The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Paramount Pictures obtained the rights to
the novel for the price of $80,000, before it gained popularity. Studio
executives had trouble finding a director; their first few candidates turned
down the position before Coppola signed on to direct the film. They and Coppola
disagreed over the casting for several characters, in particular, Vito and
Michael. Filming took place primarily on location around New York and in Sicily,
and was completed ahead of schedule. The musical score was composed principally
by Nino Rota,
with additional pieces by Carmine Coppola.The
Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed
by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy,
based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel of the same name. It is the first
installment in The Godfather trilogy. The film
features an ensemble cast including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte,
and Diane Keaton. The story, spanning from 1945 to
1955, chronicles the Corleone family under
patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando), focusing on the
transformation of one of his sons, Michael Corleone (Pacino),
from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.
In 1945 New York City, at his
daughter Connie's
wedding to Carlo, Vito Corleone listens
to requests in his role as don of the Corleone crime family.
His youngest son, Michael, who
was a Marine during World War II, introduces
his girlfriend, Kay Adams,
to his family at the reception. Johnny Fontane, a popular singer and
Vito's godson, seeks Vito's help
in securing a movie role; Vito dispatches his consigliere, Tom Hagen, to Los Angeles
to persuade studio head Jack Woltz to give Johnny the part. Woltz refuses until
he wakes up in bed with the severed head of his prized stallion.
Shortly
before Christmas, drug baron Sollozzo, backed by the Tattaglia crime family,
asks Vito for investment in his narcotics business and protection through his
political connections. Wary of involvement in a dangerous new trade that risks
alienating political insiders, Vito declines. Suspicious, Vito sends his
enforcer, Luca Brasi,
to spy on them. Brasi is garroted to
death during his first meeting with Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozzo. Later,
Sollozzo has Vito gunned down in the street, then kidnaps Hagen. With Corleone
first-born Sonny in
command, Sollozzo pressures Hagen to persuade Sonny to accept Sollozzo's deal,
then releases him. The family receives fish wrapped in Brasi's bullet-proof
vest, indicating that Luca "sleeps with the fishes". Vito survives,
and at the hospital, Michael thwarts another attempt on his father. Michael's jaw
is broken by NYPD Capt. McCluskey,
Sollozzo's unofficial bodyguard. Sonny retaliates with a hit on Tattaglia.
Michael plots to murder Sollozzo and McCluskey; feigning a desire to settle the
dispute, Michael meets them in a Bronx restaurant,
where after retrieving a handgun planted by Clemenza, a Corleone capo, he kills both men.
Despite
a clampdown by the authorities, the Five Families erupt in open warfare, and Vito fears for
his sons' safety. Michael takes refuge in Sicily and Fredo is sheltered
by Moe Greene in Las
Vegas. Sonny attacks Carlo on the street for abusing Connie and threatens to
kill him if it happens again. When it does, Sonny speeds to their home but is
ambushed at a highway toll booth and violently murdered by gangsters
wielding submachine guns.
While in Sicily, Michael meets and marries Apollonia, but a car bomb intended for
him takes her life.
Devastated
by Sonny's death and realizing that the Tattaglias are controlled by the
now-dominant don, Barzini,
Vito attempts to end the feud. He assures the Five Families that he will
withdraw his opposition to their heroin business and forgo avenging Sonny's
murder. His safety guaranteed, Michael returns home to enter the family
business and marry Kay, promising her that the business will be legitimate
within five years. Kay gives birth to two children by the early 1950s. With his
father nearing the end of his life and Fredo too weak, Michael takes the family
reins. He insists Hagen relocate to Las Vegas and relinquish his role to Vito
because Hagen is not a "wartime consigliere"; Vito agrees Hagen
should "have no part in what will happen" in the coming battles with
the rival families. When Michael travels to Las Vegas to buy out Greene's stake
in the family's casinos, he is dismayed to see that Fredo is more loyal to
Greene than to his own family.
In
1955, Vito suffers a fatal heart attack. At the funeral, Tessio, a Corleone capo,
asks Michael to meet with Barzini, signaling the betrayal that Vito had
forewarned. The meeting is set for the same day as the baptism of Connie's
baby. While Michael stands at the altar as the child's godfather, Corleone
hitmen murder the other New York City dons and Greene. Tessio is executed for
his treachery and Michael extracts Carlo's confession to his complicity in
setting up Sonny's murder for Barzini; Clemenza immediately garrotes Carlo to
death. Connie accuses Michael of the murder, telling Kay that Michael ordered
all the killings. Kay is relieved when Michael finally denies it, but when the
capos arrive, they address her husband as Don Corleone and she watches them pay
reverence to Michael as the newly installed don as they close the door on her.
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Prepared by: Duygu Söbe
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