOR: In contrast to
Michael Corleone's decline is
the strength and cunning now

demonstrated by his sister,
Connie.
Battered by past events, she

emerges as a ruthless matriarch
with an iron will...
>> If anything happens to

Michael, I want you to strike
back.
>> NARRATOR: ...and an appetite

for revenge.
>> I'll have everything ready.
>> You swear?

>> SHIRE: Connie does embrace
power, but her expression of
it is all dark.

>> I swear to you.
>> SHIRE: In many ways, she is--
in her mind-- the concept of her

father.

So she is taking power in this
other way.

You know, she is... hovering
over who will be the next king.

>> JOE MANTEGNA: Talia's
character, the evolution of it
all still ties to the strength

of the family.

That's part of the strength of
the film, that even in times of

the most horrific strife, at the
end of the day, that old line...

blood's thicker than water.

>> NARRATOR: Michael's hopes for
redemption are shattered when
an assassin's bullet, intended

for him...
(gunshots, screaming)
...takes the life of his

daughter, Mary.

>> Dad?
>> SHIRE: He now has to witness
the death of a daughter.

There's nothing glamorous about
all of this.
You know, yeah, you have the

symbols of power, but not when
this kind of horror is brought
to your family and there's

nothing you can do about it.
(screams)
>> Mary!

>> NARRATOR: With his dead
daughter clutched in his arms,
Michael Corleone's mouth becomes

frozen in a silent scream, as if
he were trying to utter a
prayer that even God refuses to

hear.
>> MESSENGER: As he watches his
daughter shot to death on the

steps of the opera house in
Palermo, Sicily, Michael
descends into a hell of his own

making but one in which he is
certainly justly punished.
>> FRED GARDAPHE: He becomes

this kind of impure opposite
of his father.
(screams)

Where his father's about keeping
the family together, he ends up,

you know, inadvertently
destroying the family.

>> NARRATOR: In The Godfather:
Part III's final scene,
Michael Corleone is shown in

the last moments of his life.
He is living in Italy, without
power, without friends, and

without the family he had spent
so much of his life trying to
protect.

>> GARDAPHE: At the end of
Godfather III, Michael
Corleone is very much alone,

and the Italians have this
phrase, "morte come un cane"--
you should die like a dog.

When dogs die, they go off on
their own and they know they're
gonna die.

And Coppola, I think, does a
great job of showing that at the

end, that this is what happens
to people, um, who betray their

own families.

And Michael, who is betraying
the honor of his family by
killing his sister's husband,

killing his own brother.
So Michael Corleone dies alone,
and he dies like a dog.

>> LEBO: We can tell by that
very brief scene at the end of
The Godfather: Part III

that this has been a tragic life
that he's lived.

Against everything he had ever
hoped for, everything he ever

planned for, he wound up
becoming exactly what he did not

want to be.

He became part of the family
business, and became more
ruthless and more powerful than

his father before him.
>> COPPOLA: What is that
famous quote?

"What profits you where you gain
the whole world and you lose
your soul?"

And I thought the irony of
the Michael Corleone story

was that, in an attempt to
protect his family, he destroyed

his family,
and himself as well.

>> NARRATOR: Although
The Godfather: Part III
would go on to earn a total of

seven Academy Award
nominations-- including one for
Best Picture-- the film received

mixed reviews from critics, and
disappointed many fans.
>> COPPOLA: There were many

things about the third Godfather
that I liked, but I didn't feel
it was necessary.

The last book is always the
weakest, because you've already
shown all your tricks.

You've already exposed all the
themes.
You-You're out of stuff to do.

>> PACINO: Godfather III...
I don't know how much the
audiences related to that.

Its motivation was different--
redemption.

But then there are actually
people out there... they like

it, you know, and so yeah, I-I
don't question them any further.

Well, what about it did you
like?

You know, I don't do that.
I sort of... I say, hey,
I'll leave well enough alone.

>> NARRATOR: But in spite of
the criticism, The Godfather:
Part III has joined its

predecessors as a classic.
The Godfather Saga stands as a
towering achievement in

filmmaking, and has embedded
itself in the American
consciousness.

Like a collective memory, it
reflects everything from the
immigrant experience to the

importance of family.
It also exposes the harsh
realities of crime,

its relationship to society,
and the darker side of the
American dream.

>> LEBO: The Godfather is really
part of American culture, as

much as baseball or cornflakes
or anything else, it really is.

>> MESSENGER: The testimony to
the power of any popular
cultural event is the way that

its styles and its language
move into the larger culture.

For decades now, Americans have
been saying in the workplace,

"I'll make him an offer he can't
refuse."

>> BOYD: I know people who will
quote lines from the film as
a mantra for their own life

as though it didn't come from
a movie, but it came from
a holy book.

People can use these films to go
start a corporation and bankrupt

nations if they wanted to.

>> My father taught me in
this room.
He taught me, "Keep your friends

close, but your enemies closer."

>> COPPOLA: There's no accident
that all of these business
moguls and dictators like

Saddam Hussein and Qaddafi,
that was their favorite movie,
because Vito Corleone and his

sons are powerful people,
and the logic of The Godfather
is capitalism in-in its purest

form.
>> GARDAPHE: So much of
The Godfather has a

resonance in it.

It's this incredible reflection
of an American fantasy, but

kind of a historical reality.
And when you fuse those two

things together, you end up with
something that is genuinely

mythic.

>> RUSSO: The life that was
portrayed by-by that family, the
Corleones, it's been embraced by

every culture there is.
>> CAAN: I won the Italian
of the Year twice.

Not once, twice.
I tried to explain to 'em I
couldn't take it... (laughs)

'cause I'm not really Italian.
But I'm very fortunate that I
was in that movie.

>> COPPOLA: Of course,
I'm well aware that the status I
enjoy comes from The Godfather.

It was an extraordinary group
of people I was involved with.
And the biggest factor of luck,

I think, is the timing related
to the audience being ready
to see a film like that.

>> BART: This picture, I think,
reflected the best of '70s
filmmaking.

It married artistic
sensibilities to a more
commercial canvas.

>> MANTEGNA: As my friend Vinnie
told me when I got Godfather
III, he said, "Wow, you're

gonna be in the Italian Star
Wars."
(laughs)

>> SHIRE: It dares to be epic.
And it has those themes of power
and dynasty.

And how a family of crime is
still a family.
>> PACINO: It's the underpinning

of what is the American dream.
And what family means, to
everybody, all over the world,

really.
Captioned by
access.wgbh.orgup at WGBH