The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American crime epic that Francis Ford Coppola produced, directed, and co-wrote with Mario Puzo, starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Robert De Niro. Partially based on Puzo's 1969 novel, the film is in part both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, presenting two parallel dramas. The main storyline, following the events of the first film, centers on Michael Corleone (Pacino), the new Don of the Corleone crime family, trying to hold his business ventures together from 1958 through 1959; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone (De Niro), from his childhood in Sicily in 1901 to his founding of the Corleone family in New York City.

The film was released in 1974 to great critical acclaim, some even deeming it superior to the original.^[2] Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and the first sequel to win for Best Picture, its six Oscars included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Like its predecessor, the sequel remains a highly influential film in the gangster genre. It was ranked as the 32nd-greatest film in American cinematic history by the American Film Institute in 1997 and it kept its rank 10 years later.^[3] It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993.^[4]

A sequel, The Godfather Part III, was released 16 years later in 1990.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Behind the scenes 3.1 Casting notes 3.2 Production 3.2.1 Additional/deleted scenes 4 Box office 5 Reception 6 Awards and Honors 6.1 Academy Awards 6.2 American Film Institute recognition 7 Trivia 8 Gallery 9 Trailer 10 Notes and references 11 See also 12 External links

PlotEdit

In 1901 Corleone, Sicily, nine-year-old Vito Andolini’s family is killed after his father insults local Mafia chieftain Don Ciccio. He escapes to New York and is registered as "Vito Corleone" on Ellis Island.

On the occasion of the 1958 first communion party for his son, Michael Corleone has a series of meetings in his role as the Don of his crime family. With Nevada Senator Pat Geary, he discusses the terms of a fourth state gaming license for the Corleones, but the two only trade insults and demand payoffs. Johnny Ola arrives to express support for Michael on behalf of Florida gangster Hyman Roth. At the same time as the Don tries to manage his depressed sister Connie and older brother Fredo, Corleone caporegime Frank Pentangeli is upset that his boss will not help him defend New York against the Rosato Brothers, who conspire with the Jewish Roth. That night, Michael survives an assassination attempt at his home and puts consigliere Tom Hagen in charge, reassuring him of their fraternal bond.

In 1917, Vito Corleone lives in a tenement with his wife Carmela and son Sonny, and works in a New York grocery store owned by the father of Genco Abbandando, a close friend. A member of the Black Hand, Don Fanucci, who extorts protection payments from local businesses, forces the store owner to fire Vito and give his job to Fanucci's nephew. As a favor to his neighbor, Peter Clemenza, Vito hides a stash of guns; in return, he is invited to the burglary of a rich apartment. His share of the loot is a plush rug, which he lays in his own living room.

In Miami, Michael tells Roth that Pentangeli was behind the assassination attempt; he then tells Pentangeli that Roth ordered it and asks him to cooperate. Pentangeli meets the Rosatos; their men ambush him, saying they act on Michael's orders, but a passing policeman interrupts them and they flee, leaving Pentangeli for dead.

Geary finds himself in Fredo's brothel with a dead prostitute and no memory of how he got there; he accepts Tom's offer of "friendship" to cover up the incident.

After witnessing a rebel suicide bombing in Havana, Cuba, Michael becomes convinced of the rebels' resolve to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Fredo brings Michael the money for a deal with Roth, but instead of turning it over to Roth, Michael asks who put out the hit on Pentangeli. Roth is reminded of his late friend Moe Greene in a spate of Corleone killing — saying, "This is the business we've chosen. I didn't ask who gave the order because it had nothing to do with business!" At a New Year's Eve party, Fredo lets slip that he knew Johnny Ola despite his previous denial. Dismayed, Michael embraces his brother, revealing that he knows he was behind the plot on his life, and a frightened Fredo flees in the chaos. Michael's bodyguard strangles Ola but is killed by police before he can finish off the ailing Roth. Back home, Hagen informs Michael that Roth is recovering in Miami and that Kay's pregnancy has miscarried.

Three years later, two more sons — Fredo and then Michael — have been born to Vito. He and his partners (Clemenza and Sal Tessio) face extortion by Don Fanucci, who demands they let him "wet his beak" from their recent burglary or he will have the police ruin the Corleone family. Vito persuades his partners to pay Fanucci less than he asks and promises he will "make him an offer he don't refuse" as a favor to them. During a neighborhood festa, Vito meets with Fanucci and earns his respect. He then follows Fanucci, surprises him in his apartment foyer, shoots and kills him, takes back his partners' money and escapes.

In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee investigating the Corleone family cannot find evidence to implicate Michael until a surprise witness is called. Pentangeli, ensconced in FBI witness protection and ready to avenge the attempt on his life, is prepared to confirm accusations against Michael until his Sicilian brother Vincenzo attends the hearing at the Don's side; Pentangeli denies his sworn statements and the hearing dissolves in an uproar.

Vito has become a respected figure in his New York community. He confronts a landlord who doesn't know him, offering extra money to let a widow keep her apartment. The landlord says he has already leased it and becomes angry when Vito demands that he allow her to keep her dog. Later the landlord learns that he may have offended the wrong person. Terrified, he returns to assure Vito that the widow can stay, along with her dog, at a reduced rent.

Michael and Hagen observe that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains his betrayal to Michael; he was upset about being passed over to head the family, and helped Roth, thinking there would be something in it for him. He swears he was unaware of their plan to kill Michael. He tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel is on Roth's payroll. Michael disowns Fredo and instructs Al Neri that "nothing is to happen to him while my mother's alive." Afterwards, Michael violently prevents Kay from leaving with their children; she retaliates with the revelation that her miscarriage was actually an abortion.

Vito, together with his young family, visits Sicily for the first time in 1923. He is introduced to the elderly Don Ciccio by Lionele Tommasino 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 was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!" He then plunges a large knife into the old man's stomach and carves it open. As they flee, Tommasino is shot and injured.

Michael's mother dies. At the funeral, a reformed Connie implores Michael to forgive Fredo. Michael relents and embraces Fredo, but stares intently at Neri. Roth is refused asylum in Israel. Over Hagen's dissent, Michael plans his revenge. Hagen visits Pentangeli and offers to spare his family, reminding him that failed plotters against the Roman Emperor took their own lives.

Connie helps Kay visit her children, but Michael closes the door on any forgiveness.

As he arrives in Miami to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is shot in the stomach and killed by Rocco Lampone, who is immediately shot dead by FBI agents. Frank Pentangeli is dead in his bathtub with slit wrists. Neri shoots Fredo while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe.

On December 7, 1941, the Corleone family gathers to surprise Vito for his fiftieth birthday. Sonny introduces Carlo Rizzi to Connie. Tessio comes in with the cake, and they discuss the attack on Pearl Harbor. Michael announces he has left college to enlist in the Marines, leaving Sonny furious, Tom incredulous, and Fredo supportive. Vito is heard at the door and all but Michael leave the room to greet him.

Michael sits alone by the lake at the family compound.

CastEdit

Behind the scenesEdit

Casting notesEdit

• James Caan agreed to reprise the role of Sonny in the birthday flashback sequence demanding he be paid the same amount he received for the entire previous film for the single scene in Part II, which he received.^[1][5]
• Marlon Brando initially agreed to return for the birthday flashback sequence, but the actor, feeling mistreated by the board at Paramount, failed to show up for the single day's shooting; Coppola rewrote the scene that same day.^[1][5]
• Richard Castellano, who portrayed Peter Clemenza in the first film, also declined to return, as he and the producers could not reach an agreement on his demands that he be allowed to write the character's dialogue in the film. Clemenza's role was subsequently filled by Frank Pentangeli.^[1][5]
• Troy Donahue, in a small role as Connie's boyfriend, plays a character named Merle Johnson, which was his birth name.^[5]
• Dominic Chianese, notable for his role as Uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano in The Sopranos, plays the role of Johnny Ola in his film debut.
• Two actors who appear in the film played different character roles in other Godfather films; Carmine Caridi, who plays Carmine Rosato, also went on to play crime boss Albert Volpe in The Godfather Part III, and Frank Sivero, who plays a young Genco Abbandando, appears as a bystander in The Godfather scene in which Sonny beats up Carlo for abusing Connie.
• Among the Senators in the hearing committee are film producer/director Roger Corman, writer/producer William Bowers, producer Phil Feldman, and science-fiction writer Richard Matheson.

ProductionEdit

The Godfather Part II was shot between October 1, 1973 and June 19, 1974, and was the last major American motion picture to be printed with Technicolor's dye imbibition process until the late 1990s and was the last major American motion picture filmed in Technicolor.^[1] The scenes that took place in Cuba were shot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.^[1][5][6] Charles Bluhdorn, whose Gulf+Western conglomerate owned Paramount, felt strongly about developing the Dominican Republic as a movie-making site.

The Lake Tahoe house and grounds portrayed in the film are Fleur du Lac, the summer estate of Henry J. Kaiser on the California side of the lake.^[1][5]

The only structures used in the movie that still remain are the complex of old native stone boathouses with their wrought iron gates. Although Fleur du Lac is private property and no one is allowed ashore there, the boathouses and multi-million dollar condominiums may be viewed from the lake.

Unlike with the first film, Coppola was given near-complete control over production. In his commentary, he said this resulted in a shoot that ran very smoothly despite multiple locations and two narratives running parallel within one film.^[7]

Production nearly ended before it began when Pacino's lawyers told Coppola that he had grave misgivings with the script and wasn't coming. Coppola spent an entire night rewriting it before giving it to Pacino for his review. Pacino approved and the production went forward.^[7]

Coppola discusses his decision to make this the first major motion picture to use "Part II" in its title in the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film released in 2002. Paramount was initially opposed because they believed the audience would not be interested in an addition to a story they had already seen. But the director prevailed, and the film's success began the common practice of numbered sequels.

Still, three weeks prior to the release, film critics and journalists pronounced Part II a disaster. The cross-cutting between Vito and Michael's parallel stories were judged too frequent, not allowing enough time to leave a lasting impression on the audience. Coppola and the editors returned to the cutting room to change the film's narrative structure, but could not complete the work in time, leaving the final scenes poorly timed at the opening.^[8]

George Lucas commented on the film after its five-hour long preview, telling Coppola: "You have two films. Take one away, it doesn't work."

Additional/deleted scenesEdit

For both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, many scenes that were shot were not shown in the original theatrical runs but were included in the television adaptation The Godfather Saga (1977) and the home video releases The Godfather 1901-1959: The Complete Epic (1981) and The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980 (1992). To date, there has not been a single release that contains all of this footage together in one collection.

A limited time-reduced version of The Godfather Part II was later released because of its runtime. The shorter version was 2hr 7min 56sec rather than the original 3hr 20min 45sec version.

Box officeEdit

The Godfather Part II did not surpass the original commercially, but it was very successful nonetheless, with a $193 million gross on a $13 million budget. For Paramount, it was their highest-grossing film of 1974 and was the fifth-highest-grossing picture in the US that year.

ReceptionEdit

The Godfather Part II ranks among the most critically and artistically successful films in movie history, and is the most honored sequel for excellence. Whether considered separately or with its predecessor as one work, it is widely accepted as one of world cinema's greatest achievements. Many critics compare it favorably to the original — although it is almost always placed below the original on lists of "greatest" movies when listed separately.

The Godfather Part II:

• Was featured on Sight and Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 1992 and 2002.
• Is featured on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list, though Ebert's original review of the film granted it only three out of four stars.
• Is ranked #7 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Movies of All Time".
• Is featured on movie critic Leonard Maltin's list of the "100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century".
• Received only one negative review on Rotten Tomatoes and a "98%" approval rating, 2 points less than The Godfather (although it does hold a higher rating average of 9.2/10 compared to the predecessor's 9.1/10) but 32 points more than The Godfather Part III.^[9]
• Is ranked #1 onTV Guide's 1998 list of the "50 Greatest Movies of All Time on TV and Video".^[10]
• Is ranked #3 on IMDb's Top 100 Movies of all time, with its predecessor The Godfather ranked #2.

Pacino's performance in The Godfather Part II has been praised as perhaps his best, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was criticized for not awarding him the Academy Award for Best Actor, which went that year to Art Carney for his role in Harry and Tonto. It has come to be seen by some as one of the greatest performances in cinema history. In 2006, Premiere magazine issued its list of "The 100 Greatest Performances of all Time", ranking Pacino's performance at #20.^[11] Later in 2009, Total Film issued "The 150 Greatest Performances of All Time", ranking Pacino's performance at #4.^[12]

In the chapter "The Speeches We Keep in Our Heads" from her 1998 book Simply Speaking, former television writer and Ronald Reagan's speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, analyzes "Lee Strasberg's great speech, given as Hyman Roth stood, weak and furious, before cold-eyed Michael Corleone" and explains what makes it powerful and memorable. She urges:

"Stop here and go out and rent The Godfather, Part II. In the middle of that movie, you will find a speech that is one of the most famous of our time, and that a lot of people keep parts of in their heads. (If I were making a compendium of great speeches of the latter half of the twentieth century I would include it.)"^[13]

Awards and HonorsEdit

Between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Coppola directed The Conversation, which was released in 1974 and was also nominated for Best Picture. This resulted in Coppola being the second director in Hollywood history to have two films released in the same year nominated for Best Picture. (The first was Alfred Hitchcock in 1941 with Foreign Correspondent and Rebecca, which won. This achievement was matched by Herbert Ross in 1977 with The Goodbye Girl and The Turning Point and again with Steven Soderbergh in 2000, when the films Erin Brockovich and Traffic were both nominated for Best Picture.)

The film was the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Academy AwardsEdit

A list of awards the film was nominated for: The film proceeded to win the categories in bold.

• Best Leading Actor (Al Pacino)
• Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro)
• Best Supporting Actor (Michael V. Gazzo)
• Best Supporting Actor (Lee Strasberg)
• Best Supporting Actress (Talia Shire)
• Best Script Adaptation
• Best Music
• Best Artistic Design
• Best Costumes & Makeup
• Best Director
• Best Picture

American Film Institute recognitionEdit

• 1998 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #32
• 2003 AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Michael Corleone – #11 Villain
• 2005 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." – #58
  • "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart." – Nominated
  • "Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel." – Nominated
• 2007 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #32
• 2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 – #3 Gangster film
  • Epic film – Nominated

TriviaEdit

• The scene in which Vito negotiates with Don Fanucci inspired George Lucas' scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which the Corellian smuggler Han Solo negotiates with the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure for more time to pay the money he owes.
• The character Hyman Roth, portrayed by Lee Strasberg, is based on Meyer Lansky. Shortly after the premiere in 1974, Lansky phoned Strasberg and congratulated him on a good performance, but added "You could've made me more sympathetic."
• In an early draft of the script, Tom Hagen had an affair with Sonny's widow, causing some friction within the family. This sub-plot was soon cut from the script, though Michael refers to Sonny's widow as his mistress.
• The statue carried during the Feast of San Rocco is of St. Rocco and is currently located at St. Joseph's Church in New York City. The priest is Rev. Joseph Moffo, who was the pastor of St. Joseph's at the time of the filming. In addition, the altarboys and men carrying the canopy were also from St. Joseph's.
• After bad experiences directing the first film, Coppola originally sought Martin Scorsese to direct the sequel after seeing Mean Streets.^[1] Eventually, under pressure from Paramount, Coppola directed, but was also given other incentives such as a larger budget and the chance to make The Conversation in the same year.

GalleryEdit

TrailerEdit

Trailer of The Godfather Part II

Notes and referencesEdit

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Cowie, Peter (1997). The Godfather Book. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571190111. ↑ Stax (July 28, 2003). Featured Filmmaker: Francis Ford Coppola. ↑ "Citizen Kane Stands the test of Time". American Film Institute. ↑ The National Film Registry List – Library of Congress. loc.gov. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Lebo, Harlan (2005). The Godfather Legacy. Fireside. ISBN 0743287770. ↑ "Movie Set Hotel: The Godfather II", HotelChatter, 12-05-2006. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Godfather Part II DVD commentary featuring Francis Ford Coppola, [2005] ↑ The Godfather Family: A look Inside ↑ The Godfather, Part II Movie Reviewers – Rotten Tomatoes ↑ TV Guide list of 50 Best ↑ "The 100 Greatest Performances" filmsite.org ↑ "The 150 Greatest Performances Of All Time" TotalFilm.com ↑ Peggy Noonan (1998). The Speeches We Keep in Our Heads. New York: ReganBooks, 46–57.

See alsoEdit

• The Godfather Part II Soundtrack
• The Godfather Part II screenplay

External linksEdit

• The Godfather Part II at the Internet Movie Database
• The Godfather Part 2 film locations
• The Godfather Part II transcript

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