The Godfather: Part II

THE GODFATHER:

Part Two

Screenplay by

Mario Puzo

and

Francis Ford Coppola

SECOND DRAFT:

September 24, 1973

FADE IN:

The Paramount Pictures logo is presented over a simple black

background, as a single trumpet plays the familiar theme of

a waltz. White lettering fades in:

Mario Puzo's THE GODFATHER

There is a pause, as the trumpet concludes, and there is the

additional title: - Part Two -

INT. DON CORLEONE'S OLD OFFICE - CLOSE VIEW ON MICHAEL

CORLEONE - DAY

standing impassively, like a young Prince, recently crowned

King.

CLOSE VIEW ON Michael's hand. ROCCO LAMPONE kisses his hand.

Then it is taken away. We can SEE only the empty desk and

chair of Michael's father, Vito Corleone. We HEAR, over

this, very faintly a funeral dirge played in the distance,

as THE VIEW MOVES SLOWLY CLOSER to the empty desk and chair.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. A SICILIAN LANDSCAPE - FULL VIEW - DAY

We can barely make out the funeral procession passing over

the burnt-brown of a dry river bed. The figures move

slowly, seemingly from out of hundreds of years of the past.

The MUSICIANS walking unsteadily on the rocky bed, their

instruments harsh and blaring.

They are followed by six young peasant men, carrying the

crude wooden coffin on their shoulders. Then the widow, a

strong large woman, dressed in black, and not accepting the

arms of those walking with her.

Behind her, not more than twenty relatives, few children and

paisani continue alone behind the coffin.

Suddenly, we HEAR the shots of the lupara, and the musicians

stop their playing. The entire procession scatters in odd

directions along the rocky river bed.

The young men struggle with the burden of the heavy coffin,

throwing it out of balance and nearly crashing to the ground.

We hear a woman SCREAMING:

WOMAN:

(Sicilian)

They've killed young Paolo! They've

killed the boy Paolo!

EXT. SICILIAN LANDSCAPE - MED. VIEW - DAY

across the slain body of a fourteen year old boy, lying on

the parched ground. In the distance we see four or five of

the mourning women, the wind blowing their black dresses and

veils, running up to the body of the boy. They begin to

wail, and cry out in anguished Sicilian, as the widow, the

mother of the murdered boy, holds her child in her arms, his

fresh blood wetting her strong hands.

EXT. BARONIAL ESTATE - TIGHT MOVING VIEW - DAY

A boy, eight or nine, with wide, frightened eyes, being

pulled quickly by the hand. This is VITO ANDOLINI, who is

to become The Godfather.

The VIEW ALTERS revealing that he is being pulled along by

his Mother, the Widow, across a field leading to the

ornamental gates of a Baronial Estate of some forgotten Noble.

At various positions near the gates are men with shotguns,

or lupara. The gates are opened; and the Widow and her boy

are shown before DON FRANCESCO, a man in his sixties. He

wears his trousers with suspenders, and an open white shirt

sloppily tucked in over his enormous belly. He wears a hat

to protect him from the white-hot sun, and proudly displays

a gold watch and chain over his vest.

He sits in a chair, near a group of his men in the garden,

listening to the Widow, who stands before him with her only

son.

WIDOW:

(Sicilian)

Don Francesco. You murdered my

husband, because he would not bend.

And his oldest son Paolo, because

he swore revenge. But Vitone is

only nine, and dumb-witted. He

never speaks.

DON FRANCESCO:

(Sicilian)

I'm not afraid of his words.

WIDOW:

(Sicilian)

He is weak.

DON FRANCESCO:

(Sicilian)

He will grow strong.

WIDOW:

(Sicilian)

The child cannot harm you.

DON FRANCESCO:

(Sicilian)

He will be a man, and then he will

come for revenge.

As she pleads, the Widow moves closer to the Don, until she

has practically thrown herself to her knees before him.

WIDOW:

(Sicilian)

I beg you, Don Francesco, spare my

only son. He is all I have. In

the name of the Holy Spirit, I

swear he will never be a danger to

you...

Suddenly, she reaches under her skirt, where she has hidden

a kitchen knife.

WIDOW:

(continuing)

But I will kill you myself!

(she lunges at the

Mafia chieftain)

Vitone, go!

The boy runs as fast as he can out through the gates. Then

there is a lupara blast. He turns, and sees his Mother

flung a distance of five feet from the short range of the

terrible blast of the shotgun. Then he sees the men turn

their attention to him. One fires at him; but the boy is

quick, and disappears into a grove of olive trees.

EXT. STREETS OF CORLEONE - NIGHT

Two men roam the deserted streets of Corleone, carrying

lupare. Every so often, they stop, and one shouts in a

loud, almost singsong voice, like a fish peddler. Their

names are MOSCA and STROLLO.

MOSCA:

(Sicilian)

Our Friend promises misery to

anyone who harbors the boy Vito

Andolini.

(he turns and shouts

in the other direction)

Our Friend promises misery to

anyone who harbors the boy Vito

Andolini.

INT. A HOUSE - NIGHT

A family quietly eats their dinner. The father is the local

policeman, as indicated by his uniform jacket and gun,

hanging nearby.

STROLLO:

(Sicilian, O.S.)

Our Friend will be hard with any

family who gives help to Vito

Andolini.

One of the children looks up, about to speak. But the

father sternly indicates that nothing must be said. They go

on with their dinner.

EXT. THE STREETS OF CORLEONE - FULL VIEW - NIGHT

The men continue walking up and throughout the streets, far

in the distance.

MOSCA:

(Sicilian O.S.)

...misery to any family who harbors

the boy, Vito...

INT. A BARN - NIGHT

Four little girls watch with wide eyes as their mother and

father bind Vito tightly in swaddled cloth, and then lift

him up to the side of a mule; counter-balancing a heavy load

of firewood. The father looks at the boy's almost stoically

calm little face.

FATHER:

(Sicilian)

Vito...We pray for you.

He pulls the fabric over the boy's face.

MOSCA:

(Sicilian O.S.)

...Andolini...

STROLLO:

(Sicilian O.S.)

Our Friend promises misery to any

family...

EXT. THE CHURCH PLAZA - NIGHT

The men continue on their night-walk, up to the plaza of the

church.

STROLLO:

(Sicilian)

...who harbors the boy Vitone

Andolini.

The figure of a single man on a mule passes them.

MOSCA:

(Sicilian)

Let no one give help to the boy

Vito Andolini...

The man on the mule makes his way out of the village and

disappears into the distance.

We begin to hear, very quietly, the Waltz repeated once again.

EXT. STEAMSHIP - CLOSE VIEW ON VITO - DAY

huddled in blankets, on the deck of the ship in Steerage.

He does not say a word. The Waltz grows louder as the VIEW

ALTERS, revealing the hundreds of immigrant families huddled

together with all their earthly possessions on their way to

America.

Then, suddenly, the Waltz stops.

THE NEW YORK HARBOR - DAY

SILENCE. We glide past the Statue of Liberty.

VIEW on the IMMIGRANTS standing on shipboard silently;

looking. Vito is standing with them, his eyes wide.

CAMERA MOVES IN on the statue, then MOVING PAST, on to the

beautiful buildings of Ellis Island.

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