Badlands Story Hour Ep. 171: The Godfather II

Chris Paul and Burning Bright tackle Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 sequel The Godfather Part II, considered by many to be the greatest film of all time and certainly the greatest sequel. Starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and John Cazale as the unforgettable Fredo, this is one of the rare second installments that completely flips the tone of the original and absolutely earns it. The conversation circles the dual storylines of young Vito building an empire from immigrant nothing in New York and Michael unraveling the same empire from inside his Tahoe compound. Burning Bright argues that De Niro's Vito chases power because he saw what power does to people, while Michael only knows how to hold onto power he was handed, making him a pale shadow of his father even as he ascends to greater heights. They unpack the Fanucci scene as a perfect lesson in how abstract power collapses the moment someone calls the bluff, the Hyman Roth and Meyer Lansky parallel with Cuba in 1958 as a preview of what may be coming again, the Joker analog for Michael's endgame of just winning, and Kay's spite abortion as a stunning window into how openly anti family the 1970s really were.