Godfather: Part II, The

Movie Info

Genre(s): Crime  |  Drama

Written by: Mario Puzo (also novel)
Francis Ford Coppola

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 12, 1974
DVD: May 24, 2005

Running Time: 200 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R

Starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, and Michael V. Gazzo

The sequel to "The Godfather" continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. (Paramount)

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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mike P. gave it a10:
To put it simply: The Godfather Part II is one of the finest pieces of cinema to ever be crafted. How anyone can rate this film below an 8 is just totally beyond me. The cinematography is brilliant. The characters are highly textured. The dual story lines being parallel throughout the film is an excellent device in which to tell the stories of Vito and Michael Corleone. Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola have created a masterpiece.

Shane B gave it a10:
Personally, this gets my vote for 'The Greatest Film Ever Made'. I felt that the only flaw with the original Godfather was that it dragged out a bit towards the end. However, dispite The Godfather: Part II being 25 minutes longer then the original Godfather, this doesn't happen in The Godfather: Part II. In fact, if anything, I wanted this film to go on for longer. The main reason it doesn't drag out dispite it's lenght is because of the transitional two storylines. The main story dealing with Micheal Corleones reign as the Don of the powerful Corleone family. Micheal is clearly a changed man since he took over the family after the death of his father, Vito Corleone, three years earlier. Becoming more and more ruthless, his wife Kay has realised that Micheal has become a vicous, cold and calcuative criminal. Towards the end, she also realises that there is no way back for Micheal and that even though he has gained the world, he has ultimately lost his soul. The other storyline deals with Vito Corleones rise to power(who is protrayed in an Academy-Award winning performance by Robert De Niro). After his family are slaughtered by a local mob boss in Sicily, he flees to America to start a new life. There, he befriends a young man named Genco, who gets Vito a job as a baker with his father. He later becomes friends with two other thugs, Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio, who introduce him to a life of crime. However, they are being squeezed by a local mob boss, Don Fanuci, who orders them to pay protection. Instead of paying however, Vito kills Fanuci, and Vito himself starts his own family. The Godfather: Part II is a stunning film with fantastic performances from Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvell, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Lee Strasberg and Micheal V. Gazzo, beautiful Cinematography and very well directed by Francis Ford Copella.

Nick T gave it a9:
a very good film buy it still is a little too long and a little confusing but overall its a great film. Not as good as the first but its still a great classic SECOND BEST FILM EVER!

Marvin T gave it a9:
A masterpiece with a few flaws.

andrew d gave it a10:
Nearly equal to original, but more lengthy and detailed. violence attributes to the effect the mafia has on society, even today.

wallace f gave it a10:
Brilliant sequel, a matchto the original.

Andrew R gave it a4:
Vastly overrated. The plot is identical to both other movies in the series (there's a party, someone tries to kill the Don, the Don tricks the real culprit into revealing himself, a short interlude for some random marital melodrama, and then the Don has all the bad guys simultaneously murdered. Fin.), the themes are shallow and largely inapplicable to anybody not involved in organized crime (violence begets violence, huh? YOU DON'T SAY.), the characters are flat (Michael is the grim Zen hardass, Fredo is the blubbering idiot, Kay is the shrill square, etc.), the two "halves" of the movie don't inform each other at all, so that the entire production is ultimately just remaindered bits of the book that they couldn't fit into the first film, and ultimately none of the characters do anything worthy of praise or emulation, and none of the conflicts are worth caring about. The plot meanders wildly over the punishing 200-minute running time, and when it comes time to wrap up they just have Michael give a little speech where he says "oh, by the way, we can just kill all those people who've been bothering us," and then they go do that. I will never understand why they had to make 10 hours worth of movies just to point out that organized crime is not a suitable environment in which to raise and preserve a well-adjusted family, let alone why that's considered a rare and notable achievement.

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