Al Pacino’s favourite ‘The Godfather’ movie
Following up one of the greatest movies ever made with another one of the greatest movies ever made sounds like a near-impossible task, but it’s one Francis Ford Coppola accomplished when The Godfather was succeeded by its equally iconic sequel, The Godfather Part II.
Each sprawling crime epic is deemed among the finest features of all time, with the debate over which one can be deemed the superior of the two failing to reach a definitive consensus to this day. That doesn’t mean the people who starred in the films can’t have their own opinion, though, with Al Pacino revealing which of the trilogy he holds closest to his heart.
Of course, it’s probably not a spoiler to say that it isn’t Part III, with the conclusion of the Corleone saga falling drastically short of its illustrious predecessors, but Pacino nonetheless weighed up the pros and cons of the first two chapters to offer a succinct answer when asked by David Rubinstein if he thought Part II was better than the original: “No, I don’t,” he replied.
Elaborating on his preference for 1972’s masterpiece, Pacino wasn’t exactly trying to denigrate Part II in any way to justify his belief: “I really think it’s more – what would you call it – artistic or something, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t mean to play it down and be overly modest because I star in it with Bob De Niro, but at the same time, it’s a different film.”
Pacino finds The Godfather to be “more entertaining” in a cinematic sense, whereas he sees Part II to be “this study, this personal thing for Francis”. Fortunately, he was fresh from a recent viewing of the first, which further informed his judgement: “Godfather I, I saw it recently, it’s always got two or three things going on in a scene. You’re always in the story, you’re going,” he continued.
Adding: “You don’t know what’s going to happen next, it’s storytelling, it’s really storytelling at its best. Godfather II sort of linearizes, and [it’s] kind of different, sombre, moves slowly. But it’s a great movie, I have to say.”
As the movie that helped launch Pacino into the industry’s upper echelons, it’s not all that surprising he holds the opener in higher esteem, with the actor noting to The New York Times that “I’m here because I did The Godfather, for an actor that’s like winning the lottery”.
Coppola’s emotional investment since the very beginning may have also swayed his thinking, with Pacino’s recollection of the filmmaker “weeping like a baby” when the studio wouldn’t let him shoot any more scenes on a given day opening his eyes to the notion something special was afoot: “I thought, ‘I guess I’m in a good film here,’ Because he had this kind of passion and there it is.”
