A Great Movie Scene

Al Pacino, to modern eyes, is the raggedy old guy who talks too loud and needs a haircut. To those a few years older he’s the “HOO-YAH” guy. But when he came into the movies, he was subtlety personified. 

Pacino’s quiet, controlled, endearing-then-terrifying performance is the backbone of one of the greatest of all movies, THE GODFATHER. For me, as for most people, Coppola’s masterpiece has always been about Marlon Brando, first and foremost. And why not? Brando, arguably the greatest of actors, was perfection. But Vito fades and dies, and Michael Corleone comes to the front. Pacino was ready for his moment.

The movie is full of great scenes. Shoot, it’s nothing but great scenes. But my personal favorite moment in the movie, and one of my favorite moments from any movie, is all Pacino.

Michael is meeting with the bad guys (wait! Aren’t they all bad guys?) Sollozzo and McCluskey at a small, “family” restaurant in the Bronx. As directed by old hand Clemenza, Michael asks permission to visit the bathroom, retrieves the pistol hidden behind the toilet tank, and returns to the table. 

Clemenza had clearly and repeatedly instructed Michael on what to do. Once returned from the bathroom, he is to immediately shoot both baddies twice in the head, drop the gun, and slowly walk out of the restaurant. Instead, he returns to the table, sits and stalls while Sollozzo goes on talking.

In the earlier scene when Michael had proposed this shooting, he had been calm and easy. “It’s just business, Sonny.” Now, though, at the crucial moment, he pauses. His reasons are all over his face. We can read it in his eyes. Is he really going to assassinate two men? Is this really going to happen? 

I think this silent moment is the greatest acting Pacino ever did. If we were thinking a moment before “why hasn’t he shot them yet?”, now we know why. We feel it with him. What will he do? What would WE do? The tension is overwhelming. Coppola keeps the camera on Pacino’s face, no movement, no chicanery. Pacino--or rather Michael--genuinely lives the moment and takes us with him. When the murders occur, despite the violence and blood, we breathe a sigh of relief, not just that the action is past, but also that Michael’s internal struggles have ended. 

It’s a great, great scene.