THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) Movie Reaction! | First Time Watch! | Al Pacino | Robert De Niro

At the height of Vito’s power, everyone wanted to be around him and he was always with his family. At the height of Michael’s power, he is completely alone. Absolute cinema

Hyman Roth is played by Lee Strasberg, acclaimed acting coach of his time. Among his students were Al Pacino, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Julie Harris and many, many others. So when you see Roth sharing scenes with Michael, you're watching teacher and student on film. The actors left the table in the chronological order that they eventually died.

Robert Duvall, 1931-2026. Diane Keaton, 1946-2025

The scene where Michael seemingly forgives Fredo at their mom's funeral is just a masterpiece. Fredo's tearful face as Michael embraces him, and Fredo desperately clinging on to Michael, digging his fingers into Michael's back, the musical theme swells, as Michael slowly lifts up his pitch black gaze and rests it on Al Nero, the hitman, who immediately knows... and we know.

Vito was running a family. Micheal was running a business. That’s the difference, at least that’s how it felt to me.

Rest In Peace To Diane Keaton 1946-2025

You guys seemed to miss the realisation, but when Fanucci threatened to get the cops on Vito, that was the moment Vito knew he wasn’t mafia.

There's a deleted scene where young Vito follows Don Fanucci to see where he goes and who he interacts with, and in a back alley, he watches as three kids ambush Fanucci, rob him, beat him up, and (lightly) cut his throat before taking off laughing. Fanucci cries out and begs for help. At that point, Vito realizes that Fanucci has no associates, no friends, and no "crew" to back him up. He's a charlatan posing as a mob boss, a paper tiger. They left it out because they wanted to keep the suspense in the movie, but the part where Fanucci returns Vito's $100 and wishes him well becomes his death sentence. Vito knew from the death of his family in Sicily how real mob bosses behaved. If a man showed up with only a small portion of what was "owed," and didn't beg for forgiveness but kept it casual, a real mob boss would see that as an insult and immediately have the man and everyone else in his crew killed to make an example. When Fanucci disregarded the money, gave it back, then laughed and pinched him on the cheek, Vito knew he had called his bluff. The man had created a persona based on the illusion of fear and ruthlessness, but in reality had no real power or associates. That's when Vito realizes he can do himself and the town a favor by taking out Don Fanucci.

Just realizing Pacino and Shire are pretty much all that’s left in real life in the last flashback scene, beyond the child actors.

It always gets me that Fredo was the only one to show Michael support for enlisting.