THE GODFATHER Part 2 (1974) Breakdown | Ending Explained, Real-life Details, Analysis And Making Of

Also ironic that Fredo is the only one at the table that congratulates and is proud of Michael about joining the army where everyone else wasn’t.

They call Frankie "Five Angels" because that's what Pentangele literally means, but your take on the symbolism of calling him that is still valid IMHO.

I love the godfather part 2 more than the first one, one thing I like is how Michael communicates with eyes instead of words

When she tells him it was an abortion…the look Pacino gives her was pure perfection…the anger can be read in the eyes followed by the slap

You never mentioned the senator purposely mispronouncing Anthony's name at the party, but perfectly pronouncing Corleone to Micheal in the meeting, showing his duplicity early on.

The guy they picked to play young Tessio is perfect. I can totally imagine that is what young Abe Vigoda looked like. I tried to confim it, though, by googling 'young abe vigoda'. Now I'm convinced that Abe Vigoda came out of the womb looking like a 70 year-old man.

Fun fact…The Moshulu in the movie is docked in Penn’s Landing here in Philly and is now a restaurant/club still open to this day

Michael doesn't fire Tom! He fears he's going to lose him, just like he's losing the rest of his family, so he asks him about a job offer he's had (in his usual hard, cold way) and is relieved that he's staying with the family. I'd also argue that the tragedy of The Godfather films is how different Michael is from his father. Vito commands personal loyalty and is a more openly warm and loving figure (the great scene illustrating this is in the first film where Michael tells Tom he's out and Vito has the emotional intelligence to realise Tom needs reassurance). Vito became Godfather out of necessity at a time when newly arrived Italians needed to watch out for each other more; the old Don was ripping them all off, which the young Vito is particularly disapproving of. Vito is consistently shown to be an openly caring husband and father; his wife also doesn't interfere with his work as she knows he's doing what he has to do for them. That was never going to be the case for Michael and Kay. The films also suggest that the Americanisation of things is also proving detrimental. Michael and Fredo have American wives that don't fit in with the system and Frankie Five Angels' distaste at the American music and food at the party in the beginning of Part 2 are also a sign of unwelcome change. Ironically, Michael's efforts to Americanise can also be seen to chime with his attempts to go legitimate (it's also worth noting that Michael is the only one of his siblings who doesn't have an alternate American name, sort of foreshadowing the Americanisation and weakening of the old way of doing things). I watched both films with my kids recently and we discussed the tragic arc of Michael's life and whether it was unavoidable. We pinpointed the death of Michael's first wife as a major fork in the road: it's likely that Apollonia would have a been a far better mob wife than Kay and he would have avoided quite a bit of drama in the second film had she not died. The second film's juxtaposition of young Vito's rise to power and the unravelling of Michael's personal life as he defeats all his enemies (yet again) shows the massive contrast between the two as men and of the times they lived in. It all suggests that Vito's hope for Michael, his youngest son, to genuinely achieve the American Dream (that is noticeably out of reach for the young Vito from his quarantine cell on Ellis Island) is ultimately dashed. They should make Part III one day so we can find out if Anthony fares any better...

Huge thank you for checking out the video. Make sure you watch our breakdown of the first Godfather here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGnjhCcEIOY

I see the fact that he was wearing his ring differently. 1st, he's Italian Catholic. You don't get divorced. 2nd, Kay was the only person who beat michael. She caught him off guard and for the first time in the movies he finally loses control of his emotions. The fact he still has the ring on is a subtle "fuck you" to Kay, even if she can't see it. You don't leave michael. He decides when it's over.