The Godfather: Part II (1974)

This is the second installment of the series

Summary
-Shown is the early life and times of Vito Corleone when he arrived in the US while his son Michael continues to run his father's organize crime empire

Cast
-Al Pacino: Michael Corleone
-Robert De Niro: Young Vito
-Robert Duvall: Tom Hagen
-Diane Keaton: Kay Adams
-John Cazale: Fredo Corleone
-Talia Shire: Connie Corleone
-Lee Strasberg: Hyman Roth
-Michael V. Gazzo: Frankie Pentageli
-G.D. Spradlin: Senator Pat Geary
-Richard Bright: Al Neri
-Tom Rosqui: Rocco Lampone
-Morgana King: Mama Corleone
-Joe Spinell: Willie Cicci

Did You Know?
-In order to play his role as the young Don Vito accurately, Robert De Niro spent months learning how to speak in the Sicilian dialect. Almost 100% of the dialogue that his character says is in Sicilian

-Robert De Niro lived in Sicily for three months to prepare for this role

-During the scene when little Vito arrives at Ellis Island with other immigrants, he is marked with a letter x in a circle. This told Ellis Island staff that the person was believed to have a mental disorder










-The character Hyman Roth is loosely based on Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky. Lansky was living in Miami at the time and phoned up Lee Strasberg, who played Roth and told him "Why couldn't you make me more sympathetic? I am, after all, a grandfather."

-Michael V. Gazzo, who plays Frankie Pentageli, was cast only a day before shooting began

-Filming had to stop for one month because Al Pacino caught pneumonia in Santo Domingo

-The child playing the young Vito Corleone is James Gounaris. His younger brother, Anthony Gounaris, is the child playing Anthony Corleone from the first film

-In the series, Vito's birthday is supposed to be December 7. Sonny always curses the "Japs" for bombing Pearl Harbor on his dad's birthday

-In the script, Kay was supposed to suffer from a miscarriage. It was actress Talia Shire's idea for Kay to abort the baby as the ultimate way to hurt Michael. To give Shire thanks for this idea, Francis Ford Coppola wrote this into the scene where Kay asks Michael to forgive Fredo