the story of the greatest movie ever (the godfather)
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film[2] directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's 1969 best-selling novel of the same title.
The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton
. It is the first installment in the Godfather trilogy, which chronicles the Corleone family during the reign of patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando) from 1945 to 1955.
It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from a family outsider to a ruthless mafia boss. .
Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to the novel for $80,000, before it gained popularity. Studio executives had difficulty finding a director.
The first few candidates declined the position before Coppola signed on to direct the film, but controversy ensued over the casting of several characters, in particular, Vito (Marlon Brando) and Michael (Al Pacino)
. Filming took place primarily on location around New York City and in Sicily, and was completed ahead of schedule. The score was composed primarily by Nino Rota, with additional compositions by Carmine Coppola.
The Godfather premiered at Loew'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 was the highest-grossing film of all time.
, grossing between $250 to $291 million at the box office.
The film was acclaimed by critics and audiences, who praised its performances—particularly those of Brando and Pacino—in its direction, screenplay, writing, story, cinematography, editing, score, and portrayal of the mafia. The Godfather launched the successful careers of Coppola,
Pacino, and other relative newcomers to the cast and crew. At the 45th Academy Awards, the film won Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Puzo and Coppola). Additionally, the other seven Oscar nominations included Pacino
, Cahn, and Duvall, all for Best Supporting Actor, and Coppola for Best Director.
The Godfather is considered one of the greatest and most influential films of all time, and a landmark in the gangster film genre.[5] It was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress's U.S. National Film Registry in 1990, as it is considered "culturally
, historically, or aesthetically significant" and is ranked as the second greatest film of American cinema (behind Citizen Kane) by the American Film Institute. It was followed by a sequel, The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). Pauline Kael wrote:
“If ever there was a great example of how the best popular films emerge from the fusion of commerce and art, The Godfather is it
In 1945, Vito Corleone, of the Corleone family in New York City, listens to requests during his daughter Connie's wedding to Carlo. Vito's youngest son, Michael, a Marine who has thus far stayed away from the family business, introduces his girlfriend, Kay Adams,
to his family at the reception. Johnny Fontaine, a famous singer and Vito's godson, asks for Vito's help in landing a role in the movie. Vito sends his advisor Tom Hagen to convince studio head Jack Waltz to offer Johnny the role. Woltz initially refused Hagen's request
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, but soon complied after finding the severed head of his prized horse in his bed.
As Christmas approaches, drug baron Sollozzo asks Vito to invest in the drug trade and police protection. Vito refuses, saying that involvement with drugs would alienate his political connections. Suspecting Sollozzo's partnership with the Tattaglia crime family,
Vito sends his enforcer Luca Brasi to the Tattaglia family on a spy mission. Bracy was hacked to death during the initial meeting. Later, the enforcers shot Vito and forced Hagen to attend a meeting. With Vito's firstborn Sonny now in charge,
Sollozzo pressures Hagen to convince Sonny to accept the drug deal. Vito survives the shooting and Michael visits him in the hospital, finding him unprotected after Sollozzo's paid NYPD officers fire off Vito's guards. Michael foils an assassination attempt on his father but is beaten by corrupt police chief Mark McCloskey. After trying to trash the hospital, Sonny retaliates by beating up Bruno Tattaglia. Sollozzo and
McCluskey ask to meet with Michael and settle the dispute. Michael feigns interest and agrees to meet, but hatches a plan with Sonny and Corleone capo Clemenza to kill them and go into hiding. Michael meets Sollozzo and McCloskey at a Bronx restaurant;
After recovering the gun that Clemenza had planted in the bathroom, he shot and killed the two men.
Despite the crackdown launched by the authorities after the killing of a police captain, open war broke out between the five families. Michael takes refuge in Sicily, while Fredo, Vito's second son, takes refuge in Las Vegas. Sonny publicly attacks and threatens Carlo because he physically abused Connie. When he mistreats her again, Sonny rushes to their house but is ambushed and killed by gangsters at a highway toll booth
. In Sicily, Michael meets and marries a local woman named Apollonia, but she is killed shortly afterwards by a car bomb intended for him.
Devastated by Sonny's death and tired of the war, Vito holds a meeting with the Five Families. He assured them that he would withdraw his opposition to their drug trade and give up revenge for Sonny's death. After ensuring his safety, Michael returns home to enter the family business and marry Kay.
Kay gave birth to two children in the early 1950s. With his father nearing the end of his life and Fredo no longer able to lead, Michael takes over as head of the Corleone family.
Vito reveals to Michael that Don Barzini was the one who ordered the hit on Sonny and warns him that Barzini will try to kill him at a meeting organized by the traitorous Capo Corleone.
With Vito's support, Michael transfers Hagen to run operations in Las Vegas because he is not a "wartime advisor." Michael travels to Las Vegas to buy Greene's share in the family casinos and is dismayed to see that Fredo is more loyal to Greene than he is to his family.
In 1955, Vito died of a heart attack while playing with Michael's son Anthony.
At Vito's funeral, Tessio asks Michael to meet Barzini, suggesting his betrayal.
The meeting was scheduled to take place on the same day as Kony's baby's baptism
. While Michael stands at the altar as the child's godfather, the Corleone assassins kill the five families' children, as well as Green, and Tessio is executed for his betrayal
. Michael extracted Carlo's confession of playing a role in Sonny's murder. He assured Carlo that he would be banished and not killed before Clemenza strangled Carlo. Connie confronts Michael about his involvement in Carlo's death while Kay is in the room.
Kay asks Michael if she is telling the truth and is relieved when he denies carrying out the murder. As she leaves, the Capos enter the office and honor Michael with the title "Don Corleone."
The film is based on Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for 67 weeks and sold more than nine million copies in two years. Published in 1969, it became the best-selling published work in history for several years
.[12] Burt Lancaster and Danny Thomas have both expressed interest in adapting the book. Paramount Pictures originally discovered Puzo's novel in 1967 when one of the company's then-literary scouts contacted Paramount's vice president of production Peter Bart about Puzo's unfinished sixty-page manuscript titled The Mafia. Bart thought the work "went far beyond a mafia story" and offered Puzo an option of $12,500 for the work,
with an option of $80,000 if the finished work was made into a film. Although Puzo's agent asked him to turn down the offer, Puzo was desperate for money and accepted the deal. Paramount's Robert Evans recounts that when they met in early 1968, he offered Puzo the deal after the author confided in him that he desperately needed $10,000 to pay off gambling debts.
In March 1967, Paramount announced that it was backing Puzo's next work in hopes of producing a film.
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In 1969, Paramount confirmed its intention to produce a film based on the novel at a price of $80,000,
with the intention of releasing the film on Christmas Day 1971. On March 23, 1970, Officially announcing Albert S. Rudy was hired as the film's producer, partly because studio executives liked to meet him and because he was known for making his films under budget.
Evans wanted the film to be directed by an Italian American to make the film "ethnic to the core." Paramount's most recent mafia film, The Brotherhood, performed very poorly at the box office;
Evans believes its failure was due to an almost complete lack of cast or creative staff of Italian descent (director Martin Ritt). And star Kirk Douglas was not Italian.)[15] Sergio Leone was Paramount's first choice to direct the film.
Leone declined this option, in order to work on his own gangster film Once Upon a Time in America
. Peter Bogdanovich was then approached but he also declined the offer as he was not interested in the mafia. In addition, Peter Yates, Richard Brooks, Arthur Penn, Franklin J. Schaffner, Costa Gavras, and Otto Preminger were offered the position but declined.
Peter Bart, Evans' chief collaborator, suggested to Francis Ford Coppola that he should be a director of Italian descent who would work for a low sum and a low budget after the poor reception of his last film, The Rain People.
Coppola initially turned down the job because he found Puzo's novel sleazy and sensational, calling it "pretty cheap stuff." At the time, Coppola's studio, American Zoetrope, owed more than $400,000 to Warner Bros.
Due to going over budget with the film THX 1138 and when combined with his poor financial situation, along with the advice of friends and family,
Coppola reversed his initial decision and took the job.[32] [37] [38] Coppola was officially announced as the film's director on September 28, 1970.[39] Coppola agreed to take $125,000 and six percent of the gross rents.
Coppola later found a deeper theme for the material and decided that the film should not be about organized crime but rather a family story, a metaphor for capitalism in America.
Before production on The Godfather began, Paramount was going through an unsuccessful period.[11] In addition to the failure of Brotherhood, other recent films produced or co-produced by Paramount have grossly exceeded their budgets: Darling Lily,[21] Draw Your Wagon, and Waterloo.
[11] [25] The film's budget was originally $2.5 million, but as the book's popularity grew, Coppola demanded and eventually received a larger budget. Paramount executives wanted the film to be set in contemporary Kansas. City and was filmed in a back studio in order to cut costs
. Coppola objected and wanted the film to be set in the same time period as the novel, the 1940s and 1950s;[21] [31] [38] [39] Coppola's reasons: included Michael Corleone's stint in the Marines, the rise of corporate America, and America in the years... After World War II.
[39] The novel became increasingly successful, and thus Coppola's wishes were finally fulfilled. Studio heads later allowed Coppola to shoot on location in New York City and Sicily.
Gulf+West CEO Charles Bluhdorn was frustrated with Coppola because of the number of screen tests he conducted without finding someone to play the various roles. Production soon declined due to Coppola's hesitation and conflicts with Paramount, resulting in costs reaching around $40,000 per day.
As costs rose, Paramount asked Vice President Jack Ballard to closely monitor production expenses.[51] During filming, Coppola stated that he felt like he could be fired at any time because he knew that Paramount executives were unhappy with many of the decisions he made.[31] Coppola was aware that Evans had asked Elia Kazan to direct the film because he feared Coppola would be too inexperienced to handle the increasing scale of the production.
Coppola was also convinced that the film's editor Aram Avakian and assistant director Steve Kistner were conspiring to fire him. Avakian complained to Evans that he couldn't edit scenes properly because Coppola wasn't shooting enough footage
Evans was satisfied with the footage sent to the West Coast and authorized Coppola to fire them. Coppola later explained: "Like a godfather, I fired employees as a preemptive strike. The people who were most desperate to fire me were the ones who fired me."[53] Brando threatened to quit if Coppola was fired.[31][51]
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Paramount wanted The Godfather to appeal to a wide audience and threatened Coppola with a "violence coach" to make the film more exciting. Coppola added some violent scenes to keep the studio happy.
The scene where Connie smashes the crockery after discovering Carlo's cheating was added for this reason.
On April 14, 1970, it was revealed that Puzo had been hired by Paramount for $100,000, along with a percentage of the film's profits, to work on the film's screenplay.
Working from the book, Coppola wanted themes of culture, character, power, and family to be at the forefront of the film, while Puzo wanted to retain aspects of his novel and his initial 150-page draft was completed in August. 10, 1970.
After Coppola was hired as director, Puzo and Coppola both worked on the screenplay, but separately. Puzo worked on his draft in Los Angeles, while Coppola wrote his version in San Francisco.[57] Coppola created a book in which he tore out pages from Puzo's book and pasted them into his book.
There, he made notes on each of the book's 50 scenes, relating to the main themes prevalent in the scene, whether the scene should be included in the film, along with ideas and concepts that could be used when filming to make the film a reality.
To Italian culture.[57][51] The two kept in touch while writing their script and made decisions about what to include and what to remove for the final version. The second draft was completed on March 1, 1971, and was 173 pages long.
The final script was completed on March 29, 1971, and ended up being 163 pages, 40 pages longer than Paramount requested. During filming, Coppola referred to the notebook he had written about the final draft of the script.
Screenwriter Robert Towne did uncredited work on the script, especially on the Pacino-Brando garden scene. Although the third draft was completed, some scenes in the film had not yet been written and were written during production
