The Godfather

1 9 7 2 (USA)

On the basis of the first hundred pages of The Godfather, Mario Puzo was paid $80,000 to finish the novel. By the time the film was ready, the novel had sold a million copies in hardback and twelve million in paperback.

There was much anxiety during shooting. Paramount were worried about the casting of Marlon Brando, partly because of his volatile reputation, and partly because he had not had a box-office success for over a decade. The studio were also concerned about the track record of director Francis Ford Coppola, who normally made intimate art movies.

The film seemed to have everything against it - It's three hours long, it gets awfully dark in places (the lighting, not the plot), you can't understand much of what Brando is saying, and it is possible to get totally confused just towards the end . . . But Paramount's fears proved ungrounded, and the film was a triumph - A brilliant and exciting epic crime drama, masterfully fashioned by Coppola. 

The engrossing plot follows the career of Mafia leader Don Vito Corleone (Brando), and the struggle for power between his family and rival family organizations. The film is exceptionally well cast with superb acting throughout, and the drama, suspense, and character development are of the highest order. Relative newcomer Al Pacino, as the Don's academic son, Michael, who will succeed his father, comes close to stealing the film altogether - It is a meticulously constructed, awesomely controlled performance.

Many moments in the movie have become legend: The severed horses head that soaks the bed clothes of a recalcitrant movie producer in blood; the murder in the restaurant which seals Michael's blood relationship with his Mafia family; the hospital siege, and the extraordinary baptism scene near the end when Michael is acting as godfather to his sister's child. At the same time that he is explicitly renouncing Satan and his world, a series of vicious murders organised by him are being committed to confirm his position as "godfather" in the other sense.

The extreme violence of the movie excited and shocked many, provoking a great deal of comment. It was also said that The Godfather glamorized gangsters - but The  Godfather is more than just a compelling gangster saga; it's also a fascinating study of the struggle for achievement and success in America. 

The Godfather won the best picture Academy Award, while Brando picked up the best actor award for his role as Vito Corleone.  The movie was followed by two superb sequels to make one of the most fascinating and well-made trilogies in movie history.

TRIVIA NOTE
Coppola was assigned to The Godfather because of his Italian-American background which was supposed to assuage the expressed sensitivity of the Mafia to seeing Mario Puzo's book filmed. Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman were all offered the part of Michael Corleone, but all refused. Oh . . . and the horse head in the bed . . . it's real.