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Part II of a Trilogy

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The Godfather was the unexpected, yet undisputed box office smash hit of 1972.  The novel of the same name had been a bestseller, making Mario Puzo rich.  Nobody was quite sure that the story would translate well into film, and very nearly didn’t.  The fact that it was made at all is a miracle.  The fact that Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola were able to actually create one of the best films in Hollywood history probably explains why Chinatown was forced to go home with so many fewer Oscars than it would have if it wasn’t going up against the sequel, Godfather II, two years later.

“Senator, you can have my answer now, if you like. My offer is nothing.”  Inside his study looking out over Lake Tahoe, Michael Corleone gives the Senator from Nevada his answer regarding the payoff that will be required for his help in attaining gaming licenses.  The audience sees the relationship between organized crime and big government and realizes the two are strikingly similar.  

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In the end, organized crime seems to come out the winner, at least in this “fictionalized” account.  The senator is set up to be guilty of murdering a prostitute in one of the brothels run by the crime family, and easily extorted into being told exactly what he needs to do and when he needs to do it.  An awkward and unequal partnership is forged that continues throughout the balance of the movie.

Like Chinatown, The Godfather II makes liberal use of classic American cars to give the film a rich texture and authenticity.  There is no better prop to identify a time period than vintage cars.  No better car could be used to identify the power and wealth of Michael Corleone than a “new” 1958 Imperial Crown Imperial Limousine Ghia.  

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Hyman LTD describes exactly what was involved in bringing the 1958 Imperial Crown Imperial Limousine Ghia to market:

“To produce the Imperial Crown Limousines, Chrysler shipped partially assembled Imperial hardtop coupes on a reinforced 129-inch chassis, complete Hemi drivetrains, and pre-wired dashboards. Additional parts shipped alongside included a lengthened driveshaft, four sedan doors, heavy-duty springs and torsion bars, upholstery materials, and air conditioning units. Ghia modified the chassis and crafted the beautiful sweeping body by hand. Ghia’s craftspeople took as many as 17 hours per car just to ensure the doors fit perfectly, and each Imperial was beautifully hand finished. Such attention to detail came at a price, more than $15,000 in 1958 – (just under $162,000 in 2024 dollars) – with total production over the nine-year run topping out at just 132 units.”

Not a finer or more exclusive automobile could be had in 1958.  No better way to show the incredible wealth and power of the protagonist of a film made in 1974.

“I don’t feel I have to wipe everyone out, Tom. Just my enemies,” Michael tells his lawyer.  Perhaps the same conversation, or one with the same basic message, was taking place in real time in Washington DC between Nixon and his lawyers.  He was hanging on by a thread against charges of corruption and abuse of power that made comparisons with The Godfather II pale by comparison.  “Cover up, deep six, deep throat, dirty tricks, follow the money, inoperative, smoking gun, and stonewall” were all terms American citizens were reading in their daily newspaper.  The difference was that they were on the front page and the political section rather than the crime reports.  

Nobody knew just how deep the scandal would go, nor if the country would survive the fallout.  Articles of Impeachment were drawn up for the first time in over a century and the mere threat of that action, and what it would do to the country, caused the first and only presidential resignation in American history.  Fifty years later and three impeachments against presidents of both major parties, it seems almost quaint that a Commander in Chief would step down to spare the country any further embarrassment, shame, or turmoil.

“Do me this favor. I won’t forget it. Ask your friends in the neighborhood about me. They’ll tell you I know how to return a favor.”  Vito Corleone understood the importance of making relationships as a young man raising his family and starting the family business in 1920s Little Italy, New York.  Audiences in 1974 could relate to that.  It was about family, not just business.  The fact that, thirty years later, Vito’s son would be the passenger in the rear seat of the most expensive car available in America was a testament to his work ethic and dedication.  Meanwhile, back in 1974, their elected president stood behind the podium in the White House briefing room and said, “Your president is not a crook.”

Despite an assassination attempt at his home in Lake Tahoe, Michael Corleone lasted longer than Nixon.

If Chinatown brought political corruption and incest into the spotlight in ways never shown before, perhaps The Godfather II made organized crime seem less criminal and more about family.  After all, family can be tricky. And if each of those films made liberal use of automobiles to tell their story, the 1938 Packard Twelve Victoria in Chinatown, and the 1958 Imperial Crown Imperial Limousine Ghia in The Godfather II, those were not the only car stories of 1974.

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