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 Godfather, 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 to 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. 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 thirty-second greatest film in American cinematic history by the American Film Institute in 1997 and it kept its rank 10 years later. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993.
A sequel, The Godfather Part III, was released 16 years later in 1990.
Read more about The Godfather Part II: Plot, Cast, Production, Box Office, Reception, Releases For Television and Video, Awards and Honors
Famous quotes containing the words godfather and/or part:
“Even the strongest man needs friends.”
—Mario Puzo, U.S. author, screenwriter, and Francis Ford Coppola, U.S. director, screenwriter. Don Lucase, The Godfather III, advice given to Vincent (Andy Garcia)
“For the most part we think that there are few degrees of sublimity, and that the highest is but little higher than that which we now behold; but we are always deceived. Sublimer visions appear, and the former pale and fade away.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)