The Godfather is an American franchise about a Sicilian-American crime family, the Corleones, fighting their way through the streets of New York and eventually America. Forever remembered for its memorable quotes this story is one of violence and a true sense of family, and friend alike, loyalty.
The franchise began as a novel by Italian-American author Mario Puzo, The Godfather, which was adapted into a trilogy of critically acclaimed films directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Various spin-off novels and video games, listed below, were created based off of the original novel and films.
The saga details the rise and fall of Michael Corleone, son of Corleone family Don Vito Corleone.
The series' origin[]
:Main article: The Godfather
The Godfather's origins is originally a crime novel made by American author Mario Puzo. Originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons, the novel details the story of a fictional Mafia family in New York City (and Long Island), headed by Vito Corleone, the Godfather. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955 and includes the back story of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood.
The first in a series of novels, The Godfather is noteworthy for introducing Italian words like consigliere, caporegime, Cosa Nostra, and omertà to an English-speaking audience.
Films[]
The Godfather[]
- Main article: The Godfather
The 1972 film adaptation of the novel was released with Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Mario Puzo assisted with both the writing of the screenplay and other production tasks. The film grossed approximately $269 million worldwide and won various awards, including three Academy Awards, five Golden Globes and one Grammy. The film is considered to be tremendously significant in cinematic history. The sequel, The Godfather Part II won six Oscars, and became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The film's plot follows the novel except for such details as backstories of some characters that are excluded, although they were filmed. Some of this footage was included in later re-edited versions such as, "The Godfather Saga." The subplot involving Johnny Fontane in Hollywood was not filmed. The most significant deviation of the film from the novel was that the latter had a more positive ending than the film in which Kay Corleone accepts Michael's decision to take over his father's business. The film ends with Kay's realization of Michael's callousness, a theme that would develop in the second and third films, which are largely not based on the original novel. Vito Corleone's backstory appeared in the second film, with his character portrayed by Robert De Niro.
The Godfather Part II[]
- Main article: The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II was released on December 20, 1974. The feature-length film was again directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based upon Mario Puzo's novel of the same name. The film is in part both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, presenting two parallel dramas. The main storyline, following the first film's events, centers on Michael Corleone, the new Don of the Corleone crime family, trying to hold his business ventures together from 1958 to 1959; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone, from his childhood in Sicily in 1901 to his founding of the Corleone family in New York City.
The Godfather Part III[]
- Main article: The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III was released on December 25, 1990. Francis Ford Coppola returned as director for the feature-length film, while also writing the screenplay with the help of the author Mario Puzo. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire, and shows the rise of Sonny Corleone's illegitimate son Vincent Corleone as Michael's successor. The film also weaves into its plot a fictionalized account of real-life events, which include the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981 and 1982, and links them with each other and with the affairs of Michael Corleone. Coppola felt that the first two films had told the complete Corleone saga. Coppola intended Part III to be an epilogue to the first two films. In his audio commentary for Part II, he stated that only a dire financial situation caused by the failure of One from the Heart (1982) compelled him to take up Paramount's long-standing offer to make a third installment.
Recut version[]
On December 4, 2020, a recut version of the film titled Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone was released in a limited number of theatres as well as being released on Blu-ray and streaming platforms. Coppola said the film is the version he and Puzo had originally envisioned, and it "vindicates" its status among the trilogy and his daughter Sofia's performance. Sofia's performance was criticized negatively by critics. For example, Leonard Maltin, said that casting Sofia Coppola was an "almost-fatal flaw".
Cancelled fourth film[]
Coppola stated that the idea of a fourth had been discussed but before they could take it further, Puzo died on July 2, 1999. The fourth film was intended to be a prequel and a sequel. They had discussed a potential script, told in a similar narrative as Part II: with younger Vito Corleone and Sonny gaining the families' political power during the 1930s; and with Vincent Corleone in the 1980s, haunted by Mary's death, running the family business through a ten-year destructive war and eventually losing the families' respect and power, seeing one final scene with Michael Corleone before his death.
Many actors were announced to play in the film: Robert De Niro, Andy García and Talia Shire were slated to reprise their roles. Leonardo DiCaprio was cast as a younger Sonny Corleone. Robert Duvall was supposed to reprise his role as Tom Hagen.
On June 21, 1999, The Hollywood Reporter had reported that a fourth film was in the works with García in the lead role. García has since claimed the film's script was nearly produced. After Puzo's death, Coppola decided to not continue the film series. Puzo's portion of the potential sequel, dealing with the Corleone family in the early 1930s, was eventually expanded into a novel by Ed Falco and released in 2012 as The Family Corleone. The estate of Puzo had sought to keep Paramount Pictures from producing the film based on The Family Corleone. Now resolved, Paramount has gained the rights to make more Godfather films.
Paramount+ Miniseries[]
- Main article: The Offer
In 2022, The Paramount family is planning an upcoming biographical miniseries for Paramount+. It will depict the development and production of the 1972 gangster landmark film The Godfather.
Video games[]
The Godfather (1991 video game)[]
- Main article: The Godfather (1991 video game)
This is the very first video game of The Godfather series created for DOS PC. The game itself is a DOS-based side scrolling shoot 'em up video game made by U.S. Gold that was released on six floppy disks and had five levels of gameplay. The plot revolves around all three films in the trilogy.
The Godfather (2006 video game)[]
- Main article: The Godfather (2006 video game)
The video game company Electronic Arts released a video game adaptation of The Godfather film on March 21, 2006. The player assumes the role of a "soldier" in the family. Prior to his death, Marlon Brando provided some voice work for Vito, which was eventually deemed unusable and was dubbed over by a Brando impersonator. Francis Ford Coppola said in April 2005 that he was not informed of Paramount's decision to allow the game to be made and he did not approve of it. Al Pacino declined to participate, and his likeness was replaced with a different depiction of Michael Corleone.
The Godfather II (video game)[]
- Main article: The Godfather II (video game)
Electronic Arts released a video game adaptation of The Godfather Part II film on April 7, 2009. player controls Dominic, an original character created for the game, who becomes the Don of the Corleone family in New York City, and Michael Corleone's underboss. The development of the sequel was unofficially revealed on May 17, 2007 when Nollenberger Capital Partners analyst Todd Greenwald sent out a note to investors recapping a recent visit he had paid to EA Redwood Shores. On April 1, EA revealed details of the first premium DLC, which would be made available on April 23.
The Godfather: Five Families[]
- Main article: The Godfather: Five Families
In 2011, Kabam made a PC real-time strategy videogame based on the franchise where the game takes place in New York City in 1935, ten years before the beginning of the first movie.
The Godfather: Empire[]
- Main article: The Godfather: Empire
In March 1, 2011, Oceanside Interactive and Highway 1 Productions has made a mobile game based on the franchise for iOS and Android devices.
Reception[]
Box office performance[]
| Film | U.S. release date | Box office gross | Budget | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. and Canada | Other territories | Worldwide | |||
| The Godfather | March 15, 1972 | $134,966,411 | $111,154,563 | $246,120,974–287,258,196}} | $6–7.2 million |
| The Godfather Part II | December 20, 1974 | $47,834,595 | $45,435,594 | $93,270,189 | $13 million |
| The Godfather Part III | December 25, 1990 | $66,666,062 | $70,100,000 | $136,766,062 | $54 million |
| Total | $249,467,068 | $226,690,157 | $476,157,225–517,294,647 | $73–74.2 million | |
Critical response[]
The films appear in many "Top 10" film lists, such as the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association's Top 10 Films, IMDb top 250, Time magazine's All-Time 100 Movies, and James Berardinelli's Top 100. The Godfather Trilogy was ranked at No. 5 in Empire magazine's "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies" in 2010. The Independent ranked it at No. 6 on it's list of "10 greatest movie trilogies of all time".
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| The Godfather | 97% (9.40/10 average rating) (132 reviews) | 100 (15 reviews) |
| The Godfather Part II | 96% (9.70/10 average rating) (114 reviews) | 90 (18 reviews) |
| The Godfather Part III | 68% (6.40/10 average rating) (63 reviews) | 60 (19 reviews) |
| Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone | 87% (7.60/10 average rating) (52 reviews) | 76 (14 reviews) |
Accolades[]
The three films together were nominated for a total of 28 Academy Awards, of which they won nine. For the Best Supporting Actor award, both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II had three actors nominated for the award, which is a rare feat. Both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II won the award for Best Picture in their respective years. The Godfather Part II won the most Academy Awards with six to its credit. The Godfather Part III was nominated for seven Oscars, but won none.
- The Godfather — Nominations: 10, Wins: 3
- The Godfather Part II — Nominations: 11, Wins: 6
- The Godfather Part III — Nominations: 7, Wins: 0
| Award | Awards won | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Godfather | The Godfather Part II | The Godfather Part III | |
| Picture | Won | Won | Nominated |
| Director | Nominated | Won | Nominated |
| Actor | Won | Nominated | |
| Supporting Actor | Nominated (Received three nominations in this category.) | Won (Received three nominations in this category, winning one.) | Nominated |
| Supporting Actress | Nominated | ||
| Adapted Screenplay | Won | Won | |
| Art Direction | Won | Nominated | |
| Cinematography | Nominated | ||
| Costume Design | Nominated | Nominated | |
| Film Editing | Nominated | Nominated | |
| Original Dramatic Score | Won | ||
| Original Song | Nominated | ||
| Sound | Nominated | ||
External Links[]
