What happens at this point is that delicious sensation of letting-go familiar to readers of huge 19th century novels, but much less readily available to a moviegoer today. In TIME’s Godfather Part II review, titled “The Final Act of a Family Epic” - who knew, back then, that every movie epic had to be a trilogy? - Richard Schickel described the Lake Tahoe scene of a party celebrating Michael’s son’s First Communion and noted: Both won Oscars for Best Picture - the first and only time that’s happened - and made enduring stars of De Niro, Al Pacino (as Michael Corleone), Diane Keaton (Michael’s wife Kay), James Caan (his brother Sonny) and Robert Duvall (Consigliere Tom Hagen). Third time was not the charm, but the first two were sensationally popular, influential and cherished. 12, 1974 it arrived in theaters about a week after) and The Godfather Part III in 1990. Coppola provided these anecdotal nuggets in a commentary on the 2001 five-disc DVD of the saga he made from Mario Puzo’s novels: The Godfather in 1972, The Godfather Part II 40 years ago (its New York premiere was Dec.
