Overheard at the movies: Godfather edition

Like the Super Bowl or a good fetish ball, nothing brings people like a theatrical screening of The Godfather Part II. Mixed among the film geeks bundled snugly into Westport’s Tivoli Cinemas for Thursday night’s final showing of a restored Godfather II print were moms, dads, teens, business people and art-school types.

And gangstas.

Watching Francis Ford Coppola’s engrossing epic at the back of a nearly full auditorium, I noted some lightweight wannabe mobsters behind me. They were highly appreciative of the badass smack-downs that only the Godfather saga can deliver. The sequel’s potent confrontations provoked murmurs of enthusiastic approval: “That’s right!” “Oh, snap“

The only person missing from last night’s audience was Jack Abramoff himself. You gotta hope the gangstas will make it back for Godfather III, which opens a weeklong run at the Tivoli today. It may be the least respected of the three, but it offers plenty of opportunity to respond out loud. — Lorna Perry