Audiences still debate whether the sequel is better than the original, and with good reason. Coppola and his crew filmed in California, Sicily, and Central America, and faithfully recreated early-20th-century New York to spread the Corleone family story across different eras—from Vito Corleone’s arrival at Ellis Island as a young orphan to his rise as an adult (played by Robert De Niro) in New York’s unforgiving streets to his son Michael’s ascendance (Al Pacino) as a ruthless pater familias—to depict the weight of time and the parallels between the family empire and the rise of American capitalism. (MOMA)