The Godfather Part II

The Godfather: Part II is a 1974 film that portrays the early life and career of Vito Corleone, and his son Michael’s attempts to expand and tighten his grip on his crime syndicate decades later.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo.

Michael Corleone

See, all our people are businessmen. Their loyalty's based on that. One thing I learned from Pop was to try to think as people around you think. And on that basis, anything's possible.

I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.

[on the night of the Cuban government's New Year's Eve celebration; just after the countdown, he embraces Fredo and whispers to him ] There's a plane waiting to take us to Miami in an hour. I'd like you to think about it... [breaks away and suddenly grips Fredo to give him the kiss of death] I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. [shakes him] You broke my heart!

Vito Corleone

[to landlord threatening to evict an old widow, in Italian] Do me this favor. I won't forget it. Ask your friends in the neighborhood about me. They'll tell you I know how to return a favor.
[to Don Ciccio, in Sicilian] My father's name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you! [stabs him]

Don Fanucci

[traps Vito in his car, in Sicilian] Young man, I hear you and your friends are stealing goods, but you don't even send a dress to my house. No respect! You know I've got three daughters. This is my neighborhood. You and your friends should show me some respect. You should let me wet my beak a little. I hear you and your friends cleared $600 each. Give me $200 each, for your own protection, and I'll forget the insult. You young punks have to learn to respect a man like me! Otherwise the cops will come to your house and your family will be ruined. Of course, if I’m wrong about how much you stole I’ll take less. And by less, I only mean a hundred bucks less. Now don’t refuse me. Understand, paisan?

Hyman Roth

We're bigger than U.S. Steel.

If I could only live to see it, to be there with you. What I wouldn't give for 20 more years! Here we are, protected, free to make our profits without Kefauver, the goddamn Justice Department and the F.B.I. 90 miles away, in partnership with a friendly government. Ninety miles! It's nothing! Just one small step, looking for a man who wants to be President of the United States, and having the cash to make it possible. Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel.

I'd give four million just to be able to take a piss without it hurting.

I'm going to take a nap. When I wake up, if the money is on the table, I'll know I have a partner. If it isn't, I'll know I don't.

[to Michael] There was this kid I grew up with; he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition, we ran molasses into Canada, made a fortune. Your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts, and there isn't even a plaque, or a signpost or a statue of him in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry. I knew Moe. I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go and I said to myself: this is the business we've chosen. I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!

Connie Corleone

Michael, I hated you for so many years. I think that I did things to myself, to hurt myself so that you'd know - that I could hurt you. You were just being strong for us the way Poppa was, and I forgive you. Can't you forgive Fredo? He's so sweet and helpless without you. You need me, Michael. I wanna take care of you now.

Pat Geary

[addressing the Senate committee hearings on the Corleone Family] For years now a growing number many of my constituents have been of Italian descent. I've come to know them well. They have honored me with their support and with their friendship. I can proudly say that some of my very best friends are Italian-Americans. However, Mr. Chairman, at this time unfortunately, I have to leave these proceedings in order to preside over a very important meeting of my own committee. But before I leave, I do want to say this, that these hearings on the Mafia are in no way whatsoever a slur upon the great Italian people because I can state from my own knowledge and experience that Italian-Americans are among the most loyal, most law-abiding, patriotic, hard-working American citizens in this land. And It would be a shame, Mr. Chairman, if we allowed a few rotten apples to give a bad name to the whole barrel. Because from the time of the Great Christopher Columbus to the time of Enrico Fermi right up to the present day, Italian-Americans have been pioneers in building and defending our nation. They are the salt of the earth, and one of the backbones of this country...

Dialogue

Signora Andolini: [in Sicilian] All my respect, Don Ciccio. You killed my husband because he wouldn't give in to you. And his oldest son Paolo because he swore revenge. But Vito is only nine. And dumb-witted. He never speaks.

Don Ciccio: It's not his words I'm afraid of.

Andolini: He's weak. He couldn't hurt anyone.

Ciccio: But when he grows, he'll grow strong.

Andolini: Don't worry. This little boy can't do a thing to you.

Ciccio: When he's a man, he'll come for revenge.

Peter Clemenza: [in Sicilian] Ehi Vito! Ma tu si sicuru ca iddu rici di sì? (Hey Vito! Are you sure he will say yes?)

Vito Corleone: [in Sicilian and English] Nun ti scantari (Do not worry): I make him an offer he don't refuse. Don't worry!

Senator Pat Geary: The Corleone family has done very well here in Nevada. You own, or you control, two major hotels in Vegas, one in Reno. The licenses were grandfathered in so there was no problem with the Gaming Commission. Now, my sources tell me that you plan to make a move against the Tropigala. They tell me that within a week you're gonna move Klingman out. That's quite an expansion. However, it will leave you with one little technical problem. The license will still be in Klingman's name.

Michael Corleone: Turnbull is a good man.

Geary: Well, let's cut out the bullshit. I don't want to spend any more time here than I have to. You can have the license. The price is $250,000 plus a monthly payment of five percent of the gross of all four hotels, Mr. "Cor-lee-oh-nay."

Michael: Now, the price for the license is less than $20,000, am I right?

Geary: That's right.

Michael: Now, why would I ever consider paying more than that?

Geary: Because I intend to squeeze you. I don't like your kind of people. I don't like to see you come out to this clean country with your oily hair, dressed up in those silk suits, trying to pass yourselves off as decent Americans. I'll do business with you, but the fact is that I despise your masquerade, the dishonest way you pose yourself — yourself and your whole fucking family.

Michael: Senator, we're both part of the same hypocrisy, but never think it applies to my family.

Geary: Okay, some people need to play little games. You play yours. But I want your answer and the money by noon tomorrow. And one more thing: don't you contact me again, ever. From now on, you deal with Turnbull.

Michael: Senator? You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.

Michael Corleone: I have business that's important with Hyman Roth. I don't want it disturbed.

Frank Pentangeli: Then you give your loyalty to a Jew before your own blood.

Michael: You know my father did business with Hyman Roth. He respected him.

Frank: 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!

Fredo Corleone: Sometimes I think I should have married a woman like you did, like Kay — have kids, have a family, for once in my life be more like Pop.

Michael Corleone: It's not easy to be his son, Fredo. It's not easy.

Fredo: Mama used to tease me. She’d say, "You don't belong to me. The Gypsies left you on the doorstep." Sometimes I think it’s true.

Michael: You’re no Gypsy, Fredo.

Fredo: Mikey, I was mad at you! Why couldn’t we spend time like this before?

Hyman Roth: I heard you had some trouble. Stupid, people behaving like that with guns. The important thing is you're all right. Good health is the most important thing, more than success, more than money, more than power.

Michael Corleone: I came here because there's gonna be more bloodshed. I want you to know about it before it happens so that there's no danger of starting another war.

Roth: Nobody wants another war.

Michael: Frank Pentangeli came to my home, and he asked my permission to get rid of the Rosato brothers. When I refused, he tried to have me killed. He was stupid; I was lucky. I'll visit him soon. The important thing is that nothing interfere with our plans for the future, yours and mine.

Roth: Nothing is more important. You're a wise and considerate young man.

Michael: And you're a great man, Mr. Roth. There's much I can learn from you.

Roth: Whatever I can do to help, Michael. You're young. I'm old and sick. What we will do together in the next few months will make history, Michael, history. It's never been done before. Not even your father would dream that such a thing could be possible.

[while travelling the streets of Havana, Cuba, in late 1958]

Michael Corleone: I saw an interesting thing today. A rebel was being arrested, and rather than be taken alive, he pulled the pin on a grenade he had hidden in his jacket. He killed himself and the captain of the command.

Guest: Ah, the rebels are lunatics!

Michael: Maybe. But it occurred to me, the soldiers are paid to fight. The rebels aren't.

Hyman Roth: What does that tell you?

Michael: They can win.

[Michael visits Frank Pentangeli at the Corleones' old estate house]

Michael Corleone: You heard what happened in my home?

Frank Pentangeli: Mike, I almost died myself. We was all so relieved.

Michael: [shouting] In my home! In my bedroom, where my wife sleeps! Where my children come and play with their toys! In my home. I want you to help me take my revenge.

Frank: Michael, anything. What can I do?

Michael: Settle these troubles with the Rosato brothers.

Frank: Mike, I don't understand! I don't— Look, I don't have your brain for big deals, but this is a street thing. That Hyman Roth in Miami, that — he's backing up those son-of-a-bitches.

Michael: I know he is.

Frank: Then why? Why do you ask me to lay down to them, Mike?

Michael: It was Hyman Roth that tried to have me killed. I know it was him.

Frank: Jesus Christ, Mike! Jesus Christ! Look, let's get them all. Let's hit them all, now while we got the muscle.

Michael: My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Now if Hyman Roth sees that I interceded in this thing, in the Rosato Brothers' favor, he's going to think his relationship with me is still good. That's what I want him to think. I want him completely relaxed and confident in our friendship. Then I'll be able to find out who the traitor in my family was.

Note: the bolded portion is ranked #58 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. That portion has often been attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Niccolò Machiavelli, but there are no published sources yet found which predate its use in this film. There is, however, an Italian proverb that follows closely: "Dagli amici mi guardi Iddio, che dai nemici mi guardo io!" – May God protect me from my friends, I protect myself from my enemies. Voltaire said, "God protect me from my friends, I'll take care of my enemies”.

Michael Corleone: [in Sicilian] Tell me something, Ma. What did Papa think, deep in his heart? He was being strong, strong for his family. But by being strong for his family, could he lose it?

Mama Carmela Corleone: You’re thinking about your wife, about the baby you lost. But you and your wife can always have another baby.

Michael: No, I meant, lose his family.

Mama Carmela: But you can never lose your family.

Michael: [nods] Times are changing.

[at the Lake Tahoe house, Michael demands answers from Fredo]

Fredo Corleone: I haven't got a lot to say, Mike.

Michael Corleone: We have time.

Fredo: I was kept pretty much in the dark. I didn't know all that much.

Michael: What about now? Is there anything you can help me out with? Anything you can tell me now?

Fredo: They've got Pentangeli, that's all I can tell you. I didn't know it was gonna be a hit, Mike. I swear to God I didn't know it was gonna be a hit! Johnny Ola bumped into me in Beverly Hills. He said that he wanted to talk. He said that you and Roth were in on a big deal together, and that there was something in it for me if I could help them out. He said you were being tough in the negotiations, but if they could get a little help and close the deal fast, it’d be good for the family.

Michael: And you believed that story? You believed that?

Fredo: He said there was something in it for me, on my own!

Michael: I've always taken care of you, Fredo.

Fredo: Taken care of me? You're my kid brother, and you take care of me? Did you ever think about that? Huh? Did you ever once think about that? "Send Fredo off to do this! Send Fredo off to do that! Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse nightclub somewhere! Send Fredo to pick somebody up at the airport!" I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!

Michael: It was the way Pop wanted it.

Fredo: It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart, not like everybody says, like dumb. I'm smart, and I want respect!

Michael: Is there anything you can tell me about this investigation? Anything more?

Fredo: The Senate lawyer, Questadt. He belongs to Roth.

Michael: Fredo, you're nothing to me now. You're not a brother. You're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the hotels. I don't want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance so I won't be there. You understand?

[walks out]

Fredo: Mikey...

Michael: [to Neri] I don’t want anything to happen to him while my mother is alive.

Michael Corleone: What do you want from me? Do you expect me to let you go? Do you expect me to let you take my children from me? Don't you know me? Don't you know that that's an impossibility, that that could never happen, that I'd use all my power to keep something like that from happening? Don't you know that? Kay, now in time, you'll feel differently. You'll be glad I stopped you now. I know that. I know you blame me for losing the baby. Yes, I know what that meant to you. I'll make it up to you, Kay. I swear I'll make it up to you. I'm gonna change. I'll change. I've learned that I have the strength to change. And you'll forget about this miscarriage. And we'll have another child. And we'll go on, you and I. We'll go on.

Kay Adams-Corleone: Oh, Michael. Michael, you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion. An abortion, Michael! Just like our marriage is an abortion, something that's unholy and evil. I didn't want your son, Michael! I wouldn't bring another one of you sons into this world! It was an abortion, Michael! It was a son, Michael! A son! And I had it killed because this must all end! I know now that it's over. I knew it then. There would be no way, Michael, no way you could ever forgive me, not with this Sicilian thing that's been going on for 2,000 years! [Michael hits her in the face and she slumps on the couch]

Michael: Bitch! You won’t take my children!

Kay: Yes, I will!

Michael: YOU WON’T TAKE MY CHILDREN!

Kay: [meekly] They’re my children, too!

[discussing how to kill Hyman Roth]

Tom Hagen: It would be like trying to kill the President; there's no way we can get to him.

Michael Corleone: Tom, you know you surprise me. If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it's that you can kill anyone.

[Tom visits Frank Pentangeli]

Tom Hagen: When a plot against the emperor failed, the plotters were always given a chance to let their families keep their fortunes. Right?

Frank Pentangeli: Yeah, but only the rich guys, Tom. The little guys got knocked off and all their estates went to the emperors — unless they went home and killed themselves. [realizing] Then nothing happened, and the families — the families were taken care of.

Tom: That was a good break. A nice deal.

Frank: Yeah. They went home and sat in a hot bath, opened up their veins and bled to death, and sometimes they had a little party before they did it.

[flashback to Vito's birthday on December 7, 1941]

Sonny Corleone: Ah, say, what do you think of the nerve of those Japs? Them slanty-eyed bastards, huh? Dropping bombs in our backyard, and on Pop's birthday, you know.

Fredo Corleone: Now, they didn't know it was Pop's birthday.

Sonny: "They didn't know it was Pop's birthday."

Tom Hagen: We should have expected it after the oil embargo.

Sonny: What do you mean, expected it? Expect it or not, they have no right dropping bombs. What are you, a Jap lover or something? Are you on their side?

Salvatore Tessio: I understand thirty thousand men enlisted this morning.

Sonny: A bunch of saps.

Michael: Why are they saps?

Connie Corleone: Sonny, come on, we don't have to talk about the war.

Sonny: Hey, beat it. You go talk to Carlo, alright? They're saps, because they risk their lives for strangers.

Michael: Now that's Pop talking.

Sonny: You're goddamn right that's Pop talking.

Michael: They risk— they risk their lives for their country.

Sonny: Your country ain't your blood. You remember that.

Michael: I don't feel that way.

Sonny: "I don't feel that way." Well, if you don't feel that way, why don't you just quit college and go to-- go to join the Army?

Michael: I did. I enlisted in the Marines.

Tom: [after a silence] Michael, why? Why didn't you come to us? I mean Pop had to pull a lot of strings to get you a deferment.

Michael: I didn't ask for it. I didn't ask for a deferment and I didn't want it.

[Sonny punches Michael and begins to get into a fight]

Sonny: What's wrong—

Tom: Come on. Come on! Knock it off!

Tessio: Sonny!

Sonny: Punk!

Tessio: Sonny. Sonny, sit down.

Sonny: Go on.

Tessio: Sit down.

One of Sonny's twins: Mommy, Daddy's fighting again! [laughs]

Sonny: [to Connie] Go show Carlo the tree.

One of Sonny's twins: Uncle Michael, Mama.

Sonny: Nice. Real nice. Break your father's heart on his birthday.

Fredo: That's swell. Congratulations. [extends his hand to Michael]

Sonny: [pushing Fredo's hand aside] Yeah, go on. Encourage him. I want— I want you to get me a drink. Go on. [Fredo exits]

Tom: Now you don't understand but, uh, your father has big plans for you. Now, many times he and I have talked about your future.

Michael: You talked to my father about my future? My future?

Tom: Mikey, he has high hopes for you!

Michael: Well, I have my own plans for my future.

Sonny: What'd you go to college to get stupid? You're really stupid.

Connie: [returning] He's here! Come on!

Sonny: Come on. Come on. [goes to exit before glancing back to Michael] Stupid.

[All exit while Michael sits at he table alone]

Cast

External links

Wikipedia

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The Godfather Part II

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