Poster © Paramount Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreCrime & Drama
RatedNot rated yet
Runtime3 hr 22 mins
ReleasedDecember 20, 1974
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorFrancis Ford Coppola
StarringAl Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
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| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Godfather Part II's Details | |
| Genre | Crime & Drama |
| Rated | Not rated yet |
| Released | 12/12/1974 (Loew's Astor Plaza Theatre); 12/20/1974 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 3 hr 22 mins |
| Budget | $13M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | The Godfather by Mario Puzo |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Sicilian |
| The Godfather Part II's Interests | |
| General | Lake Tahoe, Ellis Island, First Communion parties, very serious handshakes. |
| Music | Nino Rota, with extra music by Carmine Coppola. Yes, the director's dad. |
| Movies | The Godfather (1972). Mandatory pregame. Heat (1995) if you want Pacino and De Niro in one scene. |
| Television | The Offer. The true story of getting the first one made. Also chaos. |
| Heroes | Tom Hagen. The most patient lawyer in movie history. |
| The Godfather Part II's Crew | |
| Director | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Writers | Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo |
| Producers | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
| Music | Nino Rota |
| Edited By | Peter Zinner, Barry Malkin, Richard Marks |
| Production | Paramount Pictures, The Coppola Company |
| Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
Two hundred and two minutes, and the movie still makes you wait way too long between the Robert De Niro scenes. That’s the sharpest knock I’ve got. Coppola cuts between two stories, young Vito building something in Little Italy and Michael losing everything while winning, and every cut away from De Niro feels like getting pulled out of a good dream. The other knock: a stretch of Senate hearings and casino business talk that plays like a very tense board meeting. Then you notice what Al Pacino is doing. He barely moves. He barely talks. His eyes do all of it, and it’s the coldest performance in any crime movie I know. De Niro, speaking mostly Sicilian, makes young Vito gentle and frightening at the same time. It made only $47.8 million at home, which is wild. A 9.4 because it’s a little looser than the first one and somehow even sadder. $603 says you lower your voice in the next family argument and somehow win it.
What works: Al Pacino’s frozen, frightening stillness and Robert De Niro’s quiet young Vito, paired so each story deepens the other.
What doesn’t: The Senate hearings and casino business talk drag, and cutting between timelines sometimes kills the momentum right when a story heats up.
Who it’s for: People who finished the first one and want the darker, sadder second half of the story.
Michael learns his brother Fredo helped set up the attack on his home, and by the end he has Fredo killed out on the lake. The last image is Michael sitting alone, having beaten every enemy and pushed away everyone who loved him.
Two stories, two generations. In 1958, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) runs the family business from a lakeside compound in Nevada, with lawyer Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) at his side, a casino deal brewing with Florida money man Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), and old New York loyalist Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) pushing for a fight back home. Then someone comes after Michael inside his own house, and he goes looking for answers. Meanwhile, in the early 1900s, young Vito Corleone leaves Sicily, comes through Ellis Island alone, and grows into a quiet, careful man (Robert De Niro) in Little Italy. Francis Ford Coppola directs. Two hundred minutes, two Corleones.
Family only. Friends close, everyone else closer.
| Al Pacino | Michael Corleone |
| Robert Duvall | Tom Hagen |
| Diane Keaton | Kay Adams Corleone |
| Robert De Niro | Vito Corleone |
| John Cazale | Fredo Corleone |
| Talia Shire | Connie Corleone |
| Lee Strasberg | Hyman Roth |
| Michael V. Gazzo | Frank Pentangeli |
| G. D. Spradlin | Senator Pat Geary |
| Richard Bright | Al Neri |
| Gastone Moschin | Don Fanucci |
| Tom Rosqui | Rocco Lampone |
| Bruno Kirby | young Peter Clemenza |
| Frank Sivero | Genco Abbandando |
| Morgana King | Mama Carmela Corleone |
| Marianna Hill | Deanna Corleone |
| Leopoldo Trieste | Signor Roberto |
| Dominic Chianese | Johnny Ola |
| Troy Donahue | Merle Johnson |
| Giuseppe Sillato | Don Francesco 'Ciccio |
| Joe Spinell | Willi Cicci |
| Danny Aiello | Tony Rosato |
| Carmine Caridi | Carmine Rosato |
| Amerigo Tot | Bussetta |