Originally posted by MaryCas:
[QUOTE]We have agreed in past threads that JD Spradlin's characterization of Geary is impeccable. The other day I was watching GF2 while doing some treadmill time and I picked up on a little dialog connection that I never heard. Anticipating the "red-headed Yolanda" line, I was paying attention to the stage dancers and the MC announces the singer as "Yolanda" something or other. I guess that is where Geary got the Yolanda reference. (We never did get to see Fred Korngold do the cha-cha.)
Couldn' agree more! Casting is one of the major triumphs of GF and II. Geary's a relatively minor character in II, and look at all the attention he gets here. Willie Cicci even more so. In both cases, the characterizations were letter perfect. Same applies to Al Lettieri. We could go on and on...
MC: The Havana sequence is so perfect that serious scholars of modern Cuba advise their students to watch GFII if they want an accurate picture of what Havana was like on the eve of Castro's takeover. Another nice touch in the Yolanda scene: Watch how Michael rolls his eyes when Geary says he'll have one of those "red-headed Yolandas." More detail: thanks to the clarity of the DVD, I was finally able to see that there's a card on Michael's table that says there's a $5.00 minimum at the Tropicana club, which I was unable to read on the VHS tape. Also notice that Fredo has three black Cuban cigars in the breast pocket of his white jacket (I thought it was a black handkerchief).
