The Godfather

The Godfather is a 1972 American drama film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne (uncredited). It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton, and features John Cazale, Talia Shire, Al Martino, and Abe Vigoda.

The story spans ten years from 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the fictional Italian American Corleone crime family. Two sequels followed: The Godfather Part II in 1974, and The Godfather Part III in 1990.

The Godfather received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In addition, it is ranked as the second greatest film in American cinematic history, behind Citizen Kane, on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list by the American Film Institute.

In late summer 1945, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), and Tom Hagen (consigliere) (Robert Duvall), hear requests for favors during the Don's daughter Connie's (Talia Shire) wedding reception, following a Sicilian tradition. Singer Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), Corleone's godson, asks Vito's help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. Hagen is dispatched to California to meet with studio head Jack Woltz (John Marley). After initially refusing to cast Fontane, Woltz caves in when he finds the severed head of his prized $600,000 racehorse in his bed the next morning.

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Don Corleone is shot in an assassination attempt. Sollozzo abducts Tom Hagen and persuades him to offer Corleone's eldest son, Sonny (James Caan), the deal previously offered to the Don. The youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), whom the other Mafia families consider a "civilian" uninvolved in mob business, averts a second murder attempt at the hospital where his father is being treated, but is beaten by corrupt police Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden). Sonny retaliates by having Bruno Tattaglia killed.

When Sollozzo meets with Michael in an attempt to settle the dispute, Michael shoots and kills both Sollozzo and McCluskey. He then takes refuge in Sicily, where he soon marries a young local woman, Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli). The third Corleone brother, Fredo (John Cazale), is sent to Las Vegas, to be sheltered by casino operators the Corleones have backed financially.

Open warfare erupts between the Corleones and the other members of the Five Families, while the police and other authorities begin to clamp down on Mafia activity. Don Vito is particularly distressed when he learns of Michael's involvement, since he had planned for Michael to remain uninvolved in the "family business."

When Sonny impulsively leaves the guarded family compound to confront Connie's husband, Carlo (Gianni Russo), over his wife-beating, he is killed in an ambush. Michael narrowly escapes death in Sicily, when his wife is killed by a bomb in their car.

Biding his time, Michael allows rival families to pressure Corleone enterprises and eat away at their revenues, disturbing several of his caporegimes. He directs them not to retaliate, disclosing plans to move family operations to Nevada while spinning off New York operations to family members who stay behind. Michael replaces Hagen with a new consigliere; Vito explains to the upset Hagen that he and Michael have longer-range plans for him and for the family.

Michael travels to Las Vegas, intending to buy out their casino partner, Moe Greene (Alex Rocco). Greene angrily rejects the proposal, deriding the Corleones as a failing organization. Michael is particularly angered when Fredo, under the sway of Greene and his associates, warns his brother that Greene is too important to be treated in that fashion.

Vito Corleone collapses and dies while playing with his young grandson Anthony in his tomato garden. At the burial, caporegime Tessio (Abe Vigoda) arranges a meeting between Michael and Don Barzini (Richard Conte), now seen as the dominant figure in the New York families. As Vito had warned Michael, Tessio's involvement signals his shift of allegiance to the Barzini family; the planned meeting is intended to result in Michael's execution. The meeting is set for the same day as the christening of Connie and Carlo's son, where Michael will stand as his godfather.

Later that day, Connie accuses Michael of murdering the vanished Carlo as Kay watches. When Kay confronts him privately, he denies the accusation to her, an answer she appears to accept.

As the film ends, Kay sees Michael receiving gestures of respect from other mafiosi, paralleling the treatment given his father, just before the door to his office is closed.

Editor