The Godfather Part II released

The Godfather Part II Released: December 20, 1974 Studio: Paramount Genre: gangster/epic drama Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 57.30 Worldwide: 88.00 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 214.30 Worldwide: 329.12

Directing: Francis Ford Coppola Screenwriting: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo Starring: Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Michael V. Gazzo Review: The Godfather Part II functions both as a sequel and prequel to its 1972 Best-Picture-winner predecessor. With “its meditations on family, the past and the corruption of America’s soul, melds historical sweep with searing personal intimacy” TV “the continuing saga of a Mafia family and dynasty” FS is, by some accounts, “considered superior to the original.” FS It is the only sequel to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The “hypnotic multigenerational saga” TV “intertwines and compares the lives” VD of Michael Corleone (Pacino) as the present-day leader and “De Niro, in a remarkable, uncommonly subtle performance,” TV as his father, Vito Corleone, before becoming “the ‘don’ of old.” VD “The film’s extended flashback sequences” A07 follow Vito as he “immigrates to America from his native Sicily at the turn of the century and maneuvers his family to power in the ghetto of Little Italy.” FS As the new godfather, Michael struggles “to bring his family into the modern age.” A07 He “confronts a second generation of criminal and family affairs in Vegas, Cuba, and in a Senate hearing on organized crime. After eliminating all rivals and enemies, he is a brooding” FS and “spiritually-broken” TV “character, alienated from his wife (Keaton), and the murder of own brother Fredo (Cazale).” FS “Aside from establishing its cast (Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, to name a few) as the premier actors of their generation…Coppola’s masterpiece is the cinematic equivalent of an un-put-downable book: Just try watching for only a few minutes. Impossible.” TV “Along the way are some of the most memorable, disturbing and affecting scenes in all of cinema: Vito’s first vision of the Statue of Liberty, his first murder, the attack on Michael’s Lake Tahoe estate, his quiet ruthlessness as he shuts the door on his estranged wife (Diane Keaton). And then there’s the lonely execution of Michael’s pathetic brother (John Cazale) as he fishes on a lake, a sequence so elegantly photographed and perfectly timed that every film school should offer a course on it.” TV Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 6 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (De Niro), Best Original Dramatic Score Nominations: 11 – including Best Actor (Pacino), Best Supporting Actor (Gazzo), Best Supporting Actor (Strasberg), Best Supporting Actress (Shire) Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin First posted 8/9/2019; last updated 6/3/2023.

The Godfather released

The Godfather Released: March 15, 1972 Studio: Paramount Genre: gangster/epic Box Office (numbers in millions) Domestic: 135.00 Worldwide: 245.10 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 775.72 Worldwide: 1288.50

Directing: Francis Ford Coppola Screenwriting: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale Review: Francis Ford Coppola’s “bravura, genre-defining, epic-length…gangster classic” FS “is considered one of the greatest films ever made and deservedly so.” VD Based on Mario Puzo’s pulp fiction novel of the same name, this “operatic, violent drama” FS “is entertainment raised to the level of art.” RS “The 1970s’ answer to Gone with the Wind” LM is “a film of epic proportions, masterfully done, and set to Nino Rota’s memorable music. Absolutely irresistible.” LM This is “a gloriously-detailed – if romanticized – historical look at the ethics of American business, family values and food consumption (all that pasta!).” T98 “This sepia-toned Sicilian saga” TV “evokes the mid and late 1940’s period with powerful character development, lighting, costumes, and settings.” FS “The film follows the fortunes of the fictitious Corleones, a powerful Mafia family with its own family rituals and separate code of honor, revenge, justice, law and loyalty that transcends all other codes.” FS “Don Vito and his three sons are as familiar to us as our own family.” RS “Brando is Don Vito Corleone, the sympathetic head of a New York crime family, whose business it is to make offers people can’t refuse.” A07 When he “is shot by rivals, his sons Sonny (Caan), Fredo (Cazale) and favorite young son Michael (Pacino) assume control, with Michael ascending to a prominent position of power.” FS “The horror, rage, violence, and paranoia of being in the thick of organized crime is told with brutal realism.” VD “Visually beautiful images of times and locales contrast with the film’s graphic violence” A98 such as the famous “grotesque, severed horse-head scene.” FS Coppola introduced “ that piano/fortissimo style of crosscutting between religious ritual and bloody machine-gun massacre,” T95 The movie was loaded with “career-launching performances. Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan became household names; John Cazale should have.” TV “Pacino’s performance…is arguably the finest in cinema” RS as the film traces “his rise from white sheep of the family to budding don and fully-fledged bad guy.” T95 This was “Brando’s finest hour, the mannerisms and mouth full of cottonwool not withstanding,” T98 as he “made the most startling comeback Hollywood had ever – make that has ever – seen.” TV “Coppola had just turned thirty when he started work on the first chapter. Even later (The Conversation, Apocalypse Now), he never topped it. Nobody has.” RS “We remember all the lines, profound (‘I believe in America’) and silly (‘Leave the gun, take the cannolis’) .” RS This film and its two sequels “grow in stature with the years, their power to move us undimmed, their influence as up-to-date as The Sopranos.” RS Sources: A98 American Film Institute (1998). “AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies” A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” RS Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Maverick Movies of the Last 100 Years” T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films” T98 Time Out (1998). “Readers’ Top 100 Films” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Accolades: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Box Office: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 3 – Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay Nominations: 10 – including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Caan), Best Supporting Actor (Duvall), Best Supporting Actor (Pacino), Best Sound, Best Original Score Hall of Fames: Other Lists/Honors: Experts’ Picks: First posted 7/24/2019; last updated 5/18/2025.