Al Pacino names his favourite moment from ‘The Godfather Part II’
Even though they’re two of the greatest performances ever committed to film by one of the industry’s finest actors in a pair of all-time cinematic classics, the only major award Al Pacino won for either The Godfather or its sequel was a Bafta for ‘Best Actor’, and even then he shared it for both Part II and Dog Day Afternoon.
He was forced to sit idly by as his on-screen father completed the double, with Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro winning ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’, respectively. This made Vito Corleone the first character in history to win a pair of Oscars while being played by different performers.
If anything, that would become a recurring theme of Pacino’s legendary career, with the star repeatedly being overlooked by the most prestigious ceremony on the calendar until the eighth time of asking when Scent of a Woman finally ended one of the industry’s most notorious droughts.
Not that he would have minded when The Godfather set him on the path to superstardom, and its equally illustrious follow-up only served to reinforce that position, with Michael Corleone the delicious meal Pacino has been dining out on ever since.
Part II features an incredible performance that might well be the best he’s ever given, which is saying something looking at the knockout turns he’s delivered in not only The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon but Serpico, Glengarry Glen Ross, Heat, and many more.
Overseeing a criminal empire as the new head of the family, Michael discovers threats encroaching from all sides, most infamously from within his own bloodline. The scene where he informs Fredo that he’s been aware of his treachery the entire time is a punch right to the gut, but it wasn’t Pacino’s favourite moment.
Instead, he explained to Playboy that a small interaction between the siblings before takes pride of place in his memories, even if he’s convinced it went completely unnoticed by the majority of audience members. “I have one moment in Godfather II, nobody sees it,” he said. “Michael and his sad brother Fredo are in Cuba, seeing the Superman show in the nightclub, and Fredo tells Michael, ‘Johnny always used to take me here.'”
It was the prelude to the oncoming storm, with Pacino enjoying the complexities required to convey such an integral moment without showing the entirety of his performative hand. “And you see in that moment that Michael realises his brother betrayed him,” he continued. “That’s my favourite moment, but it’s subtle.”
It’s a heartbreaking moment on multiple levels when Michael’s eyes are opened to the ultimate betrayal, but for Pacino, it was the foreshadowing explored beforehand that stands out to him as his finest moment from The Godfather Part II.
