WHAT: The Godfather Part II (1974, DCP) 45th Anniversary screening
WHEN: January 16, 2019 1 PM & 7 PM
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
WHAT ELSE: Organist Jay Warren performs prelude music at 6:30 PM!
HOW MUCH: $12/$10 advance or $8 for the 1 PM matinee
Advance tickets for the 7 PM screening can be purchased HERE!
NOTE: There will be a 10-minute intermission.
Last season’s screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) was one of our most popular events with 700 patrons in attendance. By popular demand, we are now presenting the highly-acclaimed sequel, The Godfather Part II— a film many consider superior to the original. Part II is an engrossing gangster drama that continues the saga of the Corleone family. This time the filmmakers tell the story using parallel dramas. One storyline looks back and depicts young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) growing up in Sicily and New York in the 1910s while the second story, set in 1958, is a continuation of the first film’s plot and follows Vito’s son, Michael (Al Pacino), as he expands the family crime business into Las Vegas and Cuba. Coppola’s intent had been to “juxtapose the ascension of the family under Vito Corleone with the decline of the family under his son Michael… I had always wanted to write a screenplay that told the story of a father and son at the same age.” As a result of this storytelling technique, the film offers viewers something more than just a revisit to the original.
Part II features what is arguably Al Pacino’s finest performance as well as an Oscar-winning performance (Best Supporting Actor) by Robert De Niro. Additionally, Coppola’s recreation of a time and place is exceptional due to the evocative cinematography of Gordon Willis; together, they succeeded in creating an authentic period look for both the turn-of-the-century and 1950s America. The film is filled with beautiful sequences, such as the famous scene in which De Niro’s Vito stalks Fanucci from the rooftops during the neighborhood festival.
Nominated for eleven Academy Awards, the film won six including Best Picture. This was the first time a sequel would be nominated for the award. Though the critical reception was mixed at the time of the film’s release, Part II has been reappraised in recent decades and is now recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. This screening of the Coppola restoration is a must-see event that will be presented in our new Megatheatre.
Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone
