Originally Posted By: VitoC

Although I agree that GF2 is a great movie (although, IMHO, not as great as its predecessor), if I were Coppola I wouldn't have made it, I'd have stopped after the first one. After having made such a great movie I wouldn't have wanted to risk a sequel tarnishing it, since sequels are almost always inferior to the original. And "The Godfather" tells a complete, self-contained story by itself, it doesn't need a sequel. Coppola was really lucky the second one turned out as well as it did (obviously, his luck ran out with the third).


Well as I'm sure you know FFC was a bit miffed that GF1 wound up (in some circles) being interpreted or understood as a love letter to or romantification of the Mafia and wanted to tell a story that made it virtually impossible for anyone to miss the point that these were bad people. He was also quite interested in showing the bad side of capitalism and used the Mafia as a metaphor. I don't know if he still feels that way now but those were his feelings in the early seventies.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.