The Godfather Part II
Academy Award × 6·AFI #32·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
What critics thought
Now regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, The Godfather Part II landed with a more complicated critical reception in 1974 than its current reputation suggests — even admirers debated whether its fractured timeline was a structural masterstroke or a self-inflicted wound. The cinematography and performances drew near-universal praise, but the film's deliberate pacing and intercut narratives divided critics sharply, with some finding it richer and more ambitious than the original and others feeling it was overly slow, convoluted, and too self-consciously serious.
“far more complexly beautiful than the first, just as it's thematically richer, more shadowed, more full.”
Pauline Kael·The New Yorker
“stitched together from leftover parts. It talks. It moves in fits and starts, but it has no mind of its own ... The plot defies any rational synopsis.”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“overly deliberate and self-conscious attempt to make a film that's unmistakably a serious work of art”
William Pechter·Commentary
“a structural weakness from which the film never recovers”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
Genres
Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorFrancis Ford Coppola
StarringAl Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale
ComposerNino Rota
The Godfather Part II
Academy Award × 6·AFI #32·National Film Registry
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
What critics thought
Now regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, The Godfather Part II landed with a more complicated critical reception in 1974 than its current reputation suggests — even admirers debated whether its fractured timeline was a structural masterstroke or a self-inflicted wound. The cinematography and performances drew near-universal praise, but the film's deliberate pacing and intercut narratives divided critics sharply, with some finding it richer and more ambitious than the original and others feeling it was overly slow, convoluted, and too self-consciously serious.
“far more complexly beautiful than the first, just as it's thematically richer, more shadowed, more full.”
Pauline Kael·The New Yorker
“stitched together from leftover parts. It talks. It moves in fits and starts, but it has no mind of its own ... The plot defies any rational synopsis.”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“overly deliberate and self-conscious attempt to make a film that's unmistakably a serious work of art”
William Pechter·Commentary
“a structural weakness from which the film never recovers”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
Genres
Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorFrancis Ford Coppola
StarringAl Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale
ComposerNino Rota
Rent/Purchase