The Godfather Part II

From Free net encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 05:17, 19 April 2006
PantheraLeo (Talk | contribs)
Sequel films
Next diff →

Current revision

The Godfather Part II is the sequel to The Godfather, released in 1974.

The film follows the original Godfather film by alternating the story of a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), with his son Michael's (Al Pacino) rise to control the Mob in Las Vegas. The film also stars Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Michael V. Gazzo, John Cazale, Talia Shire and Lee Strasberg. Many critics consider the sequel to be equal to (if not superior to) the original film in quality.

The film was written by Francis Ford Coppola from the original work by Mario Puzo, and was directed by Coppola. Coppola stated that he was not in favor of directing a sequel to The Godfather, because he had waged a number of battles with the studio (and at many points throughout production was in danger of being fired from his position). He initially suggested to Paramount that Martin Scorsese (who was still an up-and-coming director at the time, as well as a friend of Coppola) direct the sequel, but the studio refused. Coppola then insisted upon complete creative control of the film and a minimum amount of studio interference, plus a sizable salary; Paramount Pictures agreed to these conditions, and Coppola committed himself to directing the sequel.

1 Plot
2 Critical acclaim
3 Academy Awards
4 Sequels
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit]

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot consists of two parallel storylines, and the film switches back and forth between them. One storyline is the continuing story involving Michael Corleone in the 1950s; the other is a flashback sequence following his father, Vito, from his youth in Sicily through the founding of the Corleone crime family in New York and the births of Michael and his siblings. This version of Vito is played by different actors at different ages, but the adult Vito is played by Robert De Niro, who won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for a role in which, interestingly, consists almost entirely of non-English dialogue.

In a meticulous recreation of "Little Italy" in New York City at the beginning of the 20th Century, the audience experiences the early life of Vito Corleone, and his experiences with the Mafia: the murder of his father (first), brother (second) and mother (third) by a Sicilian crimelord; his sail to America, and his fight against the firmly-entrenched Mafia of his new home; his beginnings as a petty thief, his eventual rise to power as the new "Don," and his eventual revenge on the murderer of his family back in Sicily.

The "modern day" portion of the film takes place several years after Vito Corleone's death, and his son Michael Corleone's ascension to the role of the new Don. He is cold and calculating and in his attempts to strengthen the Corleone's business interests, however, the ultimate cost is that he loses sight of his family. Despite his growing power, the Corleone family is being investigated by a U.S. Senate committee, and Michael is nervous about a planned investment in Cuba under the direction of Hyman Roth (Strasberg), a character partly modelled on Meyer Lansky, who orders Michael's assasination, along with someone close to Michael. The plot fails, and Michael survives, and attempts to discover the traitor, finally realising it to be his brother Fredo (Cazale).

The film reaches its climax in a montage of murder that mirrors the climax of the first film. The two murdered are Fredo Corleone and Hyman Roth.

[edit]

Critical acclaim

The Godfather Part II is one of only two sequels ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (the other being The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). The Godfather series remains the only film series to win two Academy Awards for Best Picture.

In between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Coppola directed The Conversation, a story of a paranoid wiretapping and surveillance expert (played by Gene Hackman) who finds himself caught up in a possible murder plot. The Conversation was released to theaters in 1974 and was also nominated for Best Picture, resulting in Coppola being the second director in Hollywood history to have two films released in the same year nominated for Best Picture and competing for the same prize at the Academy Awards. (The first was Sir Alfred Hitchcock, with Foreign Correspondent and Rebecca. Rebecca went on to win the 1941 Best Picture Oscar. This achievement was matched by Steven Soderbergh in 2000, when the films Erin Brockovich and Traffic were nominated for Best Picture. Ridley Scott's Gladiator won the statue.)

In addition to Best Picture, The Godfather Part II won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert De Niro), Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola), Best Music, Original Dramatic Score (Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola) and Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material. It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Al Pacino), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Michael V. Gazzo), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Lee Strasberg), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Talia Shire) and Best Costume Design. The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Critically, The Godfather Part II can be considered the most successful sequel in movie history. Many critics praise it as equal, or even superior, to the original film. The Internet Movie Database consistently ranks this movie in the top five of its "Top 250 movies of all time", as voted by its users. The film also regularly ranks independently on many "greatest movies" lists. The Godfather Part II was featured on Sight and Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 1992 and 2002.

[edit]

Academy Awards

Award	Person
Best Supporting Actor	Robert De Niro
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration	Dean Tavoularis Angelo P. Graham George R. Nelson
Best Director	Francis Ford Coppola
Best Score	Nino Rota Carmine Coppola
Best Picture	Francis Ford Coppola Gray Frederickson Fred Roos
Best Adapted Screenplay	Francis Ford Coppola Mario Puzo
Nominated:
Best Actor	Al Pacino
Best Supporting Actor	Michael V. Gazzo
Best Supporting Actor	Lee Strasberg
Best Supporting Actress	Talia Shire
Best Costume Design	Theadora Van Runkle

[edit]

Sequels

In the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film (released in 2002), Coppola states that this film was the first major motion picture to use "Part II" as the title. Paramount Pictures was initially opposed to his decision to name the movie The Godfather Part II. According to Coppola, the studio's objection stemmed from the belief that audiences would be reluctant to see a film with such a title, as the audience would supposedly believe that, having already seen The Godfather, there was little reason to see an addition to the original story. The success of The Godfather Part II began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels, as with Rocky II, Halloween II, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and countless others.

Its sequel, The Godfather Part III, was released in 1990.

[edit]

Trivia

Robert De Niro's performance as Don Corleone (a role originated by Best Actor winner Marlon Brando) won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. De Niro and Brando remain the only two actors to win Oscars for playing the same character.
The Godfather Part II was the last major American motion picture to be filmed in Technicolor.
Bruno Kirby plays Pete Clemenza, a younger version of a character originally played by Richard S. Castellano. In the television series The Super, Kirby played Castellano's son.
In the movie Vito Corleone gets his name because he is origionally from Corleone, Sicily. Ironically Al Pacino's grandparents immigrated from Corleone, Sicily.