The Godfather: Part II

Plot synopsis:
The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone in 1958/1959 after the events of the first movie; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone from 1917 to 1925, from his youth in Sicily (1901) to the founding of the Corleone family in New York.The film begins in 1901, in the town of Corleone, Sicily, at the funeral of young Vito's father, Antonio Andolini, who has been murdered for an insult to the local Mafia lord, Don Ciccio. During the procession, Vito's older brother is murdered because he swore revenge on the Don. Vito's mother goes to Ciccio to beg for mercy, but he refuses, knowing that nine-year-old Vito will seek revenge later in life. The mother takes Ciccio hostage at knifepoint, allowing her son to escape, and Ciccio's men kill her. They search the town for the boy, but he is aided in his escape by the townspeople. Vito finds his way by ship to New York, and at Ellis Island an immigration agent chooses Vito's hometown of Corleone as his surname, and he is registered as "Vito Corleone".In 1958 in a scene similar to the opening of the first film, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), Godfather of the Corleone family, deals with various business and family problems during an elaborate party at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada compound to celebrate his son's First Communion. In his office, Michael meets with corrupt Nevada Senator Pat Geary (G. D. Spradlin) to discuss the price of the gaming licenses for the hotel/casinos the Family is buying. Geary, who has obvious contempt for Michael and other Italian businessmen who are moving into his state to take advantage of gambling opportunities, promises to make Michael's acquisition of his gaming license a difficult process. Michael ends his conversation with Geary when he refuses to pay the outrageous fee Geary demands, telling the senator he'll get nothing.Michael also deals with his self-indulgent younger sister Connie (Talia Shire), who, although recently divorced from her second husband, is planning to marry a man named Merl Johnson (Troy Donahue) with no obvious means of support and of whom Michael disapproves. He also talks with Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), the right hand man of Jewish gangster Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), who is supporting Michael's move into the gambling industry. Belatedly, Michael deals with Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), a business associate who took over Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza's territory in New York City after his death, and now has problems with the Rosato Brothers, who are backed by Roth. Pentangeli leaves abruptly, after telling Michael "your father did business with Hyman Roth, your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth."Later that night, Michael barely escapes an assassination attempt when his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) notices the bedroom window drapes are inexplicably open, which allows two unseen hitmen to spray the bedroom with bullets. The two hitman are found dead having been killed by a "mole" within the compound. Afterwards, Michael tells his lawyer and associate Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) that the hit was made with the help of someone close, and that he must leave, entrusting all his power to Hagen to protect his family.Flashback: In 1917 New York City, the adult Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) works in a grocery store in the Lower East side with his friend Genco Abbandando. The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the "The Black Hand," Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin), who extorts protection payments from local businesses. One night, Vito's neighbor Clemenza (Bruno Kirby) asks him to hide a stash of guns for him, and later, to repay the favor, takes him to a fancy apartment where they commit their first felony together, stealing an elegant rug.The film flash-forwards to Michael's time. Michael meets with poushal Hyman Roth in Miami, Florida who tells Michael that he believes Frank Pentangeli was responsible for the assassination attempt, and that Pentangeli will pay for it. Traveling to Brooklyn, Michael lets Pentangeli know that Roth was actually behind it, and that Michael has a plan to deal with Roth, but he needs Frankie to cooperate with the Rosato Brothers in order to put Roth off guard.While sleeping, Fredo gets a phone call in the middle of the night from Johnny Ola, Hyman Roth's right hand man, revealing that Fredo is the traitor in the family. Johnny Ola conspires with Fredo, telling him that Frank Pentangeli is going to make peace with the Rosato Brothers. Johnny Ola asks Fredo information about the meeting between these two parties, and whether or not Pentangeli will be alone. Fredo disagrees to cooperate and tells Johnny Ola to never call him again.When Pentangeli goes to meet with the Rosatos at a local bar, he is told "Michael Corleone says hello," as he is attacked from behind but the attempted murder is accidentally interrupted by a policeman. Pentangeli is left for dead, and his bodyguard, Willi Cicci (Joe Spinell), is struck by a car while shooting at the Rosatos as they drive away.Back in Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel in Carson City run by Michael's older brother Fredo (John Cazale), where Senator Geary is implicated in the death of a prostitute, and Tom offers to take care of the problem in return for "friendship" between the Senator and the Corleone family.Meanwhile, Michael meets Roth in Havana, Cuba, in late 1958, at the time when dictator Fulgencio Batista is soliciting American investment, and communist guerrillas are trying to bring down the government. At a birthday party for Roth, Michael mentions that there is a possibility that the rebels might win, making their business dealings in Cuba problematic. Earlier that day, Michael had witnessed a communist rebel kill a Havana policemen by detonating a grenade that also killed the rebel himself. The comment prompts Roth to remark, privately, that Michael has not delivered the two million dollars to firm their partnership.Fredo, carrying the promised money, arrives in Havana and meets Michael. Michael mentions Hyman Roth and Johnny Ola to him, but Fredo says he has never met them. Michael confides to his brother that it was Roth who tried to kill him, and that he plans to try again. Michael assures Fredo that he has already made his move, and that "Hyman Roth will never see the New Year."Instead of turning over the money to Roth, Michael asks him who gave the order to have Frank Pentangeli killed. Roth avoids the question, instead speaking angrily of the murder of his old friend, Moe Greene, which Michael had orchestrated (as depicted at the end of the first film).Michael has asked Fredo, who knows Havana well, to show Senator Geary and other important officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not recognize Johnny Ola. Soon after, at a sex show, Fredo comments loudly that Johnny Ola told him about the place, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier, that he didn't know Roth or Ola. Michael now realizes that the traitor is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard to deal with Roth.Johnny Ola is strangled, but Roth, in a delicate state because of his heart condition, is taken to a hospital, where Michael's enforcer is shot trying to kill him. At Batista's New Year's Eve party, at the stroke of midnight, Michael grasps Fredo tightly by the head and kisses him: "I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart." When guerrillas attack, the guests flee, but Fredo refuses to go with Michael, despite Michael's pleas that Fredo is still his brother and that it's the only way out.Flashback (1917): Don Fanucci of the Black Hand is now aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio (John Aprea), and wants his share of their profits every week. Clemenza and Tessio agree to pay, but Vito is reluctant and asks his friends to leave everything in his hands so Fanucci will accept less and indeed, Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only one sixth of what he demanded ($100 out of $600). Immediately afterward, during the neighborhood festa, Vito murders Fanucci in the hallway outside his apartment and then rejoins his wife and four children on the stoops outside his apartment building where Vito tells the infant Michael that his father loves him very much.In January 1959, Nevada, Michael returns to his snow-covered Lake Tahoe compound after fleeing Cuba, where Tom Hagen tells him that Roth escaped from Cuba after suffering a stroke and is recovering in Miami, that Michael's bodyguard is dead, and that Fredo is probably hiding in New York. Hagen also informs Michael that Kay had a miscarriage while he was away. Michael is distraught at the news and furiously demands to know the sex of the child, but Tom is unable to tell him.Flashback (1920): with Fanucci dead and with no one else apparently to take over the Black Hand, Vito earns the respect of the neighborhood and begins to intercede in local disputes, operating out of the storefront of his Genco Pura Olive Oil Company (named after his friend Genco Abbandando) which he manages as well as give out "favors" to others in the community such as a local young woman threatened with eviction. Vito intimidates her landlord into letting her stay for a few extra weeks... rent free.In Washington, D.C. of 1959, a Senate committee, of which Senator Geary is a member, is conducting an investigation into the Corleone family. They question disaffected "soldier" Willi Cicci about his role as a button man in the Family, but he cannot implicate Michael, because he never received any direct orders from him. When Michael appears before the committee, Senator Geary makes a big show of supporting Italian-Americans and then excuses himself from the proceedings. During questioning, Michael denies all criminal allegations against him, from the murder of Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey back in 1946 (in the first Godfather movie), and to his business status of operating several gambling casinos in Nevada. Michael makes a statement challenging the committee to produce a witness to corroborate the charges against him. The hearing ends with the Chairman promising a witness who will do exactly that.Frank Pentangeli, who did not die in the attack by the Rosato Brothers, has made a deal with the FBI, and will testify against Michael. Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem, observing that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Michael's brother Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains to Michael his betrayal: upset about being passed over to head the family in favor of Michael, he wants respect and his due. He helped Roth thinking there would be something in it for him, but he swears he didn't know they wanted to kill Michael. He also tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel is Roth's man. Michael then tells Fredo: "You're nothing to me now. Not a brother, not a friend, nothing", and privately instructs soldier and button man Al Neri (Richard Bright) that nothing is to happen to Fredo while their mother is still alive.At the hearing in which Frank Pentangeli is to testify, Michael arrives accompanied by Pentangeli's brother, brought from Sicily, and whose presence causes Frank to recant his previous statements about Michael. When Pentangeli is pressed, he claims that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear. With no witness to testify against Michael, the committee adjourns, with Hagen, acting as Michael's lawyer, loudly demanding an apology.At a hotel room afterwards, Kay tries to leave Michael, taking their children with her. Michael at first tries to mollify her, but loses his temper and hits her violently when she reveals to him that her recent "miscarriage" was actually an abortion to avoid providing another child into Michael's criminal inheritance. She also tells him that the baby was a boy, further infuriating Michael.Flashback (1925): While visiting Sicily for a family vacation for the first time in 20 years, Vito Corleone is introduced to the elderly 90-year-old Don Ciccio as the man who imports their olive oil to America, and who wants his blessing. When Ciccio asks Vito who his father was, Vito says, "My father's name is Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!", cutting the old man's stomach open with a knife, avenging the death of his father, mother, and brother. As they make their escape from Ciccio's compound and his men, Don Tomasello is shot in the leg by one of Ciccio's bodyguards... the injury gives him a permanent limp.In April 1959, Carmella Corleone (Morgana King), Vito's widow and the mother of his children, dies, and the whole Corleone family is reunited for her funeral. Michael still shuns Fredo, who is miserable, but relents when Connie implores him to. Michael and Fredo embrace, but at the same time Michael signals to his capo that Fredo's protection from harm, in effect while their mother lived, has now run out.Michael, Tom Hagen, and Rocco Lampone discuss their final dealings with Hyman Roth, who has been unsuccessfully seeking asylum from various countries, and was even refused entry to Israel as a returned Jew. Michael rejects Hagen's advice that the Corleone family's position is secure, and killing Roth and the Rosato brothers for revenge is an unnecessary risk. Later, Hagen pays a visit to the imprisoned Frank Pentangeli on a military base and suggests that he take his own life, in the manner of unsuccessful ancient Roman conspirators who, in return, were promised that their families would be taken care of after their suicide.With the connivance of Connie, Kay visits her children, but cannot bear to leave them and stays too long. When Michael arrives, he coldly closes the door in her face.The movie reaches its climax in a montage of assassinations and death, reminiscent of the end of Part One:As he arrives at an airport to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is killed by Rocco Lampone, disguised as a journalist, who himself is immediately shot dead by Roth's bodyguards.On the military base, Frank Pentangeli is found dead, having followed Hagen's instructions and committed suicide in his bathtub.Fredo is murdered by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe - while Fredo is saying a Hail Mary to help catch a fish.The penultimate scene takes place in 1941, and the Corleone family is preparing a surprise birthday party for their father Vito. Sonny (James Caan) introduces Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo), Connie's future husband and betrayer of Sonny, to his family. They all talk about the recent attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and Michael shocks everybody by announcing that he has just enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Sonny ridicules Michael's choice, and Tom Hagen mentions how his father has great expectations for Michael. Fredo is the only one who supports his brother's decision. Sal Tessio comes in with the cake for the party, and when Vito arrives, all but Michael leave the room to greet him.The final shot in the film is Michael sitting by himself at Lake Tahoe, in silent contemplation.

Tags: suspenseful, cruelty, murder, psychological, violence, flashback, action, romantic, melodrama, tragedy, revenge, sadist

Review:
They are now cold , ruthless and unemotional and betray the price which Micheal Corleone has paid for power .Watch this movie and learn why it is the greatest gangster film of all time..
Without spoiling, I will simply say the Robert DeNiro as the young Vito is the best acting performance of all time, a role  for which he won a richly deserved Oscar.The screenplay is full of delicious little underworld nuggets ("Keep your friends close .....", "I don't want to kill everyone, just my enemies"), while it blows a dense, twisted plot past you at a dizzying and merciless pace.
The film is divided into two main parts - the story of a young Vito Corleone (flawlessly acted by Robert De Niro and a worthy Oscar winner) and the rise to power of Michael as the head of the family.
The acting performances are outstanding, hence three supporting oscar nominations for acting guru Lee Strasberg (Hyman Roth), Michael Gazzo (Frank Pentangeli) and Robert De Niro (young Vito Corleone).
As well the film shows us the early years of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) played flawlessly by Academy Award Winner Robert De Niro, and how he created his empire of money, gambling and respect.
Beautifully directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Godfather Part II exceeds every expectation with outstanding performances from Academy Award winners Al Pacino,Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro.
The film flip-flops graciously and beautifully between Michael's struggle over the family business and the life of young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro, in a brilliant, Oscar-winning performance) in his rise to power as well.
We see Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) "in the role" of his father, Vito (Marlon Brando), from the first film, accepting prostrating guests while a party is going on outside.
Perhaps during this segment, perhaps a bit after, we realize that maybe the beginning wasn't so clever after all, because the structure of The Godfather Part II parallels The Godfather from a broad perspective, as if Coppola and co-writer Mario Puzo used the first film as something of a template to create this one.After the party is over, there is an attempted hit on Michael, and we quickly learn that not everything is rosy in the Corleone's mafia world.
The Michael Corleone story has a lot of fat, including much of the Cuba material (for example, sitting around the table with the President, laboriously passing around a solid gold telephone), the Senate hearings (which go on far too long to make and provide the dramatic points), and so on.The film begins to feel more like a couple seasons of a television show that Coppola tried to cram into a 3 and a half hour film, or worse, a collection of deleted scenes.
There isn't a bad performance in the film, but Pacino, De Niro, and some relatively minor characters, like those played by Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and John Cazale, really stand out.The second outstanding point, similar to the first film, is the beautiful visuals.
Just like in part I, his performance in this movie is absolutely worthy of an Oscar, but the Academy once again robbed him of the glory.Robert De Niro in his Oscar winning portrayal of Vito Corleone, gives a great performance without uttering a single word in English.
The acting is every bit as great, and the cinematography is about as good, but the story wasn't exactly as good as the first; had it not been for the flashbacks that showed Vito as young(beautifully portrayed by De Niro), it wouldn't have gotten a perfect rating from me.
I finally looked at the second film and I want to share my impressions and thoughts on this matter.The second film was no less a legend than the original, not only having earned a well-deserved viewer's success and recognition of the members of the American Film Academy, but also entering the history of cinema as the best "sequel" of all time, in a number of polls - even bypassing the brilliant first picture.
All the actors here are in unity and show how it is necessary to plunge into the role, in all to see a lot of work for what each of the actors thank you very much.Verifying: A great movie that is recommended to watch everyone as an example of clear, competent and well-coordinated work of the creators' team, the whole mechanism works like a clock and as a result of hard work we get no less legendary film, somewhere even ahead of the original.
Consider several operas with ridiculous stories and lyrics yet contain arias that literally move us to tears.The devolution of Michael Corleone is adjacent with flashbacks to the youth and young manhood of his father, Vito, played with paternal, home-loving subtlety by Robert De Niro.
There is even a parallel between two elderly dons: Revenge must be had.I admire the way Coppola and Puzo require us to think along with Michael as he feels out fragile deliberations involving Miami boss Hyman Roth, his older brother Fredo, and the death of Sonny in the previous film.
Personally, I think that Pacino gave the best performance of the film.Francis Ford Coppola won an Oscar for his direction but I feel that the first film was a better effort.
I'm guessing that much of its popularity lies in the fact that it is not just a sequel, following Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) as he continues to expand his family's 'business', but also a prequel, charting Vito Corleone's life from a child in Sicily at the turn of the 20th century to powerful New York mafia don.
But unlike the first part where they had broken all the rules (the characters are established first before the place and time) in this film they've come back to the rules (the locations are established before the characters) Francis Ford Coppola should definitely be given another chance to make a sequel to the trio-logy so that the present generation can also experience the 'Magic of the Movie' and for anyone who's not seen this film, I bet they're surely missing something in life....
Keaton is good but she is not given as much time as I would have liked, even if her scenes are important and powerful.Overall this is a great film that is based on a classy pair of stories that bring the subtexts with them and a collection of characters that are well developed by a script and some great actors.
(The true greatest sequel of all time, of course, is The Empire Strikes Back - superceding the original in so many ways and on so many levels it's unbelievable.)Now, I'll concede there's an awful lot of artistry on display in this movie - the acting is all great, the cinematography and production design, etc.
Compare this sequence to the movie's in order to see just how much Coppola has omitted and how much he has romanticized what he's kept.)  Coppola wants to save all his rage and condemnation for Michael, you see - almost as if the Corleone crime family was kind of a Mom and Pop store started by the old man in the good old days, and was great and wonderful until the young whippersnapper came in with all of his newfangled ways and started screwing everything up.
But there are a lot of things making Pacino hesitant about this move into Cuba under the Battista dictatorship.The prequel parallel story is how young Vito Corleone came to this country as an orphan and worked his way up to establish himself as a crime boss.
The Godfather films (I presume we may ignore the third) are now a quarter of a century old, and if you haven't seen them, chances are that two snippets of information will leap into your mind when you think of them: they are about the Mafia, and the sequel is as good as the original.
Similarly, Michael Gazzo takes a seemingly annoying and one-note character (Pentangeli) and works in so much depth and humanity, that at the end he's one of your favorite people in the entire Godfather story (doubly amazing, since he didn't have any automatic goodwill from the audience by being a carryover from the first film).
There are bound to be comparisons to 'The Godfather',but it definitely comes close to surpass its predecessor but to no avail.But that doesn't take away any credit from another gem from Francis Ford Coppola.There would have definitely been immense pressure on Coppola to deliver the second time after the first one was a huge hit.Robert De Niro was outstanding as the young Don Vito Corleone and truly deserved his Oscar.John Cazale delivers on getting more screen space.But I was disappointed to see that Al Pacino as Michael Corleone after having overshadowed his previous work in the first and having reached greater heights in this one, did not get an Academy award.The film does not disappoint and matches the original in every aspect.Truly outstanding cinema..
An excellent follow up to the original, The Godfather Part II continues where the first film left off and explores the rise of Vito Corleone in a series of flashbacks that, for the most part, correlate with what is presently happening to Michael Corleone (Pacino) his son and successor.
Expertly presenting two story lines, one sequel and one prequel to the original, half of the film follows late-1950s Michael Corleone, now as the head of the Corleone crime family, expanding his power and picking off his enemies, becoming less and less like the man at the beginning of the previous film.
I have no doubts that Pacino in this film would be right on there.Before watching this, I had doubts as to how the movie would make do without screen legend Marlon Brando, as his character is twenty-five years younger, and so played by Robert De Niro.
(I have no idea how Pacino didn't get Best Actor, but, according to "Some Like It Hot," "Nobody's perfect.") Clearly topping the original, "The Godfather Part II" is the Best Film of All Time, so of course, I have to give it a 10/10 rating..
The final shot of Michael sitting alone is one of the most memorable of all time.The Godfather Part II is a breath taking achievement in film and has possibly the greatest story ever put on screen..
The film, breathtaking in its scope and tragic grandeur, shows two parallel stories extending two different time periods: the early career of young Vito Corleone seen first around the turn of the 20th century in Sicily, and then in 1917, building his criminal underworld in the Italian ghettos of New York City, post World War I, plus that of his son, Michael (Al Pacino) desperately trying to keep his family together...Al Pacino's performance is quiet and solemn.
Here he's a calculating and frightening force, seeking to expand casinos into Pre-Revolutionary Cuba and consolidating an empire surrounded by perfidy and treason, maintaining total confidence in his ability to control the situation whether testifying before enraging Senators or trying to outface his worst enemies.The film's haunting final shot of a lonely, isolated paranoid Michael in his empty compound, is an unforgettable movie scene, a tragic portrait of a lonely and fully damned person, emotionally empty and finished, far from a waspish wife, more distant from a faithful lawyer...De Niro's rise, from an orphan child by a family feud back in Italy to a hood in New York and his position as a respected Don, provides a welcome break from Pacino's relentless attitude...
Since the people he kills seem to deserve it, Vito comes off better than Michael does, and it was wise of Coppola to shuffle the two stories together despite lengthy flashbacks and the disturbance of continuity.Coppola's motion picture is not just a mere supply with new characters and events from the original, it's a far more complex and intimate movie than its predecessor.
The screenplay is flawless, Coppola and Puzo seamlessly moving back and forth in time to show us the origin and fate of the most beloved cinematic family that's ever shown up on a screen.The family theme emerges off-screen as well, as the director's father, Carmine Coppola, helps Nino Rota with the superb, tragic score.But let's not forget the extraordinary actors who made each member of the Corleones memorable: Pacino steals the show with his best performance alongside Scarface's Tony Montana, while Duvall, Cazale and Talia Shire (not to mention James Caan in a priceless flashback cameo) display the same charisma they had in the previous installment.
It's one of those rare times people don't complain about the fact that a thespian was replaced in a sequel (okay, so Marlon Brando wouldn't have looked young enough for the part, but otherwise he would have been perfect): De Niro's star-making turn has the power of not making you miss the older Don for the entire movie.
This film was so good because it continues the story of Don Michael Corleone's rise to the top, and then slowly to the bottom at the end.
Plus another cool thing about the movie, is that it has several flash backs on the life of younge Vito Corleone, played by Robert DeNiro (who also gave a great performance).
It's spectacular in many ways, masterpiece in fact, and has become as important as the first one (it is the only sequel to win an Oscar for best picture in those terms) and the acting all around is well-knit (even the pioneer himself Lee Strasberg is on hand as Roth), the score is possibly better in some ways to the first film, and most of the scene work is fantastic.
The movie is the sequel and prequel to The Godfather as you all must know and shows the rise of Vito and Michael Corleone in two separate story lines.
The other tells the story of a young Vito Corleone (Robert deNiro) who is the godfather from the first film.
The score is also perfect for the film.All the performances are great, but Robert deNiro and Al Pacino go above and beyond in this movie.
They are the final piece in the puzzle for telling the coming up-story of Vito and the tragic tale of Michael.It's films like this that truly deserve a "perfect" score of 10..
The Godfather: Part II (1974, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola) It's the 1920's and young Vito Corleone (De Niro) moves to New York to his life and new crime career, whilst in the future, his son Don Michael Corleone (Pacino) continues to further his father's legacy.Francis Ford Coppola pulls off another epic classic which this time focuses' on two different story lines.
This, perhaps the greatest sequel ever, tells the parallel stories of Michael's struggles as the new Godfather and the rise of the legendary Vito Corleone.
There are many critics who regard the second part of the Corleone saga as not only equal, but superior than the first, and while I don't think Part II is as "classic" as it's original, I can concede without hesitation that this is the more ambitious and grand in scope, and certainly more powerful as an exercise in tragedy.The Godfather: Part II continues the story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), established in the end of part one as the new Don of the Corleone crime family, who has moved all their interests out to Nevada.
A skilful direction from Francis Ford Coppola, outstanding performances from the likes of Pacino, De Niro, Gazzo, Strasberg, Cazale, Duvall, Keaton, Shire, memorable cinematography from Willis, a soundtrack by Rota, Coppola and Curet Alonso, and an ingenious script by Coppola and Puzo (partly adapted from his novel), make "The Godfather: Part II" stand out as a story of courage, love, treachery, and devotion, crafted in the life of the Corleone saga.The plot follows the consolidation of power of Michael Corleone, and his desire to gain the legality of his business, and the consolidation of power of a young Vito Corleone, and his desire to build a better life for his family.
Part of the film is a pre-quel, with Robert De Nero playing a young Marlon Brando (is that a dream casting or not?) partly it's the story of Michael Corleone as he grows into the role of Godfather.
The original Godfather was more about Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) than it was about Michael (Al Pacino), his son.
This time it's Vito that's rising to become the most feared and respected man in New York, whereas Michael is the one to suffer and watch as his life is torn down all around him.Superb storytelling from Francis Ford Coppola, and the main reason why this is such a beloved movie.
And that is saying a lot.Probably the most fantastic and well made sequel of all time.Some consider it to be even slightly better than the original but for me the first Godfather is still the best mainly because of Marlon Brando.Despite of that The Godfather part 2 is a flawless movie,a timeless masterpiece with countless qualities that crabs the viewer and never ceases to impress.Al Pacino delivers simply a stunning performance and deserved an Oscar for best actor.Here he isn't the fragile,insecure young man he was in the original film.Here he is wiser and more respectful.Perfect Michael Corleone.The rest of the cast is amazing too.Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen and John Cazale as Fredo shine once again.Cazale as the treacherous Fredo has a bigger role and makes an even greater impact on the audience.But a lot of the credit has to go to the brilliantly cast Robert De Niro who indeed deserved to win the Oscar for best supporting role.His portrayal of the young Vito Corleone and his rise to power is simply stunning.Excellent work.Director Francis Ford Coppola is simply one of the greatest directors not only of his time but of all times and shows once again that he is the biggest fan of the novel and shows great respect both towards Mario Puzo and his work..