The Godfather

Table of Contents

The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Pozo, based on Pozo’s best-selling 1969 film of the same title. Based on the novel. It is the first installment of the Godfather trilogy, set from 1945 to 1955 under Vito Corleone (Brando), patriarch of the Corleone family. It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from family scoundrel to ruthless mafia boss.

Directed by
Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay by
Mario Pozo
Francis Ford Coppola
Based on
God father
By Mario Puzo
Prepared by
Albert S. Roddy
Acting
Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
James Kane
Richard Castellano
Robert Duvall
Sterling Hayden
John Marley
Richard Conte
Diane Keaton
Cinematography.
Gordon Willis
Edited by
William Reynolds
Peter Zinner
Music by
Nano rota
production
Companies
Paramount Pictures
Alfaran Productions
shared by
Paramount Pictures
Release dates.
March 14, 1972 (Lowe’s State Theatre)
March 24, 1972 (United States)
running time
175 minutes[1]
Country
United States
language
English
Budget
$6–7.2 million[N 1]
Box office
$250–291 million[N 2]

Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to the novel for $80,000, before it became popular.[3][4] Studio executives had difficulty finding a director. The first few candidates turned down the position before Coppola signed on to direct the film, but disagreements arose over the casting of several characters, notably, Vito (Marlon Brando) and Michael (Al Pacino). Filming took place primarily around New York City and in Sicily, and was completed ahead of schedule. The musical score was composed primarily by Nino Rota, with additional pieces by Carmen Coppola.

The Godfather premiered at Lowe’s State Theater on March 14, 1972, and was widely released in the United States on March 24, 1972. It was the highest-grossing film of 1972, and for a time the highest-grossing film of all time. , grossing between $250 and $291 million at the box office. The film received universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike, with praise in particular for Brando and Pacino’s performances, direction, screenplay, cinematography, editing, score, and portrayal of the Mafia. The Godfather served as a catalyst for the successful careers of Coppola, Pacino, and other relative newcomers to the cast and crew. The film also revived Brando’s career, which had declined in the 1960s, and he starred in films such as Last Tango in Paris, Superman, and Apocalypse Now. At the 45th Academy Awards, the film won Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Pozzo and Coppola). In addition, seven other Oscar nominations included Pacino, Cain, and Duvall for Best Supporting Actor, and Coppola for Best Director.

The Godfather is considered one of the greatest and most influential films of all time, as well as a landmark of the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990, deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and is recognized by American film as a landmark in American cinema (behind Citizen Kane). The Institute was followed by sequels The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990).

The plot

In 1945 New York City, Don Vito Corleone of the Corleone crime family listens to his daughter Connie’s pleas during her wedding to Carlo. Michael, Vito’s youngest son and a former Marine, introduced his girlfriend, Kay Adams, to his family at the reception. Johnny Fontaine, a popular singer and Vito’s godson, enlists Vito’s help in securing a film role. Vito sent his conspirator Tom Hagen to convince studio head Jack Woltz to offer him the part of Johnny. Woltz initially refuses Hagen’s request, but soon complies after finding the severed head of his prized racing horse on his bed.

Around Christmas, drug lord Solluzzo asks Vito to invest in his drug business and protect him from the law. Vito refused, saying that involvement in drugs would destroy his political connections. Suspicious of Solluzzo’s involvement with the Tattaglia crime family, Vito sends his enforcer Luca Brasi on a spying mission to the Tattaglias. Bracy is killed during the initial meeting. Later, the enforcers shoot Vito and kidnap Hagen. With Vito’s first-born Sonny in command, Sollozzo pressures Hagen to convince Sonny to accept the drug deal. Sonny avenged Brasi’s death with a hit on Bruno Tattaglia. Vito survives the shooting and is visited in the hospital by Michael, who finds it unsafe after NYPD officers clear Vito’s bodyguards on Solluzzo’s payroll. Michael foils another attempt on his father’s life but is killed by corrupt police captain Mark McCluskeyA Solluzzo and McCluskey request a meeting ith Michael and resolve the dispute. Michael shows interest and agrees to meet, but Sonny and Corleone, along with Capo Clemenza, plan to kill them and go into hiding. After Clemenza retrieves the handgun he planted in the bathroom, he shoots and kills both men.

Despite the authorities’ strict sanctions over the killing of the police captain, the five families erupted into open warfare. Michael takes refuge in Sicily and Vito’s other son, Fredo, is sheltered by Mo Green in Las Vegas. When he abuses her again, Soni rushes to their home but is ambushed and killed by goons at a highway tollbooth. In Sicily, Michael meets and marries Apollonia, a local woman, but he is killed soon after by a car bomb intended for her.

The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Pozo, based on Pozo’s best-selling 1969 film of the same title. Based on the novel. . It is the first installment of the Godfather trilogy, set from 1945 to 1955 under Vito Corleone (Brando), patriarch of the Corleone family. It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from family scoundrel to ruthless mafia boss.

Directed by
Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay by
Mario Pozo
Francis Ford Coppola
Based on
God father
By Mario Puzo
Prepared by
Albert S. Roddy
Acting
Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
James Kane
Richard Castellano
Robert Duvall
Sterling Hayden
John Marley
Richard Conte
Diane Keaton
Cinematography.
Gordon Willis
Edited by
William Reynolds
Peter Zinner
Music by
Nano rota
production
Companies
Paramount Pictures
Alfaran Productions
shared by
Paramount Pictures
Release dates.
March 14, 1972 (Lowe’s State Theatre)
March 24, 1972 (United States)
running time
175 minutes[1]
Country
United States
language
English
Budget
$6–7.2 million[N 1]
Box office
$250–291 million[N 2]

Devastated by Sonny’s death and tired of the war, Vito meets with the five families. He assures them that he will withdraw his opposition to their drug dealing and stop avenging Sonny’s murder. With his father nearing the end of his life and Fredo no longer fit for leadership, Michael Corleone takes over as head of the family. Vito reveals to Michael that it was Don Barzini who ordered the killing of Sonny and warns him that Barzini will try to kill him at a meeting organized by a traitorous Corleone Capo. With Vito’s support, Michael leaves Hagen to manage operations in Las Vegas since he is not a “wartime consultant”. Michael travels to Las Vegas to buy Green’s stake in the family’s casino and is upset to find that Fredo is more loyal to Green than to his family.

In 1955, Vito died of a heart attack while playing with his grandson. At Vito’s funeral, Tessio asks Michael to visit Barzini, hinting at his betrayal. The meeting is scheduled for the same day as Connie’s baby’s baptism. While Michael stands at the altar as the child’s godfather, Corleone kills the Greens in addition to the Dons of the Hitman Five Families, and Tessio is executed (offscreen) for his betrayal. Michael extracts Carlo’s confession to his role in Sonny’s murder, assuring Carlo that he is only being deported, not murdered. Afterward, Clemenza kills Carlo. Connie confronts Michael about Carlo’s death while Kay is in the room. Kay asks Michael if Connie is telling the truth and is relieved when he denies it. As Kay leaves, the capos enter the office and salute Michael as “Don Corleone” before closing the door.

The cast

Richard Castellano as Peter Clemenza: A caporgem in the Corleone crime family, Sonny’s godfather.
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen: Corleone consular, lawyer, and unofficially adopted member of the Corleone family.
Sterling Hayden as Captain McCluskey: A corrupt police captain on Solluzzo’s payroll
John Marley as Jack Woltz: A Hollywood film producer who is terrified of the Corleones.
Richard Conte as Emilio Barzini: The crime boss of a rival family
Al Lettieri as Virgil Solluzzo: An antagonist who pressures Vito to go into the drug business, backed by the Tattaglia family.

Rudy Bond as Kaneo: The crime boss of a rival family
Al Martino as Johnny Fontaine: A singer
Morgana King as Mama Corleone: Vito’s wife
Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi: The Veto Enforcer
Johnny Martino as Pauly Gatto: A soldier in the Corleone crime family
Salvatore Corsetto as Amerigo Bonacera: The Undertaker who demands Connie’s hand in marriage.
Richard Bright as Neri: Corleone crime family soldier who becomes Michael’s enforcer.
Alex Rocco as Mo Green
Tony Giorgio as Bruno Tattaglia
Vito Scotti as the Nazarene
Teri Livrano as Theresa Hagen: Tom’s wife

Jenny Linero as Lucy Mancini
Julie Gregg as Sandra Corleone
Ardell Sheridan as Mrs. Clemenza
Other actors playing minor roles in the Sicilian setting include Simonetta Stefanelli as Apollonia Vitelli Corleone, Angelo Infiniti as Fabrizio, Corrado Gaipa as Don Tomasino, Franco Setti as Callow and Saro Arzi as Vitelli.

production

YThe film is based on Mario Pozo’s The Godfather, which spent 67 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and sold more than nine million copies in two years.][9][10] Released in 1969, it was a classic for many years. I became a best-selling published work.Paramount Pictures originally learned of Pozo’s novel in 1967 when a literary scout for the company asked then-Paramount Vice President of Production Peter Bart. Pozo was approached about an unfinished sixty-page draft of Mafia. Bart believed that the work was “far beyond a Mafia story” and offered Pozo a $12,500 option for the work, There was an option for $80,000 if the completed work was made into a film.Despite Pozo’s agent telling him to turn down the offer, Pozo was desperate for the money and accepted the contract. Paramount’s Robert Evans recounts that, when they met in early 1968, he offered Pozzo the contract after the writer confided in him that he needed $10,000 urgently to pay off gambling debts.

In March 1967, Paramount announced that they backed Pozo’s upcoming work in hopes of making a film. In 1969, Paramount confirmed their intentions to make a film of the novel for $80,000, with the goal of releasing the film on Christmas Day 1971.On March 23, 1970, Albert S. Rudy was officially announced as the film’s producer, in part because studio executives were impressed by his interviews and because he wanted to make his films less popular. known to bring in the budget.

direction

Evans wanted an Italian American to direct the picture to make the film “ethnic to the core”.Paramount’s latest mafia film, The Brotherhood, fared poorly at the box office. Evans believed that its failure was due to the almost complete lack of cast members or creative staff of Italian descent (director Martin Ritt and star Kirk Douglas were not Italian). Sergio Leone was Paramount’s first choice to direct the film. Leone turned down the option to star in his own gangster film Once Upon a Time in America. His Peter Bogdanovich was later approached but also turned down the offer as he was not interested in the Mafia.Also, Peter Yates, Richard Brooks, Arthur Penn, Costa-Gevaras , and Otto Preminger were all offered the position and turned it down. Evans’ chief assistant Peter Bart recommended Francis Ford Coppola as the director of The Italian Ancestry for his latest film. After the poor reception of The Rain People, Coppola initially turned down the job because he found Pozo’s novel to be cheap and sensational, calling it “too At the time, Coppola’s studio, American Zoetropy,owed Warner Bros. over $400,000 over budget for the film THX 1138, and when its poor Financial status as well as advice from friends and family With , Coppola reversed his initial decision and accepted the jo Coppola was officially announced as the film’s director on September 28, 1970. Coppola agreed to receive $125,000 plus six percent of the gross.Coppola later sought a deeper theme for the material and decided to make the film a family history, not about organized crime. America should be a metaphor for capitalism.

Coppola and Paramount

Before The Godfather went into production, Paramount was going through a rough patch. In addition to the failure of The Brotherhood, other recent films produced by or co-produced with Paramount went way over their budgets: Darling Lily, [19] Paint Your Wagon, and Waterloo. The budget for the film was originally $2.5 million, but as the popularity of the book grew, Coppola argued and eventually received a larger budget. Shot behind the scenes of the city and studio to cut costs.Coppola objected and wanted to set the film in the same period as the novel, the 1940s and 1950s; and America in the years following World War II. The novel was quickly becoming a success and so Coppola’s wishes were eventually granted.Studio heads later allowed Coppola to film on location in New York City and Sicily.

Gulf+Western executive Charles Blahdorn was frustrated with Coppola for conducting screen tests without finding someone to play the various roles. Coppola’s indecisiveness and conflicts with Paramount quickly set production back, causing costs to hover around $40,000 per day. With costs mounting, Paramount assigned then-Vice President Jack Ballard to production. He ordered to keep a close eye on the expenses. During filming, Coppola said he felt he could be fired at any time because he knew Paramount executives were not happy with many of his decisions. Coppola knew that Evans had asked Elia Kazan to direct the film because he feared that Coppola was too inexperienced to handle the increased size of T. That production.Coppola also believed that Film editorIram Avakian and assistant director Steve Kestner were plotting to fire him. Avakian complained to Evans that he could not edit the scenes properly because Coppola was not producing enough footage. Evans was satisfied with the footage being sent to the West Coast and authorized Coppola to fire the two. Coppola later explained: “Like the Godfather, I fired people as a preemptive strike. The people who were trying the hardest to fire me, I fired.

Paramount wanted The Godfather to appeal to a wider audience and threatened Coppola with a “violence coach” to make the film more exciting. Coppola added some more violent scenes to keep the studio happy. The scene in which Connie breaks the crockery after Carlo discovers the deception was included for this reason.

writing

On April 14, 1970, it was revealed that Paramount had hired Pozo for $100,000, along with a percentage of the film’s profits, to work on the film’s screenplay. Working from the book, Coppola Wanting to keep themes of culture, character, power, and family at the forefront of the film, Pozzo wanted to retain aspects of his novel[53] and his 150-page initial draft was completed on August 10, 1970. After Coppola was hired as director, both Pozo and Coppola worked on the screenplay, but separately. Pozo worked on his draft in Los Angeles, while Coppola wrote his version in San Francisco. Coppola created a book where he tore out pages from Pozo’s book and pasted them into his own book. There, he made notes about each of the book’s fifty scenes, related to the scene. Among the main topics prevalent in the film is whether the scene should be included in the film, along with the ideas and concepts that could be used during filming to make the film come true. Italian Culture The two stayed in touch as they wrote their respective screenplays and decided what to add and remove for the final version.A second draft was completed on March 1, 1971. and was 173 pages long. The final screenplay was finished on March 29, 1971, and was 163 pages long, including 40 pages that Paramount had requested. While making the film, Coppola referred to the notebooks he made on the final draft of the screenplay.Screenwriter Robert Towne did uncredited work on the script, particularly the Pacino-Brando scene. Despite completing the third draft, some scenes in the film had not yet been written and were written during production.

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Theatrical

The Godfather had its world premiere on Tuesday 14 March 1972 at Loews’ State Theater in New York City, about three months after its planned release date of Christmas Day 1972.for profit. With. The premiere was given to the Boys Club of New York. Prior to the film’s premiere, the film had already earned $15 million in advance rentals from over 400 theaters. The following day the film opened in five New York theaters (Loew’s State I and II, Orpheum, Cine and Tower East)It was followed by the Imperial Theater in Toronto on March 17 and then two theaters in Los Angeles on March 22. The Godfather was released nationwide on March 24, 1972. Five days later, it reached 316 theaters.

Home media

The television rights were sold to NBC for a record $10 million for a single show over two nights. A theatrical version of The Godfather debuted on American network television on NBC with only minor edits. The first half of the film aired on Saturday, November 16, 1974, and the second half two days later.Tele The broadcast of The Vision attracted a large audience with an average Nielsen rating of 38.2 and an audience share of 59%, making it the eighth most-watched film on television, the second half broadcast of T Got the third best rating for the film on V. Airport and Love Story with a 39.4 rating and a 57% share.[155] The broadcast helped build anticipation for an upcoming sequel.[154] The following year, Coppola directed The Godfather for American television. Saga was clearly created in a release that combined unused footage from The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with unused footage from those two films in a historical narrative that was violent, sexual, and profane for NBC. Reduces content. debuted on November 18, 1977. In 1981, Paramount released the Godfather Epic boxed set, which also tells the story of the first two films in chronological order, then with additional scenes, but not edited for broadcast sensitivity. The Godfather trilogy was released in 1992, with the films primarily chronological.

The Godfather Family: A Look Inside was a 73-minute documentary film released in 1991. The film Feto was directed by Jeff Warner. It includes some behind-the-scenes footage of all three films, interviews with the actors, and screen tests. The Godfather DVD Collection was released on October 9, 2001 in a package containing all three. The films were included—each with a commentary track by Coppola—and a bonus disc featuring The Godfather Family: A Look Inside.[159] The DVD included the Corleone family tree, the “Godfather” timeline, and the Academy Award. Acceptance speechesFootage was also kept.

The Godfather: The Coppola Revival

During the film’s original theatrical release, the original negative was destroyed due to too many reels being printed to meet demand. In addition, duplicate negatives were lost in the Paramount archives. In 2006, Coppola approached Steven Spielberg—whose studio DreamWorks had recently been purchased by Paramount—about reviving The Godfather.To Robert A. Harris was hired to oversee the restoration of The Godfather and its two sequels, with Willis, the film’s cinematographer, participating in the restoration.Work began in November 2006 by repairing the negatives so that they would be digital. Can produce high-resolution 4K files through the scanner. If a negative was damaged and discolored, it was digitally manipulated to restore it to its original form. After a year and a half of work on the restoration, the project was completed. Paramount called the finished product The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration and released it to releasedDave Kehr of The New York Times believed that the revival returned “the golden glow of his original theatrical release.Overall, the film’s revival was met with mixed reviews from critics and Coppola. was well received .The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration includes several new special features played in high definition, (including additional scenes, behind-the-scenes footage etc.