The Godfather (1972)

THE GODFATHER (1972)

VISUAL AIDS
POSTERS AND COVER ART

THE BACK OF THE BOX
WHAT THE STUDIO WANTS YOU TO KNOW

DESCRIPTION:

Franvis Ford Coppola's epic masterpiece features Marlon Brando in his Oscar-winning role as the patriarch of the Corleone family. Director Coppola paints a chilling prtrait of the the Sicilian clan's rise and near fall from power in America, masterfully balancing the story between the Corleone's family life and the ugly crime business in which they are engaged. Based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel and featuring career-making performances by Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall, this searing and brilliant film garnered ten Academty Award nomintaions, and won three including Best Picture of 1972.

RATING: R

STARRING:

Marlon Brando: Don Vito Corleone
Al Pacino: Michael Corleone
James Caan: Santino "Sonny" Corleone
Richard Castellano: Peter Clemenza
Robert Duvall: Tom Hagen
Sterling Hayden: Captain McCluskey
John Marley: Jack Woltz
Richard Conte: Don Emilio Barzini
Diane Keaton: Kay Adams

YEAR OF RELEASE: 1972

SCREENWRITER: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola

DIRECTOR: Francis Ford Coppola

RUNNING TIME: 175 minutes

STUDIO: Paramount

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Average Hollywood Guys Rating: A

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GIGGLES, GLOBES AND OSCARS
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

ACADEMY AWARDS
(10 nominations and 3 wins)

Best Picture
(winner)

Best Actor - Marlon Brando
(winner)

Best Supporting Actor - James Caan
(nominated)

Best Supporting Actor - Robert Duvall
(nominated)

Best Supporting Actor - Al Pacino
(nominated)

Best Director - Francis Ford Coppola
(nominated)

Best Adapted Screenplay - Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
(winner)

Best Costume Design - Anna Hill Johnstone
(nominated)

Best Editing - William Reynolds and Peter Zinner
(nominated)

Best Original Score - Anna Hill Johnstone
(nominated)

GOLDEN GIGGLES
(2 nominations and 1 win)

Classic Inductee (Drama/Sci-Fi) (2006)
(nominated)

Classic Inductee (Drama/Sci-Fi) (2007)
(winner)

GOLDEN GLOBES
(7 nominations and 5 wins)

Best Picture (Drama)
(winner)

Best Actor (Drama) - Marlon Brando
(winner)

Best Supporting Actor - James Caan
(nominated)

Best Supporting Actor - Al Pacino
(nominated)

Best Director - Francis Ford Coppola
(winner)

Best Screenplay - Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
(winner)

Best Original Score - Nino Rota
(winner)

Wanna see what else was nominated?
Just click on a heading to see the full listing of winners and nominees.

THE GEEK BOX
TRIVIA TO IMPRESS YOUR EASILY IMPRESSED FRIENDS

This film is based on the book of the same name by Mario Puzo who, along with Francis Ford Coppola adapted the book to film.
Paramount execs wanted someone they could pay the SAG minimum to for playing the role of Don Corleone. Some of the many people they suggested was Frank Sinatra and producer Frank Costello. However Francis Ford Coppola was adamant that either Laurence Olivier or Marlon Brando take the role. As Olivier was sick and not taking anymore film roles the studio finally agreed to cast Marlon Brando in the role for $300,000.
Marlon Brando won the Best Actor award at the Academy Awards, however he refused to accept the award in protest to the mistreatment of Native Americans. In his place he sent a woman who claimed her name was Sacheen Littlefeather, however it was later revealed she was not an Indian as previously claimed, she was actually a little known Californian actor named Maria Cruz.
Robert DeNiro did several reads in hopes of playing either Micheal or Sonny. However Coppola determined the role of Sonny wasn't right for him, and Al Pacino had already been cast as Micheal. DeNiro was cast as Paulie, a small role in the film, DeNiro requested to leave the film to star in another movie The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. With permission from Coppola he left the film.
Initially Paramount execs were adamant that they didn't want the virtually unknown and short actor Al Pacino to play the role of Micheal. As a result Pacino signed on to do The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight with MGM. Coppola campaigned hard for Pacino and the studio finally agreed to give him the part, as a result Paramount had to buy out Pacino's contract with MGM. The very same part that he gave up in that film would later be picked up by Robert DeNiro after losing the part of Micheal to Al Pacino.
Originally the film ws set to end as the novel did, with Micheal opening a pizza parlor in New York. In the scene Fabrizio, the man who set up and killed Appolonia walks into the pizza parlor and gets shot with a shotgun by Micheal. However, after looking at the scene Coppola determined that they had used way too much blood and it didn't look real so the scene was dropped.
There is a long standing rumor that Marlon Brando stuffed his cheeks with cotton for his role. While in screen tests to see if they could make Brando look more like a "bulldog" they did tuff his cheeks with cotton, in the film he used a specially made mouthpiece to give the desired effect. The mouthpiece is still on display at the American Museum Of The Moving Image.
The horse head featured in the movie was an actual horse head that was retrieved from a local dog food company.
The nervousness of Luca Brasi in the beginning of the film was written in after the actor portraying the part messed up his lines on account of being nervous acting with Marlon Brando for the first time. Coppola liked the screwed up version better because the nervousness was real and it ended up in the film.
Marlon Brando refused to memorize his lines for the film, as a result he read off of cue cards for the majority of filming.
The baby seen getting baptized in this film, is actually Francis Ford Coppola's daughter Sophia Coppola who would later go on to direct films of her own.
Nina Rota's score won the Golden Globe for best Original Score and was the favorite to win at the Oscars as well until it was discovered that his score for this movie was just a reworked version of the score he wrote for the film Fortunella. His nomination was then withdrawn.
The character of Vito Corleone was based off of a combination of mob men Vito Genovese and and Frank Costello. Costello was actually a producer on the film, and he along with several other mob members were on set for a large portion of filming. However Coppola was very careful to never use the word "mob" in the film.
Initially the final cut of the film was 126 minutes long. In a rare move the studio actually said the movie should be longer with more scenes showing the family. Coppola went back and added almost 50 additional minutes to the film.

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