45th Academy Awards · 1973
The Godfather
Directed byCooked up by Francis Ford Coppola
“An offer you can't refuse.”
“Michael said "not my family business." Plot twist 🍊”
The storyThe lore 📖
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
Vito Corleone is the boss of a powerful mob family, and when a rival attacks him, everything falls apart 🍊. His youngest son Michael wanted nothing to do with the family business, but slowly he becomes the new head of the family. It's a dark, slow-burn family drama about loyalty, power, and how choices change you. Michael's character arc lives rent free in everyone's head.
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
97%
Fresh
#10 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.
Leave the gun. Take the Cannoli.
It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.
I believe in America. America has made my fortune, and I raised my daughter in the American fashion.
Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.
It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.
Look how they massacred my boy!
You can act like a man! … What's the matter with you? Is this how you turned out, a Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman?
Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you, but don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again, ever.
Today, I settle all family business, so don't tell me you're innocent, Carlo.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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110 Longfellow Avenue
Todt Hill, Staten Island, New York
This house served as the Corleone home and the wedding site, its compound wall made of styrofoam.
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Savoca
Sicily, Italy
One of the two Sicilian towns featured in Michael's exile, shot with a softer, romantic look.
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Forza d'Agrò
Sicily, Italy
This hill town was the other Sicilian village featured in the film.
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Mitchel Field
Uniondale, New York
Sonny's tollbooth killing was staged on a runway here over three days at a cost of over $100,000.
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New York County Courthouse
Foley Square, Manhattan, New York
Don Barzini's assassination was filmed on the courthouse steps.
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Mott Street
Manhattan, New York City
Scenes set in and around the Corleone olive oil business were filmed on this street.
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Best & Co.
New York City
The first scheduled shoot: Michael and Kay leaving the store after Christmas shopping, with machine-made snow.
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Filmways studios
East Harlem, New York City
Several of the film's scenes were shot at the Filmways facility in East Harlem.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- The horse's head in the famous bed scene was real; it came from a dog-food company and from a horse that was to be killed regardless of the film.Wikipedia · Filming
- For his screen test, Marlon Brando stuffed cotton balls in his cheeks, darkened his hair with shoe polish and rolled his collar; Paramount executives, who had opposed casting him, were won over.Wikipedia · Casting
- Robert De Niro was originally cast as Paulie Gatto, but when Al Pacino quit The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight for The Godfather, De Niro auditioned for the vacated part and left the film.Wikipedia · Casting
- Producer Albert S. Ruddy's car windows were shot out with a note on the dashboard essentially saying 'shut down the movie, or else,' and the words 'mafia' and 'Cosa Nostra' were cut from the script after pressure from Joseph Colombo's Italian-American Civil Rights League.Wikipedia · Writing
- Marlon Brando boycotted the Oscars and declined his Best Actor award, sending activist Sacheen Littlefeather to explain his objection to Hollywood's depiction of American Indians; he was the second actor to refuse the prize, after George C. Scott.Wikipedia · Accolades
- According to Robert Evans, Mario Puzo took Paramount's deal for The Godfather after confiding that he urgently needed $10,000 to pay off gambling debts.Wikipedia · Development
- Singer Al Martino lost the role of Johnny Fontane but, by his own account, went to his godfather, crime boss Russell Bufalino, and ultimately got it back, even though Frank Sinatra threatened to bar Martino from Las Vegas if he took it.Wikipedia · Casting
- To save money, Paramount executives wanted The Godfather set in contemporary Kansas City and shot on the studio backlot; Francis Ford Coppola fought for the 1940s period setting and location filming in New York and Sicily.Wikipedia · Coppola and Paramount
- Nino Rota's score lost its Oscar nomination after the Academy found he had used similar music in the 1958 comedy Fortunella; a re-vote gave the slot to John Addison's score for Sleuth.Wikipedia · Accolades
- Gangsters reportedly loved the film: according to Anthony Fiato, two Patriarca crime family members changed their speech patterns to imitate Vito Corleone after seeing it.Wikipedia · Cultural influence and legacy