This film essentially begins in Sicily with a young "Vito Andolini" (Oresti Baldini) having just lost his father and witnessing his mother also being murdered by a local Mafia chieftain. Knowing that he is now a target as well the 9 year old boy escapes on a ship to New York and not long afterward arrives in Ellis Island where he is given the last name of "Corleone". The film then fast forwards 57 years with "Michael Corleone" (Al Pacino) presiding over a party for his young son's First Communion party in Nevada. As is customary he meets with those who need to see him with one particularly powerful person named "Senator Pat Geary" (G. D. Spradlin) using the opportunity to attempt to extort some money from him. Little does he know just how vicious Michael actually is and the senator soon changes his tune not long after that. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film constantly shifts its attention from the now grown "Vito Corleone" (played by Robert DeNiro) to his adult son Michael after he inherited the title of Godfather from his father. To that effect, although I didn't particularly care for the repeated flashbacks, the stories of both individuals are so riveting that it didn't really matter that much to me. Likewise, while sequels often fail in comparison to the original film, many people feel that this particular picture is as good as its predecessor and the fact that it won an Oscar for "Best Picture" and received numerous other Academy Award nominations certainly strengthens that argument. On that note, while I agree that this is an excellent film, I have rated it just slightly below the original movie.