The Godfather Part II (English, 1974)

The Godfather Part II, made by Francis Ford Coppola continues the saga of the Corleone family introduced in the original film.

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The plot

The film unfolds in two parallel storylines: a prequel tracing the rise of Vito Corleone (played by Robert De Niro) and a sequel following his son Michael Corleone's reign (played by Al Pacino). These strands are interspersed, demanding the viewer’s attention as the narrative shifts between past and present.

Strand 1: the prequel

The film begins in the town of Corleone, Sicily, in 1901. The nine-year old Vito Andolini (played by Oreste Baldini) loses his father Antonio, killed for insulting the local mafia chieftain Don Ciccio (played by Giuseppe Sillato). Soon after, Don Ciccio murders Vito's brother Paolo, who had vowed to avenge their father. During his father's funeral procession, when Vito's mother (played by Maria Carta) is presented with Paolo's dead body, she pleads with Don Ciccio to spare her younger son. However, the Don, unwilling to roll the dice on Vito growing up to seek revenge, refuses. Signora Andolini holds a knife to the Don’s throat and is shot dead but not before giving Vito the chance to escape. Neighbors help smuggle him out of town and onto a ship bound for America. Upon arriving at Ellis Island, an immigration official mistakenly records his last name as Corleone.

Fast forward to 1917, Vito Corleone (now played by Robert De Niro) is married to a young woman (played by Francesca de Sapio) and works at a small grocery store, minding his own business. He loses his job when a local thug Don Fanucci (played by Gastone Muschin) extorts the store owner Signor Abbandando (played by Peter LaCorte) into giving Vito's job to his nephew. His path into crime begins when a stranger, Clemenza (played by Bruno Kirby) asks him to hide some guns. Vito joins Clemenza and his associate Tessio (played by John Aprea), stealing from homes and fencing the contraband. He demonstrates he is more than just a petty thief when he kills Fanucci, who was demanding a street tax on them.

Vito sets up a storefront for the Genco Import Company, an importer of olive oil that serves as a facade for his criminal enterprise throughout his career. His reputation grows as someone to be feared and receives a hero's welcome on a family visit to Corleone, where he kills Don Ciccio, now a geriatric tied to a wheelchair.

Strand 2: the sequel

The sequel strand of the film begins in 1958 at the communion of Michael's son Anthony Vito Corleone (played by James Gounaris). Just as Vito's daughter's wedding served as the backdrop for our introduction to the Corleone family in the first film, the party held for Anthony's communion forms the setting to clue us in to their latest affairs.

On the personal front, the family is now settled in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Michael and Kay (played by Diane Keaton) have two children, a son and a daughter, with a third on the way. Michael’s sister Connie (played by Talia Shire), who has a history of dating unsuitable men, is now planning to marry Merle Johnson (played by Troy Donahue). His older brother Fredo (played by John Cazale) is a glorified errand boy. Tom Hagen (played by Robert Duvall), the family’s lawyer who was raised like a son by Vito, remains Michael's trusted advisor.

On the professional front, Michael runs three hotels and casinos in Las Vegas and Reno. He also retains interest in the illegal gambling and narcotics business in New York, which is now run by Frank Pentangeli (played by Michael Gazzo), who succeeded Clemenza after his death. Al Neri (played by Richard Bright) and Rocco (played by Tom Rosqui) are his caporegimes.

Michael is determined to acquire a fourth casino The Tropigala by ousting its operator Klingman. While the hotel's registered owners are two attorneys, the bulk of the ownership lies with a couple of criminal families, the Miami based Jewish businessman Hyman Roth (played by Lee Strasberg) and the Lakeville Road Group. Roth is willing to go along with the Corleones pushing Klingman out but in return expects Michael to co-invest with him in Cuba, then under the rule of dictator Fulgencio Batista. As part of the deal, Michael will also inherit some parts of Roth's casino empire when he retires or dies. Complicating matters is Frank Pentangeli's reluctance to honor a deal that Clemenza had made with the Rosato brothers, rival gangsters backed by Hyman Roth, ceding them a share of the territory in exchange for peace. Michael, in the interests of the larger deal with Roth, wants Frank to follow through on Clemenza's pledge.

The story takes a sharp turn when an assassination attempt is made on Michael in his own bedroom, suggesting an infiltrator in his ranks. Michael leaves his Nevada residence, placing Tom Hagen in charge as the acting Don. After meeting with Roth in Miami, Michael is convinced that the Jewish gangster was behind the failed hit. To mislead Roth, he pretends to believe it was Frank Pentangeli, angered by Michael's insistence on his striking a deal with the Rosato brothers, who had tried to kill him. To bolster this ruse, Michael urges Frank to finalize the Rosato deal, hoping that seeing him intercede on his behalf, Roth will drop his guard, thus, making it easier for Michael to discover the traitor. Frank meets the Rosato brothers at a bar where they attempt to kill him. Though he survives, they deceive him into believing they acted on Michael's orders.

Michael travels to Havana, where Roth has gathered potential investors to establish casinos, promising a permissive regulatory regime in exchange for bribes to the Cuban President. The plan is aborted when rebels seize the capital, forcing foreigners into a chaotic escape. On the night of the insurrection, Michael orders his bodyguard, Bussetta (played by Amerigo Tot), to kill Roth as well as his right-hand man, Johnny Ola (played Dominic Chianese). Ola is strangled, but the attempt on the ailing Roth, who lies in a hospital ward, fails—echoing the attempt on Vito Corleone's life in the first film. The Havana trip yields the name of the infiltrator to Michael, when, in a careless moment, Fredo reveals his prior familiarity with Johnny Ola.

Having learnt the identity of the traitor, Michael returns to Lake Tahoe to confront new personal and professional challenges. On the personal front, Kay loses the baby and leaves him, unable to reconcile with the criminality of her husband's life. On the professional front, law enforcement is intensifying its efforts against the Mafia, including the Corleones, leading to two former Corleone employees—Willie Cicci (played by Joe Spinell) and Frank Pentangeli—becoming approvers. While the Corleones believed that Willie and Frank had died in the encounter with the Rosato brothers, in actuality, they were captured by law enforcement.

After his mother's death, Michael orders Al Neri to kill Fredo. Meanwhile, Frank Pentangeli commits suicide in the army base where he is being held under FBI custody, reassured by Tom that his family will be provided for. Hyman Roth, about to be arrested at the airport by federal agents following his deportation from Israel, is assassinated by Rocco, posing as a reporter.

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Observations

Power corrupts

Michael Corleone's central conceit is that his actions stem from love for his family, but by the film's end, it is evident he is accumulating power for its own sake. His concern for family is performative. When the corrupt Nevada senator, Pat Geary (played by G.D. Spradlin), makes a disparaging remark about his family, Michael responds in a steely tone, warning the senator to leave his family out of it. Later, he expresses an extra dose of outrage to Frank Pentangeli, emphasizing that the attempt on his life had occurred in his own bedroom—a space where his wife and children are often present. When appointing Tom as acting Don, he theatrically declares he is leaving his family in his care. His behavior suggests that he may even believe his own propaganda.

In actuality, there is a vast gulf between his words and actions as evidenced by how he treats his family members- Kay, Fredo and Tom.

When Tom tells him Kay lost the baby, Michael's first question is whether it was a boy—showing no concern for his wife. Michael longs for another male child, despite already having a son, because his eldest, Anthony, a sensitive, anxious boy, does not seem to be a promising heir. The "right" kind of progeny is instrumental to Michael's ambitions of empire building. When Kay seeks a divorce, he refuses to part with his children, reminding her that, as a Sicilian, it’s unthinkable he would ever let them go. His choice of words in claiming custody reflects the need to feed his self-image of a Sicilian patriarch rather than genuine love for the children. His words "I will use all my power to prevent that from happening" is chilling because the power he alludes to involves violence.

Michael's harsh treatment of Fredo is, on one level, understandable. Allowing any betrayal to go unpunished risks inviting greater perfidy within the organization. When Tom speculates that one of the caporegimes may have been the traitor, Michael quips that all his employees are freelance businessmen. In such a low-trust environment, blood ties are the only source of safety, making Fredo's betrayal especially damaging. But the punishment Michael inflicts on Fredo is disproportionate to his infraction. Fredo had been naïvely duped into believing that Hyman Roth only sought insider information to aid in business negotiations. Unaware of Roth’s murderous intent, his actions could reasonably be seen as akin to manslaughter rather than murder—even within the Mafia’s skewed justice system.

While the fratricide might be comprehensible within this perverse moral framework, Michael's duplicity in dealing with Fredo is confounding. Suspecting Fredo's treachery since the assassination attempt, Michael engineers a scenario in Havana to observe his brother’s interactions with Roth’s men firsthand. There, he maneuvers Fredo into revealing his feelings of inadequacy and resentment towards Michael. He pretends to trust Fredo by sharing a potentially fabricated plan of an assassination attempt on his life that night.

Once his suspicions are confirmed, however, Michael feigns heartbreak, accusing Fredo of shattering his trust. More egregiously, he plays the role of the forgiving brother while harboring murderous intentions. During the chaotic evacuation in Havana, he urges Fredo to rely on him for safety, claiming that despite everything, they are still brothers. He pretends to reconcile, even hugging Fredo by their mother's casket, all while silently ordering Al Neri to kill him. The cruelty of Fredo's execution is underscored by its timing—he is killed just moments after tenderly teaching his nephew how to fish.

With Kay's departure and Fredo's betrayal, an increasingly isolated Michael grows distrustful of everyone, including Tom Hagen, whom Vito had treated like a son. Michael asserts his power over Tom by revealing that he knows about a job offer from a rival casino and Tom's mistress. Tom had always sensed that Michael didn’t regard him as a true brother, a somewhat ironic slight given Fredo’s tragic fate. Appointing Tom as acting Godfather may indicate not so much trust in him as the belief that his genteel nature made him unlikely to pose any real threat.

In the end, Michael is shown sitting alone and reminiscing on a happier time when his siblings and Tom gathered for Vito’s birthday. The Sicilian family values of close-knit kinship are now nowhere in evidence. At one point, Michael displays a glimmer of self-awareness when he asks his mother if it is possible for a man to lose his family. Yet, this insight does not prevent him from carrying out his ruthless plans.

Vito's transformation

Vito's transformation from civilian to criminal lacks the surprise of Michael's evolution in the previous film, as we are already familiar with his later career. Nevertheless, it is an interesting aspect of the story. The nine-year old Vito, who barely speaks, shows no sign of precocity. Later, as a young man he is taciturn, non-confrontational and a family man.

We glimpse the resolute man beneath Vito's placid exterior when he refuses a modest gift from Signor Abbandando, who was forced to fire him. His foray into crime begins when he unknowingly accompanies Clemenza on a mission to steal a rug from an empty house. The iconic image of Clemenza, poised with a gun behind the entrance, ready to shoot if the policeman enters, highlights that what appears to be petty theft can quickly escalate into the more serious business of armed robbery. Vito's acceptance of Clemenza’s offer of the rug, while rejecting Abbandando's gesture of goodwill, suggests he may have sensed that the carpet expedition would involve something illicit.

The next milestone in Vito's evolution comes when he boldly tells Don Fanucci to accept less than the demanded sum. Fanucci, unaccustomed to defiance, agrees, impressed by Vito's nerve. When Clemenza and Tessio express incredulity at his ability to negotiate a lower payment, Vito delivers the now-classic line about making an offer that can't be refused.

But it is only after Vito kills the thug that we grasp his true ambitions, solidifying his reputation in the Italian immigrant neighborhood. His stature as a feared man on the block is humorously illustrated when a friend of his wife, Signora Colombo (played by Saveria Mazzola) is evicted by her landlord, Signor Roberto (played by Leopoldo Trieste), over a pet in the apartment. After arrogantly dismissing Vito's intercession, the landlord returns to his storefront, hat in hand, having learned from the local chatter who he was dealing with.

The art of intimidation

Our archetypal imagination of coercive mafia techniques involves a man pointing a gun to our heads. The film, in contrast, depicts three variants of coercion, none of which involves a weapon, underscoring that the Corleones have raised intimidation to an art form.

The first involves a dose of deceit. The Nevada senator, Pat Geary is demanding a bribe, for transferring the license of The Tropigala, the planned fourth casino in the Corleone empire. The senator, who is fond of BDSM role play in brothels, finds himself in flagrante, waking up to a dead girl in a pool of blood. He is puzzled as how the girl could have died. Given that it occurred quite conveniently in a brothel run by Fredo, with Tom Hagen reassuring the politician that no one will care about the dead girl, we can infer that the death was no accident fueled by sexual passion.

The second act of intimidation occurs in a public venue, a senate hearing no less. Frank, who has turned approver, is a prize witness because he can testify to having received a direct order to kill from Michael. His abrupt recantation of his earlier written testimony is puzzling till it is revealed that the old man who has appeared accompanying Michael in the audience, is his brother Vincenzo (played by Salvatore Po), whom the Corleones have flown in from Sicily. Michael's confidence in his ability to escape the trial unscathed is demonstrated by his refusal to plead the fifth, thus, taking the calculated risk of committing perjury.

The third act of coercion somewhat improbably includes a discussion on Roman history. Frank's continued survival in the prison hangs like a Sword of Damocles on the Corleones. From Frank's perspective, a life confined to an army base is not appealing. Tom visits Frank at the army base and initiates a conversation on the Roman empire. The subject’s relevance becomes clear when Tom mentions how, in Roman times, a plotter's family would be cared for by the emperor if he sat in a hot bath and bled to death. Sure enough, Frank commits suicide not longer after this tête-à-tête.

Historical references

The Godfather, Part II blends historical drama with the crime genre, weaving in several key historical elements.

One of these is the depiction of Ellis Island's role in U.S. immigration. Vito's arrival in the "land of opportunity" is anchored by the haunting image of huddled immigrants on a ship gazing at the Statue of Liberty. They also see a ship-the Moshulu- a real vessel that became a restaurant in 1975 (though the actual Moshulu was built in 1904, and Vito's journey takes place in 1901). The serpentine immigration lines, reminiscent of modern airport queues, are familiar, though we no longer see violinists playing while waiting their turn.

As the immigrants move through the process, their eyes are examined, likely for trachoma, a contagious eye infection that can cause blindness. Those identified with an infection are marked with an "X" in chalk and sent for secondary inspection in a chamber overlooking the immigration counters. Vito is diagnosed with smallpox and quarantined for three months. The image of the nine-year-old boy, whom we believed was mute, singing a Sicilian folk song while gazing at the Statue of Liberty is mesmerizing. The film cleverly transitions from this scene to the opulent communion ceremony of Vito’s grandson, underscoring the vastly different starts in life fate confers on the two boys.

Another historical element captures the vibrant life of New York's Little Italy. The vaudeville show that Vito and his friend attend, featuring a man who learns of his mother's death in Naples, underscores the immigrant longing for the old country. Scenes of crowded markets, street hawkers calling out, hens wandering the streets, and horse-drawn carriages jostling for space with motor vehicles—all alongside clotheslines hanging overhead—evoke the vibrant atmosphere of an oriental bazaar.

Finally, the film portrays the ouster of the Batista regime in Cuba.

The image of street urchins pursuing Michael's car contrasted with the opulence of the presidential palace highlights the income inequalities that existed under the regime. In the film, Batista is gifted a golden phone, by the United Telephone and Telegraph company. The Golden Telephone actually exists. It was gifted to Batista by an American corporation that ran the Cuban phone system and is currently displayed at the Cuban National Museum.

Amazingly, the "Superman" in the nightclub where Fredo's treachery is revealed may have been real. His nickname came from the size of his endowment, as Fredo clarifies when Senator Geary speculates that it must be fake, when the Superman takes off his cape. An essay on him can be accessed here.

The events in the film depicting the ouster of the Cuban dictator are accurate. At a New Year's Eve party for his cabinet and top government and military officials, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista announced that he would flee the country before Fidel Castro's troops arrived. Early the next morning, at 3:00 a.m., Batista, along with 40 family members and supporters flew to the Dominican Republic.

Religion and crime

The interspersion of religious motifs and crime is a recurring theme of the The Godfather films.

Vito's pivotal transformation from thief to murderer unfolds during the feast of Saint Rocco celebrations in Little Italy. As the idol of the saint, draped in dollar bills, is paraded through the streets, revelers sing, dance, and set off firecrackers. A humorous moment occurs when Don Fanucci, watching a puppet dance, quips that it’s too violent for him. Meanwhile, Vito leaps across the rooftops of the low-rise buildings, retrieves a hidden gun, and slips into Fanucci's apartment through a rooftop entrance. He unscrews the staircase lightbulb to conceal his presence, lying in wait. When the quarry walks in and tries to fix the lamp, Vito shoots him, muffling the sound with a towel-wrapped gun. The flickering light casts an eerie glow on Vito’s face, giving him the appearance of an otherworldly executioner. Vito then returns home and kisses baby Michael—a jarring juxtaposition of brutal violence and domestic life, a running thread in The Godfather films.

While the religious aspect is not explicitly mentioned in Vito's story of avenging his parents and brother, it follows a trope in mythology where a child grows up to defeat an enemy who once attempted to kill him in infancy as a preemptive measure.

In Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna’s maternal uncle, Kamsa, sought to kill him after hearing a prophecy that a child of Devaki would end his reign. Krishna’s father, Vasudeva, smuggled him to safety, much like the Andolinis’ kind neighbors protected Vito. Years later, Krishna returns to Mathura and kills Kamsa by smashing him to the ground in a wrestling arena. Similarly, in Greek mythology, Perseus was born to Danaë, who was imprisoned by her father, King Acrisius, due to a prophecy that his grandson would cause his death. As an adult, Perseus unintentionally fulfills the prophecy by killing Acrisius with a discus throw.

The first two films in the series depict a generational cycle of revenge. Vito avenges his father and brother by killing Don Ciccio. Michael avenges Sonny's murder and the attempt on his own life by killing his brother-in-law Carlo in the first film and Fredo, in the second. Kay's chilling revelation that the baby was not lost to a miscarriage but to an abortion, while shocking, is her attempt to break this cycle. If the newborn turned out to be sensitive, he would suffer psychologically like Anthony from failing to meet his father's expectations. On the other hand, a boy of a steely disposition would perpetuate the cycle of crime and violence. Tom had demurred when Michael wanted to know whether the child had been a boy. Kay’s confession reveals that she would not have aborted the pregnancy if it had been a girl.

A religious motif is used again in the execution of Fredo, who is shown reciting the Hail Mary prayer on the boat against the stunning backdrop of Lake Tahoe. The last words of the condemned man are "Mother of God, Pray for us Sinners".

Shades of ambiguity

The joy of watching The Godfather, Part II lies in its plot elements, both major and minor, that remain ambiguous and invite reflection on possible interpretations. Given the filmmaker's meticulousness, it's unlikely these ellipses are accidental. Below are a few fill in the blanks to ponder over:

Why was Frank Pentangeli offended by the C note?

When Frank is about to enter the bar to negotiate with the Rosato brothers, one of them offers him a hundred-dollar bill as a "good luck charm." Inside, Frank expresses umbrage at this gesture. One possible explanation is that the action made him feel like a mere foot soldier rather than the head of a mafia family. The Rosato brothers would not have offered cash to Vito or Michael in such a manner. Frank's reaction may have been heightened because he lacked agency over the situation—he was forced into the negotiation by Michael.

Why did the Rosato brothers want Frank to believe that Michael had ordered the killing?

The Rosato brothers could not have planned to deceive Frank since they intended to kill him. Only after Frank survives the attack does the idea that Michael ordered the hit potentially play a role in his decision to break the Omertà. Therefore, it's more likely that the Rosatos were simply repeating what they believed, based on their conversations with Hyman Roth. This opens up the possibility that Michael had, in fact, tacitly approved Frank's murder during his meeting with Roth in Miami. In that meeting, Michael aligned himself with Roth against Frank, likely viewing Frank's murder as collateral damage in his larger plan to deceive the Jewish businessman. As for losing the New York business to the Rosatos, Michael had already accounted for that in the economics of his deal with Roth.

Why did Hyman Roth want to kill Michael?

Hyman Roth's character is based on the real-life Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky, who, like Roth, fled to Israel to evade U.S. authorities but was ultimately deported when the Israeli government denied him the Right of Return due to his criminal record.

A disturbing feature of the Godfather films is their depiction of criminality in characters who resemble ordinary people we encounter in daily life. Roth appears to be a typical middle-class retiree in Florida, offering avuncular advice about the value of health over money and expressing his love for American sports. At his birthday celebration in Havana, he is solicitous that everyone sees the cake before it’s cut.

Beyond his silky veneer, Roth’s character is memorable for delivering several iconic lines. These include "We ran molasses into Canada" (recalling how he and Vito exported molasses to produce alcohol in Canada that would be sold in the US, then under prohibition) and "We are bigger than US steel", a comment attributed to Lansky himself. Roth's final words before being shot by Rocco—"I’m a retired investor living on a pension. I came home to vote in the Presidential Election because they wouldn’t give me an absentee ballot"—were delivered to journalists as a cover for the real reason behind his return.

The reason Roth wishes to kill Michael is mystifying given that the doctors have not given him too much time to live. Michael believes that Roth, not accepting of his mortality, does not wish to share the spoils of the entertainment business with him. However, a tense conversation between them hints at another motive. Roth references the murder of his close friend Moe Greene, which Michael had ordered. Though he presents his reaction to Greene's killing as proof of his ability to separate personal feelings from business decisions, it might instead be a case of "he doth protest too much".

While Roth's motives for eliminating Michael are nebulous, Michael is clearly propelled by revenge. When Tom Hagen expresses frustration at Michael's insistence on assassinating Roth even when he is already in hot water with the authorities, Michael emphasizes the need to punish his enemies. However, his approach is a puzzling mix of deception and confrontation. On one hand, he poses as a loyal business partner; on the other, he directly questions Roth about Frank's murder. At another point, he irks Roth by commenting on the dogged determination of the Cuban rebels and casting doubt on the Batista regime's longevity in front of Roth's potential investors.

Why is Fredo reciting the hail mary prayer at the time he is killed?

Fredo is not a religious man, making his recitation of the "Hail Mary" prayer out of character. There are two possible interpretations of this atypical behavior. The simpler one stems from what he had just told Anthony—it was a superstition that helped him catch fish. The second, more tantalizing explanation is that Fredo sensed he would be killed when Michael refused to let Anthony join him and Al Neri on the boat. In this reading, the prayer was the final act of a man who knew he was about to die.

God is in the details

Those who look beyond the plot will appreciate the meticulous attention to detail that Coppola employs to lend verisimilitude and consistency to the narrative. Numerous instances abound, of which a few are listed below:

• When Fredo arrives at the Havana hotel, he waves away the bell captain, insisting on carrying his own suitcase. The significance of this small act becomes clear later, when we learn that the suitcase contains two million dollars in cash—Michael's contribution to the bribe intended for Batista.

• After Michael returns home from Havana, Tom Hagen informs him that he bought Anthony a red toy car as a gift from his father. Later in the film, when Michael arrives at the house, he spots the toy car outside.

• When Vito returns from America with his family on a short visit, Don Ciccio's estate looks dilapidated, with overgrown gardens. This is a sharp contrast to its grandeur when Vito's mother was killed there in 1901, suggesting that the chieftain’s fortunes have declined over time.

• Vito's business partner, Don Tommasino (played by Mario Cotone), is shown in a wheelchair at the railway station, bidding farewell to the Corleones as they return to the U.S. This connects to the injury he received from a bullet fired by a bodyguard when the two partnered to kill Don Ciccio.

• The parallel between the hospital-based assassination attempts on Hyman Roth and Vito (in the previous film) is underscored by Bussetta carrying flowers, just as Enzo, the baker, did when visiting Vito in the previous film.

  
  

The attention to detail of the filmmaker is echoed in the fastidiousness of the characters. Don Tommasino carries a can of Genco Olive Oil with him to add credence to the professed purpose of the visit to Don Ciccio, the real purpose of which was assassination.

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The Godfather Part II is a worthy sequel that stands as a classic in its own right, without depending on the success of its predecessor. The fact that it is not as great as the original speaks more to the impossibly high standards of the first film than to any shortcoming of the sequel.