The Godfather Part II: (Nino Rota/Carmine Coppola)
Considering all the popular sequels within the various franchises in
Hollywood that have followed Francis Ford Coppola's extremely successful
The Godfather Part II, it's astonishing to recall that Paramount
was initially quite nervous about the financial viability of a direct
sequel in 1974, fighting the director's attempt to use "Part II" as a
portion of the title. Despite the eventual mutual interest in the second
film, however, Coppola was disgruntled over his experience with
The
Godfather and, in an effort to appease him, the studio afforded
Coppola a greater budget and the opportunity to make another fine
picture of his choice the same year,
The Conversation. For a
second time, a superior script, again utilizing input from author Mario
Puzo, and a phenomenal ensemble cast performance were highlights of the
production (the last to be shot in Technicolor, too), leading to six
Academy Awards in eleven nominations and inclusion high upon many
accomplished critics' lists of the top films in the history of cinema.
The plot of
The Godfather Part II is even more sinister and
depressing than that of the previous entry, despite the romantic half of
the film dealing with Vito Corleone's immigration to America and
ascension to power during the height of the family's promise. All three
films in the franchise conclude with tremendous assassination scenes
that eventually solidify Michael Corleone's general position in the
mafia, the second film eliminating most of the remnants of the old
Italian hierarchy (and some within) as the Corleone family moves into
the realm of Nevada gambling in the 1950's. Coppola has long maintained
that the first two films of 1972 and 1974 are the primary features and
that
The Godfather Part III in 1990 was nothing more than an
epilogue. Indeed,
The Godfather Part II is easily the undeniable
powerhouse of the franchise, and the film also represented the pinnacle
of the music for the topic as well.
The score for the original
The Godfather caused a
sensation, its two primary themes extremely memorable in the mainstream,
though because Nino Rota adapted material from several of his previous
works for these themes, he was ineligible for some awards consideration.
The equation would be a bit different for
The Godfather Part II,
Rota returning and writing significantly more fresh music and the
director's father, Carmine Coppola, again laboriously providing the
source music heard in performances on screen. The balance between
original score, original source music, and licensed material heard in
The Godfather Part II is similar to what existed in
The
Godfather, but rather than regurgitate the three returning themes
endlessly this time despite being effective in the first film because of
their quality, Rota creates a larger selection of melodies from which to
choose in this musical narrative. The returning identities include the
famous "Godfather Waltz," the equally popular love theme, and the more
elusive "Michael's Theme." The first two of these are largely
marginalized and left literally unfinished at times as Michael Corleone
moves further from the familial success that his father had achieved,
thus affirming (along with some help from the third score in the
franchise) that the tragic theme for Michael is indeed the final
identity of the overall concept. The use of famous waltz and its
secondary, solo trumpet phrases, is constricted in
The Godfather Part
II to mostly obligatory statements at the very outset of the film in
"Main Title" and a fragile solo violin version at the end of "End
Titles" that dies with an almost bizarre whimper and artificial
resolution. It is also heard more longingly and in wistful
instrumentation with the uncomfortable yielding at the end of "Kay"
(alternately "After the Party"), in true, vintage form late in "Michael
and Anthony," on ominous low woodwinds in "Fredo's Stay of Execution,"
in solitary foreshadowing in "Remember Vito Andolini," in fragments
within "The Brothers Mourn," and in lonely contemplation during
"Reflections on Romans."
The love theme from this franchise is, for some listeners,
largely abandoned in
The Godfather Part II, though many of its
structures and sensibilities would be adapted into Rota's primary
immigrant theme for the picture. The only performances of note for the
love theme exist softly in "Intermezzo" and with more impact in
"Remember Vito Andolini," a scene of appropriate formal merging of the
love and new immigrant themes in a redemption tone. The theme for
Michael that made such an impressive impact in the concluding cues of
The Godfather, as reinforced by choral accompaniment, is
increasingly pervasive in this work. It immediately and seamlessly
follows the famous trumpet phrase that usually preceded the waltz in
"Main Title" before sounding alarms in the suspense of "Finding the Man"
and "The Search Continues," turning softer in "Michael and Anthony,"
strikingly horrific from chopping strings in "Fredo's Panic," ominously
overshadowing a new theme for Kay in "Michael Comes Home," a portent of
death over the immigrant theme in "The Brother's Mourn," stuttering
lightly in "Death of Three," and again opening "End Title" with
significant ensemble weight but no chorus. None of the performances of
these returning themes is particularly remarkable in
The Godfather
Part II, each mostly overshadowed by the new identities. The
romantic tone of "Remember Vito Andolini," with its flute performances
of the old love theme, is a surprising highlight. The continued
employment of mandolin, accordion, and acoustic guitar provide more than
enough continuity on top of those thematic references. Of the three new
themes Rota composed for
The Godfather Part II, none has as much
impact as the one for a young Vito Corleone, often termed the "immigrant
theme." It is easily the centerpiece of this score, taking many familiar
parts of the love theme and infusing theme into a robust symphonic
representation of hope that counters the extremely drab personality of
Michael's increasingly dominant theme that brings brooding darkness and
increasing, unyielding panic to the soundscape.
The film's opening scenes offer the immigrant theme in
full glory on soaring strings with resounding brass counterpoint, and it
is likely this one cue that provided Rota with an Oscar win for this
assignment. The theme and its compelling interlude sequence are almost
always referenced in the flashback sequences, from "Vito and Abbandando"
to supporting roles in "A New Carpet" and "Remember Vito Andolini." The
tapering of this melody to its most melancholy form in "Michael and His
Mother" and "The Brothers Mourn" to convey the death of Vito's widow and
the impending killing of Fredo bring this theme about into a full
circle, albeit a devastating one. The use of Michael's theme as
persistently interrupting counterpoint to the immigrant theme in the
latter cue produces one of the most effectively disturbing moments of
music in the franchise, Michael's sister unsuccessful in persuading him
to spare Fredo despite the concept of family struggling to persist in
both concept and the immigrant theme. Rota revisits the idea in full
symphonic glory with impressive brass counterpoint and forceful piano in
the bass in "End Title." Also heard briefly in that summary "End Title"
cue is the cute tarantella (modeled after Southern Italian folk dance
traditions) for the more comical side to Vito's youth, burped with
considerable humor from bassoon and tuba, among others, in "A New
Carpet" and "We're in Business," skirting similar tones for a moer
modern era in "Fredo Brings the Bread." The reminders of the immigrant
theme in this piece are remarkably effective on screen despite the
disparate tones. Some listeners do not consider this folksy interlude to
be a theme in and of itself, which may be fair. Definitely an identity
to be shattered in
The Godfather Part II is that of Michael's
wife, Kay, the unfortunately bystander and victim of the family business
who is increasingly threatened and isolated in this story despite her
eventual awarding of custody over the children. The establishment and
death of her theme in
The Godfather Part II, only to be revisited
in ghostly form in the third score as necessary, is so blatantly tragic
that it is even more depressing than Michael's theme, which is quite a
feat.
Kay's theme opens with a descending figure based on
"The Pickup" from the first score that probably represents that "sinking
feeling" she experiences at the end of the first film and eventually
fully realizes when the door is literally shut on her a second time in
The Godfather Part II. The lovely piano and whimsical light jazz
version of the theme in "Kay" (reprised in "End Title") is suspicious in
"The Godfathers at Home" and comes to an agonizing halt on faltering
woodwinds in "Michael Comes Home." Brief reminders interject on lighter
but defeated instrumental tones in "The Corleone Estate" and lost
against Michael's theme "New England," the latter closing the film in a
nightmarish stupor despite its relatively dainty demeanor. Among the
greatest successes that Rota achieved in this franchise was the
integration of the themes in
The Godfather Part II. They are so
expertly placed that you tend to forget that they don't experience
significant evolution over the three pictures. The form of a theme in
its first incarnation is likely similar to that of its last, and the
instrumentation, despite the loss of the chorus as the story progresses,
aids in maintaining that consistency. The only exception to that rule is
the increasing urgency and outright horror that ultimately haunts
Michael's theme, his material exerting an inevitable presence of gloom
and dread upon all the other themes as the character loses everything in
a desperate bid to consolidate the family's power. Still, Rota is so
adept at offering the right themes at the right moments with just enough
unique inflection to address each scene that his music for the franchise
still functions perfectly, especially in this score. The reminder of the
descending phrase for Kay at the end of "Remember Vito Andolini" is one
solid example, as is the interesting mingling of the title waltz with
Kay's theme in "After the Party." Much of that technique would be lost
when Carmine Coppola took the reigns for
The Godfather Part III
(Rota had already been dead for a decade by 1990) and simply
regurgitated some of Rota's themes as necessary. That said,
The
Godfather Part II isn't an entirely perfect soundtrack, and while it
easily remains the strongest of the three in the franchise, a few
nagging flaws do exist in its ranks.
The theme for Kay, while expertly applied, doesn't
really sound like a good representation of Diane Keaton's character.
Rota attempts to address her with the sound of American jazz from an era
thirty years prior to the setting of this film, and while the attempt to
distinguish her sound from the otherwise Italian tone of the scores is
understandable, the rambling piano, longing saxophone, and muted trumpet
appeal is simply out of place in the late 1950's. Some of that
circumstance is mitigated by the solo violin and xylophone performance
of her theme in "The Godfathers at Home." Also disrupting the listening
experience once again to some degree is Coppola's material; Rota was
capable of writing this music himself and might have better worked his
original themes into it. Also long problematic was the album
presentation of
The Godfather Part II. Several superior
re-recordings of the immigrant theme in digital sound were good
companions to the original performance, which itself is restricted in
quality by technology of the era. While perhaps not as troubling as the
album for the first film (this one did make the top 200 Billboard charts
for a short time in 1975), the 1991 CD was likewise not complete. The
sprinkling of several Coppola compositions didn't really help or hurt
the experience. A 2024 2-CD expansion from La-La Land Records is
absolutely necessary for any significant enthusiast of these scores,
filling in the full breadth of Michael's theme in its horror mode and
illuminating a few notable performances of other ideas as well. Several
longer, film versions of cues are intriguing. Rota's material is also
largely separated from Coppola's, his own source music collected
alongside the main score presentation and before a handful alternate
takes that include a bizarrely fascinating electric version of the main
waltz. The second CD on the set offers the original album arrangement
(remastered, as with the rest) and Coppola's source material. A demo
recording on piano of the two new themes and significant amount of vocal
banter is also a unique gem. The improvement in sound quality is
impressive on this excellent set, helping alleviate many of the issues
the score presented when heard on the prior album. Given that the third
film's soundtrack was dominated by Coppola's two inferior themes, faint
reminders of Rota's work, and the famous opera at the end,
The
Godfather Part II remains the pillar of strength in this franchise.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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The insert of the 1991 MCA album includes extensive photography and captions about the plot but no extra information about the score. That of the 2024 La-La Land expansion
offers details about both the film and score.
