20 December 1974

I went with my father and his best friend (my Godfather, incidentally). I was only three years old so my actual memory of the first time I saw this movie, the first movie I ever saw, is vague. I sat in the back seat of the car, the adults smoking a joint in the front seat (it was 1974, everyone did this)! As we neared the cinema I saw this gorgeously ornate marquis. It was dark out and the theater seemed like it was made of gold. The marquis was lit up, and although I'm sure that I have since replaced my actual memory of this moment with adult perspective, I swear I read the words "The Godfather II" on that marquis. Fred made a joke about how really no more movies ever needed to be made because with Godfather, they had reached perfection. I didn't quite understand what he meant, but that statement became a part of me. In the darkened theater, the scenes of Vito Corleone in New York at the turn of the century left such an impression on me that later in life I would go on to study early 20th century American History.

It was 1974. Fred had just returned home from flying a helicopter in Vietnam. I learned much later in life that he came back really messed up. Apparently he was into some of the harder drugs. One infamous family story goes like this: At about three o'clock in the morning Fred called my parents (this was several months before I was born). He told my father that he had the answer to life and that my father and mother should go to Fred's house immediately. My parents knew instantly that he had taken a lot of acid. So they jumped in the car and got to Fred's house as fast as they could. When they arrived, Fred was sitting in his underwear surrounded by hundreds of tiny pieces of paper that he had written on. He excitedly told them that he knew the meaning of life now. He started rummaging through all of the papers, looking intensely for the one that had the answer on it. When he found it, he handed it to my dad. It read, "Where in the hell can you get a good hamburger in this town"? At any rate, my father Fred remained close friends until Fred's death I was twelve.

I was never allowed to talk to Fred about his experiences in Vietnam. Although, late one night I woke up to discover my dad and Fred huddled at the kitchen table whispering. Fred looked like he was in some serious pain. When I walked into the kitchen they looked up and did that thing grown-ups do when children witness something they're not supposed to. They quickly teased me about being up so late, pretending like nothing was going on. I've always believed that Fred and my dad (who fought in Pearl Harbor) were sharing war stories, and contrary to popular belief, war stories are not jovial.

Godfather II is set in two times. The "present", for Michael Corleone, is 1958. The world is about to explode. "The third world is just around the corner". Fidel Castro and Che are about to ignite a revolution that will change all of us-directly or otherwise. My father was Michael Corleone's age. The "past" is the time in American history when she was really and truly born. Our identity as a nation largely stems from the events that rocked this nation at the turn of the century (Nell Irvin Painter's book about this epoch is called Standing at Armageddon). There is a terrible truth in the juxtaposition of the birth of modern America, and the violence of an era that we (even as early as the 1970's) believed to be a time of innocence and prosperity (see Happy Days). Fred was on the other end of that spectrum. He was still in the throes of violence, and a war that he and many of his generation, did not understand. He was suffering shell shock. But Godfather II eloquently smashes American myths, and this had to be vindicating for Fred and my father both. Because while I wasn't allowed to talk to Fred about his experiences in Vietnam, my father flat out refused to talk about his experiences at Pearl Harbor. Both men had experienced first hand this secret history of violence before they walked into that theater. Both men must have been happy to see it acknowledged, even if somewhat peripherally.

As an adult, Godfather II is (clearly) one of my favorite movies. I have watched it so many times, in fact, that I have most of it memorized. I'm so glad that my first movie wasn't The Texas Chainsaw Massacre-also released in 1974. What a vastly different movie watcher I would be!