Commission Meeting in GFI vs. Corporate Meeting in GFII

While watching the Cuban meeting scene that takes place in the boardroom, it ocurred to me that Michael did come a long way since the early days of his father's way of doing business. I think that FFC wanted to show us this in that very scene. In comparing the meeting in GFI with the meeting in GFII.

While both meetings were very similar, they were much different in the way that business was conducted.

In GFI, we see Don Corleone at the commission meeting, sitting around the big table. And as the camera scans the attendees at the table, we hear that this is "Carmine Cuneo from the Bronx, and Victor Stracci, and Phillip Tattaglia," etc. etc.

All bosses of crime families.

In GFII we see almost the same exact scenerio with the meeting in Cuba. but the difference here is that when the camera scans the attendees at this meeting, we are told that they are " Mr. William Shaw, from the national fruit company, Mr. so and so from United Telephone and telegraph, Mr. Corleone from Nevada, representing our associates in tourism and leisure activities," etc. etc.

All bosses of big Corporations.

Yes, underneath they are still mobsters in their own way, but for outward appearances, Michael is now sitting at a boardroom table with Corporate big shots instead of common Mafia bosses.

So in a sense Michael was doing business in a different way than his fahter did.

I think it was brilliant of FFC to show us a similar type meeting in GFII that represents Michael's climb towards legitimacy.

Btw, that boardroom looks very similar to the boardroom used in GFI. Especially the table itself.


Don Cardi

excellent observation. I never even thought of that and it already is showing how Michael is trying to have the Corleone family become legit. In Part III, he has the family going for a completely legit investment, only to find it becomes a scandal and corruption even exists there.

Yet in GF3, we see the same old commision meeting attended by thugs

Remember this: Michael always wanted to be respectable. That scene in FGII he seems as any other businessman planging to invest in Cuba. He is introduce as "our assosiate in leisure and hotel business"(something like that - I don't recall the exact words).
The real quistion is: who was more respectable after all, Vito or Michael?
With all my love to Michael, I think his father was more respetable.

Yes: and this is Michael's attempt finally to extricate himself from the underworld. And it fits in with the moral of 3, that there is no escape from the mob: no matter how "respectable" you get, they will always pull you back in.

Good observation, DC!
I believe this scene refers to a major subtheme of the Trilogy: hypocrisy. Earlier, Michael reacted to Senator Geary's "oily hair/silk suit" speech by saying, "We're all part of the same hypocrisy, Senator..." Now he's sitting with the President of Cuba, in a room full of "respectable" businessmen--all of whom bribe the President for the privilege of exploiting Cuba. They're all peers of two major league gangsters: Roth and Michael, who're there for the same purpose. The businessmen even look like gangsters. (In fact, DC, compare their faces (and cigar smoking) with the faces and cigar smoking of the guys at the table in GF.)
So, this is what it means to be "respectable"? Hypocrisy!

Michael thought that the higher up in society he went, the more legitement the business would be. Au contraire, as he stated: The higher I go, the crookeder it becomes.

Nice Point!

A parallel to the hypocrisy theme is what Michael says to Kay when he returns from Sicily; "Presidents and Senators don't have men killed? Now who's being naive."

I was just thinking of the number of parallel scenes there are like that in GF I & II.

• Both start with a lavish party at which the Don holds court and hears petitions (Connie's wedding in GF I. Anthony's First Communion in GF II).
• Both have eerie hospital scenes.
• The major plot impetus of both is an attempt on the Don's life.
• In both, a powerful figure is forced to capitulate to the Corleone's will through violent persuasion (Jack Woltz in GF I has his change of heart after waking up to a bloody horse's head. Likewise for Senator Geary in GF II, only he wakes up to a bloody prostitute.)
• In both movies, a trusted individual is revealed to be a traitor (Tessio in GF I. Fredo in GF II)
• Also, each movie features a main antagonist who is revealed to be the mastermind plotting the Don's downfall (Barzini in GF I. Roth in GF II)
• Both films climax with a series of deliberate killings (Carlo, Tessio, Moe Green, and the heads of the other families in GF I. Fredo, Roth, Pentangeli, and maybe Rocco [but that's another theory altogether] in GF II)

But I totally missed the parallel boardroom scenes, not to mention the contrasts between them and how they tie in with the film's theme.

Here I'm using the "lazy person's" method -- just listing the parallelisms I noticed without any attempt to analyze or contrast them. Not as interesting as the observations members have posted about the boardroom, but at least it's a tad less long-winded than my usual posts.