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The Godfather (1972)
Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. Cinematography by Gordon Willis. Edited by William Reynolds and Peter Zinner. Produced by Albert S. Ruddy. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Don Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando) is the head of the Corleone family; one of the five major crime families in New York. They make their living with gambling, murder, and other lucrative transgressions, but Don Vito absolutely refuses to get involved in the increasingly popular drug trade, despite his son Sonny’s (played by James Caan) insistence. Sollozzo (played by Al Lettieri), a powerful drug supplier, approaches Don Vito and also tries to convince him, but he will not be persuaded.
This refusal is the initial spark that ignites a full scale war between the five families. And all of this is happening during a time that Don Vito is looking to step down as the head of the family. He makes the controversial decision to appoint his son Michael (played by Al Pacino), a World War II hero, as the new head. As Michael takes the reigns he must learn quickly how to take control of a new kind of battle. Many lives are lost as war rages on in the streets of New York.
Francis Ford Coppola’s dreams of molding American Zoetrope into a bohemian filmmaking society were squashed almost single-handedly by the failures of George Lucas’ THX 1138. Coppola was hurting for money and needed work badly. Meanwhile, back in the City of Angels, Paramount Pictures was looking for a director for their adaptation of The Godfather, a novel that they had helped develop with author Mario Puzo.
Hoping to lend the film a degree of credibility, the studio was seeking a director of Italian decent. After a handful of rejections, Paramount approached Coppola with the project. After the unpleasant experience of Finian’s Rainbow he was not eager to rejoin the studio method of filmmaking, but reluctantly accepted for the job… if for nothing other than a paycheck.
His one stipulation was that he would not make the film to be a showcase for Italian organized crime and disrespect his heritage, rather, by detailing the evolution of a Mafia family he would metaphorically comment on the history of capitalism in America. Despite initial concerns from Evans and the rest of the studio, Coppola finally got his way and The Godfather was on its way.
Coppola captured over ninety hours worth of film in the seventy seven days it took to shoot The Godfather. In the initial cut of the film he had whittled it down to just over two, but when Robert Evans, the vice president in charge of production at Paramount, screened the film he knew that something was missing. He demanded that Coppola go back and edit back in an hour of cut footage that would further play out the intricacies of the story.
Evans’ intuition proved to be flawless. The Godfather went on to be one of the most successful films of all time; not just critically but financially as well (Puzo’s book would also go on to become the biggest novel of the decade). It has found a place on the upper end of almost every critic’s top ten films of all time lists and will be studied and analyzed by film students and enthusiasts for years and years to come.
Budget: $6,000,000
Total US Gross: $134,966,411
Genre: Crime
Runtime: 175 Minutes
US Release Date: 3/24/72
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards:
Academy Awards:
Won for best screenplay based on previous material, best actor, and best picture.
Nominated for best costume design, best editing, best original score, best sound, three times for best supporting actor (James Caan, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall), and best director.
Golden Globes:
Won for best score, best screenplay, best director, best actor (Marlon Brando), and best dramatic picture.
Nominated for best supporting actor, and best actor (Al Pacino).
Directors Guild of America:
Won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.
Writers Guild of America:
Won for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium.
American Film Institute’s Top 100 Lists:
100 Years… 100 Movies (#3)
100 Years… 100 Thrills (#11)
100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes (#2 – “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”)
100 Years of Film Scores (#5).
Tagline: none
Quote: “Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
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