HT Multiconflict Opening

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THE GENIUS, MULTI-

CONFLICT OPENING OF
THE GODFATHER PART
II
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Warning: this E-Book contains minor spoilers of certain popular shows and
films.
Narrative Conflict
Before diving into the specifics of the sequence, it’s worth
taking a broader look at narrative conflict itself.
There are, generally speaking, three core types or categories of

conflict that writers and filmmakers have at their disposal:
• INTERNAL Conflict (conflict within a person, when
they’re undecided, or are afflicted in some way by internal
forces)
• INTERPERSONAL Conflict (conflict between two
people or sometimes groups or factions of people)

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• EXTERNAL Conflict (conflict that’s bigger or wider or

deeper than the character: ie. acts of God, time, systemic
prejudice, political, physical or geographic forces)
So, to give a specific example:
• Llewyn Davis’ refusal to move on from Mike’s death and

to learn from his own constant cycle of mistakes in
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is INTERNAL
• His clashes with Jean over her pregnancy and their next
steps is INTERPERSONAL
• The 60’s backdrop in which the music that forms Llewyn’s
livelihood is becoming less profitable is EXTERNAL
The richest and most effective narratives are those that
successfully interweave all three.
It’s about using each type to exacerbate or play off another.
So, in the above example:
• Llewyn’s struggle to let go of Mike and break his seemingly

endless cycle of social and career missteps (internal) is…
• exacerbated by a climate in which his pursuits are
becoming less and less viable (external), both of which…
• leave him penniless and leads to him taking advantage of
his friends (external).
They’re completely complementary.

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But even this isn’t enough on its own.

What about the ways in which we convey that conflict?
Generally, there are two: implicitly and explicitly.
The former involves illustrating some kind of dissonance
through setting, silence, structure, the way one character looks at
another, or in their subtle moments alone.
The quiet stuff.

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The latter involves an all-out marital spat, someone saying ‘I

hate you’, punching, a deliberate explosion.
The loud stuff.
As with our three types above, a mixture tends to yield the best
results.

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Too much of the former, and we can lose our sense of

momentum, with underlying conflicts that never bubble to the
surface, never ‘pay off’.
Too much of the latter, and the narrative can start to feel on-
the-nose, outright stating all of its core tensions rather than
leaving anything to subtext.
THE GODFATHER PART 2 hits this balance perfectly.
The opening Lake Tahoe sequence is a masterclass in both
implicit and explicit conflict, across all three types.
In total, Puzo and Coppola manage to cram in fully 9 conflict
threads, proving that if you can write succinctly, you can say an
awful lot in not many pages.
The 9 Conflict Threads in THE GODFATHER PART 2

Opening Sequence
Puzo and Coppola manage to introduce 9 key conflict threads in
a 30-minute sequence, which is incredible.
At the most basic level, the early part of any story functions by
presenting a main character with a problem.
THE GODFATHER PART 2 takes its main character, douses
him in gasoline and flings him dramatically out of the frying pan.
Michael is beset on all sides by family, political, social, and
organisational conflicts that mount beat by beat across the
opening.

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What’s even more impressive is how seamlessly these conflicts

are intertwined, and how every element of each scene feeds into
them in some way.
By the time we reach the climax of the sequence – the
assassination attempt on Michael – it becomes clear that each
and every conflict the writers have built is in part geared to make
this climactic moment a truly dramatic one.
So, let’s break them down in order of introduction:
Conflict Thread #1: Past vs Present (External Conflict)

Of course, the Lake Tahoe sequence isn’t in itself the opening of
the film, just the 1958-9, Michael-Corleone-focused half of the
narrative.
THE GODFATHER PART 2 opens with:

• A brief shot of Michael as a guest kisses him on the hand.
Michael’s power is established.

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• Back to Sicily in 1901 and the funeral of Vito Andolini’s

murdered father. The seed for Vito’s desire for revenge.
• Vito running, making it to America at age 9 and going
through cold, unpleasant immigration processing. A
conflict of heritage: he’s an outsider here.
These beats are worth noting because a version of each of them

comes into play during the Lake Tahoe party.
This sets up THE GODFATHER PART 2’s ongoing conflict
of past and present by inviting the question:
‘What has changed and what hasn’t?’
For example, Michael’s power is the long-term consequence of
Vito’s rags to riches struggle, and it’s an impressive arc.

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However, when Geary says this to him –

‘I don’t like your kind of people. I don’t like to see you come out to this
clean country with your oily hair, dressed up in those silk suits, trying to
pass yourselves off as decent Americans.’
-we learn the Corleones are still outsiders.

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They’re in conflict with the systems and practices of the country

around them, at least as that country sees it.
The huge status shift we get from our initial time with 9-year-old
Vito to Lake Tahoe and Don Michael emphasises this perfectly.
Even given all that’s changed, that hasn’t. Michael is still viewed
as ‘other’ in the way his father was.
As for the ‘revenge’, it is echoed by Frank Pentangeli’s desire to

kill the Rosato brothers.
In 1901, Don Ciccio makes the choice to kill Vito for fear that,
when older, Vito may seek revenge for the death of his father.
Vito’s escape comes to prove that fear well founded.
In 1958, however, Michael decides not to kill the Rosato
brothers.
He overtly makes the opposite choice to one that taught his
father that first, most valuable lesson:

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And, sure enough, it will come back and bite him in unwanted
areas.
Add to these the repeated mentions of the deceased Vito littered

throughout the Lake Tahoe sequence –
‘Cien d’anno. Means we should all live happily for a hundred years. The
family. Would be true if my father was alive.’
-and-
‘Your father did business with Hyman Roth. Your father respected Hyman
Roth. But your father never trusted Hyman Roth.’
-and mentions of –
‘New York. The old days, huh?’
-and Puzo and Coppola perfectly construct, in a kind of mosaic,
one of the central conflicts of the film.
The past is the past; there’s a new, less experienced man in
charge.

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And he’s not his father.

This is a great example of riding the line between implicit and
explicit conflict.
The Tahoe sequence’s echoes of the young Vito’s story that
preceeds it take the implicit route, using association and
repetition to imply the tension between past and present.
So, we have Michael choosing compassion in contrast to Don
Ciccio, or the still-present ostracization of the Corleone family
as a group.
Then there’s the explicit.

Michael’s family and friends openly and fondly reminiscing
about the time when his father was in charge, hits the point
home.
The two are complementary: their words hit harder because the
structure of the opening seems to point to the same fears.

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Conflict Thread #2: Connie vs Her Family (Interpersonal

Conflict)
THE GODFATHER PART 2 is rife with familial conflict.

Some of it is pretty clearly stated, but the Lake Tahoe sequence
introduces it quite passively.
It’s the particular dynamic through which the sparsity of Puzo
and Coppola’s dialogue really shines.
Connie arrives at the party at the very start of the sequence.
As her and Merl go to greet Carmela (Connie’s mother),
Carmela, rather than greeting them, simply refers them to the
nearby Father Carmelo.
‘Look who’s here.’
When she then does greet them, she turns away from Connie’s
kiss and responds to Merl’s with:
‘Yeah, hello. How are you? Thank you.’

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When Connie gives her a gift she barely looks at it, angles
herself at the table to cut Merl out of the conversation and
berates Connie for not seeing her children.
‘You go see your children first, and then you worry about waiting on line to
see your brother, like everybody else.’
Aside from further establishing Michael’s power – even his
family have to wait in line to see him – Carmela’s reaction gives
us a sense of Connie as a kind of family liability, while her
iciness toward Merl implicitly tells us that either:
• she knows him but doesn’t like him
• she doesn’t know him, but knows she won’t like him,
implying he’s one in a string of similar guys
The latter proves to be true, but the point is that this brief
exchange reveals so much of the Corleones’ family conflict
beyond what is stated outright:
• Carmela’s annoyance that Connie didn’t come sooner hints
they don’t see each other often.

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• ‘Like everybody else’ implies Connie tends to expect

preferential treatment.
• Her reaction to the gift implies this is the latest in a long
line of cheap attempts by Connie to buy her family’s love
while getting away with mooching.
It’s left up to the implications of the dialogue, the manner and
actions of the actors to convey this conflict.
But the real beauty of the writing comes in the way this implicit
conflict pays off explicitly a few scenes later between Michael
and Connie:
• We learn that Connie travels and wastes family money,
clarifying Carmela’s anger at her being a week late.
• Her blunt, shameless request for money is concrete proof
that she expects preferential treatment.
• The fact she openly appears to consider leaving Merl at
Michael’s request reinforces that same fickle, manipulative
nature implied by the gift.

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Conflict Thread #3: Michael vs Senator Geary

(Interpersonal Conflict)
There’s also a hint of internal conflict intertwined with this one:
that between the public and private persona.
It’s an interesting part of the power dynamic in THE
GODFATHER PART 2, first comes into play with Senator
Geary’s speech, and is the perfect illustration of the interplay
between implicit and explicit conflict.
Geary’s speech itself provides the former.
He stumbles over his words about Nevada, has to read

Anthony’s name from a piece of paper (and mispronounces it)
and calls Kay ‘Pat’.
The whole thing reads disingenuous, and we are immediately
aware that the views he is expressing are likely not those he
holds in private, introducing the conflict.

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This is then made explicit a scene later in his interaction with

Michael, during which he insults and attempts to blackmail his
host.
‘I intend to squeeze you.’
The initial, implicit set up of this conflict is crucial because it
ensures that when the senator says:
‘I despise your masquerade, the dishonest way you pose yourself.’
-and Michael accuses him of being ‘a part of the same hypocrisy’
as him, we know full well it’s true.
We’ve seen the evidence.

The senator’s saccharine exchange with Kay when he leaves
Michael’s office hammers it home.
Also worth noting is the great moment when the senator
repositions a model cannon on Michael’s desk such that it
points directly at Michael.

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Conflict Thread #4: Michael vs Tom Hagen (Interpersonal

Conflict)
The concision of the writing in THE GODFATHER PART 2 is
on display again during Michael’s meeting with Johnny Ola, not
in the content of the meeting itself, but in an incredibly brief
interaction with Tom Hagen.
Michael tells him to leave the room indirectly:

‘Tom isn’t going to sit in with us Johnny.’
Hagen responds with a curt:
‘Sure Mike.’
And then-
‘You need anything Mike, I’ll be outside, alright?’
-drawing attention to the fact he’s shut out of the meeting.
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It demonstrates an apparent lack of respect from Michael, and

the fact that Hagen, while hurt, sucks it up and soldiers on.
These two almost non-lines do so much work in forming the
basis for the poignancy of the scene in which Michael asks Tom
to take over while he’s away, post assassination attempt.
We understand why Tom is so emotional because, as this brief
exchange shows, he isn’t remotely expecting the enormous trust
and respect Michael suddenly shows him.
Again, fantastically succinct writing that still conveys so much.
Conflict Thread #5: Fredo vs Deanna (Interpersonal

Conflict)
This is a conflict that may not seem significant within the
narrative of THE GODFATHER PART 2 in and of itself, yet it
sets up one of the film’s most important dynamics.
The conflict is established visually.

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Fredo’s wife Deanna is dancing flirtatiously with another man.

Fredo watches, helpless, from the sidelines.
Right away this sets up Fredo’s lack of control, his inability to
act decisively, and the familial shame that brings him.
This, of course, proves the basis for his betrayal later on.
Equally significant is the fact that, unable to control her, Fredo
must rely on Michael to resolve the situation.
This is essential to Michael’s line toward the end of the Lake

Tahoe sequence, as he hands power over to Tom:
‘Fredo… he’s got a good heart. But he’s weak and he’s stupid.’
Fredo’s helplessness in the conflict with Deanna ensures that
this line rings true.
And it is a line that, of course, comes into play massively later
on.

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For one, Fredo’s betrayal reaffirms the ‘weakness’ and

‘stupidity’.
More sinister, however, is the fact that Michael’s eventual
reaction – having his brother killed – proves how little the ‘good
heart’ really matters.
Business always wins.

The structure of the Lake Tahoe sequence, the series of brief,
succinct scenes, is such that this moment isn’t given the weight
it then gains in hindsight.
This is the brilliance of the writing.
No specific exchange is spotlighted as being crucial above any
other.
So, the audience never sees an image or hears a line and goes
‘Well that’s what the third act’s gonna be about then.’
We avoid any overt ‘red flag’ moments, which keeps the story
from being predictable.

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And it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that we see that flag
being waved gracefully in our face.
Conflict Thread #6: Michael vs Frank Pentangeli

(Interpersonal Conflict)
Undoubtedly a part of the ‘Past vs Present’ conflict, but

nonetheless a crucial thread in its own right.
What’s notable in this scene (bar the aforementioned) is the
content of Michael and Frank’s discussion in the context of the
film as a whole.
The conflict hinges on loyalty.
Frank is upset at Michael’s apparent loyalty to Hyman Roth:
‘You’ll give your loyalty to a jew before your own blood.’
It’s a dynamic that is repeatedly turned on its head throughout
the film.

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Here, Michael’s loyalty is questioned.

Later in the film, however, we have Fredo’s betrayal…
…Kay’s secret decision to have an abortion…
and Pentangeli’s decision to testify against Michael…

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… all revealing that it is loyalty to rather than from him that

proves the most fragile.
This scene is therefore putting in a lot of work.
It is, essentially, the basis for one of the film’s central themes:
The idea that power isolates you.
That it fractures your relationships and puts a target on your
back.
This moment’s repeated subversion, as those closest to Michael
turn on him one by one, forms the basis of a huge chunk of the
film’s drama.
Yet, watching it for the first time, you’d have no idea.
It doesn’t feel like the mission statement that it is because, again,
the script is careful to weave its various conflicts so effectively
together.

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Conflict Thread #7: Michael vs Kay (Interpersonal

Conflict)
Coppola and Puzo build this conflict implicitly through what we
don’t see, namely ‘Michael actually speaking to his wife.’
Once we do see them interact, the visual is cleverly set at odds
with their exchange.
They are dancing, apparently content from a distance, but Kay’s

responses seem monotone, distant, reinforcing the conflict – set
up through Senator Geary – between private and public
personas.
Once we get the line-
‘It made me think of what you once told me: “In five years the Corleone
family will be completely legitimate.” That was seven years ago.’
-we realise just how deep this particular conflict runs.
It’s something we can see quite clearly through the writers’
choice of setting.

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The supposed nature of the event – a celebration of Anthony

Corleone’s first communion – runs in conflict with the event
itself:
• There are hundreds of people.
• There are guards.
• There’s a senator.
The ‘premise’ of the party doesn’t seem to warrant any of those,

so we’re led to think Michael is using a familial veneer to cover
up shady business.
This briefest of exchanges with Kay confirms exactly that:
Michael puts his business responsibilities ahead of his familial
ones, straining his personal relationships.
Conflict Thread #8: Michael vs “Business”

(External/Interpersonal Conflict)
This refers to the assassination attempt on Michael, which is
about as explicit as conflict gets.
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Though it later proves to be personally motivated, we can deem

it ‘external’ as it stands in this sequence, as it seemingly comes
from nowhere to disrupt Michael’s apparent control.
If we are to look at the film from a traditional structural
perspective, we can probably label the assassination attempt ‘the
inciting incident’.
In this case, it is the moment that pays off the conflict work laid
out in the opening of THE GODFATHER PART 2.
So many of the beats thus far feed into it.
Michael’s power is set up throughout the prior conflicts:
• Past vs Present: His status compared to young Vito’s
• Connie vs Family: Connie has to wait to see him/ he
controls Connie’s finances
• Michael vs Tom: The way he gets Tom to leave the room
• Fredo vs Deanna: the way he has Fredo’s wife removed
from the party

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• Michael vs Geary: Telling the Senator that his offer is

‘Nothing’.
The assassination needs to hit hard, dramatically speaking.
Puzo and Coppola ensure it does by constantly (yet subtly)

reinforcing Michael’s power through these multiple conflicts,
even in scenes where it’s not overtly relevant.
It goes deeper than this too, linking back to the role of setting.
Michael is hosting a party, but we never see him simply talking
with his guests.
In fact, at the close of Senator Geary’s speech, as a choir sings a
song specifically for Michael, he stands and leaves.
The writing keeps spotlighting the fact that Michael is closed
off, a difficult man to get to, which again feeds into the
assassination attempt.

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This is a hugely powerful and hugely ‘enclosed’ man – that’s

what we’re told repeatedly – yet a hail of bullets just came
through his bedroom window.
With this change of pace you might expect THE
GODFATHER PART 2 to ramp up story-wise there and then,
but, crucially, that’s not what the writers go for, which brings us
to…
Conflict Thread #9: Family vs Business (Internal Conflict)

Puzo and Coppola give this explosive event (initially) calm
consequences, forcing Michael to make a series of decisions that
set his sense of family at odds with his role as Don Corleone.
It’s a perfect example of multi-conflict storytelling. The

assassination attempt gives us:
• Michael being forced to leave to deal with this potential
betrayal (feeding the Kay vs Michael conflict)

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• Michael handing the reigns to Tom, resolving earlier

familial conflict and setting up more (the Fredo line)
• Michael leaving his son (perhaps the clearest illustration of
his internal struggle)
The conflicts that fed the drama of that inciting incident are
then fed right back by that same incident.
This highlights perhaps the cleverest element of the script’s
opening conflicts: a common goal.
Working multiple levels and threads of conflict into a story is
great, but the more we add, the more potentially scattered the
story becomes.
What Puzo and Coppola achieve so well here is tying together
superficially disparate elements into a single purpose.
Sure, Connie’s conflict feeds into her own narrative arc
throughout the film, Tom’s into his and, of course, Fredo’s into
his.
But they all have something extra in common:
They all affect Michael.
With so many conflicts at work in just this half hour, it’s
amazing just how complementary they are.

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1

THE GENIUS, MULTI-

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

There are, generally speaking, three core types or categories of

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

• EXTERNAL Conflict (conflict that’s bigger or wider or

• Llewyn Davis’ refusal to move on from Mike’s death and

• Llewyn’s struggle to let go of Mike and break his seemingly

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

But even this isn’t enough on its own.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

The latter involves an all-out marital spat, someone saying ‘I

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Too much of the former, and we can lose our sense of

The 9 Conflict Threads in THE GODFATHER PART 2

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

What’s even more impressive is how seamlessly these conflicts

Conflict Thread #1: Past vs Present (External Conflict)

THE GODFATHER PART 2 opens with:

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

• Back to Sicily in 1901 and the funeral of Vito Andolini’s

These beats are worth noting because a version of each of them

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

However, when Geary says this to him –

-we learn the Corleones are still outsiders.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

They’re in conflict with the systems and practices of the country

As for the ‘revenge’, it is echoed by Frank Pentangeli’s desire to

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Add to these the repeated mentions of the deceased Vito littered

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

And he’s not his father.

Then there’s the explicit.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Conflict Thread #2: Connie vs Her Family (Interpersonal

THE GODFATHER PART 2 is rife with familial conflict.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

• ‘Like everybody else’ implies Connie tends to expect

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Conflict Thread #3: Michael vs Senator Geary

He stumbles over his words about Nevada, has to read

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

This is then made explicit a scene later in his interaction with

We’ve seen the evidence.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Conflict Thread #4: Michael vs Tom Hagen (Interpersonal

Michael tells him to leave the room indirectly:

It demonstrates an apparent lack of respect from Michael, and

Conflict Thread #5: Fredo vs Deanna (Interpersonal

The conflict is established visually.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Fredo’s wife Deanna is dancing flirtatiously with another man.

This is essential to Michael’s line toward the end of the Lake

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

For one, Fredo’s betrayal reaffirms the ‘weakness’ and

Business always wins.

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Conflict Thread #6: Michael vs Frank Pentangeli

Undoubtedly a part of the ‘Past vs Present’ conflict, but

© Industrial Scripts. All Rights Reserved. Read More at: screenplayscripts.com/blog

Here, Michael’s loyalty is questioned.

…Kay’s secret decision to have an abortion…