Not content with the challenge of following the greatest movie ever made, The Godfather Part II actually dared to recreate the original film’s standout scene. From the introduction of Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone to the violent death of Sonny at a toll booth, The Godfather is rammed with iconic movie moments. Nevertheless, one sequence in Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster epic rises above the rest: the restaurant assassination in which Michael guns down Sollozzo and McCluskey.
The performances, the timing, the dialogue, the sound – everything in The Godfather’s restaurant scene harmonizes like an orchestra, building to one defining crescendo when Al Pacino’s character finally pulls the trigger. Coppola gives a masterclass in building tension, releasing the metaphorical elastic a fraction of a second before it snaps. It’s the moment Michael becomes a member of the Corleone family proper, and early screenings of this scene to studio executives were instrumental in saving The Godfather from disaster during filming. Amazingly, The Godfather Part II directly emulates this iconic murder. More amazingly, it does an equally impressive job.
The Death Of Don Fanucci Is The Godfather Part II’s Version Of The Restaurant Scene
The Two Share Many Similarities
From every angle, Robert De Niro’s young Vito assassinating Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II functions as a direct parallel to Michael assassinating Sollozzo and McCluskey in The Godfather.
Both Michael and Vito elect to ignore the unwritten rules and conventions forced upon them.
For starters, the two scenes line up perfectly from a thematic standpoint. Both Michael and Vito are opting to murder men that are considered untouchable by the wider mafia community. In The Godfather, even Sonny backs down on the idea of shooting a police officer, while Fanucci is the undisputed local kingpin, commanding the entire community’s respect in The Godfather Part II’s past timeline. Like father, like son, as both Michael and Vito elect to ignore the unwritten rules and conventions forced upon them, taking the initiative nobody else would dare to.
In doing so, they attain levels of power and influence that eluded those who assumed putting a bullet in the source of their problems could not be done. Just as murdering Sollozzo and McCluskey marks the moment Michael Corleone truly becomes the Godfather, the same could be said for young Vito killing Fanucci. Before doing the deed, Vito was an up-and-coming gangster – respected, certainly, but still bending the knee to the more powerful don. Taking such a major risk heralds the birth of the Godfather depicted in the original movie.
The Structure Of The Godfather Part II’s Fanucci Sequence Closely Mirrors The Godfather’s Restaurant Scene
Coppola’s Hallmarks Are Present In Both Scenes
The two sequences share much more than just a thematic resemblance. Francis Ford Coppola takes the elements that served The Godfather’s celebrated restaurant shooting so well and uses them again for Don Fanucci’s demise.
The jubilation of the festival outside comes across like an oppressed community celebrating Fanucci’s downfall.
The biggest comparison is the slow build of suspense at the heart of both passages. Just like the original version with Michael, The Godfather Part II’s kill begins with Vito speaking cordially with Don Fanucci, hiding his true intentions. Michael visiting the bathroom to retrieve the gun placed by Clemenza is mirrored by Vito retrieving his own firearm from a hiding spot, then slinking across the rooftops to get into position.
In The Godfather, the audience is forced to bite their nails over whether the assassination attempt will be successful. For every second that slips by, it feels like Michael’s odds of success get slimmer and slimmer. Though it lasts only a few minutes, The Godfather Part II’s shots of Fanucci moving through the parade and Vito stalking him from above are deliciously frustrating, creating a similar sense of doubt over whether the ambitious plan will actually succeed, or whether Fanucci will truly prove an unreachable target.
Interestingly, both assassinations go slightly wrong at the end. Michael disobeys Clemenza’s instructions, and Vito’s makeshift silencer is set on fire.
Another cinematic technique Coppola repeats is synchronizing background elements with the murder itself. In The Godfather, for example, the noise of a nearby train becomes increasingly prominent as a means of representing Michael’s inner turmoil as he steels himself to commit murder. In The Godfather Part II, the jubilation of the festival outside comes across like an oppressed community celebrating Fanucci’s downfall.
The One Big Difference Between The Godfather’s Restaurant Scene & The Godfather Part II’s Fanucci Death
One Goes Small, The Other Goes Big
Despite being the sequel’s version of the restaurant murders, The Godfather Part II takes one part of Fanucci’s death in a very different direction. The former is strongly defined by a sense of claustrophobic isolation. Michael is crammed into a relatively small restaurant, his two enemies only inches away, and he can’t even visit the bathroom without being frisked first. The confined space of a single interior setting makes a big contribution towards the tension of the scene itself.
The Godfather Part II makes its challenge to replicate the restaurant shooting even harder by attempting to recreate the same anxiety and anticipation while massively expanding the scene’s scale. The process of Vito murdering Fanucci spans an entire street, multiple levels, different buildings, and crowds of extras. The bustling of the festival and the rush across rooftops is a far cry from the intimate, oppressive setting of the restaurant, but Coppola uses that to his advantage. The chaos of the festival and shots of Vito hurrying from place to place create just a frantic suspense that’s as powerful as Michael’s still, uncomfortable deliberation.
Which Movie Did It Best: The Godfather Or The Godfather Part II?
An Impossible Choice Without A Right Answer
It is virtually impossible to pick one assassination scene over the other. Both are supremely executed, expertly acted, packed with thematic depth, and excruciatingly entertaining to watch. Had The Godfather Part II chosen another close-quarters location for Don Fanucci’s death – Vito’s apartment, for example – the sequel’s version could perhaps be considered too much of a copycat, and The Godfather’s restaurant scene would emerge victorious. Because Coppola mixes up the formula and still achieves a very effective result, however, it becomes redundant to give one movie the edge.
This parity encapsulates the relationship between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II in general. While some viewers marginally prefer the original, others narrowly choose its follow-up. In reality, there is nothing to separate the two movies in terms of quality, and all audiences can do is celebrate the fact that two equally excellent movies exist in a world where sequels so often fall short.
The same conclusion must be reached when comparing the restaurant shooting to Don Fanucci’s death in The Godfather Part II. Picking one over the other is a thankless task. Applauding Francis Ford Coppola’s ability to pay homage to The Godfather’s best scene without feeling even slightly derivative is the only sensible thing to do.
