The Untouchables

Cast:
Kevin Costner as Ness, Sean Connery as Irish-American beat cop Jim Malone, and Robert De Niro as Capone.



Director : Brian De Palma
Year : 1987
imdb score : 8.0/10


Plot:
Brian De Palma's film about Eliott Ness (Kevin Costner) and his struggle against Al Capone (Robert De Niro) in Prohibition-era Chicago is one of the best crime/drama movies in the last 20 years. Right from the start, we are introduced to the violence and corruption that gripped the city during these tough times. We understand that Al Capone all but runs the city, and when a clean cut, straight-shooting treasury agent (Ness) enters the picture, we know right away that this assignment will be far from easy.


It's lucky for the good guys that Ness somewhat accidentally recruits Jim Malone. Malone is a tough, street-wise, beat cop that seems to know more than could possibly be good for him about Capone and how and where his alcohol smuggling operations are run. Throw in a promising young police recruit in George Stone (Andy Garcia) and a wrong-place-right-time accountant in Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), and you have your band of 'Untouchables'.


Elliot Ness and his team earned the nickname "the Untouchables", for Capone's failed attempts to bribe them on to his payroll. No matter what Capone tried, he could not deter Ness and his team from their pursuit of justice.



This quartet really starts getting Capone's undivided attention after successfully breaking up some very profitable smuggling operations. This is where the movie gets its punch. With Ness hitting Capone where it hurts, his money, and Capone doing likewise to Ness with respect to his family, it really is a man-to-man prize fight. For anyone who has taken a history course in recent memory, we know that Ness is the last man left standing, with Capone eventually getting indicted on tax evasion charges. Not the way you would prefer to take down Capone, but effective nonetheless.

Awards:

Connery received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film

Memorable Quote from the Movie:

You wanna get Capone? Here's how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone!

Donnie Brasco

Cast:
Al Pacino,Michael Madsen , Johnny Depp



Director : Mike Newell
Year : 1997
imdb score : 7.7/10



Plot:
In the late 1970s, FBI agent Joe Pistone (Depp) is assigned to infiltrate the New York City–based Bonanno crime family. Calling himself, "Donnie Brasco" and posing as a diamond expert from Vero Beach, Florida, he befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino), a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters, and Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano (Madsen). Lefty can't seem to make any money, his son is a drug-addict and he is continually passed over for promotion to a higher position within the crime family. He continually reminds Brasco of his growing disillusionment about having spent 30 years in the Mafia (and killing 26 people), with little to show for it. In Donnie, however, Lefty sees a young protégé who might be able to succeed where he had failed. He takes Donnie under his wing, and under Lefty's tutelage Donnie quickly becomes accepted by the other Family members, although he is never elevated above the rank of "associate" member (the lowest mafia rank). But the longer Pistone plays the role of a gangster, the more he finds himself actually becoming Donnie Brasco during his rare off duty hours. His change in personality drives a wedge between him and his wife (played by Anne Heche) and three children. Over time, Pistone comes to realize that the slightest mistake in his performance as a mobster could result in the death of him and his family. In addition, Joe Pistone has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend. He knows that when the day finally comes that the FBI arrests his mob associates, he will be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he himself had killed him.

scarface

Cast: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer,Michelle Pfeiffer



Director : Brian De Palma
Year : 1983
imdb score : 8.2/10 rank : #171

Plot:

When Fidel Castro opens the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, he sends 125,000 Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States. Among all the refugees, there is one who wants it all, his name is Tony Montana. Tony and his friend Manny when they arrive in the United States and start in small time jobs, soon they are hired by Omar Suarez to pay money to a group of Colombians. When the deal goes wrong, Tony and Manny leave with the money and succeed in their job. Soon Tony meets with drug kingpin Frank Lopez and falls for his boss's girl Elvira. Pretty soon Tony will know that those who want it all, do not last forever and that is the price of power. The world will know Montana by one name....SCARFACE

Awards:

My Opinion:

Goodfellas

Cast:
Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta

Director : Martin Scorsese
Year : 1990
imdb score : 8.8/10 rank : # 15

Plot:

This film views the mob lives of three pivotal figures in the 1960's and 70's New York. Henry Hill is a local boy turned gangster in a neighborhood full of the roughest and toughest. Tommy Devito is a pure bred gangster, who turns out to be Henry's best friend. Jimmy Conway puts the two of them together, and runs some of the biggest hijacks and burglaries the town has ever seen. After an extended jail sentence, Henry must sneak around the back of the local mob boss, Paulie Cicero, to live the life of luxury he has always dreamed of. In the end, the friends end up in a hell of a jam, and must do anything they can to save each other, and stay alive.....

Review:

More than often, Martin Scorsese is cited as the best American director working today. After watching Goodfellas, one can see why. Only Raging Bull can rival it, in terms of breathtaking quality. Scorsese adapting from Nicholas Pileggi's non-fiction novel Wiseguy (he helped write the screenplay), tells the story of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), an Irish kid who as far as back he could remember, always wanted to be a gangster. This film is a rush of energy, where all the elements come together brilliantly. Scorsese's use of music provides a strong template for the action; such tunes include Gimme Shelter, Rags to Riches, Beyond the Sea, and a brilliant piano version of Layla. Out of the performances (all of which are terrific), Pesci remains the most impressive. Playing Tommy DeVito, he walks a fine line between being funny and deadly serious. As well, the camera work and editing are superlative (as with Raging Bull); there is a memorable sequence that remains one long unbroken shot. Some people may be put off by the violence and coarse language, but it seems essential in this type of movie. It works better than sugar coating everything.

Awards:

My Opinion:

Godfather2

Cast :
Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Robert De Niro, Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg



Director : Francis Ford Coppola
Year : 1974
imdb score : 9.0/10 rank : #3



Plot:
The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone following the events of the first movie 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 criminal Corleone Family in New York City while still a young man (1917–1925).
In 1901, in the town of Corleone in Sicily, at the funeral procession for young Vito's father, Antonio Andolini, who had been ordered killed by the local Mafia chieftain, Don Ciccio. During the procession, Vito's older brother Paolo is also murdered because he swore revenge on the Don. 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, and Ciccio's gunmen shoot her. They scour the town for Vito, warning the sleeping townsfolk that they will regret harboring the boy. 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".
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, but has shown up with his wife to accept a large endowment to the state university. Senator Geary demands a grossly exaggerated price for a new gaming license and a monthly payment of 5% of the gross profits from all of the Corleone Family's Nevada gaming interests, to which Michael responds with a counter-offer of "nothing ... not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally."
Michael also deals with his sister Connie, who, although recently divorced, is planning to marry a man with no obvious means of support, and of whom Michael disapproves. He also talks with Johnny Ola, the right hand man of Jewish gangster Hyman Roth, who is supporting Michael's move into the gambling industry. Finally, Michael meets with Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli, who took over Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza's territory after his death, and now has problems with the Rosato Brothers, who are backed by Roth. Michael refuses to allow Pentangeli to kill the Rosatos, due to his desire to prevent interruption of his business with Roth. Pentangeli leaves abruptly, after telling Michael "your father did business with Hyman Roth, your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth or his Sicilian messenger boy Johnny Ola."
Later that night, an assassination attempt is made on Michael, which he survives when his wife Kay notices the bedroom window drapes are inexplicably open. Afterwards, Michael tells Tom Hagen that the hit was made with the help of someone close, and that he must leave, entrusting Hagen to protect his family.
In 1917, the 25-year-old Vito Corleone, now married with one son, works in a New York grocery store with his close friend Genco Abbandando. The neighborhood is controlled by a blackhander, Don Fanucci, who extorts protection payments from local businesses. 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 and that Pentangeli will pay for it. Traveling to Brooklyn, 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, he is told "Michael Corleone says hello," as he is garrotted; but the attempted murder is accidentally interrupted by a policeman. Pentangeli is left for dead, and his bodyguard, Willi Cicci, is wounded by gunfire.
In Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel run by Fredo, where Senator Geary is implicated in the death of a prostitute. Tom offers to take care of the problem in return for "friendship" between the Senator and the Corleone Family. It has been suggested that the entire event was staged by the Corleone Family in order to gain leverage with Geary and force his cooperation.
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. At a birthday party for Roth, Michael – having earlier witnessed a rebel deliberately killing himself and an army officer with a hand grenade – mentions that there is a possibility that the rebels might win, making their business dealings in Cuba problematic. The comment prompts Roth to remark, privately, that Michael has not delivered the two million dollars to seal their partnership.
Fredo, carrying the promised money, arrives in Havana and meets Michael. Michael mentions Hyman Roth and Johnny Ola to him, but Fredo says he has never met them. 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, who knows Havana well, to show Senator Geary and other important American officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not know Johnny Ola. Soon after, at a sex show, a drunk Fredo comments loudly that he learned about the place from Johnny Ola, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier, that he didn't know Roth or Ola. Michael now realizes that the traitor in the Corleone Family is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard back to their hotel to kill Roth. There, 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 kisses him, 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. The guests flee as the guerrillas pour into the city. Fredo runs away from Michael, despite Michael's pleas that he is still his brother and that the only way out is with him.
Michael returns to Las Vegas where Hagen tells him that Roth escaped Cuba after suffering a stroke and is recovering in Miami, that Michael's bodyguard is dead, and that Fredo is likely hiding in New York. Hagen also informs Michael that Kay had a miscarriage while he was away, which causes Michael to lose his usually calm and collected demeanor.
In New York, in 1921, 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 is reluctant and 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 can't refuse." Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only one sixth of what he had demanded. Immediately afterwards, during a neighborhood festa, Vito kills Fanucci and takes his money back.
Michael returns to his compound in Lake Tahoe, where he wanders the house in silent contemplation. He sees Kay (whom he has prevented from leaving the compound for her own safety) in the bedroom, but does not approach her. In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee, of which Senator 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.
With Fanucci now gone, Vito earns the respect of the neighborhood and begins to intercede in local disputes, operating out of the storefront of his Genco Olive Oil Company, named after his good friend Genco Abbandando.
When Michael appears before the committee, Senator 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.
Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem. They have found out that Frank Pentangeli is the witness who will testify against him, and 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: upset about being passed over to head the Family in favor of Michael, he wants respect and his due. 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 tells Fredo: "You're nothing to me now. Not a brother, not a friend, nothing," and privately instructs Al Neri that nothing is to happen to Fredo while their mother is still alive; the understanding is that Fredo will be killed after her death.
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, brought in from Sicily. Vincenzo is a Sicilian mafia chieftain who upholds the mafia code of honor, Omerta. Pentangeli, not wanting to break this code of honor in front of his brother, claims that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear, and makes no direct statements about Michael, the Corleone family, or his time served as a Corleone capo. With no witness to testify against Michael, the committee adjourns, with Hagen, acting as Michael's lawyer, loudly demanding an apology.
At a hotel room afterwards, Kay tries to leave Michael and take their children with her. Michael at first tries to mollify her, but loses his temper and hits her when she coldly reveals to him that her recent "miscarriage" was actually an abortion to avoid bringing another son into Michael's criminal family.
In 1925, Vito visits Sicily for the first time since leaving for America 24 years earlier. 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 plunges a large knife into the old man's stomach and carves it open, thereby avenging the deaths of his father, mother and brother. In the ensuing gun battle, Tommasino is shot, confining him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Carmella Corleone, Vito's widow and the mother of his children, dies and the whole Corleone family reunites at the funeral. Michael is still shunning Fredo, who is miserable and depressed, but relents when Connie implores him to forgive his brother. Michael and Fredo embrace, but at the same time Michael signals to his capo Al Neri that Fredo's protection from harm, in effect while their mother lived, is now over.
Michael, Tom Hagen, Al Neri, and Rocco Lampone discuss their final dealings with Hyman 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 killing Roth and the Rosato brothers for revenge is an unnecessary risk. Later, Hagen pays a visit to Frank Pentangeli on a military base and suggests that he take his own life in return for having his family taken care of.
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, reminiscent of the end of The Godfather:
As he arrives in Miami to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is killed by Rocco Lampone disguised as a journalist, who is immediately shot dead in turn.
Frank Pentangeli is found dead in his bathtub, having followed Hagen's instructions and committed suicide, slashing his wrists while taking a bath.
Finally, Fredo is murdered by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe, as Fredo is saying a Hail Mary to help him catch a fish.
The penultimate scene takes place as a flashback to 1941, as the Corleone family is preparing a surprise birthday party for Vito. Sonny introduces Carlo Rizzi, Connie's future husband and eventual betrayer of Sonny, 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 just enlisted in the United States Marines. 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 Michael a draft deferment. Ironically, Fredo is the only one who supports his brother's decision. When Vito arrives (offscreen), all but Michael leave to greet him.
The film ends with a final flashback depicting Vito and a young Michael leaving Corleone by train, and Michael sitting in the Lake Tahoe compound, alone in silence.


Awards:

My Opinion:

Godfather 1

Cast :
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton



Director : Francis Ford Coppola
Year : 1972
imdb score : 9.1/10 rank : #2



Plot :
In late summer 1945, guests are gathered for the wedding reception of Don Vito Corleone's daughter Connie (Talia Shire) and Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo). Vito (Marlon Brando), the head of the Corleone Mafia family – who is known to friends and associates as "Godfather" – and Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), the Corleone family lawyer and consigliere (counselor), are hearing requests for favors because "no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day." Meanwhile, the Don's youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), a decorated Marine war hero returning from World War II service, tells his girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) anecdotes about his family, attempting to inform her about his father's criminal life; he reassures her that he is different from his family. In addition to depicting the marriage of Connie and Carlo, the wedding scene also serves as a critical exposition scene for the remainder of the film, as Michael figuratively introduces the main characters to Kay.
Among the guests at the celebration is the famous singer Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), Corleone's godson, who has come from Hollywood to petition Vito's help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. Jack Woltz (John Marley), the head of the studio, denies Fontane the part, but Don Corleone explains to Johnny: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." Hagen is dispatched to California to fix the problem, but Woltz angrily tells him that he will never cast Fontane in the role, for which he is perfect and will make him an even bigger star, because Fontane seduced and "ruined" a starlet that Woltz favored. Woltz is persuaded otherwise, however, when he wakes up early the next morning and feels something wet in his bed. He pulls back the sheets, and finds himself in a pool of blood with the severed head of his prized $600,000 stud horse, Khartoum, in the bed with him, and screams in horror. (A deleted scene from the film implies that Luca Brasi, Vito's top "button man" or hitman, is responsible.)
Upon Hagen's return, the family meets with Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), who is being backed by the rival Tattaglia family. He asks Don Corleone for financing, and political and legal protection for importing and distributing heroin. Despite the huge profit to be made, Corleone refuses, explaining that his political influence would be jeopardized by a move into the narcotics trade. The Don's second eldest son, hotheaded Sonny (James Caan), who had earlier urged the family to enter into the narcotics trade, breaks ranks during the meeting and questions Sollozzo's assurances as to the Corleone Family's investment being guaranteed by the Tattaglia Family. His father, angry at Sonny's dissension in a non-family member's presence, privately rebukes him later. Don Corleone then dispatches Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana) to infiltrate Sollozzo's organization and report back with information. During the meeting, whilst Brasi is bent over to allow Bruno Tattaglia to light his cigarette, he is stabbed in his hand to prevent him from defending himself, and is subsequently garroted by an assassin.
Soon after his meeting with Sollozzo, Don Corleone is gunned down in an assassination attempt, and it is not immediately known whether he has survived. Sollozzo abducts Tom Hagen and persuades him to offer Sonny the deal previously offered to his father. Enraged, Sonny refuses to consider it and issues an ultimatum to the Tattaglias – turn over Sollozzo or face war. They refuse, and instead send Sonny "a Sicilian message," in the form of a fresh fish wrapped in Luca Brasi's bullet-proof vest, to tell the Corleones that Luca Brasi "sleeps with the fishes."
Michael, whom the other Mafia families consider a "civilian" uninvolved in mob business, visits his father at the small private hospital. He is shocked to find that no one is guarding him. Realizing that his father is again being set up to be killed, he calls Sonny for help, moves his father to another room, and goes outside to watch the entrance. Michael enlists help from Enzo the baker, who has come to the hospital to pay his respects. Together, they bluff away Sollozzo's men as they drive by. Police cars soon appear with the corrupt Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), who breaks Michael's jaw when he insinuates that Sollozzo paid McCluskey to set up his father. Just then, Hagen arrives with "private detectives" licensed to carry guns to protect Don Corleone, and he takes Michael home. Sonny responds by having Bruno Tattaglia, son and underboss of Don Phillip Tattaglia (Victor Rendina), killed.
Following the attempt on the Don's life at the hospital, Sollozzo requests a meeting with the Corleones, which Captain McCluskey will attend as Sollozzo's bodyguard. When Michael volunteers to kill both men during the meeting, Sonny and the other senior Family members are amused; however, Michael convinces them that he is serious and that killing Sollozzo and McCluskey is in the family's interest: "It's not personal. It's strictly business." Although police officers are usually off limits for hits, Michael argues that since McCluskey is corrupt and has illegal dealings with Sollozzo, he is fair game.
Before the meeting in an Italian restaurant, McCluskey frisks Michael for weapons and finds him clean. Michael excuses himself to go to the bathroom where he retrieves a planted revolver, and returning to the table, he fatally shoots Sollozzo, then McCluskey. Michael is sent to hide in Sicily while the Corleone family prepares for all-out warfare with the Five Families who are united against the Corleones, as well as a general clampdown on the mob by the police and government authorities.
Sonny severely beats Carlo Rizzi for brutalizing the pregnant Connie, and threatens to kill him if he ever abuses his sister again. An angry Carlo responds by plotting with Tattaglia and Don Emilio Barzini (Richard Conte), the Corleones' chief rivals, to have Sonny killed. Carlo again beats Connie in order to lure Sonny out. Furious, Sonny drives off alone to fulfill his threat. On the way, he is ambushed at a toll booth and shot to death in his car.
In Sicily, Michael patiently waits out his exile, protected by Don Tommasino, an old family friend. Michael aimlessly wanders the countryside, accompanied by his ever-present bodyguards, Calo and Fabrizio. In a small village, Michael meets and falls in love with Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli), the beautiful young daughter of a bar owner. They are soon married, but soon Michael's presence becomes known to the Corleone's enemies. As the couple is about to be moved to a safer location, Apollonia is killed when their car is bombed; Michael, who barely escapes alive, spots Fabrizio hurriedly leaving the grounds mere seconds before the explosion, implicating him in the assassination plot.
Back in New York City, Don Corleone returns home from the hospital and is distraught to learn that it was Michael who killed Sollozzo and McCluskey and that Sonny is dead. Rather than seek revenge for Sonny's killing, Don Corleone meets with the heads of the Five Families to negotiate a cease-fire. Not only is it draining all their assets and threatening their survival, but ending the conflict is the only way that Michael can return home safely. Reversing his previous decision, Vito agrees that the Corleone family will provide political protection for Tattaglia's traffic in heroin, as long as it is controlled and not sold to children. At the meeting, Don Corleone deduces that Don Barzini, not Tattaglia, was ultimately behind the mob war and Sonny's death.
With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns home. More than a year later, he reunites with his former girlfriend Kay after a total of four years, three in Italy, and one in America. He tells her he wants them to be married. Although Kay is hurt that he waited so long to contact her, she accepts his proposal. With the Don semi-retired, Sonny dead, and middle brother Fredo (John Cazale) considered incapable of running the family business, Michael is now in charge; he promises Kay he will make the family business completely legitimate within five years.
Peter Clemenza (Richard S. Castellano) and Salvatore Tessio (Abe Vigoda), two Corleone Family caporegimes (captains), complain that they are being pushed around by the Barzini Family and ask permission to strike back, but Michael denies the request. He plans to move the family operations to Nevada and after that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to form their own families. Michael further promises Connie's husband, Carlo, that he will be his right hand man in Nevada. Tom Hagen has been removed as consigliere and is now merely the family's lawyer, with his father Vito serving as consigliere. Privately, Hagen complains about his change in status, and also questions Michael about a new "regime of soldiers" secretly being built under Rocco Lampone (Tom Rosqui). Don Vito explains to Hagen that Michael is acting on his advice.
In Las Vegas, Michael meets with casino boss Moe Greene (Alex Rocco). Michael offers to buy out Greene's casino but is rudely rebuffed. Greene believes the Corleones are weak and that he can secure a better deal from Barzini. As Moe and Michael heatedly negotiate, Fredo sides with Moe. Afterward, Michael warns Fredo to never again "take sides with anyone against the family."
Michael returns home. In a private moment, Vito explains his expectation that the Family's enemies will attempt to murder Michael by using a trusted associate to arrange a meeting as a pretext for assassination. Vito also reveals that he had never really intended a life of crime for Michael, hoping that his youngest son would hold legitimate power as a senator or governor. Shortly after, Vito collapses and dies while playing with his young grandson Anthony in his tomato garden. At the burial, Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with Barzini, which identifies Tessio as the traitor that Vito was expecting.
Michael arranges for a series of murders to occur simultaneously while he is standing godfather to Connie's and Carlo's newborn son at the church.
Don Anthony Stracci is gunned down along with his men in an elevator by Peter Clemenza.
Moe Greene, while having a massage, is shot through the eye by an unknown assassin.
Don Ottilio Cuneo is trapped in a revolving door and shot dead by Willi Cicci.
Don Philip Tattaglia is assassinated in his bed, along with a prostitute, by Rocco Lampone and an unknown associate.
Don Emilio Barzini, along with his bodyguard and driver, are shot by Al Neri in Foley Square, disguised in his old police uniform.
After the baptism, Tessio believes he and Hagen are on their way to the meeting between Michael and Barzini that he has arranged. Instead, he is surrounded by Willi Cicci and other button men as Hagen steps away. Realizing that Michael has uncovered his betrayal, Tessio tells Hagen that he always respected Michael, and that his disloyalty "was only business." He asks if Tom can get him off for "old times' sake," but Tom says he cannot. Meanwhile, Michael confronts Carlo about Sonny's murder and forces him to admit his role in setting up the ambush. Michael assures Carlo he will not be killed, that his punishment is exclusion from all family business. He hands Carlo a plane ticket to exile in Las Vegas. However, when Carlo gets into a car headed for the airport, he is garroted to death by Clemenza, on Michael's orders.
Later, a hysterical Connie confronts Michael, accusing him of murdering Carlo. Kay questions Michael about Connie's accusation, but he refuses to answer, reminding her to never ask him about his business. She insists, and Michael lies, reassuring his wife that he played no role in Carlo's death. Kay believes him and is relieved. The film ends with Clemenza and new caporegimes Rocco Lampone and Al Neri paying their respects to Michael. Clemenza kisses Michael's hand and greets him as "Don Corleone." As Kay watches, the door is closed: Michael is officially the new Godfather.

Awards:

My Opinion: