THE ODD FATHER PART, TOO

THE GODFATHER, PART 2 (1974)
dir: Francis Ford Coppola

MAD #178, October 1975
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker

Leaves off where the previous movie ends (see yesterday and the day before), and also gives backstory to the elder godfather and how he got here, switching back and forth between both stories.

The movie begins with Don Vito Corleone, the role originated by Marlon Brando, as a boy at the turn of last century, then goes into later operations with his son in Nevada, but this parody switches those scenes around.

Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), leader of the mob, having taken over from his father Vito, is having a party on his estate which introduces the characters, similar to the way the last movie started with a wedding.

Up in the far left is a caricature of director Coppola.

During the communion, Michael is also conducting business behind closed doors in his office, consulting with his lawyer Tom (Robert Duvall) and doing favors for the various clients waiting to meet him. One of them is Senator Geary (G. D. Spradlin) who wants money for a gambling permit, which Michael refuses to pay for. [MAD omits the part about how they later gain the Senator's favor by framing him with a dead prostitute and blackmailing him.] His recently widowed sister Connie (Talia Shire) comes to ask for his blessing to marry Merle (Troy Donahue) who Michael doesn't like.

The Corleones are all having dinner at the communion where family drama is established. Fredo (John Cazale)'s wife is too trashy even by their standards. Michael's wife Kay (Diane Keaton) is upset that their marriage and his business haven't ended up like as she expected them to.

Meanwhile, in Sicily, a young Vito lost his father and brother to mob boss Don Ciccio. The mother tries to seek revenge and is killed , and knowing Ciccio's men will go after him he gets older, flees the country.

Vito comes to America through Ellis Island. He's from the town of Corleone, so that becomes his new last name.

In the fifties, Michael Corleone is trying to adjust to normal domestic life as best as he can, but having left the drapes open, an assassination attempt has been made on his life.

Flashback to Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro), now assimilated into America and living in the Italian immigrant neighborhood on the lower east side in Manhattan, is working at a delicatessen. Mob boss Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin), who takes protection money from all the local businesses, comes in demanding a job for his nephew, so Vito has to go.

Michael Corleone flies down to Miami to discuss business with Hyman Roth (Lee Strassberg). At this time right before Castro took over Cuba, it looked like it would work out well for the mob and other businesses, not having to deal with U. S. laws in a country 90 miles away. Various gangsters and business partners are suspected to have been part of the assassination attempt on Michael Corleone and blame the other, including Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), and ultimately it turns out the whole thing was orchestrated by Michael's brother Fredo, who felt he should have always been the one in charge. Fredo comes down to Havana, but from that moment on he's dead to Michael.

Back in the past, we see how Don Fanucci controls everything in the neighborhood. The parody leaves out how Vito meets future associate Clemenza and they commit crimes of their own. Fannucci extorts money from them and they discuss with a young Tessio how it's not fair and Vito tells them he'll take care of it. When the time comes for him to give their money to Fannucci, he doesn't give the whole thing and is admired for his balls.

Vito then sneaks into Don Fanucci's building through the roof during a parade and shoots him.

In Tahoe, Michael will no longer talk to Fredo despite protests from his sister. He promises not to have Fredo killed as long as their mother is alive. His wife leaves him and takes the children with her, sick of the Mafia life. (There was friction earlier about her having a miscarriage, which she had kept secret about really being an abortion because she didn't want to bring a gangster into the world).

In New York in the twenties, Vito Corleone has become the new mob boss.

Vito travels back to Sicily and avenges he death of his family. We also get to see Michael, Fredo, and Sonny (the brother killed in the previous movie) as kids.

There are quite a few things that weren't parodied for the sake of brevity. At the Senate hearings, there are other witnesses and the senator they bought defends Michael. One of the most important scenes happens at the end, where Michael says that even though Fredo betrayed him, he won't have Fredo killed as long as their mother is alive. Emphasis on the italicized words. She does so he does. There's also an epilogue of the family right before World War II which ties both storylines together. The previous installment was three hours, this was three and a half, so I guess you can't include everything.

UPDATE:
THE GODFODDER, PART XXIII
Cracked #124, May 1974
a: Seymour Redley (John Severin)

The severed horse head is a reference to a scene in the first movie (see video clip in older posts)

Not exactly a frame-by-frame description, but making fun of the idea of sequels, done before the movie was even released. Robert Duvall is the only one caricatured except for flashback. Here Woody Allen is supposed to be an actor in this hypothetical sequel.

This is supposed to take place in the future, yet Chico Marx is in this despite having died in 1961. I guess he rose from the dead because he needed the money (inside joke).

This was sequel number 23. You can't go much further after 23.