The film begins at the wedding of Don Vito Corleone’s daughter Connie to Carlo Rizzi in New York City in late summer of 1945. Because “no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter’s wedding day”, Corleone, known to his friends and associates as “Godfather”, and Tom Hagen (the Corleone family consigliere, or counselor) are preoccupied with hearing requests from friends and associates. Meanwhile, the Don’s youngest son Michael, who has returned from World War II service as a highly decorated war hero, tells his girlfriend Kay Adams anecdotes about his father’s criminal life, reassuring her that he is not like his family.

Among the guests at the celebration is the famous singer Johnny Fontane, Corleone’s godson, who has come from Hollywood to petition the Godfather’s help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. Jack Woltz, the head of the studio, will not give Fontane the part, but Don Corleone explains to Johnny: “I’ll 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, because Fontane seduced and “ruined” a starlet that Woltz favored. The next morning, Woltz wakes up to find the bloody severed head of his prize stud horse in the bed with him.

Upon Hagen’s return, the family meets with heroin dealer Virgil “The Turk” Sollozzo, who is being backed by the rival Tattaglia family. He asks Don Corleone for political and legal protection, as well as financing to start the mass importation and distribution of heroin, but despite the huge amount of money to be made, Corleone refuses, explaining that his political influence would be jeopardized by a move into the narcotics trade. The Don’s oldest son, hotheaded Sonny, who had earlier expressed to the Don his support of the family entering into the narcotics trade, breaks rank 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 dissention in front of a non-family member, later privately rebukes him. Don Corleone then dispatches his aide, Luca Brasi, to infiltrate Sollozzo’s organization and report back with information.

Soon after Don Corleone’s refusal, he is shot several times in an assassination attempt at a local market. It is not publicly known whether he survived. Meanwhile, Sollozzo and the Tattaglias kill Luca Brasi. Sollozzo then abducts and persuades Tom Hagen to offer Sonny the deal previously offered to his father. Sollozzo reasons that Sonny is more amenable to the deal than was his father, and that with Don Corleone out of the way, Sonny will accept the deal. Enraged, Sonny refuses to consider the deal, promising a war with the Tattaglias and Sollozzo.

Michael, who is considered a “civilian” (not involved in the mob business) by the other mafia families and therefore able to live a more normal life, visits his father in the hospital. He is immediately shocked to find that there are no police officers or Corleone Family men guarding him. Realizing that his father is again being set up to be killed, he calls Sonny with a report, then moves his father to another room. He then goes outside to watch the door. With the help of an overwhelmed Enzo (the baker), who feels indebted to the Don, he bluffs away Sollozzo’s men. Police cars soon arrive with the corrupt Captain McCluskey, who breaks Michael’s jaw after he insinuates that McCluskey is being paid by Sollozzo to set up his father. Just then, Hagen shows up with “private detectives” licensed to carry guns to protect Don Corleone, and takes Michael home.

Following the attempt on the Don’s life at the hospital, Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, who is acting as Sollozzo’s bodyguard, request a meeting with Michael under the auspices of ameliorating their differences. Michael volunteers to kill both men during the meeting, which initially amuses Sonny and the other senior members of the Corleone family, with Sonny admonishing him for reacting too personally and emotionally. However, Michael convinces them that killing Sollozo and McCluskey is in the family’s interest (“It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.”). The meeting between Michael and Sollozzo, with McCluskey attending, is arranged at a quiet, local restaurant, as requested by Michael so he will “feel safe”. Michael excuses himself to go to the restroom, retrieves a planted revolver, and assassinates Sollozzo and McCluskey with near-point-blank-range shots to the head. To avoid his arrest for the murders, Michael is sent to Sicily while the Corleone family prepares for all-out warfare with the rest of the Five Families, who unite against the Corleones, as well as a general clampdown on the mob by the police and government authorities.

While in Sicily, Michael lives under the protection of Don Tommasino, an old friend of the family. While there, he falls in love with and marries a local girl, Apollonia, who is subsequently murdered during an attempt on Michael’s life.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Don Corleone returns home from the hospital and is distraught to learn that Michael was the one who killed Sollozzo and McCluskey. Some months later, in 1948, Sonny severely beats Carlo for brutalizing the expecting Connie, and threatens to kill Carlo the next time he abuses her. The next time Carlo beats her, Sonny drives off alone to fulfill his threat. On the way, he is ambushed and Tommy-gunned to death at the causeway tollbooth.

Instead of seeking revenge for Sonny’s killing, Don Corleone meets with the heads of the Five Families to arrange an end to the war. Not only is it draining all of 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 Philip Tattaglia’s traffic in heroin. At the meeting, Don Corleone realizes that Don Barzini, not Tattaglia, was responsible for the mob war and Sonny’s death.

With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns from Sicily. More than a year later, he reunites with his former girlfriend, Kay, telling her that he wants to marry her. With the Don semi-retired, Sonny dead and middle brother Fredo considered incapable of running the family business, Michael is now in charge, and he claims that the family business will soon be completely legitimate.

Clemenza and Tessio, two Corleone Family caporegimes (captains) complain that they are being pushed around by the Barzini Family and ask permission to strike back, but Michael refuses. With his father as consigliere, he plans to move the family operations to Nevada and after that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to go on their own. Michael further promises that Connie’s husband, Carlo, is going to be his right hand in Nevada, while Hagen will be the Family’s Las Vegas lawyer.

In Las Vegas Michael is greeted by Fredo in the hotel-casino partly financed by the Corleones, and run by Moe Greene. Michael explains to Johnny Fontane that the Family needs his help in persuading Johnny’s friends in show business to sign long-term contracts to appear at the casino. In a meeting with Moe Greene, Michael offers to buy out Greene but is rudely rebuffed. Greene believes the Corleones are weak and that he can secure a better deal from Barzini.

Michael returns home. In a private meeting, Vito explains his expectation that the Family’s enemies will attempt to kill Michael by using a trusted associate to arrange a meeting as a pretext for assassination. Shortly afterwards, Don Vito dies of a heart attack while playing with his young grandson in his tomato garden.

During the funeral, Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with Barzini, which identifies him as the traitor that Vito was expecting. Michael arranges the murders of Moe Greene, Philip Tattaglia, Emilio Barzini, Anthony Stracci, and Carmine Cuneo, all to take place during the baptism of Connie’s and Carlo’s second son, for whom he will be godfather. After the baptism, Tessio believes he and Michael are on their way to meet with Barzini. But instead, he is taken away by Willie Cicci and other buttonmen to be killed. Michael confronts Carlo about Sonny’s murder and tricks him into admitting his role in setting up the ambush. “Today”, Michael tells him, “I settle all Family business.” Michael informs Carlo that his punishment is to be excluded from the family business and hands him a plane ticket to exile in Nevada. Carlo gets into a car to go to the airport, and is garroted by Clemenza.

Later, Connie confronts Michael, accusing him of Carlo’s murder. Kay questions Michael about Connie’s accusation, but he refuses to answer. She insists, and Michael lies, assuring his wife that he had no role in Carlo’s death. Kay is relieved by his denial. As the film ends, she watches Clemenza and new caporegime Rocco Lampone pay their respects to Michael, kissing his hand and addressing him as “Don Corleone.” The door is closed by new capo Al Neri, as she realizes that Michael has become the new Godfather.

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THE GODFATHER® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone during the Cold War, following the events of the first movie; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone, from his youth in Sicily (1901) to his founding of the Corleone family in New York City while still a young man (1917-1925).

The film begins in 1901, in the town of Corleone in Sicily, at the funeral procession for young Vito’s father, Antonio Andolini, who has been murdered for an insult to 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 then goes to Ciccio to beg him to let young Vito live. Upon his refusal, she holds a knife to his throat, sacrificing herself so that her son can escape, while Ciccio’s men gun her down. They immediately scour the town for the boy, shouting their assurances to 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. Upon arriving at Ellis Island, an immigration agent uses Vito’s hometown of Corleone as his surname, registering him as “Vito Corleone”.

The film then moves into the late 1950s, to a scene similar to the opening of the first film, where Michael Corleone, Godfather of the Corleone family, deals with various business and family problems during an elaborate party at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada compound celebrating his son’s First Communion. He meets with Nevada Senator Pat Geary, who despises the Corleones, but has shown up at the celebration with his wife under the auspices of accepting a large endowment to the university from Michael in his son’s name. During a tense negotiation, 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’s Nevada gaming interests, to which Michael boldly responds with a counter-offer of “nothing”.

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 obviously 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. Belatedly, Michael deals 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. After Michael’s refusal to allow Pentangeli to kill the Rosatos, owing 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.”

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 all his power to Hagen to protect the family.

The action then switches to 1917, where the 25-year-old Vito Corleone works in a New York grocery store with his friend Genco Abbandando. The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the “The Black Hand,” 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 felony together, stealing an elegant rug.

The film flash-forwards to Michael’s time. Michael meets with Hyman Roth in Florida 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 he 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, Willie Cicci, is wounded by gunfire.

In Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel run by Michael’s older brother 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.

Meanwhile, Michael meets Roth in Havana, Cuba, in late 1958, at the time when dictator Fulgencio Batista is soliciting American investment, and communist guerrillas are trying to bring down the government. At a birthday party for Roth, Michael 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 firm 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 to Roth, Michael asks him who gave the order to have Frank Pentangeli killed. Roth avoids the question, instead speaking angrily of the murder of his old friend, Moe Greene, which Michael had orchestrated (as depicted at the end of the first film), quipping, “I never asked who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!”

Michael has asked Fredo, who knows Havana well, to show Senator Geary and other important officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not recognize Johnny Ola. Soon after, at a sex show, a drunk Fredo comments loudly that Johnny Ola told him about the place, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier, that he didn’t know Roth or Ola. Michael now realizes that the traitor is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard back to their hotel to deal with Roth.

There, Johnny Ola is strangled, but Roth, whose health is failing, is taken to a hospital, where 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: “I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart.” When guerrillas attack, the guests flee, and 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.

In 1917 New York, Don Fanucci of the Black Hand is now aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio, and wants a slice of the action in order to “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. Indeed, Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only one sixth of what he had demanded. Immediately afterwards, during the neighborhood festa, Vito murders Fanucci.

Don Michael returns to his compound in Lake Tahoe, where he wanders the house in silent comtemplation. He sees Kay (who 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” Willie Cicci, but he cannot implicate Michael, because he never received any direct orders from him.

With Fanucci dead, Vito earns the respect of the neighborhood and begins to intercede in local disputes, operating out of the storefront of his Genco Pura Olive Oil Company (named after his 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.

Frank Pentangeli, who did not die in the attack by the Rosato Brothers, has made a deal with the FBI to testify against Michael. Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem, observing 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 belongs to Roth. 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, with the understanding that Fredo will be killed after her death

At the hearing in which Pentangeli is to testify, Michael arrives accompanied by Pentangeli’s brother Vincenzo (brought in from Italy), whose surprise presence causes Frank to recant his previous statements about Michael. When Pentangeli is pressed, he claims that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear. 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 violently when she reveals to him that her recent “miscarriage” was actually an abortion to avoid bringing another child into Michael’s criminal family.

While visiting Sicily, Vito is introduced to the elderly Don Ciccio 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, “His name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!”, cutting the old man’s stomach open with a knife, avenging the deaths of his father, mother, and brother.

When Carmella Corleone, Vito’s widow and the mother of his children, dies, the whole Corleone family is reunited. Michael is still shunning Fredo, who is miserable, but relents when Connie implores him to. 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, has now expired.

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 the manner of unsuccesful ancient Roman conspirators who, in return, were promised that their families would be taken care of after their suicide.

With the connivance of Connie, Kay visits her children, but cannot bear to leave them and stays too long. When Michael arrives, he coldly closes the door in her face.

The Godfather Part II reaches its climax in a montage of assassinations and death, reminiscent of the end of The Godfather. As he arrives at a U.S. airport to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is killed by Rocco Lampone, disguised as a journalist, who is immediately shot dead in turn. On the military base, Frank Pentangeli is found dead in one of their bathtubs, having followed Hagen’s instructions and committed suicide. Finally, Fredo is murdered by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe – just as Fredo finishes saying a Hail Mary to help catch a fish.

The penultimate scene takes place in 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. They all talk about the recent attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and 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 had made specific arrangements for his future. Fredo is the only one who supports his brother’s decision. Sal Tessio comes in with the cake for the party, and when Vito arrives, all but Michael leave to greet him.

The final scene in the film is Michael sitting by himself at Lake Tahoe, in silent contemplation. He realizes that not only did he not succeed at avoiding becoming like his father, he has in fact become an even more cold-hearted monster than his father ever was.

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THE GODFATHER® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

The movie begins in 1979, with a brief flashback establishing the long and tragic history of criminal activity within, and by, the Corleone family. Much has changed. Michael Corleone is now a defeated, depressed old man who feels tremendous guilt for indulging in his ruthless ambition many years ago. The thoughts of his children, and their future and happiness, is all he has to show for his ruthless ambition of his early years. His adopted brother Tom Hagen is now dead. The Corleone compound at Lake Tahoe is abandoned. His wife Kay has divorced him. And beset by his own depression and guilt, he had relinquished control of his children back to his rebellious wife, who spurned him long ago. Michael has returned to New York City, where he is self-consciously using his enormous wealth and power to restore his dignity and reputation in the eyes of the public. The violent criminal element of the Corleone family has been largely abandoned, ostracized by Michael himself as well as the hardened public, which no longer romanticizes the gangster lifestyle. In fact, Michael has embraced corporate America, which is now more tolerant of Michael’s nihilism, where he is able to rebuild the Corleone family as a legitimate enterprise using the blood money from his free-wheeling gangster years. The aging thugs and sociopathic soldiers from Michael’s past have either gone into the underground, or have been relegated to the background of Michael’s life, serving as bodyguards for him and his family. Because his psyche and family remain largely damaged by his violent methods, Michael now struggles between repairing his fragile relationships while trying to contain the violent sociopaths that still fester in the shadows and ruins of his decaying criminal empire. In an attempt to seize upon the changing times, Michael creates a charity, the Vito Corleone Foundation, in memory of his father, and at a ceremony in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he is presided over by Archbishop Gilday, where Michael is awarded the Order of St. Sebastian. Kay, who has remarried, sits with Michael’s children, Anthony Corleone and Mary Corleone.

At the lavish party following the ceremony, Anthony tells his father that he is going his own way, dropping out of law school to pursue a career as an opera singer. Kay supports his choice, but Michael argues in private about Anthony’s future, wishing that his son would join the business or do something respectful, like being a lawyer. Suddenly, Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son, shows up at the party. He is embroiled in a feud with Joey Zasa, the Corleone family’s mafioso muscle. What remains of the old Corleone criminal empire is now under Zasa’s stewardship. However, the old Corleone neighborhood in New York is in ruins, and has become lawless. In a room away from the party, Vincent and Zasa tell Michael about their feud. The discussion grows violent, with Vincent accusing Zasa of being an out-of-control monster who mocks Michael behind his back. Michael makes it clear that he is not “a gangster” and that whatever bad blood exists between Vincent and Joey Zasa is none of his business, and must be settled between only them. So he asks the two men to make peace with one another. Feigning peace with Zasa, Vincent bites off part of Zasa’s ear after Zasa whispers “bastardo” in Vincent’s ear. Zasa is escorted out and Michael scolds Vincent for his violent ways. But impressed by Vincent’s passionate loyalty to protect him, Michael agrees to take his hot-headed nephew under his wing. The party concludes with a family picture where Michael asks Vincent to join the rest of the family.

That night, two men break into Vincent’s home, after Vincent has spent the night with an attractive journalist played by Bridget Fonda. Vincent kills one, frightening the other into revealing Zasa as the man who sent them. The scene closes with Vincent shooting the second man.

Later, in an attempt to garner tremendous respectability and wealth for the Corleone Family through legitimate enterprise, Michael seeks to buy the Vatican’s shares in Immobiliare, an international real estate holding company, of which 25% is controlled by the Vatican. He negotiates the transfer of $600,000,000 to the Vatican Bank with Archbishop Gilday, who has plunged the Holy See into tremendous debt through his poor management and corrupt dealings as its president. While in Vatican City, however, Michael learns that several influential parties oppose the deal for many reasons, not the least of which is the extensive criminal history that has tarnished the Corleone name. Because of this and the failing health of the 81-year-old Pope, ratification of the deal would be far more complicated than he had anticipated.

Don Altobello, an elderly New York mafioso, tells Michael that his old New York partners want in on the Immobiliare deal. A meeting is arranged in Atlantic City, and Michael appeases most of the mafiosi with generous payoffs from their casino days. Zasa gets nothing. Furious, he declares that Michael is his enemy, and tells everyone in the room they must choose between him and Michael. Zasa storms out of the meeting. Don Altobello, the perpetual negotiator, runs after him to try and talk to him about this irrational move. Minutes later, a helicopter hovers outside the conference room and sprays a barrage of bullets through the ceiling windows. Almost everyone present is killed, but Michael, Vincent (acting as a human shield for his uncle), and Michael’s bodyguard, Al Neri, all manage to escape. Back at his apartment in New York, as Michael considers how to respond to this hit, he suffers a diabetic stroke, and is hospitalized.

Though they are cousins, Vincent and Mary begin a romantic relationship. Unbeknownst to Michael, Vincent, with the urging of his aunt Connie, plots revenge against Joey Zasa. During a street fair similar to that seen in The Godfather Part II during which Don Fanucci is killed by Vito Corleone, Vincent and his accomplices kill Zasa’s bodyguards, and Vincent shortly murders Zasa himself. Michael, still hospitalized, berates Vincent when he finds out, but Vincent insists that he got the go-ahead from Al Neri, who in turn insists that he got the go-ahead from Connie, who has become deeply involved in family affairs. Michael insists that Vincent end his relationship with Mary because Vincent’s involvement in the family puts Mary’s life in jeopardy. Vincent agrees.

While in Sicily, Michael tells Vincent to speak with Don Altobello and, in order to see where the old man’s loyalties lie, to intimate to him his intentions of leaving the Corleone family, under the pretense that his affair with Mary is still in full swing, and that his loyalty to Michael has been supplanted by his desire to continue the relationship. Altobello supports the idea of Vincent switching his allegiance, and introduces him to Licio Lucchesi, the man behind the plot to prevent Michael’s acquisition of Immobiliare.

Michael visits Cardinal Lamberto, a well-intentioned and pious priest, to speak about the Immobiliare deal. Lamberto convinces Michael to make his first confession in thirty years; among other sins, Michael confesses to ordering the killing of his brother Fredo. It is an extremely emotional moment for Michael, and it troubles him deeply. Touring Sicily with Kay, who has arrived for Anthony’s operatic debut, Michael also asks for her forgiveness. As both admit that they still love each other, Michael receives word that Don Tommasino, his Sicilian friend and constant ally of the Corleone Family, has been killed, signaling that a new round of violence is about to begin. Cardinal Lamberto is elected Pope John Paul I, which means that the Immobiliare deal will likely be ratified, due to his intention to “clean up” the dealings of the Vatican. The new Pope’s intentions come as a death knell to the plot against the ratification of the Immobiliare deal, prompting frantic attempts by the plotters to cover their own tracks.

Vincent tells Michael what he has learned from Altobello: Lucchesi is behind the plot against the Immobiliare deal, and an assassin (Mosca da Montelepre), the same who killed Tommasino, has been hired by Altobello to kill Michael. Vincent wants to strike back, but Michael cautions him, saying that if he goes ahead with such a plan, there’ll be no going back. Vincent insists on revenge, and Michael relents. He makes Vincent head of the Corleone family, the new Godfather. In exchange for the promotion, Vincent agrees to put an end to his relationship with Mary once and for all.

The family travels to Palermo to see Anthony perform the male lead of Cavalleria Rusticana at the renowned opera house Teatro Massimo. Vincent’s plans for revenge go into effect. Interspersed with scenes from Anthony’s performance are the brutal murders of Lucchesi, Altobello, Gilday, and their associates, who have already poisoned the new Pope. This scene also mirrors that at the end of The Godfather, where Michael had orchestrated the deaths of the heads of the other crime families during the baptism of his godson.

The assassin hired by Don Altobello to kill Michael descends upon the opera house during Anthony’s performance, killing two of Vincent’s men in his attempt at murdering Michael, but the opera ends before he has the chance to do so. The assassin retreats to the opera house facade’s staircase, and tries to shoot Michael there.

Mary is confronting her father about the forced breakup with Vincent, when two shots ring out. The first hits Michael in the shoulder. While reeling from the impact, the second hits Mary in the chest, and she dies calling out to her father a single questioning word: “Dad?” Vincent then kills the assassin with a single shot. Cradling Mary’s lifeless body in his arms, Michael screams with primal pain and rage. The first two screams are rendered silently with only background music; the third shout is heard by the audience. As they grieve, Connie, Kay and Vincent look upon Michael’s distraught reaction momentarily shocked out of their own grief, almost in surprise, presumably only now realizing how truly dear his family were to him.

The scene dissolves to a short montage of Michael’s memories, the first being a dance with Mary, the second being a dance with his first wife, Apollonia, and the last being a dance with Kay. The film ends in an unmentioned year with an aged and broken Michael, seated in the front yard of his Sicilian villa. He slumps out of his chair collapses to the ground and dies, totally alone. A small dog sniffs around his body and the screen fades out.

ACADEMY AWARD® is a registered trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All Rights Reserved.
THE GODFATHER® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.