The Godfather: Part II. 1974. USA. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Screenplay by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola. With Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo. 4K digital restoration by Paramount; courtesy Paramount. 202 min.
Audiences still debate whether The Godfather: Part II is better than the original—and with good reason. Francis Ford Coppola and his crew filmed in California, Sicily, and Central America, faithfully re-creating early-20th-century New York to spread the Corleone family story across different eras. From Vito Corleone’s arrival at Ellis Island as a young immigrant orphan, to his rise as an adult (played by Robert De Niro) in New York’s unforgiving streets, to his son Michael’s (Al Pacino) ascendance as a ruthless pater familias, Coppola’s epic captures the weight of time and the parallels between the Corleone empire and the rise of American capitalism.