The Godfather: Part II

The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone from 1958 to 1959; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone, from his childhood in Sicily (1901) to his founding of the Corleone crime family in New York City. In the town of Corleone in Sicily in 1901, Vito's father Antonio Andolini and his brother Paolo are killed on the orders of the local Mafia chieftain, Don Ciccio. Vito's mother goes to Ciccio to beg him to let young Vito live. When he refuses, she holds a knife to his throat, sacrificing herself to allow Vito to escape, as Ciccio's gunmen shoot her. With the aid of a few of the townspeople, Vito finds his way by ship to New York. Arriving at Ellis Island, an immigration agent, mishearing Vito's hometown of Corleone as his surname, registers him as "Vito Corleone". Quarantined because he has smallpox, the nine year old boy gazes at the Statue of Liberty through the bars of his cell. In 1958, Michael Corleone, Godfather of the Corleone family, deals with various business and family problems at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada compound during an elaborate party celebrating his son's First Communion. He meets with Nevada Senator Pat Geary, who despises the Corleones. Geary, aware that Michael plans to gain control of another Vegas casino, demands a grossly exaggerated price for a new gaming license and a monthly payment of five percent of the gross profits from all of the Corleone family's Nevada gaming interests, all while insulting the Corleones and Italians in general. Michael coldly gives Geary his counter-offer: nothing. Michael also deals with his sister Connie, who, although recently divorced, is planning to marry a man of whom Michael disapproves. He meets with Johnny Ola, the right hand man of gangster Hyman Roth, who says that Roth will not object to Michael gaining de facto control of the Tropicana (the casinos are "owned" by frontmen, to conceal their true ownership by mobsters). Finally, Michael meets with Frank Pentangeli, who took over Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza's territory after Clemenza's death, and now has problems with the Rosato brothers, who are backed by Roth and are attempting to intrude on Pentangeli's territory. Michael refuses to allow Pentangeli to kill the Rosatos, in order to maintain a smooth business relationship with Roth. Pentangeli leaves after arguing with Michael. Later that night, an assassination attempt is made on Michael. Michael tells Tom Hagen that the hit was made with the help of someone close. Michael then insists that he must leave and entrusts Hagen to protect his family. The Corleone guards then search the compound, and as Michael suspected, the gunmen are found dead. In 1917, Vito Corleone, now married and living in a gloomy tenement with one son (Sonny), works in a New York grocery store owned by the father of his close friend Genco Abbandando, who looked after him after he came to New York. The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the Black Hand, Don Fanucci, who extorts protection payments from local businesses. Abbandando Senior is forced to fire Vito and give his job to a relative of Fanucci's. One night, Vito's neighbor Clemenza asks him to hide a stash of guns for him, and later, to repay the favor, takes him to a fancy apartment where they commit their first crime together, stealing an expensive rug. Michael meets with Hyman Roth in his home near Miami and tells him that he believes Frank Pentangeli was responsible for the assassination attempt. Traveling to his family's former home in Long Beach, New York (which is now Pentangeli's home), Michael lets Pentangeli know that Roth was actually behind it and that Michael has a plan to deal with Roth, but needs Frankie to cooperate with the Rosato brothers in order to put Roth off guard. When Pentangeli goes to meet with the Rosatos, their men garrote him, but the attempted murder is accidentally interrupted by a policeman. Elsewhere, Tom Hagen visits one of the brothels owned by the Corleone family where Senator Pat Geary has been found in a room with a dead prostitute, which was presumably set up by the Corleones. Senator Geary claims he cannot remember what happened and Tom Hagen says he will cover the death up, in return for "friendship" with Geary. Meanwhile, Michael meets Roth in Havana, Cuba at the time when dictator Fulgencio Batista is soliciting American investment, and guerrillas are trying to bring down the government. Hyman Roth is celebrating his birthday with business partners, when Michael reveals to Roth and others that he is hesitant to invest after he saw a rebel suicide bomb several of Batista's policemen with a grenade, convincing him that Fidel Castro is capable of taking over. Roth privately requests Michael's investment once again. Fredo, carrying the promised money, arrives in Havana and meets Michael. Michael confides to his brother that it was Roth who tried to kill him, and that he plans to try again. Michael assures Fredo that he has already made his move, and that "Hyman Roth will never see the New Year." Instead of turning over the money, Michael asks Roth who gave the order to have Frank Pentangeli killed. Roth avoids the question, instead speaking angrily of the murder of his old friend and ally Moe Greene, which Michael had orchestrated (as depicted at the end of the first film), saying, "I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!". Michael asks Fredo to show Geary and other important American officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not know Johnny Ola. Later in the evening, however, Fredo drunkenly comments that he learned about the place from Johnny Ola, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier. Michael realizes that the traitor in the Corleone family is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard to kill Roth. Johnny Ola is strangled, but Roth, whose health is failing, is taken to a hospital before he can be assassinated. Michael's bodyguard follows, but is shot by police while trying to smother Roth with a pillow. At Batista's New Year's Eve party, at the stroke of midnight, Michael grasps Fredo tightly by the head and gives a kiss, telling him "I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart." Batista announces he is stepping down due to unexpected gains by the rebels, and the guests flee as the guerrillas pour into the city. Michael appeals to his brother to join him in leaving the country, but Fredo runs away, frightened. Michael returns to Las Vegas, where Hagen tells him that Roth escaped Cuba after suffering a stroke and is recovering in Miami. Hagen also informs Michael that Kay had a miscarriage while he was away. In New York, in 1920, Fredo has been born but is sickly. Don Fanucci is now aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio, and demands that they "wet his beak." Clemenza and Tessio agree to pay, but Vito asks his friends to leave everything in his hands to convince Fanucci to accept less money, telling his friends "I make him an offer he don't refuse." Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only a half of what he had demanded. Immediately afterwards - despite having earned Fanucci's respect and an offer of employment - during a neighborhood festa, Vito runs along the rooftops of the tenement buildings stalking Fanucci, who is in the street below. He climbs down to Fanucci's apartment and shoots Fanucci dead, escaping again via the rooftops. On the steps of his apartment he cradles the newborn Michael in his arms. Michael returns to his compound in Lake Tahoe, declining to go into the same room as his wife and instead asking his mother whether his father suffered the same problem of alienating his family. In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee, of which Geary is a member, is conducting an investigation into the Corleone family. They question disaffected "soldier" Willi Cicci, but he cannot implicate Michael because he never received any direct orders from him. In New York, in the early 1920s, Vito has become a respected figure, offering his protection to a fruitseller who offers him a gift of free fruit. His wife asks him to intercede with a slum landlord who is evicting a widow. Vito offers the landlord extra money to let her stay, but the man becomes angry when Vito demands that she also be allowed to keep her dog. A few days later the landlord, clearly terrified after finding out who Vito is, calls on him at the offices of the "Genco Olive Oil Company" and announces that the widow can stay, along with her dog, and at a reduced rent. When Michael appears before the committee, Geary makes a big show of supporting Italian-Americans and then excuses himself from the proceedings. Michael makes a statement challenging the committee to produce a witness to corroborate the charges against him. The hearing ends with the Chairman promising a witness who will do exactly that (Pentangeli). Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem. They observe that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Michael's brother Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains to Michael his betrayal: he is upset about being passed over to head the family in favor of Michael. He helped Roth, thinking there would be something in it for him, but he swears he didn't know they wanted to kill Michael. He also tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel is on Roth's payroll. Michael then disowns Fredo and privately instructs Al Neri that nothing is to happen to Fredo while their mother is still alive. Frank Pentangeli has made a deal with the FBI to testify against Michael, believing he was the one who organized the attempt on his life. At the hearing in which Pentangeli is to testify, Michael arrives accompanied by Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo Pentangeli, brought in from Sicily. Upon seeing his brother, Frank Pentangeli recants his earlier statements, saying that he runs his own family, and claims that the Corleone family is innocent of any wrongdoing, thereby derailing the government's case. At a hotel room afterwards, Kay tries to leave Michael and take their children with her. Michael at first tries to mollify her, but, when she reveals to him that her recent "miscarriage" was actually an abortion to avoid bringing another son into Michael's criminal family, Michael explodes in anger and slaps her in the face. In 1925, Vito visits Sicily for the first time since leaving for America, now accompanied by all four of his children. He is introduced to the elderly Don Ciccio by Don Tommasino (who initially helped Vito escape to America) as the man who imports their olive oil to America, and who wants his blessing. When Ciccio asks Vito who his father was, Vito says, "My father's name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!" He then stabs the old man to death. Carmela Corleone, Michael's mother, dies and the whole Corleone family reunites at the funeral. Michael is still shunning Fredo, but relents when Connie implores him to forgive his brother. Michael and Fredo embrace - but as they do so Michael exchanges glances with Al Neri. Michael, Hagen, Neri and Rocco Lampone discuss their final dealings with Roth, who has been unsuccessfully seeking asylum from various countries, and was even refused entry to Israel as a returning Jew. Michael rejects Hagen's advice that the Corleone family's position is secure and that killing Roth and the Rosato brothers for revenge is an unnecessary risk. Later, Hagen pays a visit to Frank Pentangeli at the military base. Hagen talks about the honor of the Roman Empire, and Frank hints that if he were to commit suicide, his family would be spared and taken care of. They agree on this and shake hands. With the help of Connie, Kay visits her children, but cannot bear to leave them and stays too long. When Michael arrives, he closes the door in her face. The film reaches its climax in a montage of assassinations and death: As he arrives in Miami to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is shot in the stomach and killed by Rocco Lampone disguised as a journalist. Lampone is immediately shot dead in turn, by FBI agents. Frank Pentangeli is found dead in his bathtub, having slit his wrists. Finally, Fredo is shot in the head by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe, as Fredo is saying a Hail Mary to help catch a fish. The penultimate scene takes place as a flashback to December 1941 as the Corleone family is preparing a surprise birthday party for Vito. Sonny introduces Carlo Rizzi, Connie's future husband, to his family. Sal Tessio comes in with the cake, and they all talk about the recent attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Michael shocks everybody by announcing that he has dropped out of college and enlisted in the United States Marines. Ironically, Fredo is the only one who supports his brother's decision. Sonny angrily ridicules Michael's choice, while Tom Hagen mentions how his father has great expectations for Michael and has pulled a lot of strings to get him a draft deferment. When Vito arrives (offscreen), all but Michael leave to greet him. In 1925 Vito and his young family board the train to leave Corleone. They are waved off by happy family friends. As the film ends, Michael sits in the Lake Tahoe compound, alone and in contemplative silence.