The Godfather Part II

Director: Francis Ford Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola

1974 / 202min / 35mm

The rare sequel to, in the eyes of many viewers at least, equal or exceed its original, The Godfather Part II is in fact sequel and prequel in one package, weaving together the c.1958 story of the Corleones—now led by Al Pacino’s Michael out of a gloomy Lake Tahoe compound—and the dynasty’s establishment in the New World, featuring Robert De Niro as the young Vito Corleone, a new arrival in the early 20th-century slums of the Lower East Side, filled with burning ambition and a dream of revenge in the Old Country. Cazale, returning in the role of elder brother Fredo, stricken by the fatal flaws of ambition and incompetence, gives a performance of frightful desperation, pleading for his independence and, finally, his very life.