In 1990 the Library of Congress selected The Godfather for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Its most recent home media release (on 4K Ultra HD) was earlier this year and is reviewed here.

For the occasion of The Godfather’s anniversary, The Bits features a multi-page article consisting of a 22-chapter oral history-style interview segment with a diverse group of pop culture authorities, film historians and filmmakers who reflect on the film, plus noteworthy box-office data and statistics, passages from a sampling of original reviews, and a reference listing of its North American first-run theatrical presentations.

 

GODFATHER NUMBER$

• 1 = Box-office rank among films directed by Coppola
• 1 = Box-office rank among films released during 1972
• 1 = Peak position on list of all-time box-office champs
• 2 = Number of sequels
• 3 = Number of Academy Awards
• 3 = Number of years film industry’s top-earning film
• 6 = Number of cinemas playing the film during its opening weekend
• 6 = Number of years Paramount’s top-earning film
• 11 = Number of Academy Award nominations (one nomination withdrawn)
• 39 = Number of weeks longest-running engagement played (in a single-screen cinema)
• 41 = Number of weeks longest-running engagement played (in a multiplex)
• 125 = Number of days to gross $100 million*
• 316 = Number of bookings added during film’s first week of wide release (Week #2)

• $465,148 = Opening weekend box-office gross (6 theaters)
• $6.0 million = Production cost
• $6.8 million = Second weekend box-office gross* (322 theaters)
• $42.5 million = Production cost (adjusted for inflation)
• $81.5 million = Domestic box-office rental* (earnings through 12/31/1972)
• $85.0 million = Domestic box-office rental* (earnings through 12/31/1973)
• $85.7 million = Domestic box-office rental* (earnings through 12/31/1974)
• $86.1 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1977)
• $86.3 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1978)
• $110.2 million = International box-office gross (first run)
• $133.7 million = Domestic box-office gross* (first run)
• $136.4 million = Domestic box-office gross (cumulative/lifetime)
• $243.9 million = Worldwide box-office gross (first run)
• $250.3 million = Worldwide box-office gross (cumulative/lifetime)
• $607.9 million = Domestic box-office rental (adjusted for inflation)
• $783.7 million = International box-office gross (adjusted for inflation)
• $951.1 million = Domestic box-office gross (adjusted for inflation)
• $1.7 billion = Worldwide box-office gross (adjusted for inflation)

*established new film industry record

 

PASSAGES FROM A SAMPLING OF FILM REVIEWS

“Artistically, The Godfather has nothing to prove, because it has few, if any, peers within its own genre. The result is a newly definitive gangster melodrama.” – Gary Arnold, The Washington Post

“Marlon Brando, playing the Mafioso chieftain in The Godfather, is an early favorite for next year’s Best Actor Oscar. As Don Vito Corleone, Brando turns in a flawless performance—affectionately human, beautifully real, and meticulously controlled—in what may turn out to be next year’s Best Picture.” – Wayne Harada, The Honolulu Advertiser

“With several million hardcover and paperback books acting as trailers, Paramount’s film version of Mario Puzo’s sprawling gangland novel, The Godfather, has a large pre-sold audience. This will bolster the potential for the film which has an outstanding performance by Al Pacino and a strong characterization by Marlon Brando in the title role. It also has excellent production values, flashes of excitement, and a well-picked cast. But it is also overlong at 175 minutes (played without intermission), and occasionally confusing. While never so placid as to be boring, it is never so gripping as to be superior screen drama. This should not mat Paramount’s [box office] expectations in any measure, though some filmgoers may be disappointed.” – A.D. Murphy, Variety

“Audiences must endure a three-hour marathon which finally conveys the feeling that for scene after scene the cameras must have been lubricated with olive oil. Except for the accent on family aspects of big-city gangster clans, other facets dealt with in The Godfather were much better treated in such movies as Scarface and Little Caesar. Coppola and Puzo have allowed themselves to wander at painful length in their screenplay, and the former directs at pasta pace throughout. Even moments of violence, since they are elaborately telegraphed, explode like waterlogged torpedoes.” – Robert Downing, The Denver Post

“The Godfather is an epic gangster movie adaptation from the raw materials of Mario Puzo’s best-seller about the Mafia and probably the best of its kind ever made. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, it fills the screen with a long, leisurely, but steadily engrossing account of the mid-40’s. It ends with sobering intimations of how one family, the Corleones, after a lifetime of criminality, stand on the brink of respectability, like every other powerful force (political, religious, economic) that has gone into the making of this country. In its own clear-headed cynicism, in which corruption not only breeds corruption but success as well. The Godfather’s truth is galling but inescapable.” – Kevin Kelly, The Boston Globe

“It was a monumental task that producer Albert S. Ruddy, director Francis Ford Coppola and author-scripter Mario Puzo faced in turning Puzo’s panoramic best-selling The Godfather into manageable length for the screen. Had they achieved this jam with only passable success would have been understandable, but the fact that they have converted the novel into an engrossing pictorial action-filled motion picture of Mafia underworld operations is remarkable.” – William A. Payne, The Dallas Morning News

“The year’s first really satisfying, big commercial American film. One of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“Among those who have seen early screenings of The Godfather one frequently hears the observation, sometimes delivered in near reverential tones, that ‘This thing is going to make a ton of money.’ Indeed, Francis Ford Coppola’s movie adaptation of Mario Puzo’s Mafia novel does have the look of a box office monster. But happily, The Godfather has more to offer than mindless, calculated commercialism of the Love Story variety. It will make a bundle because it is one of those very, very rare films that virtually everyone will wind up seeing. The reason is that The Godfather is a totally engrossing movie. Quite apart from any artistic merits it may possess or lack, it is so damnably interesting that it is hard to imagine anyone being able to resist being caught up in it.” – Howell Raines, The Atlanta Constitution

“The Godfather, even if it would be viewed as a long exercise in beautiful lighting techniques (there are scenes that more resemble a great painting than a strip of film), has considerable artistic merit. At the same time, unlike works like Sunday, Bloody Sunday and The Go Between I am not counting the minutes and waiting for the thing to end. Indeed, The Godfather is one of those very few pictures that we’d like to see go on, and on, and on—like the line at the box office.” – John Huddy, The Miami Herald

“It takes a masterful presentation of a gripping story to hold a man in his seat for 2 hours and 55 minutes with a minimum of squirming. This is what The Godfather does. Franc[i]s Ford Coppola has fashioned the movie into a series of small and satisfying climaxes to attract the eye and entertain the imagination while the mainstream of the picture rolls on and on. It could easily have become bloated; it doesn’t.” – Emerson Batdorff, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

“The Godfather is a movie that seems to have everything! Warmth, violence, nostalgia, the charisma of Marlon Brando in one of his finest performances, and the dynastic sweep of an Italian-American Gone with the Wind.” – Jay Cocks, Time

“The Godfather ends with a door being closed in the face of the audience, and it is because we have been behind the door for nearly three hours that the film has such remarkable appeal. To permit us a glimpse at The Mob, with all of its ethnic insularity, is like giving a chronic gambler a chance to wander above the false mirrors that overlook every casino.” – Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune

“Although the movie is three hours long, it absorbs us so effectively it never has to hurry. There is something in the measured passage of time as Don Corleone hands over his reins of power that would have made a shorter, faster moving film seem unseemly. Even at this length, there are characters in relationships you can’t quite understand unless you’ve read the novel. Or perhaps you can, just by the way the characters look at each other.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“Some of the best, or at least most interesting foreign films in recent years have been made in the United States. Society is so fragmented and diverse that whole cultures, professions and regions are no less alien than foreign countries. Woodstock, The French Connection, The Panic in Needle Park, The Last Picture Show, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Derby—these and other movies have exposed us to cultures and people as remote from us as Africans or Eskimos. And now comes one of the best domestic foreign films since The Grapes of Wrath: The film version of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather.” – Ted Mahar, The Oregonian (Portland)

“There are seldom cases where the movie outstrips the book, but I think this is one, possibly because Francis Ford Coppola is a better writer than Mario Puzo, or maybe it’s because Puzo was so anxious for the bread he knew he was going to earn that he didn’t polish the runaway best-seller.” – John Knott, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)

“The Godfather is blessed with top production value, is certain to be a powerhouse box office draw, spotlights a terrific performance by Pacino, whom I call the Italian Dustin Hoffman, and brings Brando back to his plateau of excellence.” – Phil Strassberg, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)

“Although the film is only a few minutes short of being three hours in length, it is still too short.” – Alex Thien, Milwaukee Sentinel

“The score by Nino Rota is a fragrant lament that becomes more and more haunting as Coppola uses it to comment on different kinds of losses. Gordon [Willis’] cinematography reminds one of the European masters; there are visual ideas borrowed from The Damned and The Conformist, but [Willis] and Coppola have found their own justifiable uses for them.” – John Hartl, The Seattle Times

“The Godfather is an intelligent labor of love, a masterful action picture, a shrewd look at American values, and an artful period piece. The combination is unquestionably the best gangster film ever produced.” – Paine Knickerbocker, San Francisco Chronicle

“What makes the film close to brilliant is that it moves often into the para-fictional and becomes like a saga, legend of no specific authorship with a big enough artistic bankroll to play for those kind of stakes and win. The film is about, really, nothing less than love and evil, and how they are not necessarily polar quantities. The filmmakers and actors are dealing with and make us respond to the property on that level.” – Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle

“The picture is really Coppola’s triumph. He collaborated on the screenplay with Puzo and worked the whole thing out with an unobtrusive mastery which is capable of subtlety while refusing to be lured into arty byways.” – William B. Collins, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A superior work of popular entertainment! Reminds us of the vanished pleasures of the old-fashioned gangster movies!” – Richard Schickel, Life

“Al Pacino, as Brando’s heir, rattles around in a part too demanding for him. James Caan is OK as his older brother. The surprisingly rotten score by Nino Rota contains a quotation from Manhattan Serenade as a plane lands in Los Angeles. Francis Ford Coppola, the director and co-adapter (with Mario Puzo), has saved all his limited ingenuity for the shootings and stranglings, which are among the most vicious I can remember on film. The print of the picture showed to the New York press had very washed-out colors.” – Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic

“There is only one Brando. He is The Godfather. The centerpiece of what promises to be the Gone with the Wind of gangster movies.” – Paul D. Zimmerman, Newsweek

“The only thing I didn’t like about the film was Coppola’s insistence of low-key, shadowy photography, perhaps because he thinks it’s more natural. In some scenes the characters are so much in deep shadow it’s hard to tell who they are.” – Myles Standish, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Francis Ford Coppola on this evidence can cope with the spectacle film as writer and director. The pleasure of the film is that the performances by Brando and Pacino, strong and vivid as they are, do not overweigh the work of the ensemble. The consistency of texture is an index of Coppola’s skillful control. He has indeed brought off an assured and richly detailed piece of movie storytelling on a massive scale.” – Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times

“Even the critic whose stock-in-trade is evaluation, as opposed to prediction, has got to cut loose on the subject of The Godfather out of sheer excitement: This is going to be not only the most widely seen, but also the most widely honored movie of 1972. For a change, the general public and the list-makers and the award-givers are going to be able to say, as if in one voice, ‘Now, that’s what I call a movie!’” – Susan Stark, Detroit Free Press

“When one considers the different rates at which people read, it’s miraculous that films can ever solve the problem of a pace at which audiences can ‘read’ a film together. A hack director solves the problem of pacing by making only a few points and making those so emphatically that the audience can hardly help getting them (this is why many of the movies from the studio-system days are unspeakably insulting); the tendency of a clever, careless director is to go too fast, assuming that he’s made everything clear when he hasn’t, and leaving the audience behind. When a film has as much novelistic detail as this one, the problem might seem to be almost insuperable. Yet, full as it is, The Godfather goes by evenly, so we don’t feel rushed, or restless, either; there’s classic grandeur to the narrative flow. But Coppola’s attitudes are specifically modern—more so than in many films with a more jagged surface. Renoir’s openness is an expression of an almost pagan love of people and landscape; his style is an embrace. Coppola’s openness is a reflection of an exploratory sense of complexity; he doesn’t feel the need to comment on what he shows us, and he doesn’t want to reduce the meanings in a shot by pushing us this way or that. The assumption behind this film is that complexity will engage the audience.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

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THE FIRST-RUN THEATRICAL ENGAGEMENTS

What follows is a chronological reference listing of The Godfather‘s openings in the United States and Canada during its first month of theatrical release. The information is designed to provide a comprehensive history and give a sense of the film’s rollout in the early stage of its release. This also serves to correct the numerous books and Internet resources that have cited erroneous and/or misleading release-date details for the film.

For the most part the entries are listed chronologically based upon first day of public exhibition. In some cases an entry is listed instead based on the day of premiere so long as such a screening was (1) publicly promoted, (2) held in same venue, (3) took place no more than one day prior to its public opening, and (4) no other motion pictures were screened in between the premiere and pubic opening.

The Godfather had one of the fastest rollouts to date of a major motion picture, and many of the engagements cited in this work established a new house record for box-office gross and/or length of booking.

The presentations of The Godfather were in 35mm spherical (1.85:1 aspect ratio) with monaural audio.

Premiere/Opening Date YYYY-MM-DD … city – cinema (duration in weeks)

• 1972-03-14 … New York, NY – State I (13)

• 1972-03-15 … New York, NY – Cine (20)
• 1972-03-15 … New York, NY – Orpheum (15)
• 1972-03-15 … New York, NY – State II (20)
• 1972-03-15 … New York, NY – Tower East (20)

• 1972-03-17 … Toronto, ON – Imperial (25)

• 1972-03-21 … Boston, MA – Savoy 2 (25)
• 1972-03-21 … Catonsville, MD – Westview I (25)
• 1972-03-21 … Palm Springs, CA – Plaza (19)
• 1972-03-21 … Philadelphia, PA – Fox (17)
• 1972-03-21 … Pittsburgh, PA – Warner (19)
• 1972-03-21 … Richmond, VA – Ridge 1 (18)
• 1972-03-21 … San Francisco, CA – Coronet (32)

• 1972-03-22 … Albany, NY – Hellman (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Albuquerque, NM – Wyoming Mall (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Allentown, PA – Eric (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Altoona, PA – Rivoli (13)
• 1972-03-22 … Anderson, IN – Mounds (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Annapolis, MD – Forest Plaza (11)
• 1972-03-22 … Appleton, WI – Cinema 1 (11)
• 1972-03-22 … Atlanta, GA – Capri (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Atlantic City, NJ – Charles (29)
• 1972-03-22 … Augusta, ME – Turnpike Mall I (3)
• 1972-03-22 … Augusta, ME – Turnpike Mall II (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Bailey’s Crossroads, VA – Cinema 7 (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Bakersfield, CA – Valley Plaza (12)
• 1972-03-22 … Baltimore, MD – Senator (25)
• 1972-03-22 … Barrington, IL – Catlow (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Beaver Falls, PA – Cinema (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Bedford, OH – Stillwell (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Berkeley, CA – United Artists (23)
• 1972-03-22 … Bloomfield Hills, MI – Showcase 1 (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Boardman, OH – Southern Park (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Bowling Green, OH – Stadium I (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Bradenton, FL – Bayshore (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Bridgeport, CT – Merritt (19)
• 1972-03-22 … Brockton, MA – Westgate Mall I (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Brookfield, WI – Brookfield Square (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Buena Park, CA – Buena Park Drive-In (28)
• 1972-03-22 … Butte, MT – Plaza Twin 1 (3 [8])
• 1972-03-22 … Canton, OH – Palace (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Casselberry, FL – Seminole Plaza (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Cedar Rapids, IA – Iowa (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Champaign, IL – Fox (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Charleston, WV – Village (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Cheektowaga, NY – Holiday 1 (21 [30])
• 1972-03-22 … Chelmsford, MA – Route 3 Cinema City 1 (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Chicago, IL – Chicago (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Cincinnati, OH – International 70 (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Cincinnati, OH – Kenwood (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Claymont, DE – Eric Tri-State Mall I (22)
• 1972-03-22 … Cleveland, OH – Yorktown (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Columbus, OH – Eastland (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Columbus, OH – Morse Road (19)
• 1972-03-22 … Corte Madera, CA – Cinema (22)
• 1972-03-22 … Danbury, CT – Cinema (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … Decatur, IL – Avon (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Des Moines, IA – Paramount (18)
• 1972-03-22 … DeWitt, NY – Cinema East (19)
• 1972-03-22 … Dubuque, IA – Kennedy Road 1 (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Durham, NC – Yorktowne (12)
• 1972-03-22 … East Hartford, CT – Burnside (19)
• 1972-03-22 … East Providence, RI – Four Seasons I (18 [21])
• 1972-03-22 … Eau Claire, WI – Cinema 1 (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Elmira, NY – Capitol (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Elyria, OH – Midway Mall (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Endicott, NY – Cinema Endicott (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Erie, PA – Strand (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Evansville, IN – Town Center Twin I (13 [18])
• 1972-03-22 … Evansville, IN – Town Center Twin II (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Fairlawn, OH – Summit Mall (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Fall River, MA – Center Twin I (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Fort Lauderdale, FL – Sunrise I (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Fort Smith, AR – Central Mall I (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … Fort Smith, AR – Central Mall II (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … Green Bay, WI – Vic (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Greenville, SC – Astro I (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Hagerstown, MD – Long Meadow 1 (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Hamilton, OH – Cinema West (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Harper Woods, MI – Eastland (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Harrisburg, PA – Trans-Lux (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Hayward, CA – Southland 1 (23)
• 1972-03-22 … Henrietta, NY – Towne II (35)
• 1972-03-22 … Hermantown, MN – Cinema I (5)
• 1972-03-22 … Hermantown, MN – Cinema II (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Huntsville, AL – Trans-Lux Twin Gold (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Jackson, TN – Malco (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Jacksonville, FL – 5 Points (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Jamestown, NY – Palace (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … Johnstown, PA – Westwood Plaza (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Kansas City, MO – Empire 1 (19)
• 1972-03-22 … Kenosha, WI – Welles Plaza 1 (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Kenosha, WI – Welles Plaza 2 (5)
• 1972-03-22 … Kokomo, IN – Markland Mall II (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Lafayette, IN – Lafayette (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Lakewood, WA – Villa Plaza I (16 [19])
• 1972-03-22 … Lancaster, PA – Eden (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Langley Park, MD – Langley (22)
• 1972-03-22 … Lansing, MI – Spartan East (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Lauderhill, FL – Lauderhill 1 (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Lawrence, KS – Hillcrest 1 (6 [9])
• 1972-03-22 … Lawrence, MA – Showcase 2 (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Lebanon, PA – Colonial (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Leominster, MA – Searstown 3 (13 [17])
• 1972-03-22 … Levittown, PA – Fox (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Lima, OH – Ohio (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Livonia, MI – Terrace (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Los Angeles (Hollywood), CA – Loew’s (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Los Angeles (Westwood Village), CA – Village (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Louisville, KY – Showcase 2 (18 [20])
• 1972-03-22 … Macon, GA – Cinema I (12)
• 1972-03-22 … Madison, WI – Capitol (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Madison, WI – East Towne Mall I (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Manchester, NH – Cine II (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Manhattan, KS – Varsity (7)
• 1972-03-22 … Mansfield, OH – Ohio (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Marlow Heights, VA – Marlow (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Mentor, OH – Great Lakes Mall (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Meriden, CT – Meriden Mall I (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Meriden, CT – Meriden Mall II (5)
• 1972-03-22 … Miami, FL – Northside II (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Miami, FL – Westchester (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Miami Beach, FL – Flamingo (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Milan, IL – Showcase 3 (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Milwaukee, WI – Capitol Court (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Morgantown, WV – Warner (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Mt. Clemens, MI – Macomb (14)
• 1972-03-22 … New Bedford, MA – Compass East (13)
• 1972-03-22 … New Bedford, MA – Compass West (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … New London, CT – Garde (13)
• 1972-03-22 … New Philadelphia, OH – Cinema (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Newark, OH – Cinema I (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Newington, CT – Newington I (19)
• 1972-03-22 … Newport Beach, CA – Newport (27)
• 1972-03-22 … Niagara, NY – Four Seasons I (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Niles, OH – Eastwood Mall (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Norfolk, VA – Showcase II (25 [26])
• 1972-03-22 … Norfolk, VA – Showcase III (16)
• 1972-03-22 … North Miami Beach, FL – 167th Street I (16)
• 1972-03-22 … North Miami Beach, FL – 167th Street II (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Norton Shores, MI – Airport Plaza I (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … Norton Shores, MI – Airport Plaza II (4+)
• 1972-03-22 … Norwalk, CT – Norwalk (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Oklahoma City, OK – Shepherd Twin 2 (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Old Town, ME – University 1 (14 [16])
• 1972-03-22 … Old Town, ME – University 2 (4)
• 1972-03-22 … Omaha, NE – Cinema Center I (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Orange, CT – Showcase 1 (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Overland Park, KS – Glenwood I (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Owensboro, KY – Wesleyan Park Plaza (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Palo Alto, CA – Palo Alto Square 2 (33)
• 1972-03-22 … Phoenix, AZ – Cine Capri (34)
• 1972-03-22 … Pittsfield, MA – Showplace (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Pleasant Hill, CA – Century 21 (28)
• 1972-03-22 … Port Huron, MI – Huron (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Portland, OR – Eastgate 1 (29)
• 1972-03-22 … Portland, OR – Eastgate 2 (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Racine, WI – Westgate I (11)
• 1972-03-22 … Raleigh, NC – Valley 1 (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Rapid City, SD – State (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Reading, PA – Fox East 1 (23)
• 1972-03-22 … Reading, PA – Fox East 2 (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Reno, NV – Granada (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Richmond Heights, OH – Loew’s East (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Rochester, MN – Lawler (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Rocky River, OH – Loew’s West (14)
• 1972-03-22 … Sacramento, CA – Century 22 (39)
• 1972-03-22 … St. Petersburg, FL – Loew’s (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Salem, OR – Capitol (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Salt Lake City, UT – Centre (21)
• 1972-03-22 … San Diego, CA – Cinema 21 (39)
• 1972-03-22 … San Jose, CA – Century 23 (39)
• 1972-03-22 … San Mateo, CA – Hillsdale I (22)
• 1972-03-22 … Santa Barbara, CA – State (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Sandusky, OH – Ohio (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Savannah, GA – Cinema I (12)
• 1972-03-22 … Scranton, PA – Strand (13)
• 1972-03-22 … Seattle, WA – 7th Avenue (34)
• 1972-03-22 … Sikeston, MO – Mid-Towner Center I (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Sikeston, MO – Mid-Towner Center II (6)
• 1972-03-22 … Smyrna, GA – Belmont (21)
• 1972-03-22 … South Burlington, VT – Plaza 1 (9 [16])
• 1972-03-22 … South Burlington, VT – Plaza 2 (11)
• 1972-03-22 … Southfield, MI – Americana I (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Southgate, MI – Southgate (19)
• 1972-03-22 … Spokane, WA – State (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Stamford, CT – Ridgeway (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Stamford, CT – Stamford (12)
• 1972-03-22 … State College, PA – Cathaum (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Staunton, VA – Dixie (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Steubenville, OH – Paramount (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Stockton, CA – Sherwood (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Syracuse, NY – Westhill (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Tallahassee, FL – Florida (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Tampa, FL – Loew’s (17)
• 1972-03-22 … Toledo, OH – Showcase 1 (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Topeka, KS – Dickinson (9)
• 1972-03-22 … Trenton, NJ – Capital Plaza (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Trotwood, OH – Kon-Tiki (21)
• 1972-03-22 … Tucson, AZ – El Dorado (25)
• 1972-03-22 … Tulsa, OK – Boman Twin East (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Tupelo, MS – Malco (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Utica, NY – 258 Cinema City 1 (10)
• 1972-03-22 … Utica, NY – 258 Cinema City 2 (16)
• 1972-03-22 … Utica, NY – 258 Cinema City 3 (22)
• 1972-03-22 … Vineland, NJ – Vineland (15)
• 1972-03-22 … Warwick, RI – Warwick Mall I (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Washington, DC – Republic (13)
• 1972-03-22 … Waterbury, CT – Naugatuck Valley Mall III (20)
• 1972-03-22 … Waterville, ME – Cinema Center I (8)
• 1972-03-22 … Westbrook, ME – Cinema City I (14 [22])
• 1972-03-22 … Westbrook, ME – Cinema City II (12)
• 1972-03-22 … West Hazleton, PA – Hersker (10)
• 1972-03-22 … West Palm Beach, FL – Cinema 70 (16)
• 1972-03-22 … West Springfield, MA – Showcase 2 (11 [27])
• 1972-03-22 … Wheeling, WV – Coronet (13)
• 1972-03-22 … Wilkes-Barre, PA – Paramount (13)
• 1972-03-22 … Worcester, MA – Showcase 1 (18)
• 1972-03-22 … Wyoming, MI – Studio 28 (20 [26])
• 1972-03-22 … York, PA – Trans-Lux (12)
• 1972-03-22 … Zanesville, OH – Cinema I (8)

• 1972-03-23 … Ames, IA – Ames (8)
• 1972-03-23 … Battle Creek, MI – Michigan (8)
• 1972-03-23 … Cedar Falls, IA – College Square I (9)
• 1972-03-23 … Columbus, MS – Varsity (8)
• 1972-03-23 … Fayetteville, AR – Northwest Arkansas Plaza I (6)
• 1972-03-23 … Fayetteville, AR – Northwest Arkansas Plaza II (13)
• 1972-03-23 … Fresno, CA – Manchester Mall (19)
• 1972-03-23 … Gastonia, NC – Village (8)
• 1972-03-23 … High Point, NC – Towne (8)
• 1972-03-23 … Honolulu, HI – Royal (25)
• 1972-03-23 … Iowa City, IA – Astro (8)
• 1972-03-23 … Jonesboro, AR – Malco II (8)
• 1972-03-23 … Lynchburg, VA – Pittman Plaza (4+)
• 1972-03-23 … Memphis, TN – Paramount (20)
• 1972-03-23 … Rockford, IL – State (13)
• 1972-03-23 … Wildwood, NJ – Shore Twin Two (9)

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• 1972-03-24 … Amarillo, TX – Western Plaza (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Asheville, NC – Terrace (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Athens, GA – Palace One (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Augusta, GA – Miller (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Aurora, IL – Paramount (4+)
• 1972-03-24 … Austin, TX – Capital Plaza (15)
• 1972-03-24 … Baton Rouge, LA – Bon Marche (15)
• 1972-03-24 … Belleville, IL – Cinema (11)
• 1972-03-24 … Bloomington, IL – Irvin (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Bloomington, IN – College Mall I (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Calgary, AB – Capitol (4)
• 1972-03-24 … Carpentersville, IL – Meadowdale I (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Charlotte, NC – Charlottetown I (19)
• 1972-03-24 … Chattanooga, TN – Rogers (4+)
• 1972-03-24 … Clearwater, FL – Trans-Lux (12)
• 1972-03-24 … Colorado Springs, CO – Ute 70 (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Columbia, SC – Palmetto (13)
• 1972-03-24 … Columbus, GA – Georgia (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Corpus Christi, TX – National Twin I (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Creve Coeur, MO – Creve Coeur (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Dallas, TX – Medallion (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Denver, CO – Cherry Creek (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Edmonton, AB – Paramount (14)
• 1972-03-24 … El Paso, TX – Northgate (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Florissant, MO – Grandview (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Fort Wayne, IN – Holiday 2 (13)
• 1972-03-24 … Fort Wayne, IN – Southtown Mall I (11)
• 1972-03-24 … Fort Worth, TX – Ridglea (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Gainesville, FL – Royal Park 1 (12)
• 1972-03-24 … Greensboro, NC – Cinema (13)
• 1972-03-24 … Gretna, LA – Oakwood I (22)
• 1972-03-24 … Halifax, NS – Paramount (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Hamilton, ON – Centre Twin East (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Hamilton, ON – Centre Twin West (30)
• 1972-03-24 … Houston, TX – Galleria I (14 [16])
• 1972-03-24 … Houston, TX – Gulfgate I (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Houston, TX – Meyerland I (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Houston, TX – Northline I (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Indianapolis, IN – Lafayette Square (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Indianapolis, IN – Loew’s Twin 2 (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Indianapolis, IN – Regency 2 (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Jackson, MI – Michigan (8)
• 1972-03-24 … Jackson, MS – DeVille (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Joliet, IL – Mode (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Kalamazoo, MI – State (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Kankakee, IL – Paramount (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Knoxville, TN – Tennessee (8)
• 1972-03-24 … Lakewood, CO – Villa Italia (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Lexington, KY – Turfland Mall (16)
• 1972-03-24 … London, ON – Capitol (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Mehlville, MO – South County (18)
• 1972-03-24 … Metairie, LA – Lakeside I (22)
• 1972-03-24 … Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Mishawaka, IN – Town and Country (15)
• 1972-03-24 … Mobile, AL – Loop (13)
• 1972-03-24 … Montgomery, AL – Paramount (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Montreal, QC – Loew’s (27)
• 1972-03-24 … Moorhead, MN – Moorhead (11)
• 1972-03-24 … Muncie, IN – Delaware (8)
• 1972-03-24 … Nashville, TN – Tennessee (20)
• 1972-03-24 … Newport News, VA – Paramount (12)
• 1972-03-24 … Ottawa, ON – Place de Ville 1 (33)
• 1972-03-24 … Pensacola, FL – Saenger (11)
• 1972-03-24 … Peoria, IL – Madison (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Regina, SK – Capitol (8)
• 1972-03-24 … Saginaw, MI – Temple (9)
• 1972-03-24 … St. Louis, MO – Ambassador (12)
• 1972-03-24 … St. Paul, MN – Orpheum (15)
• 1972-03-24 … San Antonio, TX – Century South 1 (16)
• 1972-03-24 … San Antonio, TX – North Star Mall I (15)
• 1972-03-24 … Saskatoon, SK – Paramount (7)
• 1972-03-24 … Shreveport, LA – Strand (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Sioux City, IA – Riviera I (11)
• 1972-03-24 … Sioux Falls, SD – State (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Spartanburg, SC – Carolina (8)
• 1972-03-24 … Springfield, OH – Upper Valley I (17)
• 1972-03-24 … Terre Haute, IN – Honey Creek Square I (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Vancouver, BC – Orpheum (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Victoria, BC – Capitol (9)
• 1972-03-24 … Waukegan, IL – Genesee (14)
• 1972-03-24 … Windsor, ON – Palace (8)
• 1972-03-24 … Winnipeg, MB – Capitol (10)
• 1972-03-24 … Winnipeg, MB – Grant Park (30)

• 1972-03-28 … Las Vegas, NV – Red Rock 1 (17 [41])
• 1972-03-28 … Las Vegas, NV – Red Rock 2 (13)
• 1972-03-28 … Las Vegas, NV – Red Rock 3 (2)

• 1972-03-29 … Beaumont, TX – Gateway I (10)
• 1972-03-29 … Benton Harbor, MI – Fairplain Plaza 1 (9)
• 1972-03-29 … Benton Harbor, MI – Fairplain Plaza 2 (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Billings, MT – Babcock (16)
• 1972-03-29 … Birmingham, AL – Alabama (11)
• 1972-03-29 … Boise, ID – Ada (11)
• 1972-03-29 … Boulder, CO – Village (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Charleston, SC – Gloria (13)
• 1972-03-29 … Columbia, MO – Cinema (10)
• 1972-03-29 … DeKalb, IL – Carrols Twin I (5)
• 1972-03-29 … DeKalb, IL – Carrols Twin II (11)
• 1972-03-29 … Eugene, OR – Oakway (11)
• 1972-03-29 … Fayetteville, NC – Carolina (11)
• 1972-03-29 … Flint, MI – Dort Mall (15)
• 1972-03-29 … Huntington, WV – Camelot (4+)
• 1972-03-29 … Idaho Falls, ID – Paramount (4+)
• 1972-03-29 … Ithaca, NY – Temple (11)
• 1972-03-29 … Lafayette, LA – Nona (19)
• 1972-03-29 … Lake Charles, LA – Charles (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Lincoln, NE – Cooper/Lincoln (13)
• 1972-03-29 … Logan, UT – Capitol (6)
• 1972-03-29 … Lubbock, TX – Winchester (12)
• 1972-03-29 … Paducah, KY – Paducah (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Provo, UT – Paramount (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Quincy, IL – State (4+)
• 1972-03-29 … Roanoke, VA – Towers (9)
• 1972-03-29 … St. Joseph, MO – Trail (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Salina, KS – Vogue (7)
• 1972-03-29 … South Ogden, UT – Wilshire (12)
• 1972-03-29 … Springfield, IL – Fox Town & Country (13)
• 1972-03-29 … Springfield, MO – Tower (10)
• 1972-03-29 … Tuscaloosa, AL – Capri (9)
• 1972-03-29 … Twin Falls, ID – Orpheum (8)
• 1972-03-29 … Wichita, KS – Twin Lakes I (24)
• 1972-03-29 … Wilmington, NC – Oleander 1 (9)
• 1972-03-29 … Winston-Salem, NC – Reynolda (10)

• 1972-03-31 … Kingston, ON – Capitol (6)
• 1972-03-31 … Kitchener, ON – Lyric (10)
• 1972-03-31 … Moncton, NB – Highfield (6)
• 1972-03-31 … Oshawa, ON – Oshawa Centre 1 (16)
• 1972-03-31 … St. Catharines, ON – Pen Centre 1 (15)
• 1972-03-31 … Saint John, NB – Plaza (5)
• 1972-03-31 … St. John’s, NL – Avalon Mall (5)
• 1972-03-31 … Sudbury, ON – Empire (5)
• 1972-03-31 … Thunder Bay, ON – Capitol (7)

This chronology does not include any of the film’s bookings that commenced after March ’72, nor does it include any subsequent expansion waves, move-over bookings, second run, re-issue, international, revival, etc.

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CHAPTER 1: THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Harlan Lebo (author, The Godfather Legacy): I think The Godfather should be—and will always be—remembered as one of the great achievements in cinema, one of the rare motion pictures that is appreciated by filmmakers, critics, and audiences alike. It is also one of the most watchable films ever made; hard to believe that it is three hours long!

Robert Casillo (author, Gangster Priest: The Italian American Cinema of Martin Scorsese): The Godfather will continue to be remembered for several reasons. Not the least of these is its high artistic quality, which set a standard for the modern gangster film, and which inspired a generation of prominent Italian American directors and actors (Pacino, De Niro, Scorsese, De Palma, Cimino, and Tarantino among others). At the same time, The Godfather has an important place in American social and cultural history, especially in connection with ethnic history and experience.

Tom Santopietro (author, The Godfather Effect: Changing Hollywood, America, and Me): I think The Godfather should be remembered as one of the greatest films ever made. Full Stop. Even with all of the cultural heft attached to it—and I wrote an entire book about that!—the discussion begins and ends with what an extraordinarily effective film it remains. These were the best men and women in Hollywood working at the top of their game—from Coppola, Brando, and Pacino to Gordon Willis, Dean Tavoularis, and Anna Hill Johnstone.

Raymond Benson (reviewer, Cinema Retro; author of over 40 novels): The Godfather is one of those landmark films that often gets cited as one of the “greatest movies” along with Citizen Kane or Casablanca, and it deserves that accolade. Yes, it’s that good.

Alison Martino (Vintage Los Angeles; daughter of Al “Johnny Fontane” Martino): A half a century later the film's greatness is undiminished. Coppola crafted an enduring, undisputed cinematic masterpiece with producer Al Ruddy and cinematographer Gordon Willis. Mario Puzo wrote some of the most memorable dialogue that we continue use in everyday situations. And the music! That haunting trumpet theme completely embodies the Corleones. Can you imagine the movie without it??? The Godfather’s impact on cinema, pop culture and society is on a whole other level. Its influence is everywhere.

Jon Lewis (author, BFI Classics: The Godfather and Whom God Wishes to Destroy… Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood): As not only a really good film but as an industry landmark. Much as we can say there were films before Citizen Kane or Breathless and films after—the same goes for The Godfather.

John Cork (co-author, James Bond Encyclopedia): It is hard to overstate the importance of The Godfather both in Hollywood history and cultural impact. The film gave us a generation of great actors, iconic dialog, and indelible images. The movie also changed the film industry.

Sergio Angelini (reviewer, Sight & Sound): It’s a classic family film in the sense that it is primarily concerned with families (and what some people do in the name of family). It is also a critique of the corrosive effects of unfettered capitalism, seemingly even more potent a point of view now than it was on its original release. The Godfather is a true masterpiece, as dynamic, romantic, inventive, intelligent and spectacular a film in 2022 as it ever was.

Ray Morton (contributing editor, Script Mag; author, King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson): First and foremost, The Godfather is a terrific movie—it tells a cracking good story and it tells it very well through compelling scenes, exciting action, and colorful characters. The direction is brilliant; the screenplay expertly constructed; the performances are all memorable; the cinematography is stunning; and the production design, the editing, and the score are marvelous. The picture is extremely entertaining—it’s filled to the brim with drama, action, violence, sex, and humor. It is suspenseful and sometimes shocking and is jam-packed with memorable moments and (infinitely) quotable dialogue. It has remarkable scope and sweep, powerful themes, and an ending that haunts long after the movie is over. The Godfather is American commercial cinema at its very best.

Lee Pfeiffer (editor-in-chief, Cinema Retro): The Godfather should be remembered as it is being remembered: as one of the greatest films of all time. The fact that so much attention has been lavished on the film for this anniversary is all the evidence anyone needs about its significance, not only as a film, but as a staple of popular culture. The film brought about a great burst of dynamic young talents, including Francis Coppola, who would go on to immediately prove that his success with the movie was not a flash-in-the-pan. Think of the masterful films that followed: The Conversation, The Godfather Part II (which I believe is even better than the first film) and Apocalypse Now. The movie also brought to the fore the talents of Al Pacino (who was virtually unknown), Diane Keaton, James Caan and Robert Duvall, who already had many screen credits under their belts but seemed consigned to having careers as supporting actors. So, I think the film should best be remembered as having unleashed all these talents in marvelous roles that justifiably elevated all of them to major stardom.

 

CHAPTER 2: FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

Gary Leva (director, Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco): Francis took what could have been a pulpy, by-the-book gangster picture and infused it with the gravity, scope and tragedy of a great opera. And this didn’t come from nowhere. Francis comes from a family with deep roots in the arts. His father was the first flautist in Toscanini’s orchestra. One of his grandfathers helped engineer and build the first Vitaphone that made sound movies possible. The other grandfather imported foreign language films to America to entertain immigrant audiences in the early 20th Century. When you talk about Francis Coppola, that context is important, because he brings all of that to bear when he makes films. Yes, he’s considered one of the “Film School Brats,” but his artistic roots grow from much richer soil than that.

Raymond Benson: First, all the directors Robert Evans and team asked to helm the picture turned it down. As I understand it, they grudgingly decided to ask Coppola, and then he had to be seriously talked into doing it. (Apparently it was his pal George Lucas who finally convinced him to take it on.) While Coppola is indeed Italian, he had little or no experience with the Mafia… but still, I think his cultural background surely helped to infuse the film with the deep dive Italian traditions and familial rituals that most of us in America had no clue about.

Robert Casillo: The Godfather was made by Paramount Studios, which a few years earlier had released another Mafia film entitled The Brotherhood, starring Kirk Douglas, Alex Cord, Irene Pappas, and Luther Adler, and directed by Martin Ritt. According to Robert Evans, the head of Paramount and producer of The Godfather, The Brotherhood had failed artistically and financially largely because the director and most of the actors (Cord was an Italian American) lacked an easy and comfortable familiarity with Italian American and more particularly Sicilian American ethnicity. In a sense, the film’s content had been handled from the outside, anthropologically and schematically rather than dramatically, from the inside. In this context I can’t help but think of Coleridge’s permanently valuable distinction between the organism (or work of art) that is formed ab intra, from within, as against that which is formed ab extra, from without, the former being or organic and the latter mechanical. Yet despite the failure of The Brotherhood, Paramount was willing to risk the making of another Mafia movie in view of the enormous box-office potential of a film based on Puzo’s blockbuster novel, but this time an Italian American director was deemed essential so as to provide the necessary degree of ethnic authenticity and credibility. As Robert Evans said, he wanted a film in which you could “smell the spaghetti.” In retrospect Coppola was the right choice, despite the fact that at the time he was better known as a script writer than as a director. Few if any Hollywood directors at that time could match Coppola in his understanding of Italian American cultural values and behavior. And far from treating them anthropologically or ethnographically, he gave them their full dramatic weight and expressive power. Coppola, who had already won an Academy Award for his script for the film Patton, also did a fine job in eliminating the needless narrative digressions (Lucy Mancini’s vaginal plastic surgery, the Johnny Fontane sections) and otiose dialogue which mar the novel so as to achieve a much more streamlined and impactful product. Without his gift for concision, the film would have been as sprawling and diffuse as the novel.

Lee Pfeiffer: Coppola was an up-and-comer, having won an Oscar for his screenplay for Patton, but the few movies he had directed to date provide scant assurance that he would be capable of making a classic. His only big budget studio production, Finian’s Rainbow, was a high-profile bomb. The Rain People, which followed, was a small film that Coppola thought might prove to be a critical and niche market hit, but even that failed to catch on. I’m sure some of the consideration in hiring him for The Godfather was that he was largely unknown outside of the industry and would not be commanding a major fee. The Godfather allowed Coppola the latitude to showcase his cinematic visions. He proved respectful and adept at working with veteran actors as well as those who would emerge as stars following release of the film. Coppola is a movie purist, like Scorsese and Spielberg. Despite their fame and fortune, these guys still enjoy talking about the movies they love with great enthusiasm. Coppola could have made a by-the-book Mafia movie, something akin to The Valachi Papers, which was released the same year. Competently made and entertaining, but hardly memorable. But Coppola wasn’t just after a paycheck. He saw the possibility of greatness in the film, something the studio big shots did not. As to where it stands among his films, you can make a plausible argument that it’s his greatest achievement, but I think the first sequel and Apocalypse Now are even more impressive, the latter in part due to the sheer number of obstacles—financial and otherwise—that had to be overcome. It’s the kind of mad dream that few directors pursue, let along succeed with. I should point out that there are doubtlessly people who might name The Conversation as his best film. A plausible case can be made for any of these, but The Godfather is clearly the one that resonates most in terms of its impact on popular culture. People still quote the dialogue in everyday conversations.

Ray Morton: Coppola directs the film with a writer’s mind and an actor’s heart. The script presented a sumptuous, perfectly-constructed narrative and Coppola focused his direction on putting that narrative on screen with clarity, detail, and a steady dramatic build. Working with cinematographer Gordon Willis, Coppola delivered a visually stunning movie, but one without the cinematic gimmickry that marred some of his later films. In The Godfather, Coppola used all of his considerable technique to develop and advance the story—to simply tell the tale. Knowing that this was a story that was told primarily through its characters, Coppola also worked with each and every cast member to help them create and deliver fully-realized, deeply-nuanced performances that propelled the story as much as the imagery did. The result was Coppola’s most fully-realized film and the one that made him one of the most acclaimed and revered filmmakers of all time.

Raymond Benson: There’s no question that The Godfather was the best thing Coppola had directed up to this point, as his earlier pictures, while interesting, never really leaped out to the mainstream. He would display his chops even more as the decade went on, and for my money, The Godfather Part II is even better than the first one. The Conversation is great, and Apocalypse Now is another masterpiece. I don’t think Coppola ever reached the heights of those four films again in his career, although he’s made some good pictures and some not so good ones.

Gary Leva: Francis has been in several of my documentaries over the years, and there were times when he didn’t want to discuss The Godfather at all. The memory of it was too painful for him. I remember feeling how sad it was for an artist to recall the creation of his masterpiece as a miserable experience when, for us as film lovers, it’s a source of so much joy.

Robert Casillo: To the extent that Coppola and Puzo belong to a post-immigration generation of Italian Americans, The Godfather lends some support for Marcus Hansen’s “third law” of immigrant consciousness. As Hansen argued, whereas the second generation ethnic typically wants to forget the tribulations and challenges faced by the first generation, the third generation ethnic, owing to his or her relative assimilation into the host society, tends to be more willing to acknowledge and reflect openly upon the ethnic past. Yet in contrast with Coppola and Puzo, who recognized the Mafia as part of that past, many Italians found in the Mafia their chief stumbling block, and indeed various Italian American anti-defamation groups nearly undermined the production of The Godfather through the threat of strikes, boycotts, and lawsuits. To be sure, these protesters were quite wrong in contending that the presence of Mafia stereotypes in American cinema stigmatized the entire group, as it has been shown by Lee Jussim and other psychologists that people readily recognize that stereotypes admit of many and exceptions. In short, most people will acknowledge that relatively few Italian Americans belong to the Mafia, the truth being that rates of criminality among the group are actually below the national average. By the same token, the complaints by Italian American anti-defamation organizations that the Mafia stigma had greatly reduced the life chances of the group as a whole made little sense in view of the fact that Italian Americans had largely assimilated into the American mainstream in terms of wealth, status, and education by 1970—something that is not likely to have occurred had the Mafia been hanging like an albatross around the group’s collective neck. As it turned out, the centrality of the Mafia in Puzo’s novel and Coppola’s film resulted not in the stigmatization of Italian Americans but rather in a largely favorable set of stereotypes identifying them with the warmth of family affections, loyalty, community, and masculine toughness. And that the Mafia was the vehicle by which these values were communicated did little if anything to detract from them.

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CHAPTER 3: THE NOVEL AND SCREENPLAY

Raymond Benson: Mario Puzo’s novel is quite good and a fun read, but I might want to say he was a better screenwriter than a novelist. I’m not sure how much of the screenplay is his and how much is Coppola’s, but it’s a brilliant piece of work. The novel, of course, deals with some of Vito Corleone’s backstory that we wouldn’t see until The Godfather Part II, two years later, so the first movie covers only part of the novel. It’s pretty faithful, though. There isn’t much deviation from the main plotline or characters.

John Cork: The Godfather was a paperback hit. This is a term no one uses these days, but studio execs of the past understood it. Paramount famously optioned the novel for a few thousand prior to publication. Optioning the rights to novels was a cheap bet at the time. The big publishing houses took on the cost and risks of trying to make the novels bestsellers, and if they were, the studio could exercise their option and generate a movie with something of a built-in audience, often timed closely to the paperback release of the source novel. No one expected The Godfather to sell like it did, staying on The New York Times Fiction Bestseller List for over a year, and becoming one of the fastest-selling hardbacks of all time. Like Love Story, Jaws, and The Exorcist, The Godfather’s success reflected the power of books on popular culture in that era, particularly paperback books. Before we all had smart phones, millions of Americans went about every day with a paperback book that could be carried in their purse or pockets, and could be read while waiting in lines or during work breaks. The ability to make a movie that dovetailed with the paperback release of a must-read novel had the power to make fortunes for publishers, authors, and film studios. The Godfather’s success proved to be a boon to writers, who for decades could count on virtually any novel they could get published being optioned by some studio or producer.

Jon Lewis: The book is fun and/but trashy—the film is much better, much more significant.

Larry Karaszewski (co-screenwriter, Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt): Coppola called it a potboiler.

Joseph McBride (co-screenwriter, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School; author, Steven Spielberg: A Biography): I think Puzo's novel is a gripping book, full of rich characters, atmosphere, and narrative, though marred by (ahem) one gross, shamelessly pandering chapter about sex. I think that chapter colored Coppola's view of the whole book, somewhat unfairly.

Larry Karaszewski: Coppola credits Puzo for everything. Not sure he was using “potboiler” as an insult.

Joseph McBride: Coppola brought Puzo back to work on Part II and has said he believes in putting the author's name above the title, as he does with these films.

Ray Morton: The Godfather is a masterful example of adaptation. Mario Puzo wrote a terrific book, but it was a lengthy one—full of subplots and digressions that definitely fleshed-out and enhanced the world of the story, but didn’t necessarily advance the narrative. There was simply more material in the book than could be included in even a long feature film. In crafting the screenplay, Coppola and Puzo streamlined the narrative—eliminating most of the subplots and digressions and focusing primarily on the story of Michael Corleone and his transformation from war hero to Mafia don. However, they still managed to incorporate enough small and subtle references to the excised material that all of the novel’s texture came through, creating a fully-realized environment for the film’s story to unfold in.

Amy Holden Jones (screenwriter, Indecent Proposal; co-screenwriter, Mystic Pizza): It’s rare that a great novel makes a great film.

Ray Morton: By focusing the narrative on Michael’s story, Coppola and Puzo were able to bring themes that were inherent in the novel to the fore. The result creates an interesting contrast with the novel: Puzo’s book is solid but pulpy, whereas the narrative in the film is more elevated and elegant. By centering the screenplay on Michael’s journey from the light into the dark and enhancing it with an emphasis on family; on fathers and sons; on the rights and rites of succession; on intra- and extra-familial intrigue and betrayal, as well as a great war between formidable factions, the narrative of the film becomes an epic tragedy worthy of Shakespeare. With all of this, a strong argument can be made that the film represents the best possible version of the Godfather story, as well as the best cinematic adaptation of a novel ever.

 

CHAPTER 4: THE CAST

Lawrence Grobel (author, Al Pacino: In Conversation with Lawrence Grobel and Conversations with Brando: 10 Days on Brando’s Island): Most film buffs know that Pacino was almost fired from The Godfather for not emoting enough, and Brando was considered “difficult” and wasn’t wanted by the studio. Coppola had to fight for both actors. He suspected that they could deliver strong performances, and he was right. Michael Corleone ranks among Pacino’s best work, along with Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface, and The Merchant of Venice. Playing Michael changed his life, in good ways and bad. Good, because it established him as one of the great actors of his generation. Bad, because it shone a spotlight on him, and that kind of fame made him uncomfortable. As for Brando, there was no doubt that the cast of The Godfather considered him the greatest living actor, but he wasn’t in demand when Coppola wanted him to play the Don. Brando had a quirky career, appearing in films that have stood the test of time, and making several clunkers along the way. But for The Godfather, he knew exactly how he wanted to play it, and he delivered one of his most memorable performances. Both actors played their characters close to the vest. Both have been known to take roles over the top, but for the Don and his son Michael, they kept it subtle, making what they did even more powerful. It’s a great movie, often ranked just above or just below Citizen Kane in polls that rank the greatest films of all time. The entire cast came through, as did Coppola’s direction and Robert Evans’ input as producer.

Raymond Benson: Brando deserved his Oscar win, even though Al Pacino’s Michael is really the protagonist of the film and the lead. One could say Vito is really a supporting role, but we won’t get into the Oscar politics of the many leading roles that are submitted as supporting ones. Pacino deserved an Oscar, too, and I’ll bet the voting was close between him and Joel Grey (who won for Cabaret). At least the movie catapulted Pacino into stardom. Caan and Duvall are both great, Cazale was wonderful, Keaton and Shire are winning, and all the supporting folks like Sterling Hayden, Richard Conte, Richard Castellano, Gianni Russo, and Abe Vigoda are terrific. One standout hardly anyone talks about is Al Lettieri as Sollozzo—what a great performance and a superb villain!

Jon Lewis: Coppola is a terrific director of actors—Brando’s performance is mannered and maybe dates a bit; Pacino’s is a revelation, really, as Michael is mostly stoic, inert, it’s all happening in his head, behind his eyes.

Lee Pfeiffer: There isn’t a weak link anywhere. Everyone is at the top of their game. Brando was revitalized, probably because he knew the studio didn’t want him. What better way to shame his doubters than to deliver the performance of a lifetime? The superb work of the major actors is self-evident, but I’d like to commemorate the performances of the supporting cast: Richard Castellano as Clemenza, Richard Conte as Barzini, Al Lettieri as Sollozzo, John Marley as Woltz, Abe Vigoda as Tessio, Alex Rocco as Moe Greene and Gianni Russo, who had never acted before, terrific as Carlo. Same with singer Al Martino, who acquits himself well. It’s a wonder he didn’t go on to a successful screen career. If there is a standout among standouts it has to be John Cazale, who is superb as Fredo and would go on to a meatier role in the next film, wherein he should have won an Oscar. He made precious few films in his brief career before dying young, but each one of them was nominated for Best Picture.

Ray Morton: The Godfather has one of the all-time great casts—along with American Graffiti (which was produced by Coppola and also cast by Fred Roos), it launched or enhanced the careers of more great actors than any other picture of its era. As Vito Corleone, Marlon Brando delivered the third in his triptych of iconic film performances (the other two being Stanley Kowalski [from A Streetcar Named Desire] and Terry Malloy [from On the Waterfront]). Al Pacino’s smoldering performance made him a star. James Caan, Robert DuVall, Richard Castellano, Al Lettieri, and Diane Keaton had all been around for a while, but The Godfather boosted them all to a different level. Sterling Hayden and Richard Conte got the best roles they’d had in quite some time and introduced them to an entirely new audience. The film gave John Cazale and Abe Vigoda screen careers. There isn’t an actor in the cast who doesn’t give a pitch-perfect performance (even Vito Scotti, who made a career of playing cartoony, stereotypical Italians, comes across as wonderfully warm and real). A case can be made that almost every member of the cast gave their career-best performances in The Godfather.

 

CHAPTER 5: THE PRODUCTION DESIGN

Jane Barnwell (author, Production Design for Screen: Visual Storytelling in Film and Television): The atmospheric creation of a place in time builds a compelling story world, distinctive and coherent. Tavoularis deftly employs the design tools of space, light, color and set decoration leading us into the hidden world of The Godfather. Colorful vibrant textures of family life play out in the exterior settings contrasting with the minimal color palette of the home office. Nested within the large family home is the office which visualizes the significance of family and community while spatially creating boundaries between it and the criminal operation. Closed doors and blinds further separate and enclose characters in the wooden panelled masculine space carved out in rich dark brown and warm neutral colors. Decorated with personal possessions Don Corleone’s office reflects his interior landscape and humanity. We see these aspects stripped away when Michael takes over and the office becomes an empty container for a more ruthless head of the family.

Ray Morton: In the late 1960s and early 1970s the aesthetics of filmmaking moved more and more toward realism in all areas: acting, writing, cinematography, and so on. When it came to production design, real exteriors replaced backlots and real interiors often took the place of sets constructed on soundstages. And when sets were constructed, the goal was to make them look as authentic as possible, rather than follow the highly stylized settings of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Dean Tavoularis was certainly not the only production designer to adopt this realistic approach, but he was arguably the master of it. And his work in The Godfather (along with The Godfather Part II) is arguably his masterpiece. Every location Tavoularis chose for the film is the perfect backdrop for the scenes played in them. Every set—whether a dressed-up existing location or a set constructed on a soundstage—feels like a real, lived-in place. The Godfather is a period piece and Tavoularis did a brilliant job recreating that period (1945-1955). And he did this not just by—as most production designers would have done—dressing the sets in furnishings and knick-knacks of those years, but also from the decades that preceded it, because Tavoularis knew that most of us don’t decorate our lives with the objects of the current year, but rather from a variety of years from the time we are born until the present. These minor details are not likely noticed by most moviegoers, but the fact that they are there registers on an unconscious level and just makes every set feel all the more authentic. Tavoularis also enhanced the film’s realism by building sets that not only showed us the room the scene takes place in, but the other rooms down the hall, where life outside the scene was going on simultaneously in its own way apart from what the principal characters were doing. This is especially evident in the scenes set in the Corleone homes. Again, it’s a dimension that is likely not consciously noticed by the audience, but since this is how most of us experience the locations in our lives, it again enhances the realism all the more. Finally, Tavoularis had a talent for choosing colors and textures for his sets that, when combined with Gordon Willis’s brilliant lighting, perfectly conveyed the mood and emotion of the scene. Thus, Tavoularis did what all those working on a film need to do—use their talents and craft to help tell the story.

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CHAPTER 6: THE COSTUME DESIGN

Tom Santopietro: I think Anna Hill Johnstone in the first Godfather film and Theodora Van Runkle in Part II were very sensitive to both character and setting, but also to the aesthetic of the production designers. Nothing is left to chance in a Francis Ford Coppola movie and you can be sure that Johnstone and Van Runkle collaborated with production designer Dean Tavoularis.

Costume is used throughout The Godfather to delineate character, beginning with the opening wedding scene. In that wedding sequence, Don Corleone is dressed differently than Michael who arrives in his traditional Marine uniform—the Ivy League son who has pursued, at this point, the more traditional Anglo-American route. Sonny is the flashiest in his tuxedo—it’s double breasted with shoulder padding. He wears a pinky ring and you notice his cufflinks. Tells you he’s the peacock among the three sons. Sonny’s clothes all say, “Look at me—I’m the toughest and I’m the prince who will turn King.” He beats up Carlo while wearing an unbuttoned gray suit but he’s sporting black and white spectator shoes that are very noticeable.

I think the attention to detail in the costuming influenced gangster style to be more realistic. The stereotypical style found in the original Scarface is gone—there are no ridiculously wide pinstripes that scream “Look, I’m a gangster!” The subsequent films like GoodFellas were very true to character. They appear exactly how the characters would have dressed at that time and in that setting. The characters in GoodFellas or Casino dress in the clothes of the 60s and 70s, and dress differently in New York City than in Las Vegas. When the new millennium brought us The Sopranos, those characters did not dress like Michael. They were now the mobsters as your suburban neighbor next door and their clothes reflected the look of the time—lots of velour, lots of track suits. These mobsters talked all the time—to each other, to psychiatrists—the old code of silence was gone and the relaxed, casual clothes reflected this. No one in The Sopranos is buttoned up. The clothes found in The Godfather helped ground the characters as products of their environment and time—they are realistic, recognizable people.

The clothes are an essential and beautifully rendered part of the entire design aesthetic. These clothes do not draw attention to themselves for the designer’s sake—many designers want to be noticed, which is the wrong reason for a design no matter how eye catching it is. Instead, these clothes define character, from the slightest bit of casual wear to the most formal of attire.

 

CHAPTER 7: THE CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roy H. Wagner, ASC, FRPS (cinematographer, Beauty and the Beast, Quantum Leap): Gordon Willis’ photography for The Godfather required any serious filmmaker to observe a master redefining the art of cinematography and storytelling. Willis’ efforts were not just relegated to cinematography but to all other filmmaking disciplines. We all were exposed to a new way of seeing and interpreting.

Ernest Dickerson, ASC (cinematographer, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X; director, Juice): The Godfather was so evocative of the era of the late 1940s by replicating the look of old Kodachrome, especially when exposed to tungsten lighting. But also his character lighting with his revolutionary use of soft toplight which, purposely, denied us access to Don Corleone's eyes which are the windows to his soul. This was similar to James Wong Howe's approach to Burt Lancaster's character in Sweet Smell of Success in 1957.

Roger Deakins, CBE, ASC, BSC (cinematographer, The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner 2049): Gordon Willis’ work on The Godfather was and still is an inspiration for me. He was the “prince of darkness” and “master of shadow.”

Richard Crudo, ASC (cinematographer, American Pie, Brooklyn Rules; president, American Society of Cinematographers 2003-2006 and 2013-2016): Gordon Willis, ASC was the greatest influencer of cinematography during film's last Golden Age, which lasted from about 1969 through 1983. Fifty years later, his work on The Godfather remains the touchstone by which so much of what we now take for granted visually is measured. In that instance, he not only changed the way movies looked, he changed the way audiences look at movies.

M. David Mullen, ASC (cinematographer, The Love Witch, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; co-editor, American Cinematographer Manual Eleventh Edition): The Godfather is rightly celebrated for its lighting, but the dramatic strength of Gordon Willis’ frames comes from how that lighting works with his compositions. He constantly manages to create an image that is both simple and direct, drawing your eye to what is important, and yet also nuanced and layered. I think the fact that he favored the 40mm focal length for medium and wide shots, with the camera backed up, rather than work close to the subject with a wider-angle lens, gives the film a somewhat observational tone.

Ernest Dickerson, ASC: Once Gordy locked into what the look of a film would be, he maintained strict control over that throughout the shoot. He developed a close relationship with the New York lab, Du-Art, which also became my favorite lab. Gordy influenced them to develop that close cinematographer/lab relationship and that was something I greatly enjoyed when photographing my films. They worked with me in maintaining the control of the look, especially when I stretched the limits of the film stocks with exposure, color temperatures, etc.

Roy H. Wagner, ASC, FRPS: For many years Willis was not allowed into the common Hollywood fellowship because he refused to play by the rules. His was a great gift for any filmmaker who chose to partner with him. He had a very strong opinion and forced those he worked with to argue why he might be wrong. Looking at the images of The Godfather, Klute and countless other films including the other two Godfathers suggest that he was truly an author, possibly an autocrat and yet a recognizable expressionist with his own unique visual signature.

 

CHAPTER 8: THE EDITING

Saul Pincus (editor, Nocturne, My Five Wives): I had the pleasure of meeting Walter Murch a few decades ago when he was up in Toronto. This was when Michael Ondaatje was shadowing him, doing research for the book about Murch and editing called The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film that was published a few years later. Now, Murch did not edit the first Godfather, but he was involved in the sound design. So his presentation at the event I was at focused on the scene in the restaurant where Michael Corleone kills Sollozzo and the police captain, where so much of the tension is created by you wondering whether Michael can go through with it, whether the gun will be there for him. There are two more key elements: Pacino's performance, which channels that expectation, and the sounds of the subway cars outside, which amplify the tension as they reveal, sonically, how the tension is only increasing through the scene. Simple, but very effective. This sort of thoughtfulness can be found across all three Godfather pictures, and I think it's a big reason they have their impact. One has to acknowledge that these films work on both the conscious and subconscious levels very well. In music, well-written counterpoint usually has the effect of making a melody appear to flow faster. That example applies to this, I think. I'll resist calling The Godfather a picture that is just visually edited well; it's a film where we really don't realize how much of the sound editing (not to mention the music) choices make up the total editorial experience—the sandwich—that's the film. The deft counterpointing of conscious and subconscious moments in picture and sound are ripe throughout.

Harlan Lebo: Hard to believe The Godfather is three hours long!

Paul Hirsch, ACE (editor, Ray, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; co-editor, Star Wars): The length of The Godfather is a function of interest, and the screenplay and the cast were compelling. Brando was at the top of his game. The ingredients combined to make magic.

Saul Pincus: That reminds me of how The Godfather is cut with an emphasis not so much on those who are speaking, but those who are listening. And how many of the nuances of the great performances in the film are available to us because Coppola was trying to give credibility to the drama by choosing to filter them that way.

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CHAPTER 9: THE MUSIC

Jon Burlingame (film music historian, Variety; author, Sound and Vision: 60 Years of Motion Picture Soundtracks): The battles over The Godfather even extended to the music. Producer Robert Evans wanted Henry Mancini, and director Francis Ford Coppola insisted on Nino Rota, the Italian genius who had given so many Fellini films (from La Dolce Vita to 8 1/2) their tuneful soundtracks and who had recently given Paramount a colossal musical hit in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.

Luckily, Coppola won. Nino Rota—whose other famous scores included War and Peace and The Leopard—lent just the right authentic Sicilian touch to The Godfather. His Godfather Waltz provided an accordion-flavored counterpoint to the shocking violence of the warring families of organized crime; and his love theme conveyed a warm, and ultimately heartrending, feeling to the unexpected and sadly short-lived love story for Michael and Apollonia in Italy.

Of course, Rota wasn't above a bit of self-plagiarism, and that got him into trouble later. No one at the time realized it, but his love theme actually originated as "an amusing, ironic march" (Rota's words) in the 1958 Italian film Fortunella. "I slowed it down, made it more romantic, and it worked," the composer said, for The Godfather.

The Academy was tipped off and Rota's 1972 Oscar nomination for best original score was withdrawn as not being wholly original to the film. (Yet, in another instance of musical irony, Rota was not only nominated, but won, for his score for The Godfather Part II two years later—even though most of the themes were recycled from The Godfather. Observers today think of it as an apology to the veteran composer for yanking the original nomination.)

It's stunning to realize that this renowned Italian composer was only recognized once at the Academy Awards, when you consider such superb work for Fellini (also including Juliet of the Spirits, Roma and Amarcord) and films for Luchino Visconti, Zeffirelli and Lina Wertmuller. But at least he was rewarded for a Godfather film.

CHAPTER 10: THE SOUND

Steve Lee (The Hollywood Sound Museum): Everyone on the crew was at the top of their game in The Godfather, but as the founder of The Hollywood Sound Museum, I am especially appreciative of the movie's sound design—created by the always brilliant Walter Murch. The scene where Michael Corleone shoots the two mobsters in the restaurant is a great example. That incredibly tense moment has no music score at all—the emotion is created with the sound of a screeching elevated train. You hear it when Corleone is looking for the hidden gun to carry out the deed... and the sound comes and goes, building in intensity. Murch himself has called it the sound of "Michael's neurons rubbing against each other" as he anguishes over his job of shooting the two guys. Other films might have had music help fill-in the desired emotion... but it's all done effectively with sound effects. Music doesn't start until he's left the building. It's just brilliant, it's a real testament to what really good sound design can do to tell the story. And that's just one example in that classic film.

 

CHAPTER 11: THE MARKETING

Tom Santopietro: The Godfather changed the way Hollywood did business because when it became clear that the film [would be] a phenomenon, there was a nationwide roll out much more quickly than had been the norm previously. This was three years before Jaws was released.

 

CHAPTER 12: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Robert Casillo: When I first heard that Paramount was making The Godfather, I expected that it would be an ordinary potboiler melodrama. I had not yet read the novel, and was unaware of the enormous cinematic possibilities contained within it—the gold that Coppola and Puzo were able to extract from the dross. But then a person whose judgment I respect and who had looked into the making of the film suggested that it was to be more than just another gangster film. I was highly impressed by the film when I first saw The Godfather at the Merritt Theater in Bridgeport, Connecticut. So was the audience, including my Italian American relatives. To be sure, there were probably few if any Mafiosi in attendance, but even while focusing on an Italian American criminal organization by no means representative of the group as a whole Coppola succeeded in presenting certain characteristic features of Italian American culture with a degree of knowledge and understanding never before seen in American film.

Beverly Gray (author, Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How ‘The Graduate’ Became the Touchstone of a Generation): I was struck by the film’s commentary on leadership. When Marlon Brando’s courtly Don Vito Corleone sends his henchmen to commit nefarious acts, he apologetically explains that there’s nothing personal about it: business is business. The movie, though, gives the lie to such rationalizations. Don Vito wants to make money, but above all he wants respect, even fealty. And this attitude transfers to the son, Michael who ultimately takes over Don Vito’s crime empire. Michael, who at the start of the film has seemed to reject his father’s approach to life, ends up running the show precisely as Don Vito had done. Why, given his American education and his status as a war hero, does he fall back into the old ways? Money? A sense of obligation to continue the family legacy? Yes, but also a playing out of his resentment against his older brothers and the adoptive son (Robert Duvall) with whom he had to share his father’s love. Ironically, Don Vito had wanted Michael to stay clean—to have a future as a senator or maybe even President. Gangsters spawning politicians? Hmmmm.

Tom Santopietro: I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen the film—I own it, know most of the dialogue by heart, and when it was recently re-released in theaters in that beautiful restoration, instantly had to see it again on the big screen. That said, what I remember about the first time is that I was 18 and saw the movie on Easter Sunday with my parents—church, a big Italian Easter dinner, and then the movie! My father and I loved the movie but my mother did not—she didn’t like violence and wanted the movie to end. I still remember her whispering to me: “How much longer?” and my reply: “Shhh—Michael’s about to kill McCloskey!” Pretty funny.

Lee Pfeiffer: I was 15 when the film opened in March of 1972. In those days, big pictures opened in a limited number of theaters to build word-of-mouth. It’s the exact opposite of the strategy today, which is to open simultaneously on thousands of screens. As the studio had hoped, it instantly became a “must-see” and lines wrapped around the block at the Loews State in Times Square. This afforded Paramount to take out full-page ads in the trades showing the customers queueing up for tickets. In fact, I couldn’t get tickets at first. It took me three attempts over as many weeks. When my friend and I got two tickets, the usher told us that they had oversold the performance and we would get tickets for a future showing. We told him to drop dead. After three weeks, we weren’t about to come back a fourth time. We promptly sat down on the stairs in the balcony and said we’d watch the film from there. We were told that violated fire codes but we didn’t move. Soon, they miraculously found two seats in the last row of the balcony. It was like watching the movie from Mount Everest, but we were happy to be there. Seeing the film gave us some bragging rights, as no one else we knew had managed this coup.

Roy H. Wagner, ASC, FRPS: I didn’t know what to think of The Godfather the first time I saw it. I could not find any common ground based upon the films I had seen before. Most films used common visual and storytelling grammar that allows the viewer to somewhat be in on the “joke.” Just like The Exorcist and The French Connection the audience was free falling through the film not knowing if the cinematic structure we had grown accustomed to would deliver us safely at the end. It took several viewings to understand the new language of filmmaking that we were being driven through.

Raymond Benson: I saw it in late spring 1972, not long after it had opened. It didn’t open immediately in my small-town hometown in Texas, but I happened to be in Austin in early May of that year and saw it there on the big screen.

Chris Chiarella (home media journalist): I remember when I first saw it: The famous NBC “Novel for Television” version that was (1) censored and (2) extensively re-edited/re-sequenced and with deleted scenes reinstated. I adored it immediately.

John Cork: My wonderful aunt Lois took me to see The Godfather in Norfolk, Virginia, when I was only ten years old. I had begged my family to get me in, and, with my aunt, it worked. She was great at giving me context about the film, but, of course, what I loved was the feeling of horror at the horse head in the bed, the brutal shooting of Sonny at the toll booths, and the vicious assassinations at the film’s close. I also recall believing it was the pesticides that the kid is spraying that killed Don Vito, not just a heart attack (as in the novel). It wasn’t until a decade later that I finally appreciated just how brilliant the movie was on so many levels.

Jon Lewis: I saw the film in a theater—as I recall in the summer of 1972, the summer before my senior year of High School, in New York someplace, I don’t recall where. It was not a momentous filmgoing experience, at least I did not recognize it as such. I remember far better seeing two other films as a teenager that had a bigger impact: MASH and Klute. As a teenager, the sudden advent of explicit content was a bigger deal. That I would someday write a lot about the film, its sequel, and Coppola seemed hardly in the cards.

Harlan Lebo: I did not see The Godfather until it was on television in November 1974, but I had (of course) heard much about it. I recall realizing that I was witnessing something very, very special—an opinion that grew with each successive viewing.

Sergio Angelini: I was ten years old when I first saw The Godfather, on British TV. I was clearly too young but it was a special occasion as my parents loved the movie as well as the book so they let me stay up. I stayed awake for the whole thing and it made a huge impression on me, not least for its extreme violence and sex and nudity of course! Looking back now though I can also see how much deeper it got its hooks into me for the way it represented (non-criminal and non-violent) Italian family dynamics in a way that I was extremely familiar with at home. I was maybe 14 when I saw it for the second time, this time in Rome and dubbed into Italian, and enjoyed it even more. Not just because I understood some of the content much better by then but also because I didn’t have to put up with listening to Al Pacino’s horrible attempts at speaking Italian! Of course, the downside was that you couldn’t tell when any of the characters slipped from English into Italian, a crucial way in which to keep secrets and exclude outsiders and which is even more important in The Godfather Part II.

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CHAPTER 13: MEMORABLE SCENES

Raymond Benson: All of them. The opening wedding sequence lays it all out and introduces the characters, taking us back to 1945 and this world of a powerful man, his family, and the opulent and subtly sinister milieu around him. The bit in Hollywood with John Marley and the horse’s head… the gunning down of Vito in the street… the depiction of war between rival Mafia families… the Sicilian sequences and Michael’s romance with Apollonia… the climactic “cleaning up” of Michael’s rivals during his nephew’s baptism in an ingenious counterpoint of cross-editing… But the pivotal scene is the one in the restaurant, in which Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey. Oh my God, this is a masterful lesson in tension-building, pacing, and acting. It is so well directed that I can’t imagine it any better.

Sergio Angelini: We all have our favorites but in truth there are almost too many to enumerate. In many ways this points to the film’s greatness, in that its celebrated set-pieces always feel so seamlessly and organically integrated into its narrative fabric, very different from what you would find say in a Hitchcock movie. While the extreme violence still packs a wallop, it’s the more familial material that stands out for me. In particular, scenes like Clemenza teaching Michael how to cook, the little girl learning to dance in the wedding sequence or Fredo and his father shopping for oranges that stick out in my mind, just as vividly as more spectacular moments like the discovery of the horse’s head or the high pitch of suspense in the scene in which Michael shoots McCluskey and Sollozzo.

Jon Lewis: The baptism/murder montage is among the most famous. My favorites are the so-called garden scene during which Vito talks about how he had hoped for a different/legit future for Michael (“Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone”), which is an obvious choice, and the scene in a trailer with Sollozzo and Tom (which is so eccentric).

Ray Morton: The movie is filled with incredible and memorable moments: The opening wedding; the horse’s head; the strangling of Luca Brasi; the shooting of Vito Corleone; the killing of McCluskey and Sollozzo; Michael’s Sicilian wedding; the tollbooth assassination of Sonny; the death of Apolonia; Michael’s warning to Fredo; the final conversation between Michael and Vito; the death of the Godfather; the baptism-framed murders of the heads of the Five Families (and Moe Green); and the final closing of the door in Kay’s face.

Lee Pfeiffer: There are so many it’s probably easier to list those that aren’t standout scenes. But for me, perhaps the most poignant is the scene in which Michael and the aging, feeble Don Vito sit in his garden and discuss Michael’s strategies as the new Don. Vito’s memory fails him at times, but he dispenses vital advice to Michael that will ultimately save him from being murdered by a traitor. It’s a moving and sentimental scene. I also like the scene in which Michael murders the corrupt police captain and a rival gang boss during a seemingly benign dinner engagement. Michael has now crossed the Rubicon and become a wanted murderer—but he has avenged his family. It’s a superbly realized scene, filled with tension and brilliantly enacted and directed. Equally memorable is the climatic montage of Michael exacting revenge on the rival gang bosses intercut with scenes of a baptism. Sheer brilliance.

 

CHAPTER 14: SUCCESS!

Scott Mendelson (box office analyst, Forbes): The Godfather was not the first film to gross over $100 million in North America. That was The Sound of Music. However. Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning mob drama was the fastest such film at that point in history. Moreover, the sprawling, old-fashioned family melodrama, with of-the-moment filmmaking and brutal genre-appropriate violence, served as a skewed kind of bridge between the Oscar-winning musical and Steven Spielberg’s $200 million-plus juggernaut Jaws in 1975. There’s a case to be made that The Godfather was a definitive melding of late-1960s American New Wave filmmaking and old-school Hollywood formality, so it makes sense that it would become one of Hollywood’s biggest grossing movies amid a massive cultural transition. Fifty years later, it is often considered the greatest American movie ever made, and a definitive piece of “Hollywood art” that became a blockbuster partially because it was good.

Ray Morton: The popular and financial success of The Godfather, as well as the extreme quality of its filmmaking, made Francis Ford Coppola the most significant and highly-lauded director of the 1970s. The film’s popularity and influence gave Coppola the clout and the financing to make any film he wanted as both director and producer. The results were some of the best films of the decade: The Conversation, American Graffiti, The Godfather Part II, The Black Stallion, and Apocalypse Now. Not bad for a movie the director only took because he needed the money.

Gary Leva: As extraordinary as The Godfather is, what makes it even more remarkable is the fact that, while he was making the film, Francis was dealing with the fear—the very real possibility—that he was about to be replaced as the director. Several other directors were approached to take over what the studio—and at times Robert Evans—viewed as a possible disaster. And despite this, Francis held to his vision and delivered a cinematic masterpiece.

John Cork: The Godfather became the first R-rated “event film” of the modern era. There had been R-rated hits, certainly. MASH, Dirty Harry, A Clockwork Orange, and The French Connection were all big hits with audiences and critics, but no one believed one could make an R-rated film that would attract audiences on the scale of, say, Mary Poppins or Thunderball. The Godfather did just that. It became a must-see phenomenon. It proved that adult audiences would flock to a film that shocked and entertained them in equal measure.

Sheldon Hall (co-author, Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History): The Godfather was very successful in the United Kingdom but not quite as big as it was in the United States. It ran neck and neck with Diamonds are Forever in the box office charts.

Ray Morton: It’s the best American film of the post-studio system era. The best film produced by the studio system was Casablanca. That classic film told a tale that reflected a vision of the United States the country held of itself at the time—tough and cynical on the surface, idealistic underneath, and always willing to fight the good fight—and did so with all of the contracted resources of the era—staff writers, a staff direction, and staff craftspeople all under the guidance of a strong producer. The Godfather did the same with the best of New Hollywood: a powerful studio willing to fund the vision of an auteurist director and an assemblage of the best freelance actors and craftspeople to present a vision of the country very much in step with the more cynical 1970s by telling the story of good person gradually ensnared by an amoral system until he himself becomes irredeemably corrupt.

 

CHAPTER 15: SIGNIFICANCE AND INFLUENCE

Beverly Gray: It's remarkable to me how The Godfather has influenced our language. For the subtitle of my first book, a biography of my former boss Roger Corman, I was inspired to suggest that Roger be called the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking. (My publisher had suggested the much more somber word “Patriarch.”) And who can forget phrases like “go to the mattresses” and “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes”?

Tom Santopietro: I think The Godfather is significant for a multitude of reasons. It’s a great piece of filmmaking that works on the most elemental level of “what happens next,” but also works on sub-textual levels as well. Every time I watch the film I’m aware once again of how smart Coppola’s vision for the film remains: he viewed the Mob as a metaphor for American big business run amok: both share the control of pricing and the control of territory.

Harlan Lebo: The Godfather is one of those rarest of films (along with films such as Citizen Kane and Lawrence of Arabia) that illustrates the use and abuse of power. It also masterfully illustrates the personal conflict that can occur when a character tries to resist the horrors of a specific path in life, becomes drawn into that life, and becomes more terrifying and violent than those who preceded him.

Kimberly Peirce (director, Boys Don’t Cry, Stop-Loss): It showed me that I can take that love of the gangster movie and I can screen it through a family drama. In my movies family is really important, violence is important. I’m really interested in the psychological and the authentic portrayal of violence—particularly violence that comes out of emotions. Before The Godfather, I don’t know that you could have such a violent psychological film that was that broadly entertaining.

Robert Casillo: The release of The Godfather and the public acclaim it received marked an important moment in the emergence of a widespread ethnic consciousness among European American immigrant groups in the 1970s. This development owed quite a bit to the example of the civil rights movement, and in its basic assumptions called in question the ideals of assimilation and the “melting pot” such as had prevailed in social theory for many decades. Something of the spirit of the movement is captured In Michael Novak’s Unmeltable Ethnics and perhaps to an even greater degree in Glazer and Moynihan’s earlier Beyond the Melting Pot. Certainly the ethnic identity movement gained in dignity and prestige in having two distinguished works of art, Godfathers I and II, associated with it. On the other hand, a certain unintended pathos now attaches to the Godfather films, for notwithstanding their powerful assertion of ethnic consciousness and identity, Italian Americans (like Irish Americans before them) have undergone what sociologist Richard Alba has described as the “twilight of ethnicity,” meaning that they have largely assimilated to mainstream America and more particularly mingled with other white ethnic groups to form what Alba and Mary Waters characterize as European America—a new social formation of immense political potential.

Lee Pfeiffer: As I mentioned before, it gave a prime showcase for important, emerging talents. But it also revived the crime movie genre, which had been suffering. In fact, Paramount had spent a lot of money on the Kirk Douglas-Alex Cord crime flick The Brotherhood, which was released in 1968. I just saw it recently to record the commentary track for Via Vision’s forthcoming Blu-ray release. It’s a very good film but it failed at the box office and gave Paramount cold feet about doing The Godfather. They ultimately did so, but envisioned the movie as a rather standard crime movie that would make some money based on the success of Mario Puzo’s bestseller. But they were very hesitant to fork over the $6 million the picture ultimately cost. Of course, after the fact, the studio people looked like prophets. The film was significant on another level, besides becoming the highest grossing movie in history. Namely, it revived the career of Marlon Brando after his ”lost decade” of box office flops. In fact, he made some daring films during this period and gave some of his best performances, but they were overlooked by critics and the public. The Godfather made him arguably the world’s biggest movie star once again.

Tom Santopietro: I think the movie also represented a sea change in Hollywood’s depiction of Italian-Americans. Until The Godfather, all of the films were made by non-Italians and were filled with cringe worthy stereotypes—just watch the original Scarface—Italians were depicted with stereotypical accents or else as organ grinders with monkeys. In The Godfather, however, no one speaks with an accent—these men were in control of their destinies.

Raymond Benson: The Godfather brought Al Pacino into our awareness, and for that alone it deserves recognition! Then there is Robert Duvall, whom we’d seen before, but this was the picture that shot him into the A-list. James Caan, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Diane Keaton—all became big names (albeit Keaton was just beginning her appearances with Woody Allen around the same time, which also helped her). Finally… Marlon Brando, who had experienced a rather rough decade in the 1960s for whatever reason… his “stock” had diminished in Hollywood, but The Godfather brought him a whole new lease of life in pictures. And those are just the actors! Francis Ford Coppola, who had already won an Oscar for co-writing Patton, was not particularly well known as a director until the juggernaut that was The Godfather. Now let’s talk about the movie’s place in pop culture. How many lines of dialogue do you know off the top of your head? “Make him an offer he can’t refuse.” “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” The film became a part of mainstream consciousness and was among the first of the 1970s “blockbusters” that changed Hollywood’s economics. Film historians cite The Godfather, along with Airport, The Exorcist, Jaws, and Star Wars as the megahits that transformed Hollywood’s philosophy on how to make and market movies.

Tom Santopietro: This was, significantly, a film about Italian-Americans made by Italian-Americans. When I give talks about The Godfather I always say that Francis Ford Coppola was the only man who, when it came time to film Brando’s death scene in the garden with his grandson, would have said: “Make sure that garden is planted with Italian plum tomatoes.” The culture, the language, the expressions, the music—it was all in his bones—and Mario Puzo’s as well.

Jon Lewis: The Godfather was a turning point in the New Hollywood.

Tom Santopietro: The depiction of Italian-Americans in films always made me turn away—the men and women were walking stereotypes. But when I saw The Godfather Part II it literally changed my life. There’s a moment exactly ten minutes into the film when the young Don Corleone sails past the Statue of Liberty when he comes to America; I watched that and all of a sudden it hit me: “That’s my grandfather, Orazio Santopietro, coming to America at age fourteen, twenty lira in his pocket, not speaking English—and he made my life possible.” It changed everything for me—but great films, great pop culture, can do that.

Harlan Lebo: I think the biggest effect the film had on the movie industry was it proved that a major blockbuster film can also be one of the great achievements in cinema.

Tom Santopietro: I started out wanting to write about the three Godfather books—especially because Part II is my favorite film of all time, and for me, the greatest film of all time—that’s an argument I love to have with people! But as I started writing, the book turned into something else: I began to also write about my own family and about how I had experienced the push-pull of two different cultures in my own life—I’m Italian on my father’s side, and English on my mother’s side. I wanted to examine the films, my own life, and the depiction of Italian-Americans in film. Popular culture has an enormous impact on how all of us view our surroundings and our own lives. Frank Sinatra, the most famous Italian-American of all, talked about how he listened to a radio show called Life with Luigi, starring the very non-Italian J. Carrol Naish. Luigi spoke with one of those stereotypical accents and Sinatra said: “I would listen to the show, laugh my head off, and then hate myself for laughing.” Complicated.

Robert Casillo: Coppola’s gangster films largely treat the upper echelons of the Mafia families rather than the rank and file while investing the leaders of Corleone family in particular with a certain mythical grandeur, dignity, and charisma. One would probably never deduce from The Godfather that Mafia families do not in their totality actually constitute kinship groups such as the Corleones but are rather created only artificially by means of initiation rites on the model of blood relations, and that leadership of a typical Mafia family is not passed down from the head of the organization to his son, as in the case of a genuine dynastic family arrangement, but is usually determined on the basis of ability rather than blood ties, since so much is at stake, business-wise, in the succession. Nonetheless, the Godfather series focuses on the actual Corleone family, the kinship group, as the indispensable dynastic core of the criminal organization, and indeed the appeal of the Corleones to audiences has always had much to do with the fact that, at a time when the American family was believed to have declined through an increasing divorce rate and other atomizing factors, the Corleones and Italian Americans were seen to stand for family values, solidarity, loyalty, etc. Indeed, notwithstanding Coppola’s professed intention of portraying Michael Corleone as damned at the conclusion of the first Godfather his damnation being the result of his choice of a criminal career, the director was flabbergasted upon realizing that, in viewing the film’s final scenes of damnation, audiences had so thoroughly identified with the Corleones that they were cheering for Michael and his blood family against their mob rivals. It was at this point that Coppola realized that he needed to make Godfather II in order to render Michael’s damnation unmistakable.

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CHAPTER 16: THE HOME MEDIA EXPERIENCE

Ron Dassa (owner, Laser Blazer): The Godfather was always a huge seller on LaserDisc. There sure was a lot complaining every time a new version came out! My guess is they probably waited for the third movie to come out before they finally put the film in its proper aspect ratio. At least every time it came out there was a slight upgrade with picture and sound… from CX encoding to digital audio to ultimately AC-3 audio.

Harlan Lebo: I own them all—VHS, Beta, LaserDisc, three different versions on DVD (or is it four?), and [by the time you are reading this I will have bought the 4K version]. I needed to see the early versions for writing the original version of my book in 1996, bought some of the others while working on my revised edition, and received others as gifts. And of course, I couldn't resist the most recent versions! [That said,] I think all films originally made for the screen are better when viewed in a movie theater. The Godfather is especially good in the theater because you can better see the eyes of the characters, which is critical to trying to interpret what they are thinking. Especially Michael; Pacino’s eyes in the first two films are a master class in film acting.

Chris Chiarella: We had a stretch in my family when we would watch at least a chunk of I and II every damned day on rented VHS, and some days we would watch all of I and II in a single day. One of my favorite memories from all of the 80s was when a bunch of my New Jersey crew got together at a friend’s house on a Sunday afternoon, ordered some pizzas and watched the Godfather Epic boxed set (three VHS cassettes). Pre-streaming binge!

Lee Pfeiffer: One thing I would stress to anyone who has only seen it on TV and that is they haven’t seen it at all. I’m always amazed at how many people will benignly sit through a commercial TV telecast of a classic movie and not be bothered by the fact that it’s interrupted for ads and butchered for content. AMC is the worst. They manipulate the end credits and squeeze them into a tiny box so you can see ads. When they show The Godfather, this desecration begins the minute the door closes in Kay’s face in the final scene. It’s then supposed to go to the powerful musical score as the end credits roll. In its uncut format, it’s an enormously emotional experience but on AMC, it’s a shameless presentation of the movie to the most undemanding viewers imaginable. So, to reiterate, if you’ve only seen the film on TV, do yourself a favor and spring for streaming or, better yet, a video set that includes all those great extras about how the movie was made.

Bill Hunt (founder/editor-in-chief, The Digital Bits): One of the most extraordinary things about The Godfather—especially for those whose first exposure was on analog VHS or Laserdisc—is that the film gets better every time you see it. No matter how many viewings you’ve experienced, each new restoration and release—on DVD, then Blu-ray, and finally 4K Ultra HD—is like seeing the film for the very first time again. There are details you notice as if with fresh eyes, and moments that draw you in more deeply than ever before. Very few films have that kind of enduring power.

 

CHAPTER 17: THE RESTORATION

Robert A. Harris (restoration producer, The Godfather [2007 restoration], Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady): I believed that the initial intent of the studio was to follow everything that we had done to create the 2007 restorations. To simply take the new scans and reproduce the color, densities, black and white levels—and original grain structure as intended by Gordon Willis. I contributed my cooperation, research, notes, et al. In the final analysis, what was created and approved, is a re-imagining, and the studio has every right to do that. Regardless of everything, looking at either of the restorations, the incomparable quality of Mr. Coppola’s film shines through it all.

Alison Martino: [Earlier this year] The Godfather screened at the Academy Museum in honor of the 50th anniversary [and which included a Q&A with Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire]. This was my first time in the David Geffen Theater and I was completely knocked out by this new restored 4K master. I can’t even begin to understand how they made it look that way! I noticed things I had never seen before. The details were so vibrant I could see Moe Greene’s suit was actually made of corduroy and I could see the fibers on Dad’s powder blue linen suit. Their faces were so clear it felt like they were standing directly in front of us. Even Michael’s black eye never looked so painful.

Larry Karaszewski: No one can talk about film like Francis Ford Coppola. The crowd at the Academy Museum [anniversary screening] could have listened to another three hours of Godfather lore! And the new digital restoration is stunning—I’ve never seen it look this good.

Chris Chiarella: I was fortunate enough to catch the new 4K restoration up on the big screen during its recent one-week return engagement, at my local Dolby Cinema. (I loved every second of it!!!) One of the things that really strikes me is the evolving love affair with Gordon Willis' cinematography; they manage to make it look better and better with each new format.

 

CHAPTER 18: THE SEQUELS

Jon Lewis: The Godfather Part II is more complex and sophisticated; in some ways a better film. The Godfather Part III is not as good as I and II but it is still a really good gangster film.

Harlan Lebo: The Godfather Part II is a film masterpiece, a superbly-told story and work of art. But it is also hugely tragic and difficult to watch; the Part I is much more interesting to view. Part III is a fine film (in a vacuum), but is frustrating to watch, knowing that Coppola could have had any terms he wanted, yet he chose to make some disastrous creative decisions that haunted him for years. The revised Part III is better, but still not up to the quality of the first two films.

Lee Pfeiffer: I believe The Godfather Part II is even more impressive. Coppola could have done a crappy, for-the-bucks quickie follow-up. But this isn’t the equivalent of an ill-conceived Jaws sequel. Part II is brilliantly scripted and seems to have inspired Coppola even more than the first film. Given the fact that Brando backed out of appearing in it at the last minute, Coppola had to cope with plenty of other logistical problems. But it’s as close to a perfect movie as you can find. As for The Godfather Part III, as a critic said at the time, “One of them had to be third-best.” That’s the way I refer to the movie—not as the worst, but as the third best because there’s plenty of admirable aspects to it and Coppola has improved it further with his recent recut of the movie.

Robert Casillo: Rather than being imaginatively exhausted by his work on The Godfather Coppola was inspired to work again with Puzo on Godfather II, which was released two years later. This film achieves a much vaster historical and geographical scope in contrasting ironically the criminal careers of Don Vito Corleone and his son Michael while at the same time encompassing in its total narrative the migration of the Mafia (and Italian Americans) from Sicily to New York and ultimately Las Vegas. Although the film has mainly to do with the Mafia rather than with Italian Americans generally, it is if only indirectly a comment on the economic and social progress of Italian Americans since the period of immigration and their increasing acquisition of political influence and even power. To the extent that Godfather II brilliantly succeeds in tackling a broader and more demanding subject than its predecessor, it may be regarded as the greater film, although its greatness hinges very much on what precedes. But as for Godfather III, released sixteen years later, by this point Coppola and Puzo had ceased to be inspired by the Corleones, coming up with a lackluster finale to the trilogy, and Coppola had lost his way as an artist. Why? Godfather III was a major disappointment, and, since the Godfather series finally took the form of a trilogy, that is, a unitary work in three parts, its presence can only weaken the ensemble. I prefer to treat the first two installments together and separately from the unspeakable third.

Sergio Angelini: The Godfather Part II is an exceptional work, brilliantly structured as a dialectical rumination on the previous film’s themes and characters as well as a dark but clear-headed reaction to its huge popularity. Coppola here creates a work that is just as seductive as the first while at the same time forcing audiences to face up to the way the first film romanticized the Mafia. To me the first two films are truly indivisible, enhancing and commenting on each other—a near-perfect 370-minute cinema experience. The latest iteration of the third part is now, it seems to me, rightly defined by Coppola as a coda to the previous two. It is a fine but lesser work overall, though the focus on Michael and his daughter and its tragic finale do add genuine substance to the entire saga.

Raymond Benson: I feel The Godfather Part II is an even better movie than The Godfather. It goes deeper into the characters and history of the Mafia, and its bigger budget allowed for more attention to detail in the settings and scope of the film. Its back-and-forth cross-cutting from the late 1950s back to the turn of the century in Little Italy, comparing young Vito’s rise to power with Michael’s downfall, is brilliant. Robert De Niro is also absolutely stunning as young Vito. I could wax poetic about all the other performances in Part II, too, including Pacino’s, but that’s another essay!

Daniel Waters (screenwriter, Heathers, Batman Returns): I’m here to tell you…don’t do it. I succumbed to the temptation years after resisting the temptation and the world, if possible, is a little worse…though clawing through my tears of shame and horror, I cried to the sky “Maybe I can help others…give them strength…” Do not re-watch Godfather III. It’s so much more awful than you even remember. No, even Andy Garcia is terrible. “Now Dan, the first two Godfathers are probably the best movies ever made, we shouldn’t be so hard on the third one for not being up to—“ Shut up! Stop thinking like that! Walk away!

Raymond Benson: I feel Part III is unfairly maligned. After all, it was good enough to be nominated for the Best Picture and Director Oscars. It isn’t the masterpiece that the first two are, but I do think it’s a compelling movie. Poor Sofia Coppola also gets a bad rap, mostly from people who don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to acting. She delivers a very honest, believable, and realistic performance. I think she’s just fine. It was made even better with Coppola’s recent re-editing to create it as Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.

Daniel Waters: The Coda recut is a weeeee better. It still takes Eli Wallach an entire fucking opera to eat that poisoned cannoli!

Harlan Lebo: Long ago, I had hoped that Part III would have been the story of Vito Corleone from 1921, when the De Niro segments end in Part II, up to 1945, when Part I begins. in 1990, De Niro would have been the perfect age for it. Oh well.

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CHAPTER 19: WHICH VERSION?

Sergio Angelini: Coppola is the master at creating multiple edits of his films (much more so than George Lucas who usually gets the blame for starting the trend). As long as the original cuts remain available in high-quality versions (as in the case of Apocalypse Now and The Outsiders) I have no qualms with this. The TV re-edit of the first two films, The Godfather Saga, seems to me an interesting afterthought with some valuable extra scenes but ultimately fails as it really undermines the careful balance of the second film. The Godfather Part III seems to have become a work-in-progress almost immediately upon its theatrical release and as a result none of the home video versions match what we saw in the cinemas in 1990. It is a highly imperfect work but I have no doubt in my mind that the most recent edit of the film, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, is far and away the most satisfying. The opening of the film, now starting with the terrific barter scene with the bishop, works so much better and the ending, actually crueler than the original, is even more moving.

Lee Pfeiffer: I believe the original cut is the best, just as I think the same of Apocalypse Now. Coppola likes to go back and tinker with his films and the addition of extra scenes are welcome and enjoyable but I think the first cut is the one that most people have in mind when they think of the film. I would like to see Coppola issue the Epic cut that ran only on NBC in the 1970s. He re-edited the first two films in chronological order and included deleted scenes. I’ve been told that Coppola didn’t want to do it but felt he owed Paramount a favor. I’ve also been told by his personal archivist, James Mockoski, that Coppola will never consent to this re-edited version of the films being released again in any format. We shall see.

 

CHAPTER 20: HOMAGE, PARODY AND RIP-OFFS

Dana Renga (professor of “Mafia Movies” course at The Ohio State University): What brought me to work on Mafia movies was the Super Bowl in 2008 and that amazing Audi commercial that spoofed the famous horsehead scene. It made me think that the Mafia circulates so much within the American imaginary it has replaced the actual horsehead. This came full circle in a more recent Super Bowl commercial with the Sopranos spoof and Jamie-Lynn Sigler driving the first ever electric Chevy Silverado mimicking Tony Soprano’s drive home to New Jersey but with a lollipop replacing a cigar.

Robert Casillo: The Godfather is a tough act to follow, as the writer and director must create at the level of myth, which is not easy. It’s easier to concentrate on the riff-raff. My impression is that quite a few television movies have attempted the mythical approach, and there we do see blatant, clumsy rip-offs of The Godfather. So far as feature movies are concerned, they seem to deal more often with goings on in the street rather than in the Don’s mansion.

Dana Renga: My students fall in love with The Godfather’s legacy because Mafia movies and television pop up everywhere. For example, The Godfather is all over The Sopranos and it’s as if you’re watching the series as an insider. In 2012 I created a course called Mafia Movies at Ohio State and one activity I ask students to do for fun is to find references in pop culture where The Godfather is spoofed or parodied. And it has come up in so many media texts from Modern Family to Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Parks and Recreation to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures to Family Guy to Supernatural… Johnny Oliver… Jersey Shore… Boy Meets World… Breaking Bad. Hannah Montana… Arthur… Mad TV… Schitt’s Creek. How I Met Your Mother…

Alison Martino: I have nothing good to say about The Offer!

Ray Morton: I couldn’t stand The Offer. The story of the making of The Godfather is well known and yet this multi-part Paramount + series either ignores the real-life events and facts or else distorts them beyond recognition to tell a ludicrous fictional tale that is full of hoary mob movie and Hollywood movie clichés. The writing (by a team headed by Michael Tolkin, of all people) is dreadful and the directing isn’t much better. The series turns The Godfather’s producer Albert S. Ruddy into some sort of Steve McQueen-like action hero and gives him and his secretary far more credit than they deserve for the film’s production and artistic successes. The rest of the characters are cartoons. Through a combination of terrible writing and broad emoting, the show's depiction of Francis Ford Coppola as some sort of pretentious nitwit is ridiculous and its portrayal of Mario Puzo as a simpering hack who can never stop eating is so disrespectful to the real man and his accomplishments that I actually found it offensive. The only characterization that works is the show’s version of Paramount studio chief Robert Evans. Evans was a living cartoon anyway, so The Offer’s depiction of him is actually pretty accurate (and Matthew Goode delivers a terrific performance—as far as I’m concerned he’s the only good thing in the show). The series looks cheap (all of the New York scenes are clearly shot on the Paramount backlot and is augmented by a lot of really shitty greenscreen). The hair and costumes are awful (is anyone ever going to figure out how to do the 70s convincingly?). The real story of the making of The Godfather is a fascinating one. It’s a shame they decided not to tell it and to present this bullshit instead. The Godfather and all involved deserve much better than this catastrophe.

Harlan Lebo: The story of the making of the film is a fascinating story, involving Hollywood conflict, tremendous personality clashes, and real-life issues of crime, violence, and the underworld in America. It is a story that deserved to be told.

Robert Casillo: Coppola’s gangsters would not have evoked so sympathetic an audience identification had he not already invested them, for all their faults, with a highly attractive mystique, a solemnity and seriousness, a larger-than-life and even heroic appeal which is on the whole missing from the portrayal of gangland types in the films of Martin Scorsese, Coppola’s chief rival in the genre of the gangster film. Unlike Coppola, Scorsese is much less the mythifier and more the realist (his debt to Italian neo-realism is patent), and so he presents the Mafia from a down in the trenches perspective, concentrating on members of the rank and file, the workers, soldiers, and associates, in contrast with Coppola’s pronounced concern with the upper echelons of the mob families, Scorsese is fascinated by the low-lifes and riff-raff, their quotidian scrounging and lounging, their less than heroic preoccupation with food and drink, their undignified and grotesque sense of humor, often rendered in an ironic and black comedic register. Further contributing to the audience’s greater sense of detached objectivity is Scorsese’s preferred narrative focus on mob wannabes like Charlie in Mean Streets, Henry Hill in GoodFellas, and Ace Rothstein in Casino, whose betwixt-and-between situation vis-à-vis the mob militates against audience identification in providing a somewhat distanced perspective on the Mafia. In general, the Scorsesean style in treating the mob has won out over that of Coppola, as witness such films as Donnie Brasco, the television series The Sopranos, and so many other examples.​

 

CHAPTER 21: THE UNINITIATED

Lee Pfeiffer: In my profession—film criticism—it’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t seen The Godfather, but of course they are out there. Young people today seem to have little interest in films they didn’t grow up with. That’s a bit different from my generation, where we grew up revering older films and stars. At the last Oscars, there was an attempt to appeal to young people by having them vote for “Fan Favorites,” a dumb idea if ever there was one. It’s all you need to know that the “winners” were largely from the last decade and the majority of them were superhero flicks. I suppose those are the people who should be enticed to watch The Godfather.

Sergio Angelini: If I had to try and convince as many people as possible at one time, I would say: The Godfather is a great saga about Italian immigrants, an exciting thriller about the Mafia and a dissection of power and corruption in post-war America.

Raymond Benson: The Godfather is an epic family drama about the Mafia in New York during the late 1940s and early 50s. It is a masterfully written, directed, and designed picture with some of the best acting performances you’ll ever see, and it begins a saga that continues in two more grand movies.

Robert Casillo: I would describe it as a complete immersion in a fully detailed and realized ethnic world, in which universal human emotions of a primordial character—kinship, love, loyalty, ambition, rivalry, vengeance—are portrayed with extraordinary conviction and intensity. I would also advise the first-time viewer that he or she must expect to be drained and exhausted by the end of the film.

Bill Hunt: As editor of The Digital Bits, I’ve seen first-hand that—every five or six years—there’s a new young crop of movie enthusiasts just starting to discover the greater world of cinema. And while it’s true that some have little interest in watching movies made before they were born, the smart ones quickly realize that there’s nothing new under the sun. The movies they love now are part of a continuum of creativity, often directly influenced by or filled with references to those older works. While it might take a little convincing to get them to set aside their cell phones and find the right frame of mind for it, I’ve never shown someone The Godfather who failed to be impressed by it. What almost inevitably follows is a craving for more such experiences, and a whole new awareness of the wide world of classic cinema. And that’s very encouraging.

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CHAPTER 22: THE LEGACY

Jon Lewis: Coppola made four films in the 70s that are among the best ever—the two Godfathers, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. The Godfather, deservedly, is always in the discussion for best film ever.

Harlan Lebo: The Godfather is a reminder—a reminder that is always immediately forgotten until another example comes along—that young, talented, unproven performers can become instant stars when directed by an equally-unproven director with a crystal-clear vision of what he was trying to achieve.

Dana Renga: The antihero existed before 1972 but something about The Godfather stuck and antiheroes are more popular as ever. Sympathetic perpetrators are not going away and that’s due in large part to The Godfather’s legacy.

Alison Martino: My parents and I were there for the 25th anniversary in San Francisco. We arrived with Alex Rocco and Gianni Russo. And now Mom and I were present for the 50th. Unfortunately, we’ve lost so many cast members since 1997—but it felt so good to attend with dear friends and see familiar faces in the audience. It was also surreal hearing Dad’s music from the soundtrack on the loudspeakers before the film—because that would never not be surreal. Having any type of association with this film’s legacy is never taken for granted.

Raymond Benson: Given what we know about the making of the film, it’s a miracle that we got the picture we did. It’s a movie that jump-started a lot of careers in Hollywood, as well as reinvigorated others. Frankly, it’s a masterpiece.

Lee Pfeiffer: Its influence on world pop culture is probably the most important aspect of its success. Even people who have never seen it will understand “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” and “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” Brando may have been the only ingrate connected with the film’s success, even though he was possibly the main beneficiary. Not only did he reject the Oscar he won for the movie, he betrayed his friend Coppola by backing out of Godfather II and then hosing him down for a lot more money at the last minute in order to appear in Apocalypse Now. But everyone else seems to have been justifiably grateful to appear in the movie. The New York Times recently ran an interview with Al Pacino about how the film affected him personally and professionally. He said, “I am deeply honored by it. I really am. It’s a piece of work that I was so fortunate to be in.” When I first saw it as a kid, I knew I was seeing a great cinematic work of art. It would be hard to find anyone today who would disagree.

John Cork: The Godfather was also the end of an era. Excepting The Godfather Part II, it marked the close of the era of sprawling melodramas becoming massive hits. For decades, movies like Giant, Splendor in the Grass and Butterfield 8 were staples of the studios. The Godfather combined those complex family dramas with the gangster film, and yet, it was only the gangster film that flourished in its wake. The event films that followed in the 1970s, such as The Exorcist, Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, and Animal House, all leaned into their source genres, re-tooling and reinventing, as The Godfather had done. But the big melodramas ceased to be a force at the box office. In its own way, The Godfather heralded back in the importance of genre filmmaking. The Westerns had all but died. The spy film craze was over except for the James Bond films. Musicals were continuing to crash and burn. Yet the genre films that were once mostly the domain of the studio B-units could be given new life by young filmmakers who romanticized the genre films of their youth. No film exemplified this more than The Godfather, prompting studio heads to look for material that would elevate classic genres, attract A-list actors, and create the potential for huge box office.

Roy H. Wagner, ASC, FRPS: The Godfather continues to assert itself amongst all of the clones that followed. It is fundamental film storytelling with a new way of seeing, speaking and learning. It redefined American films as the French New Wave revealed a new way of communicating many years before.

Tom Santopietro: I think The Godfather made people realize that different ethnic groups needed to have the opportunity to tell their own stories, needed to bring that authenticity to the telling of the tales. It changed the way Hollywood did business because when it became clear that the film was a phenomenon, there was a nationwide roll out much more quickly than had been the norm previously (this was 3 years before Jaws was released). All of this is why I titled my book: The Godfather Effect: Changing Hollywood, America, and Me. I think the film changed all three.

Robert Casillo: Having become wealthy thanks to the first two Godfather films, and thus being able to finance his own projects, Coppola set up his own studio and went on to make a series of films which, when judged in the light of the first two Godfather films, are quite forgettable: Rumble Fish, Peggy Sue Got Married, One from the Heart. The Cotton Club failed to live up to its promise. Apocalypse Now is pretentious and bombastic and inflated. Gardens of Stone left little impression. And so on. By the time Coppola was assigned the task of directing Godfather III, he was so eloigned from his material that he (and Puzo himself) could only go through the motions, in a mechanical, perfunctory, and enervated presentational extra.

Ray Morton: The impact of the film on the culture was considerable and lasting. The movie was a smash hit at the box office and for a while was the highest-grossing movie of all time. It was embraced by audiences the world over and before long some of its dialogue had become instantly-recognizable catch phrases (“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse,” “It’s not personal; it’s only business,” “…sleeps with the fishes,” “Leave the gun…”). Brando-as-Vito impressions were everywhere, as were spoofs of the movie and its most famous scenes, and are still done today. Real-life gangsters even restyled themselves and their protocols after the characters and rituals depicted in the movie. The way the public understands the Mafia and the way it has been portrayed on film ever since both come straight out of The Godfather. Every gangster picture made since has been influence by the film. Today, The Godfather is considered an undisputed cinematic classic and has become both a television and a home video staple. It’s become such an indelible part of American culture and world culture that it’s become one of those films that everyone knows even if they’ve never seen it.

Sergio Angelini: It is a film of multi-generational appeal, one that tells a compelling family saga with technical brilliance, memorable dialogue and a wonderful cast. But it also has a darker and very serious side, one that gives it uncommon depth and a built-in political dimension. My brother and I have been obsessed with the Godfather saga all our lives and one of our proudest moments as film fans was when his twin daughters at age 16 demanded to see all three of the films they had heard so much about. And they wanted to make sure they had the experience surrounded by the entire Angelini clan (their grandparents and their uncle as well as mum and dad). And they loved the experience and have watched the films many times since. One of them just finished reading Puzo’s original novel (I warned her about the more lurid bits but after Stephen King nothing scares her).

Robert Casillo: In all likelihood the decline of Coppola’s career can best be understood to have resulted from his failure to grasp the full potential of the Godfather series as a source of continuing inspiration. Yet he might have come to such a realization had he pondered a key moment in the career of Honore de Balzac, the French novelist who provides the epigraph of Puzo’s novel and with whose works Coppola can be supposed to have had some acquaintance. As is well known, Balzac in a sudden flash of intuition realized that the various apparently independent novels he had been writing could be made to form a single reticulated and ramifying creative totality from which further novelistic creations could be generated almost endlessly—thus the birth of the Comedie Humaine, which encompasses the history of France from the later eighteenth into the mid-nineteenth century, and in the writing of which Balzac never lost his inspiration, so impelling was the originating idea. But Coppola never experienced his “Balzac moment.” He failed to see that the Godfather series, with its foundations in the history of the Corleone family, but also pressing on to include new as well as repeating characters of both an ethnic and non-ethnic type, could serve to portray the entire history of the United States in the twentieth century, by means of an ever deepening exploration of immigration, ethnicity, assimilation, crime (especially gambling and drugs), politics, religion, entertainment, and so much more. And what is especially saddening to consider is that Godfather II suggests at least a glimmer of awareness on Coppola’s part of such creative possibilities, as witness the episodes concerning the corrupt Senator Geary, Havana and the Cuban Revolution, and Las Vegas as the mob’s substitute for the lost Havana casinos. Instead, not only did Coppola abandon the Godfather series, but he spoke of it dismissively and even disdainfully, as if the films themselves were vulgar potboilers to be considered apart from his true artistic endeavors. He also seems to have regarded Puzo’s novel as schlock, which it is only in parts, and perhaps disliked the idea of basing his films on someone else’s original idea.

Tom Santopietro: I think style is one of the ways the films live on—I think it’s a combination of the clothes and the production design that give us our sense memories of what immigrant life was like in the early 20th century (Godfather II) and the 40s and 50s (the original Godfather as well as Part II). The immigrants who came over circa 1910 are no longer alive but the look, the details of furnishings and clothes found in Godfather II, tell us how our grandparents looked and lived at that time. The films did that for me—supplied missing sense memories—and it’s a perfect example of how films have enormous power. Great films illuminate, and that’s what the Godfather films do.

Chris Chiarella: The only other thing I can add is my very Italian-American extended family's take on it: While I'd heard that some folks are offended by it, and I learned that there was much trepidation among the community before its release, we've only ever embraced the film. It was an instant classic and an all-time favorite among pretty much everyone on our Christmas card list. We think it's a fantastic movie for all of the obvious reasons, we respond to the wonderfully authentic cultural flourishes, and we take a certain measure of pride in how our nationality sort of entered the pop culture with this movie. We became "legit" if you will. It gives us a sense of satisfaction to see ourselves so well-represented on film, and that the movie was so well-received.

Raymond Benson: The Godfather is one of the great American motion pictures. Period. A classic in every sense. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. What are you waiting for?

---END---

 

IMAGES

Selected images copyright/courtesy Albert S. Ruddy Productions, National Screen Service, The New York Times, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Variety.

 

SOURCES/REFERENCES

The primary references for this project were the motion picture The Godfather (Paramount, 1972), regional newspaper coverage, trade reports published in Boxoffice, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, and interviews conducted by the author. Some interview quotes were previously published and have been repurposed here with permission. Kimberly Peirce’s quote was referenced from The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark by Robert K. Elder (2011). All figures and data pertain to North America (i.e. United States and Canada) except where stated otherwise.

 

SPECIAL THANKS

Sergio Angelini, David Ayers, Jane Barnwell, Don Beelik, Raymond Benson, Sharon Bruneau (American Society of Cinematographers), Jon Burlingame, Ray Caple, Robert Casillo, Chris Chiarella, John Cork, Richard Crudo ASC, Ron Dassa, Ernest Dickerson ASC, David Dunton, Robert K. Elder, Beverly Gray, Lawrence Grobel, Sheldon Hall, Robert A. Harris, Paul Hirsch ACE, Bill Hunt, Amy Holden Jones, Larry Karaszewski, Harlan Lebo, Mark Lensenmayer, Gary Leva, Jon Lewis, Paul Linfesty, Alison Martino, Joseph McBride, Scott Mendelson, W.R. Miller, Ray Morton, M. David Mullen ASC, Gabriel Neeb, Kirk Orlando, Kimberly Peirce, Lee Pfeiffer, Saul Pincus, Dana Renga, Tom Santopietro, Team Deakins (James Ellis Deakins; Sir Roger Deakins, CBE,ASC,BSC; Grant Wheeler), Roy H. Wagner ASC, Daniel Waters, and a very special thank-you to the librarians, genealogists and private researchers who assisted with this project, in particular Nicole Adams (Oshawa Public Libraries), Rachael C. Altman (Carnegie History Center), Amy, Julia and Vicky (Halifax Public Libraries), Amy (Jefferson-Madison Regional Library), Amy (Olean Library), Ann Marie (Dauphin County Library System), Anne Marie (Boise Public Library), Laura Baas (State Library and Archives of Florida), Zach Baker (Leavenworth Public Library), Bonnie Battaglia and Gavin Furman (El Dorado County Library), Ben (Bristol Public Library), Katie Biehl (Bozeman Public Library), Deb Bier (Peoria Public Library), Barry Bradford (Tangipahoa Parish Library), Joseph Brannan (Kitchener Public Library), Linda Bridges and Cheri Lewis (Live Oak Public Libraries), Diane Buckley, Lanham Bundy (Providence Public Library), Cedric E. and Lisa (Virginia Beach Public Library), Michelle Burkhart (Michigan City Public Library), Olivia Bushey (Washington Memorial Library), Judy C. and Renee Schmutz-Sowards (Boyd County Public Library), Caroline and Joe (Alachua County Library District), Laurie Carroll (Duluth Public Library), Morgan Chance (Texarkana Public Library), Chris (Fredericton Pubic Library), Nan Cinnater (Provincetown Public Library), Jordan Cloud and Prathibha Singh (Grand Rapids Public Library), Colette, Jodie, Kaylie and Monique (Greater Sudbury Public Library), Caitlyn Cook and reference staff (New Jersey State Library), Mark Cousins (Prince Edward Island Public Archives and Records), CailÍn Cullun (Aurora Public Library), Shane Curtin and Michael Lara (San Jose Pubic Library), Ron Davidson (Sandusky Library), Carol Davis (Woodland Public Library), Ruth Davis Konigsberg (Vineyard Haven Public Library), Tabitha Davis (Pueblo-City-County Library), Elisabeth Demmon (Kitsap Regional Library), Karen Dettloff (Brazoria County Library System), Kathryn Devine, Mary Schaff, Kelsey Smith and Julie Thompson (Washington State Library), Vu Do (San Diego Public Library), Judy Dombrowski (Centre County Library and Historical Museum), Diane Donham and Adam Oster (Library of Michigan), Anneta Drilling (Joliet Public Library), Erin Edwards (Boulder Public Library), Eric and Marnie (Wood County District Public Library), Evan (Okanagan Regional Library), Laura Fazekas and reference staff (Chapin Memorial Library), Karen Feeney (Forsyth County Public Library), Amy Ferguson and Russ (New Bedford Free Public Library), Kevin Geisert (Norfolk Public Library), Karla Gerdes and Ann Panthen (Champaign County Historical Archives), Aron Glover (Mississippi State University Libraries), Dori Gottschalk-Fielding (Seymour Library), Jana Gowan (Tulsa City-County Library), Grace and Heather (St. Catharines Public Library), Cathy Hackett (Clark County Public Library), Jamie Hale (Norman Public Library), Carl Hallberg (Wyoming State Archives), Carl Hamlin and Jake Thomas (Cabell County Public Library), Brian Hargett and Shannon Hendrix (Lee County Library), Vanessa Harris and Orton Ortwein (Waukegan Public Library), Brianna Hemmah (Laconia Public Library), David S. Hess (Gary Public Library and Cultural Center), Darcy Hiltz (Guelph Public Library), Teresa J. Hobe (Stark Library), Isaac (Buffalo & Erie County Public Library), Susan Jackson (Torrington Library), Jillian Jakubowski (Sarnia Library), Debra James (Jonesboro Public Library), Jason (Birmingham Public Library), Endya Johnson (Waterloo Public Library), John Johnson (Keene Public Library), Jordan and Renée (London Public Library), Karen and Leigh Anne Johnson (Indiana State Library), Justin Kau (Athens-Clarke County Library), Matt Kendall (Yakima Valley Libraries), Kent and Tim (Jackson District Library), Perian P. Kerr (Starkville Public Library), Kirsten (Hamilton Public Library), Tammy Kiter (Jacksonville Public Library), Nayt Knapp (Ohio County Public Library), Deborah Kitko (Wayne County Public Library), Dyron Knick and Edwina Parks (Roanoke Valley Libraries), LaDonna (Murray State University), Brittani LaJuett (Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library), Renée LaPerriére (Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library), Leo LeFevre (Public Libraries of Saginaw), Philippe Legault (Bibliothéque et Archives nationales du Québec), Sandy Linn (Calloway County Public Library), Carol Lockhart (Prendergast Library), Lois (Cortland Free Library), Emma MacMillan (Moncton Public Library/Bibliothéque publique de Moncton), Ethan Marek (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg), Eric Mathis (South Georgia Regional Library), Max (Curtis Memorial Library), Genevieve Maxwell (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Denise M. McLain (Cabarrus County Public Library), Meggie and Nicole (Moorhead Public Library), Mekayla (Portsmouth Public Library), Alex Merrill (Kalamazoo Public Library), Michael Miller (Sherman Public Library), Nancy Miller (Rochester Public Library), Sana Moulder (Cumberland County Public Library), Katherine Muto (Osterhout Free Library), Mark O’English (Washington State University), Jody Osicki (Saint John Free Public Library), Carrie Ottow (Corvallis-Benton County Public Library), Katherine Parker-Wright (Rochester Public Library), Phoebe (Falmouth Public Library), Roxanne Puder (Onslow County Public Library), Alison Purgiel (Muskegon Area District Library), Suzette Raney (Chattanooga Public Library), Brenda Ray (Auburn University Libraries), Lynda Redden (Killeen Public Library), Reference Staff (Albany County Public Library), Reference Staff (Borwnsville Public Library), Reference Staff (California State Library), Reference Staff (Cape May County Library), Reference Staff (Carlsbad City Library), Reference Staff (Erie County Public Library), Reference Staff (Eugene Public Library), Reference Staff (Hall County Library), Reference Staff (Jones Memorial Library), Reference Staff (Niagara Falls Public Library), Reference Staff (Portland Public Library), Reference Staff (Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library), Reference Staff (Thompson-Nicola Regional Library), Reference Staff (Thunder Bay Public Library), Reference Staff (Tulare County Library), Brandi Resendez (Gwinnett County Public Library), Melinda Ridgway (Logan County Libraries), Lauren Rogers (The University of Mississippi), Emily Rohlfs (Quincy Public Library), Jonathan M. Roscoe (Maine State Library), Cathy Roy (Niagara Falls Public Library), Emily Rundle (Jervis Public Library), Stephanie Salvaterra (Mississippi University for Women), Daniel Sample (Fort Bend County Libraries), Sarah (Monterey Public Library), Susan Schafer (Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library), Emily Schaub (Peru Public Library), Melissa Searle (Coeur d’Alene Public Library), Jeannie Sherman (Connecticut State Library), Joyce Sonnier (Calcasieu Parish Public Library), Stephanie (Peter White Public Library), Holly Stiegel (Columbus Public Library), Leann Stine and Taylor (Anderson) VanTryon (Danville Public Library), Susan R. (Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries), Salena Sullivan (Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library), Sean Sutcliffe (Waco McLennan County Library), Beth Swenson (Idaho Falls Public Library), Catrina Thomas (Dothan Houston County Library System), Lincoln Thurber (Nantucket Atheneum), Jace Turner (Santa Barbara Public Library), Esther Vorhauer (Cambria County Library), Rebecca Waite (Taunton Public Library), Kaitlyn Watson (Sault Ste. Marie Public Library), Galen Webb (Fort Smith Public Library), Christine Weislo (Anderson County Library), Danielle Willett (Grace A. Dow Memorial Library), Abigail Williams (Utica Public Library), Diane Wilson (Belleville Public Library), Beth Wood (Fort Vancouver Regional Library), Robin E. Yarzab (Parkersburg & Wood County Public Library), Carol Zoladz (Kankakee Public Library).

 

IN MEMORIAM

• Richard Conte (“Barzini”), 1910-1975
• Al Lettieri (“Sollozzo”), 1928-1975
• John Cazale (“Fredo”), 1935-1978
• Nino Rota (Composer), 1911-1979
• Saro Urzí (“Vitelli – Sicilian Sequence”), 1913-1979
• Rudy Bond (“Cuneo”), 1912-1982
• John Marley (“Jack Woltz”), 1907-1984
• Victor Rendina (“Philip Tattaglia”), 1916-1985
• Sterling Hayden (“Capt. McCluskey”), 1916-1986
• Richard Castellano (“Clemenza”), 1933-1988
• Corrado Gaipa (“Don Tommasino – Sicilian Sequence”), 1925-1989
• Carmine Coppola (Additional Music – Mall Wedding Sequence), 1910-1991
• Lenny Montana (“Luca Brasi”), 1926-1992
• Anna Hill Johnstone (Costume Designer), 1913-1992
• Vito Scotti (“Nazorine”), 1918-1996
• William Reynolds (Editor), 1910-1997
• Philip Smith (Set Decorator), 1923-1998
• Salvatore Corsitto (“Bonasera”), 1913-1999
• Mario Puzo (Novel and Screenplay), 1920-1999
• Bud Grenzbach (Re-recordist), 1923-2004
• Marlon Brando (“Don Vito Corleone”), 1924-2004
• Jeannie Linero (“Lucy Mancini”), 1945-2005
• Richard Bright (“Neri”), 1937-2006
• Warren Clymer (Art Director), 1922-2007
• Peter Zinner (Editor), 1919-2007
• Al Martino (“Johnny Fontane”), 1927-2009
• Angelo Infanti (“Fabrizio – Sicilian Sequence”), 1939-2010
• Tony Giorgio (“Bruno Tattaglia”), 1923-2012
• Gordon Willis (Director of Photography), 1931-2014
• Dick Smith (Makeup), 1922-2014
• Alex Rocco (“Moe Greene”), 1936-2015
• Louis DiGiaimo (Casting), 1938-2015
• Franco Citti (“Calo – Sicilian Sequence”), 1935-2016
• Abe Vigoda (“Tessio”), 1921-2016
• Julie Gregg (“Sandra Corleone”), 1937-2016
• Richard Portman (Re-recordist), 1934-2017
• Morgana King (“Mama Corleone”), 1930-2018
• Robert Evans (Paramount executive), 1930-2019
• Michael Chapman (Camera Operator), 1935-2020
• James Caan (“Sonny”), 1940-2022

- Michael Coate

Michael Coate can be reached via e-mail through this link. (You can also follow Michael on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)