qormi Book 2 doesn't hold a candle to Book One. Standard soap opera fare punctuated by a weekly scene of Falconetti doing something violent, being it slapping a woman or torturing a cockroach. The romance between Rudy and Maggie is challenged by Kate. Rudy sees both of them and must choose. Now, you don't tell a woman that you have to choose between her and another woman. Women don't take this well, so this scenario was not realistic. Also, Rudy and Maggie are perfectly matched - same age, well educated....Kate seems like a giggling teenager and her scenes with Rudy are rather creepy. One common theme here is a lack of motherhood - all of the women in books one and two are lousy mothers. Rudy's mom favored him and ignored her other son, Tom. Julie ignored her son, Billy - sending him off to boarding school. Wes's mom was a prostitute and the courts took him away from her. Wes's stepmom, Kate, told him she didn't want him around. Maggie ignored her daughter, Diane, and sent her off to boarding school. Kate was always apart from her daughter - you never saw her. Ramona's mom died when she was a child. Anyway, the plot was predictable. Billy fell for Annie and kept getting rejected. Estep was always plotting and his goons killed for him. Wes and Ramona never worked it out....the whole thing had a very disappointing ending and nothing was resolved...just a bunch of people with shattered lives and life-threatening injuries. Had Rudy, Wes, or Billy ever bothered to call a cop instead of taking matters into their own hands, everything would have worked out just fine...duh...

FromBookstoFilm This is a hard to find sequel but it is worth having. Performances were well done. Julie Prescott dies in an assignment in Vietnam. Falconetti is released from prison and is out for revenge against the entire Jordache clan,Dwight Dwyer and the significant others of the Jordache men. Rudy wants Falconetti back in prison.Wesley wants Falconetti dead. Billy and his step-cousin Wesley have a great friendship until Billy sleeps with Wesley's girlfriend and becomes pregnant.Wesley then takes up with Diane daughter of his Uncle Rudy's main squeeze (after Julie) Maggie Porter.Rudy also enters into a one time only affair with his late brother's widow Kate who is now the mother of his niece who does not appear in the story but only mentioned. Falconetti is revengeful indeed he murders Dwyer,Kate leaves town to get away from the vengeful Falconetti,beats up Wesley so bad that he ends up in a coma,tries to rape Wesley's second girlfriend in the series Diane Porter and stabs Billy. The instigated murder of his brother Tom,the murder of good friend Dwyer,Kate's fleeing town,Wesley in a coma due to being badly beaten,the attempted rape of his girlfriend's daughter and lastly the stabbing of his stepson Billy throws Rudy into a physical showdown with Falconetti in an alley.Falconetti this time is dead and Rudy either dead or near death as far as Billy goes he might have made it.Wesley might not have made it it's hinted that he might have went the way of his father Tom. Most of the first Rich Man Poor Man fans were not too happy with this sequel and wrote letters to the network at that time "Please no Rich Man Poor Man Book III". Sadly, four years later another sequel an official sequel novel by Irwin Shaw to the original novel came out which was absolutely horrible called Beggarman,Thief. No one from either cast was in the sequel. This sequel begins right after the death of Tom. Wesley is after someone tied in to his father's death but not Falconetti.Billy is not the son of Julie but of Gretchen Tom and Rudy's older sister whose character was combined with two other characters in Rich Man Poor Man Books 1 and 2 was played by Jean Simmons. Jean Simmons is a wonderful actress but she is no Gretchen Abbot Burke.Kate was an English girl just like in the novel and played by Lynn Redgrave. Kay Lenz played Kate as an American girl. Kate in Beggarman Thief had a son by Tom called Tom and Kate unlike the Kate in Rich Man Poor Man 1 and 2 hated Rudy's wife whom she rightfully blamed for Tom's Death.Billy ends up having an affair with a beautiful German terrorist called Monika who ends up dying as a result of being terrorist. Watching the two sequels to Rich Man Poor Man 1 I would say Rich Man Poor Man 2 was the better. Another problem with Beggarman, Thief is that it was a sequel that should have followed a remake of Rich Man Poor Man. Beggarman, Thief is to Rich Man Poor Man what Scarlet was to Gone with the Wind- LOUSY. In order to have a good sequel to an original one needs to have the same cast. Good examples: The Godfather Saga,Richard Lester's Three Musketeers trilogy and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

picklestierney I enjoyed book II because it showed how the family after many year's of fighting and being bitter towards each they finally realized by sticking together they could accomplish so many more things in life. I also liked how Rudy became some what of a father figure for Wesley and Billy. He tried to show them just how important family really is and being bitter about things in their life does not have to continue you have to except the past and learn from it.Once the boy's saw how Rudy was alway's there for them trying to help them learn from their mistakes overcome them with out using their fist help make them better men.He wanted them to overcome their past so they could have a better life.Abuse tore his family apart and knew it had to stop.He also taught them that a good education was very important.I would love to purchase book II to complete the story.

Marcin Kukuczka The continuation of RICH MAN POOR MAN is entirely different from the very beginning. Rudi Jordache (Peter Strauss) makes the political career and leaves Julie Prescott. What is more, it is no longer the story of two different brothers because one of them, Tom, is dead. A kind of replacement for his character appears to be Wesley (Gregg Henry), his son. He is similar, gets into trouble as easily as his father did, and even behaves in a similar fashion. Into view comes Julie's son, Billy Abbot, who is, on the one hand, very ambitious and good at his job, but, on the other hand, falls into serious problems. The sequel is equally involving.Most of the content is occupied by two major plots: the problems that Rudi has to cope with as a senator (one of them is indeed the investigation of the mysterious scandals of Tricorp company, the mysterious past of Estepp's wife, and Jordache-Estepp conflict) and the story of Falconetti, who is set free from prison and seeks revenge on the senator and his family.The whole story is showed equally well as the first 12 parts. As I already wrote in my previous comments on RICH MAN POOR MAN Book II, all characters are ambiguous, not totally good or evil. Nevertheless, Rudi appears to be better than in the first part. His career is not so much of utmost importance but he looks at other people's happiness too. He cares for Tom's son Wesley; helps Billy financially, and aims at other values in life. All other characters are, like most people, very unique. Two interesting new characters, worth mentioning are: Annie Addams (Cassie Yates), who wants to be famous, but later realizes that career is not the most important thing in life; and Ramona (Penny Peyser) who is a wonderful individual, especially when applied to her attitude towards abortion (young girls and women should see it).The acting is EXCELLENT. Most cast perform very well. I particularly like Peter Strauss as a tired senator seeking for a calm life, William Smith as crazy Falconetti, and Susan Sullivan as ambitious but jealous Maggie.After the sad final scene of dying Rudi, noticed by nobody, I came into conclusion that there is one message not directly but rather implicitly conveyed at the end. The most important thing in life is not career, not riches, not even fame. It is friendship. Friendship between Wess and Roy, between Wess and Rudi, and every single friendship in everyone's life...I would recommend everyone to see both parts of RICH MAN POOR MAN. It is, though quite long, a wonderful lesson of life.