The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo , starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro . Partially based on Puzo 's 1969 novel The Godfather , the film is both sequel and prequel to The Godfather , presenting parallel dramas : one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone ( Pacino ) , the new Don of the Corleone crime family , protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life ; the prequel covers the journey of his father , Vito Corleone ( De Niro ) , from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City . It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards , however , and became the first sequel to win for Best Picture . Both The Godfather Part II and its predecessor remain highly influential films in the gangster genre , and the former has been reevaluated . In 1997 , the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history and it retained this position 10 years later .
The Godfather Part II is a TV show.