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Based on the best-selling book by the late Mario Puzo, The Godfather debuted in theaters on March 24, 1972. Immediately receiving universal acclaim, the Paramount Pictures film was, for a period, the highest-grossing movie of all time, hauling in $243.8 million worldwide, which adjusted for inflation equals $1.6 billion.
The Godfather – The Meeting
Novice Italian American director Coppola, then 32, helmed the Mafia picture for producer Albert S. Ruddy; tales of its uphill production, fraught with one issue after another — such as casting the brilliant, but notoriously difficult Marlon Brando — are so epic, they’re getting a limited series treatment on Paramount+ titled The Offer.
The Godfather would go on to be enshrined as best picture at the 45th Academy Awards. In addition to Coppola winning an Oscar (shared with Puzo) for best adapted screenplay, he was also nominated for best director (which he would later nab for the 1974 sequel). Several of the iconic cast were also nominated, including Brando (who famously won and declined the award), Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and Caan.
Musically significant because the character Johnny Fontane is supposedly based on Frank Sinatra, and because “Godfather of…” becomes a common musical honorific.
The film, based on the 1969 novel, stars Al Martino as Fontane, who uses his mob connections to land a film role that resuscitates his career. Sinatra was rumored to have mob ties, and was at least an influence on the character – something director Francis Ford Coppola admits in commentary for the Blu Ray release.
The Godfather opening scene
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