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The Godfather

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Films

                      The Godfather
     Directed by   Francis Ford Coppola
     Produced by   Albert Ruddy
     Written by    Novel:
                   Mario Puzo
                   Screenplay:
                   Mario Puzo
                   Francis Ford Coppola
      Starring     Marlon Brando
                   Al Pacino
                   James Caan
                   Robert Duvall
                   Diane Keaton
      Music by     Nino Rota
                   Carmine Coppola
   Cinematography  Gordon Willis
     Editing by    Marc Laub
                   William H. Reynolds
                   Murray Solomon
                   Peter Zinner
   Distributed by  Paramount Pictures
   Release date(s) March 15, 1972
    Running time   175 min.
       Country     Flag of United States  United States
      Language     English
                   Sicilian
                   Latin
       Budget      $6,000,000
     Followed by   The Godfather Part II
                 All Movie Guide profile
                      IMDb profile

   The Godfather is an Academy Award-winning 1972 crime film based on the
   best-selling novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by
   Francis Ford Coppola, with screenplay by Puzo and Coppola. The film
   stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and James
   Caan. The story spans ten years from late 1945 to 1955 and chronicles
   the Corleone Mafia family.

   The Godfather is ranked as the third best American film in history by
   the American Film Institute, and is the top movie on the Internet Movie
   Database's Top 250 list. It is also the number one movie on
   Metacritic's top 100 list, and #7 on the Rotten Tomatoes all-time best
   list. It was subsequently followed with The Godfather Part II in 1974
   and The Godfather Part III in 1990.

Cast

     * Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone — the head (the "Don") of the
       Corleone family. He is the father of Sonny, Fredo, Michael and
       Connie and surrogate father to Tom Hagen.
     * Al Pacino as Michael Corleone — the Don's youngest son, recently
       returned from military service following the end of World War II.
       He wants nothing to do with the Corleone family business.
     * James Caan as Sonny Corleone — Vito's hot-headed oldest son; he is
       being groomed to succeed his father as head of the Corleone family.
       He is the family's underboss.
     * Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen — an informally adopted son of Vito
       Corleone, he is also the family lawyer and the new consigliere
       (counselor).
     * Diane Keaton as Kay Adams — Michael's girlfriend.
     * John Cazale as Fredo Corleone — the middle son of Vito Corleone.
       Fredo is not very bright and appears to be a weakling and a
       bumbler.
     * Talia Shire as Connie Corleone — Vito Corleone's only daughter. She
       marries Carlo Rizzi.
     * Richard S. Castellano as Pete Clemenza — a caporegime for the
       Corleone Family.
     * Abe Vigoda as Sal Tessio — a caporegime for the Corleone Family.
     * Al Lettieri as Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo — a heroin dealer
       associated with the Tattaglia Mafia family.

     * Gianni Russo as Carlo Rizzi — marries Connie Corleone.
     * Sterling Hayden as Captain Mark McCluskey — a corrupt police
       captain in the pay of Sollozzo.
     * Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi — a strong-arm man utilized by Vito
       Corleone.
     * Richard Conte as Emilio Barzini— the don of the Barzini crime
       family., was killed by Al Neri.
     * Al Martino as Johnny Fontane — a world-famous popular singer and
       godson of Vito.
     * John Marley as Jack Woltz — a powerful Hollywood producer.
     * Alex Rocco as Moe Greene — he created Las Vegas from a desert
       stop-over for GIs.
     * Morgana King as Carmella Corleone — Vito's wife and mother of
       Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie.
     * John Martino as Paulie Gatto — A "button man" (soldier/hit man) and
       Vito's driver.
     * Victor Rendina as Philip Tattaglia— Don of The Tattaglia crime
       Family.
     * Simonetta Stefanelli as Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone — A beautiful
       young girl whom Michael Corleone meets in Sicily.

Synopsis

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   The film begins at the wedding of Don Vito Corleone's daughter Connie
   to Carlo Rizzi in late summer of 1945, on Long Island, New York.
   Because "no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding
   day," Corleone, known to his friends and associates as "Godfather", and
   Tom Hagen (the Corleone family consigliere, or counselor) are
   preoccupied with hearing requests from friends and associates.
   Meanwhile, the Don's youngest son Michael, who has returned from World
   War II service as a highly decorated war hero, tells his girlfriend Kay
   Adams anecdotes about his father's criminal life, reassuring her that
   he is not like his family.

   Among the guests at the celebration is famous singer Johnny Fontane, a
   godson of Corleone's, who has come from Hollywood to ask the
   Godfather's help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his
   flagging career. Jack Woltz, the head of the studio, refuses to give
   Fontane the part, and Hagen is sent to California to fix the problem.
   Woltz angrily tells Hagen that he will never cast Fontane in the role,
   which would be perfect for him, because he "ruined" a starlet that
   Woltz favored. The next morning, Woltz wakes up to find the bloody
   severed head of his prize stud horse in the bed with him.

   Upon Hagen's return, the family meets with heroin dealer Virgil "The
   Turk" Sollozzo, who has influence with the rival Tattaglia family. He
   asks Don Corleone for political protection and financing to start the
   mass importation and distribution of heroin but, despite the huge
   amount of money to be made, Corleone refuses. The Don's oldest son,
   hotheaded Sonny, breaks ranks during the meeting and indirectly
   expresses interest in the deal, for which his father later privately
   rebukes him.

   After Don Corleone's refusal, Hagen is abducted by Sollozzo and his
   henchmen, while the Don himself is badly wounded during an
   assassination attempt, but survives. Sollozzo persuades Hagen to offer
   Sonny the deal previously offered to his father, but Sonny refuses to
   consider the deal, promising a war with the Tattaglias and Sollozzo.
   The Corleones now prepare for the likelihood of all-out warfare with
   the rest of the Five Families, who will unite against the Corleones.

   Michael, who is recognized by the other Mafia families as a "civilian"
   in their conflict, visits his father in the hospital, but finds nobody
   guarding him. Realizing that his father is being set up to be killed,
   he moves him to another room, calls Sonny with a report, and goes
   outside to watch the door. After he has bluffed away some of Sollozzo's
   goons, police cars arrive with the corrupt Captain McCluskey, who
   breaks Michael's jaw with a single punch. Just then, Hagen shows up
   with "private detectives" licensed to carry guns to protect Don
   Corleone.

   Following the attempt on his father's life at the Hospital, Michael
   volunteers to kill Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, who is acting as
   Sollozzo's bodyguard. Sonny and the other senior members of the
   Corleone family are initially amused by Michael's supposed naiveté and
   Sonny admonishes him for reacting too personally and emotionally.
   However, Michael convinces them that killing Sollozo and McCluskey is
   in the family's interests ("It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly
   business.")

   A meeting between Michael and Sollozo, with McCluskey attending, at a
   restaurant is arranged, ostensibly to discuss peace. Michael excuses
   himself to go to the restroom, retrieves a planted revolver, and
   executes Sollozzo and McCluskey with near- point-blank-range shots to
   the head. To avoid arrest for the murders, Michael is sent to Sicily,
   where he lives under the protection of a local Mafia Don. While there,
   he falls in love, then marries a local girl, Apollonia, who is
   subsequently murdered during an attempt on Michael's life.

   Meanwhile, back in New York, Don Corleone returns home from the
   hospital and is distraught to learn that Michael was the one who killed
   Sollozzo and McCluskey. Some months later, in 1948, Sonny severely
   beats Carlo for hitting Connie. The next time Carlo beats her, Sonny
   drives off alone to find him and kill him. On the way, he is ambushed
   and machine-gunned to death.

   Instead of seeking revenge for Sonny's killing, Don Corleone meets with
   the heads of the Five Families to arrange an end to the war. Not only
   is it draining all of their assets and threatening their survival, but
   ending the conflict is the only way that Michael can return home
   safely. Reversing his previous decision, Vito agrees that the Corleone
   family will provide political protection for Philip Tattaglia's traffic
   in heroin. At the meeting, Don Corleone realizes that Don Barzini, not
   Tattaglia, was responsible for the mob war.

   With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns from Sicily. More than a
   year later, he reunites with his former girlfriend, Kay, telling her
   that he wants to marry her. With the Don semi-retired, Sonny dead and
   middle brother Fredo considered incapable of running the family
   business, Michael is now in charge, and he claims that the family
   business will soon be completely legitimate.

   Clemenza and Tessio, two Corleone Family caporegimes (underbosses)
   complain that they are being pushed around by the Barzini Family and
   ask permission to strike back, but Michael refuses. With his father as
   consigliere, he plans to move the family operations to Nevada and after
   that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to go on their own. Michael
   further promises that Connie's husband, Carlo, is going to be his right
   hand in Nevada, while Hagen will be the Family's Las Vegas lawyer.

   In Las Vegas Michael is greeted by Fredo in the hotel-casino partly
   financed by the Corleones, run by Moe Greene. Michael explains to
   Johnny Fontane that the Family needs his help in persuading Johnny's
   friends in show business to sign long-term contracts to appear at the
   casino. In a meeting with Moe Greene, Michael offers to buy out Greene
   but is rudely rebuffed. Greene believes the Corleones are weak and that
   he can secure a better deal from Barzini.

   Michael returns home. In a private meeting, Vito explains his
   expectation that the Family's enemies will attempt to kill Michael by
   using a trusted associate to arrange a meeting as a pretext for
   assassination. Shortly afterwards, Don Vito dies of a heart attack
   while playing with his young grandson in his tomato garden.

   During the funeral, Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with
   Barzini, which identifies him as the traitor that Vito was expecting.
   Michael arranges the murders of Moe Greene, Philip Tattaglia, Emilio
   Barzini, Salvatore Tessio, Anthony Stracci, and Ottilio Cuneo, all to
   take place during the baptism of Connie and Carlo's second son, for
   whom he will be godfather. After the baptism, Michael confronts Carlo
   about Sonny's murder and tricks him into admitting his role in setting
   up the ambush. "Today," Michael tells him, "I settle all Family
   business." Michael informs Carlo that his punishment is to be excluded
   from the family business and hands him a plane ticket to exile in
   Nevada. Carlo gets into a car to go to the airport, and is strangled by
   Clemenza.

   Later, Connie confronts Michael, accusing him of Carlo's murder. Kay
   questions Michael about Connie's accusation, but he refuses to answer.
   She insists, and Michael lies, assuring his wife that he had no role in
   Carlo's death. Kay is relieved by Michael's denial. As the film ends,
   she watches Clemenza and new caporegime Rocco Lampone pay their
   respects to Michael, kissing his hand and addressing him as "Don
   Corleone." The door closes as she sees that Michael has become the new
   Godfather.

Differences from the novel

   One of the primary parts of Puzo's novel which was not used for the
   movie was the flashback story of Don Corleone's earlier life, including
   his arrival in America, marriage and fatherhood, Don Fanucci's murder,
   and his rise in importance in the mafia, all of which were later used
   in The Godfather Part II.

   Many subplots were trimmed in the transition from the printed page to
   the screen, including: singer Johnny Fontane's misfortunes with women
   and his problems with his voice; Sonny's paramour Lucy Mancini's
   new-found love in Dr. Segal (a character entirely missing from the
   film), who not only repairs Lucy's loose vagina but puts Michael in
   touch with the surgeon who repairs Michael's facial bones (which had
   been damaged by Capt. McCluskey) and also operated on Johnny Fontane's
   vocal cords, thus restoring his singing voice; Jack Woltz' increasing
   pedophilia; Kay Adams's home life; Luca Brasi's demonic past; Don
   Corleone's ingenious plan used to take Michael out of exile in Sicily;
   the detailed attack on the two men who assaulted Bonasera's daughter,
   which was led by Paulie Gatto and was only alluded to in the film; and
   information about Fredo Corleone, indicating that his frantic seduction
   of showgirls is a coverup for deeply closeted homosexuality. (This
   theme is elaborated in Mark Winegardner's sequel The Godfather
   Returns.)

   Characters with smaller roles in the film than in the novel include
   Johnny Fontane, Lucy Mancini, Rocco Lampone, and Al Neri (the latter
   two are reduced to non-speaking roles). Characters dropped in the film
   adaptation beside Dr. Segal include Genco Abbandando (only spoken of,
   he appears in The Godfather II), Nino Valenti (Johnny Fontane's "nice
   guy" friend, dying from alcoholism) and Dr. Taza from Sicily. Also, in
   the book, Michael and Kay have two sons, but in the movies they have a
   son and a daughter.

   The novel and film also differ on the fates of Michael's bodyguards in
   Sicily, Fabrizio and Calo. The film has them both surviving (Calo, in
   fact, appears in the third installment). In the book, however, Calo
   dies along with Apollonia in the car explosion, and Fabrizio dies at
   the end as one more victim in the famous "baptism scene", shot in his
   restaurant in America after he's traced and found (he is killed in a
   scene in The Godfather Saga, which was deleted from The Godfather: Part
   II).

   The ending of the book differs from the end of the movie: whereas in
   the film Kay suddenly realizes that Michael has become "like his
   family," the drama is toned down in the book, where Tom Hagen lets her
   in on secrets for which, according to him, he would be killed should
   Michael find out. During the film's baptism scene, the heads of the
   remaining four of five families are assassinated. In the novel, only
   Barzini and Tattaglia, previously at war with the Corleones, are
   killed.
   Spoilers end here.

Production

Coppola and Paramount

   Francis Ford Coppola was not the first choice to direct, as at least
   two other directors were approached first. Italian director Sergio
   Leone was offered the job, but he declined on the basis that he did not
   find the story interesting. (He went on to direct his own gangster
   opus, Once Upon a Time in America, which focused on Jewish-American
   gangsters.) At the time, Coppola had directed eight previous films, the
   most notable of which was the film version of the stage musical
   Finian's Rainbow — although he had also received an Academy Award for
   co-writing Patton in 1970. Coppola was in debt to Warner Bros. for
   $400,000 following budget over-runs on George Lucas' THX-1138, which
   Coppola had produced, and he took The Godfather on Lucas' advice.

   There was intense friction between Coppola and the studio, Paramount
   Pictures, and several times Coppola was almost replaced. Paramount
   maintains that its skepticism was due to a rocky start to production,
   though Coppola believes that the first week went extremely well.
   Paramount thought that Coppola failed to stay on schedule, frequently
   made production and casting errors, and insisted on unnecessary
   expenses. Coppola says, in the DVD commentary, that he was shadowed by
   a replacement director, who was ready to take over the minute Coppola
   was fired, but despite such intense pressure, Coppola managed to defend
   his decisions and avoid being replaced.

Casting

   Coppola's casting choices were not popular with the studio executives
   at Paramount Pictures, particularly Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone.
   Paramount, which wanted Laurence Olivier (who was unable to take the
   part due to health problems), originally refused to allow Coppola to
   cast Brando in the role, citing the difficulties Brando had had on
   recent film sets. At one point, Coppola was told by the then president
   of Paramount that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion
   picture." After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to
   cast Brando on the condition that he appear in the film for much less
   salary than his previous films, that he perform a screen-test, and that
   he put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the
   production (as he had done on previous film sets). Coppola chose Brando
   over Ernest Borgnine, as the former won him over with his screen test.
   Brando went on to win an Academy Award for his portrayal.

   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, who he found in Al Pacino. Pacino was not well known
   at the time, and the studio did not consider him right for the part, in
   part because of his height. Pacino was given the role only after
   Coppola threatened to quit the production. Jack Nicholson, Dustin
   Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen, and James Caan also auditioned.
   Elvis Presley was also interested in the role, but did not audition.

   Before Robert Duvall was cast, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen were
   considered for the role of Tom Hagen.

   A then unknown Robert De Niro auditioned for the roles of Michael,
   Sonny, Carlo and Paulie Gatto. He was cast as Paulie, but Coppola
   arranged a "trade" with Bang the Drum Slowly to get Al Pacino from that
   film.

   Sylvester Stallone auditioned for Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto, Anthony
   Perkins for Sonny, and Mia Farrow auditioned for Kaye. William Devane
   was seen for the role of Moe Greene.

   Coppola cast his infant daughter, Sofia, as Connie and Carlo's newborn
   son, Michael Francis Rizzi, in the climactic baptism scene near the
   movie's end. Sofia Coppola played roles in the later Godfather movies.
   In Part II, she plays a nameless immigrant girl on the ship that brings
   Vito Corleone to New York. In Part III, she plays a major speaking
   role: that of Michael Corleone's daughter Mary. Coppola also cast his
   sons as Frank and Andrew Hagen, the two sons of Tom Hagen. They can be
   seen in the Sonny-Carlo streetfight scene and behind Al Pacino and
   Robert Duvall during the funeral scene.

Star salaries

   Al Pacino, James Caan and Diane Keaton all received $35,000 for their
   work on The Godfather, and Robert Duvall got $36,000 for eight weeks of
   work. Marlon Brando, on the other hand, was paid $50,000 for six weeks
   and weekly expenses of $1,000, plus 5% of the film, capped at $1.5
   million. Brando later sold his points back to Paramount for $300,000.

Filming

   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 — there were a total of 77 days of shooting, fewer than the 83
   for which the production had budgeted.

   Locations around New York City and its environs were used for the film,
   as well as the Sicilian towns of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò outside of
   Taormina. At least one location in Los Angeles was used also (for the
   exterior of Woltz' mansion). A scene with Pacino and Keaton was filmed
   in the town of Ross, CA. Interiors were shot at Filmways Studio in New
   York.

   One of the movie's most shocking moments comes early, involving the
   real severed head of a horse. Animal rights groups protested the
   inclusion of the scene. 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.

Release

            Ratings
        Argentina:       15
        Australia:       PG
         Austria:        15
         Belgium:        PG
         Brazil:         12
   Canada ( Brit.Col):   11
    Canada (Alberta):    12+
    Canada (Manitoba):   PA
    Canada ( Ontario):   AA
   Canada ( Maritime):   15
     Canada (Quebec):    13+
   Canada ( Home Vid.):  18
          Chile:         18
        Colombia:        18
         Denmark:        15
         Finland:        K-15
         France:         -12
         Germany:        16
        Hong Kong:       IIB
         Iceland:        16
          India:         11
         Israel:         PG
          Italy:         VM14
          Japan:         R-12
         Mexico:         C
       Netherlands:      9+
       New Zealand:      R18
         Norway:         15
          Peru:          15
         Poland:         PG
        Portugal:        M/18
        Singapore:       12
       South Korea:      15
          Spain:         13
         Sweden:         15
         Taiwan:         PG
     United Kingdom:     18
      United States:     R

   The Godfather received its American release on March 24, 1972.
   Internationally, its release dates were:
     * Japan: July 15, 1972
     * West Germany: August 24, 1972
     * Italy: September 14, 1972
     * Argentina: September 20, 1972
     * Sweden: September 27, 1972
     * Finland: September 29, 1972
     * Norway: October 16, 1972 (Oslo)
     * France: October 18, 1972
     * Australia: November 2, 1972
     * Netherlands: January 18, 1973
     * Hong Kong: October 11, 1973

Reaction

   The film is greatly respected among international critics and the
   public. It was voted greatest film of all time by Entertainment
   Weekly,^and #3 of all time by the American Film Institute. It has
   consistently ranked #1 on IMDb's Top 250. In the 2002 Sight & Sound
   poll of international critics, it was ranked as the 4th best film of
   all time. Both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II have been
   selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
   This is not the case for the third installment in the "Godfather"
   trilogy.

   The soundtrack's main theme by Nino Rota was also critically acclaimed;
   the main theme ( Speak Softly Love) is well-known and widely used. It
   is the personal favorite film of many film critics including Peter
   Travers of Rolling Stone, Charles Taylor of Salon and Richard Roeper of
   Ebert & Roeper.

   The Godfather was released on March 24, 1972, and was an enormous box
   office hit, smashing previous records to become the highest grossing
   film of all time (until that record was broken by Jaws in 1975). It
   made USD $5,264,402 in its opening weekend and went on to gross
   $81,500,000 in its initial run; nearly fourteen times its budget and
   marketing campaign. Re-releases boosted its North American total to
   $134 million.

   The Godfather won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor in a
   Leading Role (Marlon Brando refused to accept the award and sent
   actress Sacheen Littlefeather in his stead to the Oscars to explain
   why) and Best Writing (adapted screenplay) (Francis Coppola, Mario
   Puzo). The film was nominated for eight additional Academy Awards.
   Furthermore, it won five Golden Globes, one Grammy, and numerous other
   awards. Nino Rota's music score for the film was initially nominated
   for an Oscar, but was subsequently withdrawn when it was discovered
   that Rota recycled some of the music he had written for an obscure 1958
   Italian film Fortunella.

   Stanley Kubrick believed that The Godfather was possibly the greatest
   movie ever made, and without question the best cast.

Cinematic influence

   Although many films about gangsters had been made prior to 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 was hardly usual in the
   genre. 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.

   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". (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.

Influence on popular culture

   The Godfather along with the other films in the trilogy, had a strong
   impact on the public at large. Don Vito's line, "I'm going to make him
   an offer he can't refuse" was voted as the second most memorable line
   in cinema history in a 2005 poll, called AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie
   Quotes by the American Film Institute. It is often used in a humorous
   way.

   Reports from Mafia trials and confessions suggest that Mafia families
   began a "real life" tradition of paying respect to the family don by
   kissing his ring, in imitation of the ending scene of the movie. There
   is no evidence of this custom being mentioned prior to the movie.

   An indication of the continuing influence of The Godfather and its
   sequels can be gleaned 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 hommages, quotations, visual
   references, satires and parodies continue to pop up even now shows
   clearly the film's enduring impact.

Sequels and adaptations

The Godfather Part II

   A sequel, The Godfather Part II, was released in 1974. It consists of
   two parallel storylines, with the focus switching between the two. The
   first storyline follows Michael Corleone in the late 1950s, as he deals
   with a decaying marriage and a growing gambling empire; the other is a
   flashback sequence following his father Vito, from his youth in Sicily
   through the founding of the Corleone crime family in New York and the
   births of his children. The main theme is the contrast between Michael
   struggling to legitimize the family business, and Vito building his
   criminal enterprise. Vito is played by different actors at different
   ages, but the adult Vito is played by Robert De Niro, who won a Best
   Supporting Actor Academy Award for a role in which he speaks almost no
   English dialogue. De Niro and Brando remain the only actors to win
   Oscars for playing the same character. Many critics consider the sequel
   to be superior to the original film in quality, one of the few film
   sequels to achieve such acclaim.

The Godfather Part III

   In 1990, Coppola released the third film in the saga, The Godfather
   Part III, which was a commercial success, but critical and fan response
   was mixed. However, the movie still received seven Academy Award
   nominations, among them Best Picture and Best Cinematography. The film
   is also notable for the key role played by Coppola's daughter, future
   Academy Award winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola, who was asked to play
   Mary Corleone on short notice after Winona Ryder became ill. The movie
   was set in 1979, and focused on an aging Michael Corleone. Parts of the
   film were very loosely based on real historical events concerning the
   very short papacy of John Paul I in 1978, and the collapse of the Banco
   Ambrosiano in 1982.

Chronological versions

   In 1977, Coppola edited The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
   together for TV, putting the scenes in chronological order and adding
   some previously unseen footage, but also toning down the violence. This
   version of the story was called The Godfather Saga. In 1992, Coppola
   created another chronological version, this time including Part III as
   well, for a direct-to-video release that had a running time of 583
   minutes. This version also incorporated new previously deleted scenes
   that had not been seen in The Godfather Saga.

DVD release

   The Godfather was released on DVD for the first time on October 9, 2001
   as part of a DVD package called The Godfather DVD Collection. The
   collection contained all three films with commentary from Francis Ford
   Coppola and a bonus disc that featured a new 73 minute documentary
   titled The Godfather Family: A Look Inside, plus a 1971 documentary.
   The package also contained deleted footage, including 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; and video
   segments on Gordon Willis' cinematography, Nino Rota and Carmine
   Coppola's music, Francis Ford Coppola, 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.

Video game

   In March 2006, a video game version of The Godfather was released by
   Electronic Arts. Prior to his death, Marlon Brando provided voice work
   for Vito, however, due to poor sound quality from Brando's failing
   health, a sound-alike's voice had to be used instead. James Caan,
   Robert Duvall and Abe Vigoda lent their voices and likenesses as well,
   and several other Godfather cast members had their likeness in the
   game. Francis Ford Coppola said in April 2005 that he was not informed
   and did not approve of Paramount allowing the game's production, and
   openly criticized the move.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather"
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