The Godfather 1972 Drama Gangster Film

Movie Summary:

The Godfather movies are based on a novel of the same name by Mario Puzo which details the rise and fall of a fictitious Italian Mafia family. The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, was a huge hit at the box-office, obliterating all previous records to become the highest-grossing film of all time. (It held this record for three years until Jaws surpassed it in 1975.)

The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia "family", oversees his daughter's wedding. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. Through Michael's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways and look out for community and "family".

An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don's influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Michael, all for the sake of the family.

The film was set and shot in New York, at over 100 locations. Originally the entire film was to be shot in the Hollywood back lots in order to save production costs; however production designer Dean Tavoularis threatened to add two stories to each back lot building in order to replicate the look of New York City, the studio relented and allowed for shooting in New York.

The God Father was voted the "Greatest Film of All Time" by Entertainment Weekly. Ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster" in June 2008.

Awards & Achievements:

• Marlon Brando won a Best Actor Oscar for his role as Vito Corleone. Robert DeNiro, who played the role via flashbacks in Part II, won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. They remain the only two actors to win Oscars for playing the same character.
• The Godfather (1972) won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
• The film was nominated for seven additional Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (James Caan), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Duvall), Best Supporting Actor (Al Pacino), Best Director, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Costume Design. Other awards included five Golden Globes and one Grammy.
• The Godfather, Part II won 6 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, and Best Score) giving it more Oscars than any of the other movies in the trilogy.

Casts & Characters:

• The baby used in Michael and Kay's baby christening scene is Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's daughter. Sofia later had a prominent role in Part III as Michael's daughter, Mary.
• Johnny Fontaine was envisioned by Coppola as a young Sinatra, and was played by singer Al Martino. Martino didn't have much acting experience and was having difficulties getting his expressions and emotions right when the camera was on him. So, when he is in the office with the Godfather, the reason the camera is so often at his back is because he felt uncomfortable and unable to do the scene with the camera focused directly on him.
• Al Pacino and Diane Keaton actually fell in love during the shoot, and were a couple for quite some time.
• Virgil Sollozzo, a rival racketeer, is known as "The Turk" because he owns poppy fields in Turkey. Sollozzo attempts to persuade Don Corleone to join him in the drug business, but Corleone politely refuses. He is reluctant to jeopardize relations with his political contacts and with the other "families".
• According to an August 1971 article by Nicholas Pileggi in The New York Times, a supporting cast member became so committed to his role that he accompanied a group of Mafia enforcers on a trip to beat up strike breakers during a labor dispute. But the enforcers had the wrong address and were unable to find the strike breakers. The actor's name was not revealed.
• Frank Sivero appears as an extra in the scene where Sonny beats up Carlo Rizzi. He would later appear in The Godfather: Part II (1974) as Genco Abbandando.
• The character Moe Greene was modeled after Jewish mobster Bugsy Siegel.

Famous Lines & Scenes:

• In the scene where Vito is in the garden with his grandson, he puts a lemon (or an orange) peel in his mouth, and the kid looks scared. Well, the kid really is scared. Marlon Brando improvised that, and the kid wasn't expecting it.
• The horse's head that was cut off and placed into Woltz's bed was real - it was from a slaughterhouse. They painted on the stripe and added the fake blood. During rehearsals, a false horse's head was used for the bedroom scene. For the actual shot, a real horse's head was used, acquired from a dog-food factory. According to John Marley, his scream of horror was real as he was not informed that a real head was going to be used.
• When Don Corleone dies of a heart attack in the tomato garden, he has an orange in his mouth. The scene was actually improvised because the child actor playing Corleone's grandson was having difficulty performing -- he only reacted once Brando starting playing with the orange. However, the presence of the orange was no accident -- oranges in all three Godfather movies suggest that a death may soon occur. For instance, Vito is shopping for oranges just prior to the assassination attempt on his life, Sonny drives past a billboard promoting Florida Oranges just before he is gunned down at the turnpike tollbooth, and Michael dies with an orange in his hand.
• During the opening scenes of The Godfather, Don Corleone is conducting family business as his daughter Connie celebrates her marriage to Carlo Rizzi, a small-time bookie.
• The movie's line "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." was voted as the #10 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
• The line "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" was selected by the American Film Institute on it's list as one of the top 100 movie quotes, it was at #2 right behind "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" from Gone with the Wind (1939).

Miscellaneous Trivia:

• $6.0 million was the budget for this film.
• The movie is rated R (USA).
• The movie is categorized as... Drama and Gangster.
• A promotional board game titled "The Godfather Game" was released in 1971.
• The early buzz on the film was so positive that a sequel was planned before the film was finished filming.
• Sergio Leone was approached to direct the film, but turned it down since he felt the story, which glorified the Mafia, was not interesting enough. He later regretted refusing the offer, but would go on to direct his own critically acclaimed gangster film, Once Upon a Time in America (1984).
• The name of the traditional Sicilian hat (worn, for instance, by Michael's bodyguards) is "coppola".
• There are approximately 61 scenes in the film that feature people eating/drinking, or just food.
• The mansion of Jack Woltz was also used as the mansion of Alan Stanwyk in Fletch (1985).