The Godfather Part 2 was released on this day, December 20, in 1974. I didn’t see it until 1980, at the Bloor Cinema for $1. It is considered by many to be the greatest film of all time, possibly greater than the first Godfather. I’m more of a long (non-hierarchical) list maker myself, so I’ll just say that both films are favourites of mine and would both end up on a list of my 100 favourite films. On the other hand, I get it when I hear people say “greatest”.

This film is on many minds, of course, because it stars both Al Pacino and Robert de Niro, two of the greatest actors of our time. There I go again with “greatest”, after saying that it’s not really how I view the world. That being said, I can rhyme off role each has played that I’m happy to see over and over again. For Pacino, it’s Michael Corleone, Frank Serpico, Sonny Wortzig (Dog Day Afternoon), Steve Burns (Cruising - that mess of a movie that I’m anxious about mentioning), Tony Montana (Scarface), Richard Roma (Glengarry Glen Ross), Vincent Hanna (Heat - which I just saw two years ago!), Roy Cohn (Angels in America), plus, I’m sure, many great roles from films I’ve never seen or don’t remember seeing (eg, Carlito’ Way and Donnie Brasco). Who could top such a list? Maybe no one, or maybe de Niro: (young) Vito Corleone, Neil McCauley (Heat), Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver), Rupert Pupkin (King of Comedy), Jake LaMotta (Raging Bull), James (Jimmy) Conway (Goodfellas), Max Cady (Cape Fear), Michael (The Deer Hunter), John “Jony Boy” Civello (Mean Streets), Louis Gara (Jackie Brown), Jimmy Doyle (New York, New York), plus many films I haven’t seen, or that I am forgetting. 

Pacino and De Niro only performed in the same feature narrative films four times: Godfather II, Heat, Righteous Kill (which I haven’t seen and wonder if I ever will), and now The Irishman. By most accounts, Righteous Kill is the first time that De Niro and Pacino really perform together, but the film is considered very lightweight, their roles weak, and their performances lacklustre. They are only in Godfather 2 together for seconds, and then in Heat they don’t appear in the same shot: they are in the diner sequence together, but not the same shot).

The Irishman was long awaited and much hyped, partly because of the opportunity to see these legends finally perform on screen together in a major film. I watched most of The Irishman on my computer. I should have gone to see it at TIFF, or I should at least have watched it on a TV screen, but I kept putting it off. So I watched it over three days in a very distracted state. I liked it a lot, understanding why a few of my friends, and a handful of critics, were highly critical and, in a couple of cases, completely dismissive. 

Because I haven’t seen the whole movie (but I’ve seen the ending), and because I didn’t see it in a proper context, I just have to leave things at “I really like it, I like it a lot, I understand the criticisms but they don’t matter to me that much, I don’t mind that it’s not cinematically or narratively groundbreaking, I wouldn’t necessarily put it on my top 100 list, but maybe my top 200 list, and I can live without the CGI, to say the least.” 

Oh, and De Niro (Frank Sheeran) and Pacino (Jimmy Hoffa) are pretty great together. Finally.