The Godfather Part II

press release:

USA | 1974 | 35mm | 200 min.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall

The roots of cinema’s most celebrated mob story are revealed as immigrant Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro in his first Oscar-winning performance) makes a name for himself in New York. In a parallel story set decades later, Vito’s son Michael (Al Pacino), the new don, struggles against unforeseen deception. Coppola created that rare sequel (and prequel) which is just as compelling as the original, and reaffirmed his status as a cinema master. A rare IB Technicolor print, struck for the original release of Godfather II, will be shown.

Special Presentations: Spring 2017 is filled with numerous special repertory screenings. Our lineup includes several new restorations, including new DCPs of Julie Dash’s landmark movie Daughters of the Dust, Juzo Itami’s uproarious food comedy Tampopo, and Julien Duvivier’s terrific thriller Panique. We will also present a new DCP of the long-thought-lost RKO proto-disaster movie Deluge which will screen as part of a “flood and fire” double feature with a 35mm print of another RKO super production, The Last Days of Pompeii. Other 35mm showings include the ultra-rare "Moment in Time" cut of animator Richard Williams' magnum opus, The Thief and the Cobbler; Ingmar Bergman’s film of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and two fine IB Technicolor prints of Francis Ford Coppola’s two 1974 releases (and Best Picture Oscar nominees) The Godfather Part II and The Conversation. Plus an evening of musical Vitaphone shorts and live musical performance; Al Pacino in William Friedkin’s controversial Cruising; and two very different Cannon Films adaptations of an Elmore Leonard crime novel classic (52 Pick-Up), made only two years apart!

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.