The Godfather, Part II (1974) of the Godfather trilogy continues the saga of the Corleone Family, serving as both a prologue and a sequel, extending over a period of 60 years and three generations. The script was again co-authored by director Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, the author of the popular novel about American organized crime. Many critics believe this film sequel, at a lengthy three hours and twenty minutes, is a superior improvement over the original film, although some of it is confusing and leaves questions unanswered.
The film is masterfully intercut back and forth between two parallel stories: the prologue story (about one-quarter of the entire film) to the sequel, contrasting the two eras and their protagonists.
The prologue portion follows the background story of the rise of youthful Don Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro replacing Marlon Brando) to Mafia chief in the early 1900s in the Little Italy section of New York City. About fifteen minutes of the prologue portion is in Sicilian with English sub-titles. The major portion of the sequel begins in 1958 - about three years after the conclusion of the first film and follows the career of Corleone's son Michael (Al Pacino again) from his patriarchal prime to his decline a year later. The saga leads to the inexorable passage of 'sins' from the immigrant father to his modern-day son.
Similar themes from the original are carried over and arise in Part II: revenge, intrigue, betrayal, alliances, violence, the corruptive influences of power, and devoted loyalties to the family. Unlike the first film, the forbidden words "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" are each mentioned once - in one of the Senate Hearings scenes. The film contains fewer deaths, though - a total of 16. But the tragic film is more somber with Gordon Willis' un-nominated cinematography highlighted by sepia-toned, golden amber, and darkish tones.
The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won six: Best Picture (for producer/director Francis Ford Coppola), Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Robert DeNiro in a Sicilian-speaking role), Best Adapted Screenplay (co-authored by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Original Dramatic Score (Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola). It was a three Oscar win for Coppola. Five of the other six un-rewarded nominations were for acting roles: Best Actor (Al Pacino), Best Supporting Actor(s): (Michael Gazzo and Lee Strasberg), and Best Supporting Actress (Talia Shire). The Godfather, Part II was thefirst sequel in Academy history to win a Best Picture Oscar.
