The Godfather

The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy from a screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola. Based on Puzo's 1969 novel of the same name, the film stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a powerful New York crime family. Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery

The story, spanning the years 1945 to 1955, centers on the ascension of Michael Corleone (Pacino) from reluctant family outsider to ruthless Mafia boss while also chronicling theCorleone family under the patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando).

The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema^[4] – and as one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery

Now ranked as the second greatest film in American cinema (behindCitizen Kane) by the American Film Institute,^[5] it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1990.^[6] The film's success spawned two sequels: The Godfather Part II in 1974, and The Godfather Part III in 1990. Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery

The film was for a time the highest grossing picture ever made, and remains the box office leader for 1972. It won threeOscars that year: for Best Picture, for Best Actor (Brando) and in the category Best Adapted Screenplay for Puzo and Coppola. Its nominations in seven other categories included Pacino, Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery

James Caan and Robert Duvall for Best Supporting Actor and Coppola for Best Director.

On the day of his only daughter's wedding, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) hears requests in his role as the Godfather, theDon of his New York crime family. Vito's youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), on military leave, introduces his girlfriend, Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery

Kay Adams (Diane Keaton), to his family at the sprawling reception. Vito's godson Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), a popular singer, pleads for help securing a coveted movie role, so Vito dispatches his consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) to the abrasive studio head, Jack Woltz (John Marley), to secure the casting. Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery

Woltz is unmoved until the morning he wakes up in bed with the severed head of his prized stud horse.Shortly before Christmas 1945, drug baron Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), backed by the Corleones' rivals, the Tattaglias, asks Vito for investment and protection through his political connections, but Vito disapproves of drug dealers. Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery

Instead, he sends his enforcer, Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana) to spy on them, but a fish is returned to the family wrapped in Brasi's vest, confirming he "sleeps with the fishes". Sollozzo's assassination attempt on Vito lands Vito in the hospital, so eldest son, Sonny (James Caan), takes command. Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery

Sollozzo kidnaps Hagen to pressure Sonny to accept his deal. Michael thwarts a second assassination attempt on his father at the hospital, but is accosted by corrupt police Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), who breaks his jaw.

Sonny retaliates by having Bruno, Tattaglia's son, killed. Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery

Michael comes up with a plan to hit Sollozzo and McCluskey that his brother approves over Hagen's objections. On the pretext of settling the dispute, Michael lures the pair to a restaurant, retrieves a planted handgun and murders them. Despite a clamp down from the authorities, the Five Families erupt in open warfare and the brothers fear for their safety.Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery

Michael takes refuge in Sicily, and Fredo (John Cazale) is sheltered by associate Moe Greene (Alex Rocco) in Las Vegas. Sonny attacks his brother-in-law Carlo on the street for abusing his sister Connie (Talia Shire). When it happens again, Sonny speeds for her home but assassins ambush him at a highway toll booth and riddle him with machine gun fire. Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery

Vito is saddened to learn that, despite his hopes, Michael has become involved in the family business. However, Michael has fallen in love with Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli) and married her in Sicily. His peace is shattered when a car bomb intended for him takes the life of his new wife. Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery

To end the feuds, Vito meets with the heads of the Five Families, withdrawing his opposition to the Tattaglias' heroin business and swearing to forego revenge for Sonny's murder. He deduces that the Tattaglias were under orders of the now dominant Don Emilio Barzini (Richard Conte). Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery

With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns home and over a year later marries Kay. Seeing his father at the end of his career and his surviving brother too weak, Michael takes the reins of the family and promises his wife to make it legitimate within five years.

Biding his time, Michael allows rival families to pressure Corleone enterprises and plans to move family operations to Nevada,Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery

while delegating New York operations to members who stay behind. Michael also replaces Hagen with his father as his consigliere; Vito explains to an upset Hagen that they have long range plans for him and the family. Later, Michael travels to Las Vegas, intending to buy out Greene's stake in the family's casinos. Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery

Instead, Greene derides the Corleones as a fading power, and Michael's anger is fueled when Fredo falls under Greene's sway.

Vito collapses and dies in his garden in 1955 while playing with Michael’s son Anthony. At the funeral, Salvatore Tessio (Abe Vigoda) arranges a meeting between Michael and Don Barzini,Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery

signalling his treachery as Vito had warned. The meeting is set for the same day as the christening of Connie and Carlo's son, to whom Michael will stand as godfather. As the christening proceeds, on Michael's orders, Corleone assassins murder the other New York dons and Moe Greene. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery

Tessio is told that Michael is aware of his betrayal and taken off to his death. After Carlo is questioned by Michael on his involvement in setting up Sonny's murder and confesses he was contacted by Barzini, he is escorted to a car whereupon Clemenza kills him with a garrotte. Michael is confronted by Connie, who accuses him of having her husband killed. Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery

He denies killing Carlo when questioned by Kay, an answer she accepts. As Kay watches warily, Michael receives his capos, who address him as the new Don Corleone.

Coppola was not Paramount Pictures' first choice to direct. Italian director Sergio Leone was offered the job first, but he declined in order to direct his own gangster opus, Once Upon a Time in America, which focused on Jewish-American gangsters. Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery

Peter Bogdanovich was then approached but he also declined the offer and made What's Up, Doc? instead. According to Robert Evans, head of Paramount at the time, Coppola also did not initially want to direct the film because he feared it would glorify the Mafia and violence, and thus reflect poorly on his Sicilian and Italian heritage; Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery

on the other hand, Evans specifically wanted an Italian-American to direct the film because his research had shown that previous films about the Mafia that were directed by non-Italians had fared dismally at the box office, and he wanted to, in his own words, "smell the spaghetti".Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery

When Coppola hit upon the idea of making it a metaphor for American capitalism, however, he eagerly agreed to take the helm.^[9] At the time, Coppola had directed five feature films, the most notable of which was the adaptation of the stage musical Finian's Rainbow – although he had also received an Academy Award for co-writing Patton in 1970. Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery

Coppola was in debt to Warner Bros. for $400,000 following budget overruns on George Lucas's THX 1138, which Coppola had produced, and he took The Godfather on Lucas's advice.^[11] Years later, he said that Paramount chose him because he was a young director, turning 31 just a month after shooting began. Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery

There was intense friction between Coppola and Paramount, and several times Coppola was almost replaced. As early as the first week, Coppola was nearly fired when Pacino was badly injured, delaying production. Paramount maintains that its skepticism was due to a rocky start to production, though Coppola believes that the first week went extremely well. Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery

The studio thought that Coppola failed to stay on schedule, frequently made production and casting errors, and insisted on unnecessary expenses, and two producers unsuccessfully tried to convince another filmmaker to take Coppola's place. The producers scapegoated the other filmmaker when their attempt to fire Coppola became known. Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery

Because the producers told him that the other filmmaker had attempted a coup, Coppola says he was shadowed by a replacement director, who was ready to take over if Coppola was fired. Despite such intense pressure, he managed to defend his decisions and avoid being replaced. Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery

Paramount was in financial trouble at the time of production and was desperate for a "big hit" to boost business, hence the pressure Coppola faced during filming. They wanted The Godfather to appeal to a wide audience and threatened Coppola with a "violence coach" to make the film more exciting. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery

Coppola added a few more violent scenes to keep the studio happy. The scene in which Connie smashed kitchen dishes after finding out Carlo was cheating was added for this reason.^[12]

The film was originally budgeted for $2 million, and was scripted as a modern adaptation. However, when Coppola got his hands on the script, Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery

he was adamant that it be set in the same time period as the book, from 1945 to 1955. This required a large number of second unit shots, some of which embarrassed Coppola at the time.^[12]

Screenwriter Robert Towne did uncredited work on the script, in particular the Pacino-Brando tomato garden scene. Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery

Coppola's casting choices were unpopular with studio executives at Paramount Pictures, particularly Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone. Coppola's first two choices for the role were both Brando and Laurence Olivier, but Olivier's agent refused the role, saying, "Lord Olivier is not taking any jobs. Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery

He's very sick. He's gonna die soon and he's not interested" (Olivier lived 18 years after the refusal). Paramount, which wanted Ernest Borgnine, originally refused to allow Coppola to cast Brando in the role, citing difficulties Brando had on recent film sets. One studio executive proposed Danny Thomas for the role citing the fact that Don Corleone was a strong "family man. "Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery

At one point, Coppola was told by Paramount president Charles Bludhorn that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture". After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less salary than his previous films, perform a screen-test, and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production (as he had done on previous film sets). Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery

Coppola chose Brando over Borgnine on the basis of his screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership. Bludhorn in particular was captivated by Brando's screen test; when he saw it, he exclaimed, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?" Brando later won an Academy Award for his portrayal, which he refused to accept in order to call attention to harmful Hollywood stereotypes of Native Americans. Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery

The studio originally wanted Robert Redford or Ryan O'Neal to play Michael Corleone, but Coppola wanted an unknown who looked like an Italian-American, whom he found in Al Pacino.^[12] Pacino was not well known at the time, having appeared in only two minor films, and the studio did not consider him right for the part,^[15] in part because of his height. Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery

Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen, and James Caan also auditioned.^[15] At one point, Caan was the first choice to play Michael, while Carmine Caridi was signed as elder brother Sonny. Pacino was given the role only after Coppola threatened to quit the production; Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery

Caan stated that Coppola envisioned Michael to be the Sicilian-looking one and Sonny was the Americanized version. The studio agreed to Pacino on the condition that Caan was cast as Sonny instead of Caridi, despite the former's Jewish heritage and the latter closely matching the character in the novel (a six-foot-four, black-haired Italian-American bull). Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery

Coppola and Puzo would subsequently create a role for Caridi in the sequels.^[18]

Bruce Dern, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen were considered for the role of Tom Hagen that eventually went to Robert Duvall. Sylvester Stallone auditioned for Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto, Anthony Perkins for Sonny, and Mia Farrow auditioned for Kay. Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery

William Devane was seen for the role of Moe Greene. Mario Adorf was approached for a role as well. A then-unknown Robert De Niro auditioned for the roles of Michael, Sonny, Carlo, and Paulie. He was cast as Paulie, but Coppola arranged a "trade" with The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight to get Al Pacino from that film. Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery

De Niro later played the young Vito Corleone in Part II, winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the role.

To some extent, the film was a family affair for Francis Ford Coppola. Carmine Coppola, his father, who had a distinguished career as a composer, conductor and arranger, Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery

wrote additional music for the film and appeared in a bit part as a piano player, and Carmine's wife, Italia Coppola, was an extra. The director's sister, Talia Shire, was cast as Connie Corleone, and his infant daughter, Sofia, played Connie's and Carlo's newborn son, Michael Francis Rizzi, in the climactic baptism scene near the movie's end. Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery

Coppola also cast his sons as Tom Hagen's sons, Frank and Andrew. They are seen in the Sonny-Carlo street fight scene and behind Pacino and Duvall during the funeral scene.

Most of the principal photography took place from March 29, 1971 to August 6, 1971, although a scene with Pacino and Keaton was shot in the autumn. Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery

There were a total of 77 days of shooting, fewer than the 83 for which the production had budgeted.The opening shot is a long, slow pullback, starting with a close-up of Bonasera, who is petitioning Don Corleone, and ending with the Godfather, seen from behind, framing the picture. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery

This move, which lasts for about three minutes, was shot with a computer-controlled zoom lens designed by Tony Karp.^[20]

The scene of Michael driving with McCluskey and Sollozzo avoided the cost of back-projection. Instead, technicians moved lights behind the car to create the illusion. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery

The cat in the opening scene used to hang around the studio, and was simply dropped in Brando's lap at the last minute by the director.^[21][22]

One of the movie's most shocking moments involved the real severed head of a horse. Animal rights groups protested the inclusion of the scene. Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery

Coppola later stated that the horse's head was delivered to him from a dog food company; a horse had not been killed specifically for the movie.^[12][15]

In the novel, Jack Woltz, the movie producer whose horse's head is put in his bed, is also shown to be a pedophile as Tom Hagen sees a young girl (presumably one of Woltz's child stars) crying while walking out of Woltz's room. Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery

This scene was cut from the theatrical release but can be found on the DVD (though Woltz can still briefly be seen kissing the girl on the cheek in his studio in the film).

The shooting of Moe Greene through the eye was inspired by the death of gangster Bugsy Siegel. To achieve the effect, actor Alex Rocco's glasses had two tubes hidden in their frames. Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery

One had fake blood in it, and the other had a BB and compressed air. When the gun was shot, the compressed air shot the BB through the glasses, shattering them from the inside. The other tube then released the fake blood.

The equally startling scene of McCluskey's shooting was accomplished by building a fake forehead on top of actor Sterling Hayden.Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery

A gap was cut in the center, filled with fake blood, and capped off with a plug of prosthetic flesh. The plug was quickly yanked out with monofilament fishing line, making a bloody hole suddenly appear in Hayden's head.

The most complicated shooting was the death of Sonny Corleone at the toll plaza. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery

Inspired by the final scene in Bonnie and Clyde, James Caan's suit was rigged with 127 squibs of fake blood that exploded in a simulation of machine-gun hits.Locations^[23] around New York City were used for the film, including the then-closed flagship store of Best & Company on Fifth Avenue, which was dressed up and used for the scene in which Pacino and Keaton are Christmas shopping. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery

At least one location in Los Angeles was used also (for the exterior of Woltz's mansion), for which neither Robert Duvall nor John Marley were available; in some shots, it is possible to see that extras are standing in for the two actors. A scene with Pacino and Keaton was filmed in the town of Ross, California. Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery

The Sicilian towns of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò outside of Taormina were also used for exterior locations. Interiors were shot at Filmways Studio in New York.

A side entrance to Bellevue Hospital was used for Michael's confrontation with police Captain McCluskey. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery

As of 2007, the steps and gate to the hospital were still there but victim to neglect. The hospital interiors, when Michael visits his father there, were filmed at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on 14th Street, in Manhattan, New York City.

The scene in which Don Barzini is assassinated was filmed on the steps of the New York State Supreme Court building on Foley Square in Manhattan, New York City. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery

The wedding scene at the Corleone family compound was shot at 110 Longfellow Avenue in the Todt Hill section of Staten Island. The numerous Tudor homes on the block gave the impression that they were part of the same "compound. " Paramount built a Plexiglas "stone wall" which traversed the street – the same wall where Santino smashed the camera. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery

Many of the extras in the wedding scene were local Italian-Americans who were asked by Coppola to drink homemade wine, enjoy the traditional Italian food, and participate in the scene as though it were an actual wedding. Food was catered by "Demyan's Hofbrau" a restaurant on Van Duzer Street which is no longer in existence. Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery

The wedding cake was prepared by a bakery on Port Richmond Avenue.

Two churches were used to film the baptism scene. The interior shots were filmed at Old St. Patrick's in New York. For the baptism, Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 was used, as were other Bach works for the pipe organ. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery

The exterior scenes following the baptism were filmed at The Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne in the Pleasant Plains section of Staten Island. In 1973 much of the church was destroyed in a fire. Only the façade and steeple of the original church remained, and were later incorporated into a new structure. Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery

The funeral scene was filmed at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens.^[26] The toll booth scene was filmed at the then construction site of Nassau Coliseum inUniondale, New York on Long Island. It also utilized the former Mitchel Field, and the roadway used was once a runway. Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery

he Godfather was a huge financial success, breaking many box office records to become the highest grossing film of 1972. It earned at least $75 million intheatrical rentals in North America, displacing Gone with the Wind, which had earned $72.9 million, becoming the highest grossing film of all time,^[28] until the debut of Jaws in 1975. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery

It was also the first film in history to reach $100 million in North America,^[28] and according to an article in The Sunday Telegraph, the worldwide box office for the film was $114 million by August 1972.Profits were so high for The Godfather that earnings for Gulf & Western Industries, Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery

Inc., which owned Paramount Pictures, jumped from seventy-seven cents per share to three dollars and thirty cents a share for the year, according to a Los Angeles Times article, dated December 13, 1972.^[28]

The film ultimately grossed nearly $135 million at the domestic box office and $133 million in international markets, bringing its worldwide earnings to $268,500,000. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery

Since its release, The Godfather has received universal critical acclaim.^[30] Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of 74 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 9.1/10. The website's critical consensus for the film was "The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery

it established new benchmarks for American cinema, " and the film was lauded as "one of Hollywood's greatest critical and commercial successes".^[31] Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a perfect weighted average score of 100 (out of 100) based on 14 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "universal acclaim".Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery

Both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II were selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1990 and 1993, respectively. International critics routinely list these two among cinema's pinnacle achievements, sometimes considering them as one work. Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery

In the decennial 2002 Sight & Soundpoll of film directors, the pair was ranked as the second best film of all time.^[32] The critics poll separately voted it fourth. The American Film Institute^[5]has listed it second in U.S. film history behind Citizen Kane. Other polls and publications have it first, as well, among them Entertainment Weekly,^[33] andEmpire magazine (November 2008). Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery

The soundtrack's main theme by Nino Rota was also critically acclaimed; the main theme ("Speak Softly Love") is well-known and widely used (see Score Controversy for more information).Director Stanley Kubrick believed that The Godfather was possibly the greatest movie ever made, and had without question the best cast. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery

Previous Mafia movies had looked at the gangs from the perspective of an outraged outsider.^[36] In contrast, The Godfather presents the gangster's perspective of the Mafia as a response to corrupt society.Although the Corleone family is presented as immensely rich and powerful, Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery

no scenes depict prostitution, gambling, loan sharking or other forms of racketeering.^[37] Some critics argue that the setting of a criminal counterculture allows for unapologetic gender stereotyping, and is an important part of the film's appeal ("You can act like a man!", Don Vito tells a weepy Johnny Fontane).^[38] Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery

Real-life gangsters responded enthusiastically to the film, with many of them feeling it was a portrayal of how they were supposed to act.^[39] Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the former Underboss in the Gambino crime family,^[40] stated: "I left the movie stunned... I mean I floated out of the theater. Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery

Maybe it was fiction, but for me, then, that was our life. It was incredible. I remember talking to a multitude of guys, made guys, who felt exactly the same way. " According to Anthony Fiato after seeing the film, Patriarca crime family members Paulie Intiso and Nicky Giso altered their speech patterns closer to that of Vito Corleone's. Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

Intiso would frequently swear and use poor grammar; but after the movie came out, he started to articulate and philosophize more.Remarking on the 40th anniversary of the film's release, film critic John Podhoretz praised The Godfather as "arguably the great American work of popular art" and "the summa of all great moviemaking before it".Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery

The Godfather won three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor for Marlon Brando and Best Adapted Screenplay for both Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. The film had been nominated for eight other Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery

Best Director for Coppola, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.^[43] The film also had a Best Original Score nomination but was disqualified when found out thatNino Rota had used a similar score in another film. Despite having three nominees for the Best Supporting Actor award, they all lost to Joel Grey in Cabaret. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery

It also lost the Best Director, Best Sound and Best Film Editing to Cabaret.

The film won five Golden Globes out of seven nominations. It won the Golden Globe for Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Score and Best Actor – Drama for Brando. Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery

It received two nominations for Best Actor – Drama for Pacino and Best Supporting Actor for Caan.

Nino Rota won the Grammy Award for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture or TV Special for the film's soundtrack. Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery

At the BAFTA Awards, Nino Rota won the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music while Brando, Duvall and Pacino received nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Most Promising Newcomer, respectively. Anna Hill Johnstone was also nominated for Best Costume Design. Sony VGP-BPS13AS Battery

Marlon Brando and Al Pacino boycott

Marlon Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but turned down the Oscar, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (the first being George C. Scott for Patton). Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery

Brando boycotted the Academy Award ceremony, sending instead American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who appeared in full Apache dress, to state Brando's reasons, which were based on his objection to the depiction of American Indians^[44] by Hollywood and television. Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery

Al Pacino also boycotted the Academy Award ceremony, as he was insulted at being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor award, noting that he had more screen time than his co-star and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando and thus he should have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery

Nino Rota's score was removed at the last minute from the list of 1973 Academy Award nominees when it was discovered that he had used the theme in Eduardo De Filippo's 1958 comedy Fortunella. Although in the earlier film the theme was played in a brisk, staccato and comedic style, Sony VGP-BPS13Q Battery

the melody was the same as the love theme from The Godfather, and for that reason was deemed ineligible for an Oscar.^[46] Despite this, The Godfather Part II won a 1974 Oscar for Best Original Score, although it featured the same love theme that made the 1972 score ineligible. Sony VGP-BPS13S Battery

Although many films about gangsters had been made before The Godfather, Coppola's sympathetic treatment of the Corleone family and their associates, and his portrayal of mobsters as characters of considerable psychological depth and complexity^[52] was hardly usual in the genre. Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery

This was even more the case with The Godfather Part II, and the success of those two films, critically, artistically and financially, opened the doors for more and varied depictions of mobster life, including films such as Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and TV series such as David Chase's The Sopranos. Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery

The image of the Mafia as being a feudal organization with the Don being both the protector of the small fry and the collector of obligations from them to repay his services, which The Godfather helped to popularize, is now an easily recognizable cultural trope, as is that of the Don's family as a "royal family". Sony VGP-BPS21/S Battery

(This has spread into the real world as well – cf. John Gotti – the "Dapper Don", and his celebritized family.) This portrayal stands in contrast to the more sordid reality of lower level Mafia "familial" entanglements, as depicted in various post-Godfather Mafia fare, such as Scorsese's Mean Streets and Casino, and also to the grittier hard-boiled pre-Godfather films.Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery

In the 1999 film Analyze This, which starred Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal, many references are made both directly and indirectly to The Godfather. One dream scene is almost a shot by shot replica of the attempted assassination of Vito Corleone (Crystal playing the Don and De Niro playing Fredo). Sony VGP-BPS21A/B Battery

In the 1990 comedyThe Freshman, Marlon Brando plays a role reminiscent of Don Corleone. And one of those most unlikely homages to this film came in 2004, when the PG-rated, animated family film Shark Tale was released with a storyline that nodded at this and other movies about the Mafia. Sony VGP-BPS21B Battery

Similarly, Rugrats in Paris, based on aNickelodeon children's show, began with an extended parody of The Godfather.The 2005 Indian film Sarkar, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role as a "Don" and his son Abhishek Bachchan as the equivalent of Michael, HP EliteBook 2530P Battery

is modeled on The Godfather with due credits appearing at the beginning of the film.

In the DVD commentary for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas stated that the interwoven scenes of Anakin Skywalker killing Separatist leaders and Palpatine announcing the beginning of the Galactic Empire was an homage to the christening and assassination sequence in The Godfather. HP EliteBook 2730P Battery

The Godfather, along with the other films in the trilogy, had a strong impact on the public at large. Don Vito Corleone's line "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" was voted as the second most memorable line in cinema history in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes by the American Film Institute. HP EliteBook 2740P Tablet Battery

The line actually originates in the French novel Le Père Goriot, by Honoré de Balzac, where Vautrin tells Eugène that he is "making him an offer that he cannot refuse".

An indication of the continuing influence of The Godfather and its sequels can be gleaned HP EliteBook 6930P Battery

from the many references to it which have appeared in every medium of popular culture in the decades since the film's initial release. That these homages, quotations, visual references, satires and parodies continue to pop up even now shows clearly the film's enduring impact. In the television show The Sopranos, HP EliteBook 8440P Battery

Tony Soprano's topless bar is named Bada Bing after the line in The Godfatherwhen Sonny says, "You've gotta get up close like this and bada-bing! You blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. "

The Simpsons makes numerous references to The Godfather, HP EliteBook 8440W Battery

including one scene in the episode "Strong Arms of the Ma" that parodies the Sonny-Carlo streetfight scene, with Marge Simpson beating a mugger in front of an animated version of the same New York streetscape, including using the lid of a trash can during the fight. HP EliteBook 8530P Battery

The "All's Fair in Oven War" final scene shows James Caan being ambushed by hillbillies (Cletus relatives) at a toll booth, a parody of the scene when Sonny Corleone (portrayed by Caan) is shot and killed. The later episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" parodies the film's ending scene, HP EliteBook 8530W Battery

withLisa Simpson taking Kay Adams' role and Fat Tony's son Michael standing in for Michael Corleone.

The Warner Bros. animated show Animaniacs featured several segments called "Goodfeathers, " with pigeons spoofing characters from various gangster films. HP EliteBook 8730P Battery

One of the characters is "The Godpigeon", an obvious parody of Brando's portrayal of Vito Corleone.

John Belushi appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch as Vito Corleone in a therapy session trying to properly express his inner feelings towards the Tattaglia Family, HP EliteBook 8730W Battery

who, in addition to muscling in on his territory, "also, they shot my son Santino 56 times.

The theatrical version of The Godfather debuted on network television in 1974 with only minor edits. The next year, Coppola created The Godfather Saga expressly for American television in a release that combinedVoodoo Envy 133

The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with unused footage from those two films in a chronological telling that, because it toned down the violent, sexual, and profane material, received a rating of TV-14 for its NBC debut on November 18, 1977. In 1981, Paramount released the Godfather Epic boxed set, HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4010NA Battery

which also told the story of the first two films in chronological order, again with additional scenes, but not redacted for broadcast sensibilities. Coppola returned to the film again in 1992 when he updated that release with footage from The Godfather Part III and more unreleased material. HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4015NA Battery

This home viewing release, under the title The Godfather Trilogy 1901–1980, had a total run time of 583 minutes (9 hours, 43 minutes), not including the set's bonus documentary by Jeff Werner on the making of the films, "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside".HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4020NA Battery

The Godfather DVD Collection was released on October 9, 2001 in a package^[54] that contained all three films—each with a commentary track by Coppola—and a bonus disc that featured a 73-minute documentary from 1991 entitled The Godfather Family: A Look Inside and other miscellany about the film: HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4040NA Battery

the additional scenes originally contained in The Godfather Saga; Francis Coppola's Notebook (a look inside a notebook the director kept with him at all times during the production of the film); rehearsal footage; a promotional featurette from 1971; and video segments on Gordon Willis's cinematography, HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4042NA Battery

Nino Rota's and Carmine Coppola's music, the director, the locations and Mario Puzo's screenplays. The DVD also held a Corleone family tree, a "Godfather" timeline, and footage of the Academy Award acceptance speeches.^[55] HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4045NA Battery

The restoration was confirmed by Francis Ford Coppola during a question-and-answer session for The Godfather Part III, when he said that he had just seen the new transfer and it was "terrific".HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4050NA Battery

The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American epic crime film that Francis Ford Coppola produced, directed, and co-wrote with Mario Puzo, starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Robert De Niro. Partially based on Puzo's 1969novel, HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4065NA Battery

The Godfather, the film is in part both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, presenting two parallel dramas. The main storyline, following the events of the first film, centers on Michael Corleone (Pacino), the new Don of theCorleone crime family, trying to hold his business ventures together from 1958 to 1959; HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4070NA Battery

the other is a series offlashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone (De Niro), from his childhood in Sicily in 1901 to his founding of the Corleone family in New York City.

The film was released in 1974 to great critical acclaim, some even deeming it superior to the original.^[3] HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4075NA Battery

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and the first sequel to win for Best Picture, its six Oscars included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won the BAFTA Award for Best Actorand received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. HP Voodoo Envy 133 NV4080NA Battery

Like its predecessor, the sequel remains a highly influential film in the gangster genre. It was ranked as the thirty-second greatest film in American cinematic history by the American Film Institute in 1997 and it kept its rank10 years later.^[4] It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993.^[5] HP Envy 17 Notebook PC Battery

A sequel, The Godfather Part III, was released 16 years later in 1990.

In 1958 Nevada, Don Michael Corleone, with his caporegimes Al Neri, Rocco Lampone, and consigliere Tom Hagen, meetSenator Pat Geary during the First Communion party of Michael's son Anthony. HP Envy 17-1000 Battery

Geary is rebuffed when he insultingly demands a high price from Michael for a new casino license. Johnny Ola, on behalf of Jewish gangster Hyman Roth, tells Michael that Roth is supportive. Meanwhile, Michael attempts to manage his depressed sister Connie and older brotherFredo. HP Envy 17-1001TX Battery

The Rosato brothers are encroaching on the New York territory controlled by capo Frank Pentangeli, who is furious that Michael will take no action. That night, Michael survives an assassination attempt at his home and puts Tom in charge, reassuring him of their fraternal bond. HP Envy 17-1001XX Battery

In 1917, Vito Corleone, (Robert De Niro) now married and living in a tenement with his wife Carmela and son (Santino), works in a New York grocery store owned by the father of his close friend Genco Abbandando, who looked after him after he came to New York. HP Envy 17-1002TX Battery

The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the Black Hand, Don Fanucci, who extorts protection payments from local businesses. Abbandando Senior is forced to fire Vito and give his job to Fanucci's nephew. One night, Vito's neighbor Peter Clemenza asks him to hide a stash of guns for him, HP Envy 17-1003XX Battery

and later, to repay the favor, takes him to a fancy apartment where they commit their first crime together, stealing an expensive rug, which finishes up in Vito's home.

In Miami, Michael tells Roth that Pentangeli was behind the assassination attempt and then tells Pentangeli that Roth ordered it. He asks Pentangeli to cooperate. HP Envy 17-1006TX Battery

Pentangeli meets the Rosatos but their men garrote him, saying they act on Michael's orders.

Geary finds himself in Fredo's brothel with a dead prostitute and no memory of how he got there; he accepts Tom's offer of "friendship" to cover up the incident. HP Envy 17T Battery

After witnessing a rebel suicide bombing in Havana, Cuba, Michael becomes convinced of their resolve to overthrow Dictator Fulgencio Batista. Fredo brings Michael the money for a deal with Roth. Instead of turning over the money, Michael asks Roth who gave the order to have Pentangeli killed. HP Envy 17T-1000 Battery

Roth avoids the question, instead alluding to the murder of his old friend and ally Moe Greene – who Michael ordered to be killed years previously – saying, "This is the business we've chosen. I didn't ask who gave the order because it had nothing to do with business!" At a New Year's Eve party, Fredo lets slip that he knew Johnny Ola despite his previous denial. HP G3000 Battery

Dismayed, Michael embraces his brother, revealing that he knows he was behind the plot on his life, and a frightened Fredo flees in the chaos. Michael's bodyguard strangles Ola but is killed by police before he can finish off the ailing Roth. Back home, Hagen informs Michael that Roth is recovering in Miami and that Kay has miscarried. HP G42-100 Battery

In New York, in 1920, Don Fanucci has become aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio. He collars Vito in his delivery truck and tells him that he knows the trio has recently committed a robbery. He demands that they "wet his beak" or the police (on Fanucci's payroll) will arrest Vito, and his family will be ruined. HP G42-200 Battery

Clemenza and Tessio agree to pay, but Vito - guessing that Fanucci's grip on his ghetto was only one man deep - asks his friends to allow him to convince Fanucci to accept less money, telling them, "I make him an offer he don't refuse. " Vito manages to get Fanucci to take one hundred dollars instead of the original six hundred he had demanded HP G5000 Battery

 ($50 from each of his friends, but holding his own back - money he took back after killing Fanucci anyway). Immediately afterward – despite having earned Fanucci's respect and an offer of employment – Vito shoots him dead in a darkened stairway outside Fanucci's apartment during a neighborhood festa, and escapes across the rooftops. Michael is born. HP G6000 Battery

In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee investigating the Corleone family cannot find evidence to implicate Michael until a surprise witness is called. Pentangeli, ensconced in FBI witness protection and ready to avenge the attempt on his life, is prepared to confirm accusations against Michael until his Sicilian brother attends the hearing at the Don's side; HP G7000 Battery

Pentangeli denies his sworn statements and the hearing dissolves in an uproar.

In New York, in the early 1920s, Vito has become a respected figure in his community. He confronts a landlord who is evicting a widow. Vito offers him extra money to let her stay. HP G50 Battery

He refuses, saying he has promised the apartment to another and becomes angry when Vito demands that she also be allowed to keep her dog. A few days later the landlord, having learnt with whom he is dealing, returns terrified and assures Vito that the widow can stay, along with her dog, at a reduced rent. HP G60 Battery

Michael and Hagen observe that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains his betrayal to Michael; he was upset about being passed over to head the family, and helped Roth, thinking there would be something in it for him. HP G61 Battery

He swears he was unaware of their plan to kill Michael. He tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel is on Roth's payroll. Michael disowns Fredo and instructs Al Neri that " nothing is to happen to him while my mother's alive." Afterwards, Michael violently prevents Kay from leaving with their children; HP G62-100 Battery

she retaliates with the revelation that her miscarriage was actually an abortion.

In 1923, Vito, together with his young family, visits Sicily for the first time since leaving for America. He is introduced to the elderly Don Ciccio by Don Tommasino as the man who imports their olive oil to America, and who wants his blessing. HP G62-200 Battery

When Ciccio asks Vito who his father was, Vito says, "My father's name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!" He then plunges a large knife into the old man's stomach and carves it open, thereby avenging the deaths of his father, mother, and brother. As they flee, Tommasino is shot, confining him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. HP G62T-100 Battery

Michael's mother dies. At the funeral, a reformed Connie implores Michael to forgive Fredo. Michael relents and embraces Fredo, but glances at Neri. Roth is refused asylum and even entry to Israel. Over Hagen's dissent, Michael plans his revenge. Hagen visits Pentangeli and offers to spare his family, HP G70 Battery

reminding him that failed plotters against the Roman Emperor took their own lives.

Connie helps Kay visit her children, but Michael closes the door on any forgiveness.

As he arrives in Miami to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is shot in the stomach and killed by Lampone, who is immediately shot dead by FBI agents. HP G71 Battery

Frank Pentangeli is dead in his bathtub with slit wrists. Neri shoots Fredo while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe.

The Corleone family gathers to surprise Vito for his fiftieth birthday. Sonny introduces Carlo Rizzi to Connie. HP G72-100 Battery

Tessio comes in with the cake, and they discuss the attack on Pearl Harbor earlier in the month. Michael announces he has left college to enlist in the Marines, leaving Sonny furious, Tom incredulous, and Fredo supportive. Vito is heard at the door and all but Michael leave the room to greet him. HP G72-200 Battery

The Godfather Part II was shot between October 1, 1973 and June 19, 1974, and was the last major American motion picture to be printed with Technicolor's dye imbibition process until the late 1990s. The scenes that took place in Cuba were shot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.^[6] HP G72T-100 Battery

Charles Bluhdorn, whose Gulf+Western conglomerate owned Paramount, felt strongly about developing the Dominican Republic as a movie-making site.

The Lake Tahoe house and grounds portrayed in the film are Fleur du Lac, the summer estate of Henry J. Kaiser on the California side of the lake. HP HDX X16 Battery

The only structures used in the movie that still remain are the complex of old native stone boathouses with their wrought iron gates. Although Fleur du Lac is private property and no one is allowed ashore there, the boathouses and multi-million dollar condominiums may be viewed from the lake. HP HDX X18 Battery

Unlike with the first film, Coppola was given near-complete control over production. In his commentary, he said this resulted in a film that ran very smoothly, considering that it was shot in multiple locations and told two parallel stories within one film.^[7]

It was the last major American motion picture to be filmed in Technicolor. HP 2133 Mini PC Battery

In the director's commentary on the DVDedition of the film released in 2002, Coppola states that this film was the first major motion picture to use "Part II" in its title. Paramount was initially opposed to his decision to name the movie The Godfather Part II. According to Coppola, HP 500 Series Battery

the studio's objection stemmed from the belief that audiences would be reluctant to see a film with such a title, as the audience would supposedly believe that, having already seen The Godfather, there was little reason to see an addition to the original story. The success of The Godfather Part II began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels. HP Mini 1000 Battery

Production nearly ended before it began when Pacino's lawyers told Coppola that he had grave misgivings with the script and wasn't coming. Coppola spent an entire night rewriting it before giving it to Pacino for his review. Pacino approved, allowing shooting to go forward.^[7] HP Mini 1100 Battery

In the documentary The Godfather Family: A look Inside, Coppola stated that three weeks prior to Part II being released, film critics and journalists pronounced the film a disaster, claiming the parallel stories between Vito and Michael were uncomfortably fast, not allowing enough time for the stories to leave a lasting impression on the audience. HP Mini 311 Battery

Coppola stated that he and the editors returned to the cutting room to change the film's narrative structure, but could not complete the full re-arrangement in time, leaving the final scenes of the film poorly timed.

Coppola shot The Godfather Part II shortly after The Conversation, which was released eight months earlier. HP Mini 5101 Battery

Both films earned Coppola nominations for Best Picture of 1974, with Part II winning.

The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American crime film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and written byMario Puzo and Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire. HP Mini 700 Battery

The movie also weaves into its plot a fictionalized account of real-life events—the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–1982—and links them with each other and with the affairs of Michael Corleone. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Andy García, and features Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, and Sofia Coppola. HP OmniBook 500 Battery

Coppola and Puzo originally wanted the title to be The Death of Michael Corleone. However, Paramount Pictures would not accept that title. Coppola states that The Godfather series is in fact two films, and Part III is the epilogue. Part III received mixed to positive reviews, grossed $136,766,062 and was nominated for seven Academy Awards. HP OmniBook 6000 Series Battery

In 1979,^[2][3] Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is nearing 60 and wracked with guilt for his ruthless rise to power, especially ordering the murder of his brother Fredo. By now, he has mostly retired from the Mafia, leaving the Corleone family's criminal interests in the hands of enforcer Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), HP OmniBook 7100 Battery

and is using his tremendous wealth and power to restore his reputation via numerous acts of charity. Michael and Kay (Diane Keaton) have been divorced since 1960, and Michael gave her custody of their children, Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio) and Mary (Sofia Coppola). HP OmniBook 7150 Battery

At a ceremony in St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, Michael is named a Commander of the Order of St. Sebastian. At a party following the ceremony, Anthony tells his father that he is going to drop out of law school to pursue a career as anopera singer. Kay supports his choice, but Michael disagrees, HP OmniBook VT6200 Battery

wishing that his son would either finish law school or join the family business, but Anthony refuses to have anything to do with his father's "legacy". Michael and Kay have an uneasy reunion, in which Kay tells him that Anthony knows the truth about Fredo's death.HP OmniBook XE Series Battery

Meanwhile, Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), the illegitimate son of Michael's late brother Sonny, shows up at the party. He is embroiled in a feud with Zasa, who has involved the Corleone family in major drug trafficking and turned Little Italyinto a slum. Michael's sister Connie (Talia Shire) arranges a "sit-down" between Vincent and Zasa in Michael's study. HP OmniBook XE2 Series Battery

The discussion erupts into a fight, in which Vincent bites Zasa in the ear. That night Vincent has a one-night stand with ajournalist named Grace Hamilton (Bridget Fonda). Two men armed with knives and a gun break in and try to kill him. Vincent kills them both, but not before learning that Zasa sent them. HP OmniBook XE3 Series Battery

Michael is troubled by Vincent's fiery temper, but is nonetheless impressed by his loyalty, and agrees to take his nephew under his wing.

Meanwhile, Michael busies himself with the biggest deal of his career: He has recently bought up enough stock inInternational Immobiliare, HP OmniBook XE4000 Battery

an international real estate holding company known as "the world's biggest landlord", to become its largest single shareholder, with six seats on the company's 13-member board of directors. He now makes atender offer to buy the Vatican's 25% interest in the company, HP OmniBook XT1000 Series Battery

which will give him controlling interest. Knowing thatArchbishop Gilday (Donal Donnelly), who serves as head of the Vatican Bank, has run up a massive deficit, he negotiates a deal to pay $600 million to the Bank in exchange for the shares. The deal is quickly approved by Immobiliare's board. HP OmniBook XT6200 Battery

However, it must be ratified in Rome by Pope Paul VI, who is gravely ill. Without his word, the deal is in limbo.

Don Altobello (Eli Wallach), an elderly New York Mafia boss and old friend of the Corleones (as well as Connie's godfather), HP DM1 Battery

soon visits Michael, telling him that his old partners on the Commission want in on the Immobiliare deal. Michael, however, is adamant that the deal shall be untainted by Mafia involvement. A meeting is arranged, and Michael appeases most of the Mafia bosses with payoffs from the sale of his Las Vegas holdings. HP DM3 Battery

Zasa, however, gets nothing and declares that Michael is his enemy and storms out. Altobello tells Michael that he will try to reason with Zasa and follows close behind. Minutes later, a helicopter hovers outside the conference room and sprays it with submachine gun fire. HP DM3A Battery

Most of the other mob bosses are killed, but Michael, Vincent, and Michael's bodyguard, Al Neri (Richard Bright), escape. Back at his penthouse in New York, Vincent tells Michael that those mob bosses who escaped the massacre made deals with Zasa. HP DM3I Battery

Michael knows that Zasa was not the mastermind of the massacre due to Zasa's being "muscle" and not having the cunning to organize such a scheme. Vincent wants to kill Zasa, but Michael refuses. As he considers how to respond to the situation, he suffers a diabetic stroke and is hospitalized, but not before realizing Altobello is the traitor. HP DM3T Battery

As Michael recuperates, Vincent begins a romantic relationship with Mary and plots revenge against Zasa. Neri and Connie give Vincent permission to act. During a street festival hosted by Zasa's Italian American civil rights group, Vincent's men gun down Zasa's bodyguards. Vincent, disguised as a policeman on horseback, shoots Zasa dead. HP DM3Z Battery

When Michael discovers this, he berates Vincent for his rashness. Michael also insists that Vincent end his relationship with Mary, because Vincent's involvement in the family's criminal enterprises puts her life in jeopardy.

The family takes a vacation to Sicily in preparation for Anthony's operatic debut in Palermo. HP DM4 Battery

They stay at the villa of Corleone family friend Don Tommasino(Vittorio Duse). Michael tells Vincent to speak with Altobello and tell him that he is planning to leave the Corleone family. Altobello supports the idea of Vincent's switching his allegiance, and introduces him to Don Licio Lucchesi (Enzo Robutti), HP DM4-1000 Battery

a powerful Italian political figure and Immobiliare's chairman. Michael realizes that the Immobiliare deal is an elaborate conspiracy among Lucchesi, Archbishop Gilday, and Vatican accountant Frederick Keinszig (Helmut Berger) to swindle him out of his money, and visits Cardinal Lamberto (Raf Vallone), HP DV1000 Battery

the man favored to become the next Pope, to speak about the deal. Lamberto convinces Michael to make his first confession in 30 years, in which he tearfully admits to ordering Fredo's murder. Lamberto tells Michael that he deserves to suffer for his sins, but that his life could still be redeemed. HP DV1200 Battery

Shortly after the meeting between Vincent and Lucchesi, Altobello travels to the small village of Montelepre, where he hires Mosca (Mario Donatone), a veteranhitman, to assassinate Michael. A few days later, Mosca and his son Lupe, disguised as priests, attempt to kidnap Don Tommasino and force him to allow them entry to his villa. HP DV1300 Battery

Tommasino refuses, and Mosca kills him. While touring Sicily with Kay, who has arrived for Anthony’s operatic debut, Michael asks for her forgiveness. As they both admit that they still love each other, Michael receives word that Tommasino is dead. At Tommassino's funeral, Michael swears over his old friend's coffin to sin no more. HP DV1400 Battery

After the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Lamberto is elected Pope John Paul I, which means that the Immobiliare deal will likely be ratified. The new Pope's intentions come as a death knell to the plot against the ratification of the Immobiliare deal, prompting frantic attempts by the plotters to cover their own tracks. HP DV1500 Battery

Vincent tells Michael that he has learned from Altobello of Mosca's plot on his life. Michael sees that his nephew is a changed man, and makes him the new Don of the Corleone family. In exchange, Vincent agrees to put an end to his relationship with Mary.

The family travels to Palermo to see Anthony perform the lead in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. HP DV1600 Battery

Meanwhile, Vincent exacts his revenge:

• Keinszig is abducted by Vincent's men, who smother him with a pillow and hang him from a bridge to make his death look like a suicide.

Don Altobello, also attending the opera, eats poisoned cannoli that his goddaughter Connie gives him. He dies as Connie watches sadly from her box. HP DV1700 Battery

• Al Neri travels to the Vatican, where he shoots Archbishop Gilday.

Finally, Calò (Tommasino's former bodyguard) meets with Don Lucchesi at his office, claiming to bear a message from Michael. As he pretends to whisper the message to Lucchesi, Calò stabs him in the throat with his own glasses. HP DV2 Battery

The killings are too late to save the Pope, however. Just hours after he approves the Immobiliare deal, the Pope drinks poisoned tea provided to him by Archbishop Gilday and soon dies in his bed.

Mosca, still disguised as a priest and armed with a sniper rifle, HP DV2Z Battery

descends upon the opera house during Anthony's performance, killing three of Vincent's men and preparing to shoot his target from a box, but the opera ends before he has the chance to pull the trigger. The assassin retreats to the opera house façade's staircase and tries to shoot Michael there. HP DV2000 Battery

At the same moment, Mary confronts her father about the forced break-up with Vincent. Mosca fires twice, wounding Michael and accidentally killing Mary. Vincent then shoots him dead. As Kay and Connie weep, Michael cradles Mary's body in his arms and screams in agony.HP DV2100 Battery

The scene dissolves to a short montage of Michael's memories of all the women he has lost, composed of scenes with Mary, Kay, and his first wife, Apollonia.

The film ends with Michael, an old man, sitting in the garden of Don Tommasino's Sicilian villa. HP DV2200 Battery

He slumps over in his chair, falls sideways to the ground, and dies alone, apart from his dog.

Coppola felt that the first two films had told the complete Corleone saga. In his audio commentary for Part II, he stated that only a dire financial situation caused by the failure of New York Stories compelled him to take up Paramount's long-standing offer to make a third installment.^[4] HP DV2300 Battery

According to an article in Premiere,Coppola and Puzo requested six months to complete a first draft of the script with a release date of Easter 1991. Paramount agreed to give them six weeks for the script and, lacking a holiday movie, a release date of Christmas Day 1990. HP DV2400 Battery

Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shire reprise their roles from the first two films. According to Coppola's audio commentary on the film in The Godfather DVD Collection, Robert Duvall refused to take part unless he was paid a salary comparable to Pacino's. On an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio, HP DV2500 Battery

Duvall said he understood that Pacino was the star but felt insulted by the difference in their salaries, saying "if they paid Pacino twice what they paid me, that's fine, but not three or four times, which is what they did."^[5] When Duvall dropped out, Coppola rewrote the screenplay to portray Tom Hagen as having died before the story begins. HP DV2600 Battery

Coppola created the character B. J. Harrison, played by George Hamilton, to replace the Hagen character in the story. The director further states that, to him, the movie feels incomplete "without [Robert] Duvall's participation." According to Coppola, had Duvall agreed to take part in the film, HP DV2700 Battery

the Hagen character would have been heavily involved in running the Corleone charities.

The first draft of a script had been written by Dean Riesner in 1979, based on a story by Mario Puzo. This script centered around Michael Corleone's son,Anthony, a naval officer working for the CIA, HP DV2800 Battery

and the Corleone family's involvement with a plot to assassinate a Central American dictator.^[6] Almost none of the elements of this early script carried over to the final film, but one scene from the film — in which two men break into Vincent's house — exists in the Riesner draft and is nearly unchanged.^[7] HP DV2900 Battery

Coppola says that he felt The Godfather saga was essentially Michael's story, one about how "a good man becomes evil," as the writer/director puts it on the same commentary track referenced above. Coppola says he felt that Michael had not really "paid for his sins" committed in the second film, and wanted this final chapter to demonstrate that. HP DV3 Battery

In keeping with this theme, Coppola completely re-wrote the script.

Julia Roberts was originally cast as Mary, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Madonna wanted to play the role, but Coppola felt she was too old for the part. HP DV3-1000 Battery

Rebecca Schaeffer was set to audition, but she was murdered. Winona Ryder dropped out of the film at the last minute. Ultimately Sofia Coppola, the director's daughter, was given the role of Michael Corleone's daughter. Her much-criticized performance resulted in her father being accused of nepotism, HP DV3-2000 Battery

a charge Coppola denies in the commentary track, asserting that, in his opinion, critics, "beginning with an article in Vanity Fair," were "using [my] daughter to attack me," something he finds ironic in light of the film's denouement when the Mary character pays the ultimate price for her father's sins. HP DV3-2100 Battery

As an infant, Sofia Coppola had played Michael Corleone's infant nephew in The Godfather, during the climactic baptism/murder montage at the end of that film. (Sofia Coppola also appeared in The Godfather Part II, as a small immigrant child in the scene where the nine-year-old Vito Corleone arrives by steamer at Ellis Island.) HP DV3-2300 Battery

The character of Michael's sister Connie is played by Francis Ford Coppola's sister, Talia Shire (making her both Mary and Sofia's aunt). Other Coppola relatives with cameos in the film included his mother, father (who wrote and conducted much of the music in the film), uncle and granddaughter, HP DV3T Battery

Gia. Michele Russo, who plays the son of the assassin Mosca, is also a distant Coppola relative, from the same town as Francis Ford Coppola's great-grandmother. In addition, Coppola cast Catherine Scorsese, mother of Martin Scorsese, in a small part.

At Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a generally positive response with a 68% "fresh" rating. HP DV3T-2000 Battery

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 60, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".^[10] The Godfather Part III is almost unanimously considered to be the weakest of the three Godfather films. HP DV3Z Battery

Common criticisms include Sofia Coppola's acting, the plot being too outlandish and convoluted, as well as the storyline being too based on continuity, rather than just a "stand alone" story. In his review, Roger Ebertstated that it is "not even possible to understand this film without knowing the first two." HP DV3Z-1000 Battery

Ebert did, however, write a very enthusiastic review, awarding the film three-and-a-half stars, which is the same rating that he gave The Godfather Part II.^[13] He also defended the casting of Sofia Coppola, who he felt wasn’t miscast, stating, “There is no way to predict what kind of performance Francis Ford Coppola might have obtained from Winona Ryder, HP DV3000 Battery

the experienced and talented young actress, who was originally set to play this role. But I think Sofia Coppola brings a quality of her own to Mary Corleone. A certain up-front vulnerability and simplicity that I think are appropriate and right for the role.” Ebert's colleague, HP DV3100 Battery

Gene Siskel, also highly praised the film and placed it on his list of the ten best films of 1990 (#10). Siskel did admit that the ending was the film's weakest part, citing Al Pacino's makeup as very poor. Leonard Maltin stated in his movie guide that the film is “masterfully told,” but the casting of Sofia Coppola was an “almost-fatal flaw.” HP DV3500 Battery

Parts of the film are very loosely based on real historical events concerning the ending of the Papacy of Paul VI, and the very short Papacy of John Paul I in 1978, and the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in 1982. Like the character Cardinal Lamberto, who becomes John Paul I, HP DV4 Battery

the historical John Paul I, Albino Luciani, reigned for only a very short time before being found dead in his bed.

Journalist David Yallop argues that Luciani was planning a reform of Vatican finances and that he died by poisoning; these claims are reflected in the film. HP DV4T Battery

Yallop also names as a suspect Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, who was the head of the Vatican bank, like the character Archbishop Gilday in the film. However, while Marcinkus was noted for his muscular physique and Chicago origins, Gilday is a mild Irishman. The character has also drawn comparisons to Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio, HP DV4Z Battery

as he was in charge of the Vatican finances during the approximate period of which the movie was based.^[19]

The character of Frederick Keinszig, the Swiss banker who is murdered and left hanging under a bridge, mirrors the fate (and physical appearance) of Roberto Calvi, HP DV4000 Battery

the Italian head of the Banco Ambrosiano who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 (it was unclear whether it was a case ofsuicide or, as the Italian idiom has it, "being suicided." Courts in Italy have recently ruled the latter.) 
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The name "Keinszig" is taken from Manuela Kleinszig, the girl friend of Flavio Carbone who was indicted as one of Roberto Calvi's murderers in 2005. ^[21]

On the audio commentary of the DVD, Francis Ford Coppola states that the character of Don Licio Lucchesi would be very recognizable for Italian citizens. HP DV4200 Battery

The thick-rimmed glasses, the official police bodyguard while Michael meets the Don in Sicily, and a single quote at the end of the movie are supposedly clues that Don Lucchesi is (at least partly) based on Giulio Andreotti. HP DV4300 Battery,HP DV4400 Battery,HP DV5 Battery