The Godfather Part II (DVD, 2005, Widescreen Collection/ Checkpoint)

The sequel to THE GODFATHER tells the story of both a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), newly arrived in America, and his son Michael (Al Pacino) 40 years later, running the family empire. On the streets of Hell's Kitchen in 1917 New York City, Vito is initiated into the ways of the local Cosa Nostra by his friend Clemenza (Bruno Kirby). After killing the local mafioso in a towel-wrapped gun, Vito becomes the new man to be respected and feared. Meanwhile, a dour Michael Corleone negotiates with business partner Hyman Roth (legendary Method-acting teacher Lee Strasberg in his first film role) in Cuba and testifies in front of a Washington Senate committee. Robert Duvall (Tom Hagen), Diane Keaton (Kay Corleone), Talia Shire (Connie Corleone), and John Cazale (Fredo Corleone), reprising their roles from THE GODFATHER, are outstanding as the people forced to watch the new godfather's moral destruction. De Niro, speaking in Italian, captures the mannerisms of Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone from the first film brilliantly. THE GODFATHER PART II is one of the only major sequels ever made that might just surpass the original.