The Godfather

This article is about the film based on the Mario Puzo novel. For other uses, see God father.

The Godfather
Directed by	Francis Ford Coppola
Written by	Novel: Mario Puzo Screenplay: Mario Puzo Francis Ford Coppola
Produced by	Albert Ruddy
Starring	Marlon Brando Al Pacino James Caan Robert Duvall Diane Keaton Talia Shire John Cazale Richard S. Castellano Abe Vigoda
Cinematography	Gordon Willis
Music by	Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	March 15, 1972
Running time	175 min.
Languages	English, Sicilian, Latin

The Godfather is a 1972 crime film directed and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola based on the the novel of the same name authored by the screenplay's co-writer Mario Puzo. The film starred Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and James Caan. The film was subsequently followed with The Godfather Part II in 1974, The Godfather Part III in 1990, and a 2006 video game based on the film.

The film's story spans nine years from late 1945 to late 1954 as the leader of a New York mafia organization hands his family business over to his reluctant son. It is ranked as the third best American film in history by the American Film Institute and as the greatest film of all time according to the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 list with a 9.1/10 rating, despite the fact that The Shawshank Redemption has a 9.2 rating[1]. It is also the number one movie on Metacritic's top 100 list.

Production

The film was released in 1972 and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, whose several prior films had none of the same impact upon the public, although he had received an Academy Award for cowriting Patton in 1970. Puzo helped in the making of the movie and its sequels and co-wrote the screenplay. Most of the shooting spanned from March 29, 1971, to August 6 of that year. A scene with Pacino and Keaton was shot in autumn. Due to skepticism about the film's expected success, a modest budget was set, forcing the crew to use regular lighting as opposed to production lighting, which resulted in a more realistic appearance to the film.

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, in audio commentary on The Godfather Collection DVD release, 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.

Italian director Sergio Leone was offered the chance to direct The Godfather, but he declined on the basis that he did not find the story interesting. He went on to direct his own gangster opus, focusing instead on Jewish-American gangsters in Once Upon a Time in America. There was intense friction between director Coppola (who was at least the third choice to direct) 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 perceived that Coppola failed to stay on schedule, frequently made production and casting errors, and insisted on unnecessary expenses. The studio strongly opposed the casting of Al Pacino and Marlon Brando, insisting both perform in multiple screen tests and that Coppola consider other actors. Despite intense pressure, Coppola managed to defend his decisions and avoid being fired. The final cut seemed remarkably free of the changes the studio had previously demanded.

Kurdish origins

The Corleone family originate from the Barzani clan of Arbil Kurdistan. Mario Puzo who visited the region in the 60's was so overwhelmed by the tribe's aggresive dominance and control over Kurdish lands, that he felt it necessary to portray this in The Godfather- interestingly, the town of Corleone was inhabited by Kurds who still have their place of residence in the area. As a dedication to Puzo's contribution to the then Kurdish freedom fighters (operated by the late Ahmed Barzani), the city of Arbil now has many monuments, streets and district centres named after him, including the central square of the town,Puzo square, and Puzo Market.

In Aram Rafiq's famous autobiography, he reveals that Puzo was one of his late grandfather's (Agai Rahmani) close friend. Amongst the other friends of late Agai Rahmani includes the late Tollakurdistani snr and Zoranbaz jnr (AKA Dawan Mustafa, who is rumoured to be the undisclosed right-hand man of, quite notably, all tribal leaders). These facts further reveal Puzo's involvement with the Kurdish freedom fighters.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler The film begins at the wedding of Don Vito Corleone's daughter, Connie, to Carlo Rizzi in late summer of 1945, in Long Beach, New York, on Long Island. According to tradition, no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day. As a result, the Godfather, Tom Hagen, the family attorney and consigliere, and Santino,"Sonny", the Don's oldest son, are preoccupied with hearing requests from friends and employees. Meanwhile, the Don's youngest son Michael, who has returned from World War II service, at first spends time dancing around his family's nature with girlfriend Kay Adams before being forced to tell her how his father coerces rivals by making them offers they can't refuse, i.e. threatening them with death. Michael also reassures Kay that he is not like his family. The family soon has to deal with influential heroin dealer Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, who asks Don Corleone for political protection and financing to start the mass import and distribution of heroin. Don Corleone explains to Sollozzo that the political figures he counts as "friends" would withdraw their assistance with the family's business if asked to contribute to what they perceive as an immoral practice compared to gambling and prostitution. Despite the huge returns promised by Sollozzo, Don Corleone refuses, but the hotheaded Sonny breaks rank during the meeting and indirectly expresses interest in the deal.

File:Godfather15.jpg

Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, the Godfather.

After Don Corleone's refusal, Tom Hagen is abducted by Sollozzo and his henchmen, and the Don himself suffers an assassination attempt. Under the impression that Don Corleone is dead, Sollozzo convinces Hagen to offer Sonny the deal previously offered to his father. After Hagen's release, Sonny refuses to consider the deal, promising an all out mob war with the Tattaglias, the family that Sollozzo had partnered with. The Corleones now prepare for the likelihood of all-out warfare with the other families. It is understood the other Mafia families will join against the Corleones to prevent a destructive conflict. Michael, who is recognized by the other families as a "civilian" not involved in the family business, goes out to dinner with Kay, and then to visit his father in the hospital. When he arrives, he finds no police guards, and none of his father's men guarding him. Michael realizes that his father is being set up for another hit, and convinces a nurse to help him move his father to another room. Michael calls his brother Sonny to send guards. When a baker, now in the country legally thanks to Don Corleone's intervention, shows up to pay his respects, Michael enlists him to help as well. Moments later, police cars arrive with the corrupt policeman Captain McCluskey. He rousts Michael, who confronts him and accuses him of being on Sollozzo's payroll. McCluskey has his officers hold Michael steady while he breaks his jaw with a single punch. Michael is about to be arrested when Tom Hagen arrives with "private detectives" licensed to carry guns to protect Don Corleone, and forces McCluskey with a threat of court action if he interferes with them. Later, the Corleones discuss the attempt on their father, and the youngest brother, Michael, volunteers to kill Sollozzo and his bodyguard, Captain McCluskey. They arrange a "peace meeting" with Sollozzo and McCluskey in a restaurant. In the meeting, Michael excuses himself to go to the restroom, retrieves a planted snubnosed revolver, murders Sollozzo and McCluskey at point blank range and leaves the scene. To avoid arrest for the murders, Michael is sent to Sicily. While there, he marries a local girl, Apollonia, who is subsequently murdered during an attempt on Michael's life.

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 New York, after visiting his mistress, the temperamental Sonny severely beats his brother-in-law Carlo, for abusing his pregnant sister, Connie. After Carlo beats Connie a second time, Sonny goes alone to find him. He is ambushed at an expressway toll booth and brutally shot to death by several carloads of unidentified hitmen. Instead of perpetuating the revenge cycle, Don Corleone calls a meeting with the heads of the Five Families to arrange the peace so his youngest son can return home safely. At the meeting with the New York Families, Don Corleone realizes that Don Emilio Barzini, not Philip Tattaglia, was behind the mob war and Sonny's death. With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns from Sicily and gets in touch with his former girlfriend, Kay, telling her that he needs her, that his father's ways are over and that soon the family business will be completely legitimate. With Sonny dead and Fredo considered incapable of running the family business, Michael is now in charge.

The caporegimes Pete Clemenza and Sal Tessio complain that in the new arrangement they are pushed around by the Barzini Family, and want permission to strike back. When Michael refuses, they ask Vito Corleone's permission to start their own families, as once promised. The Don tells them to trust Michael as they trust him. Michael plans to make a move to Nevada and after that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to go on their own. Connie's husband, Carlo, is going to be Michael's right hand in Nevada, and Hagen is no longer consigliere. In Las Vegas Michael is greeted by his older brother Fredo in the hotel-casino partly financed by the Corleones and run by Moe Greene. During the meeting Michael informs everyone present that he's planning to leave the "olive oil" business in New York and move the family to Nevada. He offers to buy out Greene but is rudely rebuffed. Greene believes the Corleones are weak, and he can secure a better deal from Barzini. Fredo attempts to intercede with Tom Hagen, who explains that Michael is in charge of the family business. Moe leaves.

Michael returns home along with his wife Kay and son Anthony. In a private meeting, Vito Corleone mentions that Michael's enemies will attempt to kill him by using a trusted acquaintance to arrange a meeting. Don Vito later dies of a sudden heart attack. During the funeral, Corleone Family caporegime Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with Barzini in Tessio's territory so Michael will feel safe. Michael confirms to Tom Hagen that Tessio is betraying the family. Michael has decided to make his move after the baptism of his nephew, Connie and Carlo's second son, Michael Francis Rizzi, to whom he will be serving as godfather. Michael then arranges for the murders of the other families' heads. At the same time in which Moe Greene is killed in Las Vegas, Pete Clemenza shoots Victor Stracci, Willie Cicci murders Ottilio Cuneo, Rocco Lampone assassinates Philip Tattaglia and finally, Al Neri kills Emilio Barzini. When Salvatore Tessio and Tom Hagen prepare to leave for the meeting with Barzini, Willie Cicci and several of Hagen's men surround Tessio and they take him to a car. He is never seen again. Afterwards, Michael confronts Carlo about Sonny's murder and tricks him into admitting his role in the killing. Carlo is offered to be banished to Las Vegas but is then strangled by Clemenza in the car. Later, Connie accuses Michael of ordering Carlo's murder, as Kay looks on. Kay questions Michael about Connie's accusation, but he refuses to answer by saying, "Don't ask me about my business Kay!" She insists, and Michael appears to relent but lies outright, 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 on her distraught face, as she watches the new Godfather.

Template:Endspoiler

Cast

File:Corleonesons.jpg

From left to right: Al Pacino (Michael), Marlon Brando (Don Vito), James Caan (Sonny), and John Cazale (Fredo).

• Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone
• Al Pacino as Michael Corleone
  • Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen, James Caan and Robert De Niro also auditioned. Robert Redford was the first choice for it.
• James Caan as Santino "Sonny" Corleone
  • Anthony Perkins auditioned for Sonny.
  • Robert De Niro apparently auditioned for Sonny as well, as there is raw film footage of him reading Sonny's part in the scene where Michael volunteers to kill Sollozzo.
• Richard S. Castellano as Peter Clemenza
• Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen
  • Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Anthony Perkins also auditioned. Elvis Presley was interested in the role, but did not audition.
• Sterling Hayden as Captain McCluskey
• John Marley as Jack Woltz
• Richard Conte as Don Emilio Barzini
• Alex Rocco as Moe Greene
  • William Devane also auditioned.
• Al Lettieri as Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo
• Diane Keaton as Kay Adams
  • Mia Farrow also auditioned.
• Abe Vigoda as Salvatore "Sally" Tessio
• Talia Shire as Costanza "Connie" Corleone-Rizzi
• Gianni Russo as Carlo Rizzi
  • Sylvester Stallone also auditioned.
• John Cazale as Frederico "Fredo" Corleone
• Al Martino as Johnny Fontane
• Morgana King as Carmella Corleone
• Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi
• John Martino as Paulie Gatto
  • Robert De Niro was originally given the part but was "traded" to The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight for Al Pacino, who was entered as Michael Corleone.
  • Sylvester Stallone also auditioned.

The producers originally wanted Robert Redford or Ryan O'Neal to play Michael Corleone, but Coppola wanted an unknown who looked like an Italian-American, who was found in Al Pacino. Pacino was not well known at the time, and the studio did not consider him right for the part. Pacino was only granted the role after Coppola threatened to quit the production. A young New Yorker named Robert De Niro also auditioned, not only for Michael, but for the roles of Sonny, Carlo and Paulie Gatto.

The role of Don Vito Corleone was memorably acted by Marlon Brando, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal. Originally, Laurence Olivier was wanted by Paramount to play Vito Corleone, but he was unable to sign on due to health problems. Coppola chose Brando over Ernest Borgnine, as the former won him over with his screen test: Persuading Brando to do a screen test, in itself, was quite a coup. Many of the actors playing the supporting roles were largely unknown or minor actors, but they rocketed to fame with the success of The Godfather. Al Pacino and Robert Duvall in particular went on to enjoy highly acclaimed careers. Duvall, Pacino and James Caan were each honored for their performances with Academy-Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Cabaret's Joel Grey.

Curiously, Coppola cast his infant daughter, Sofia, as Connie and Carlo's newborn son, Michael Carlo 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.

Critical acclaim

The film is greatly respected among international critics and the public. It was voted greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly^[2], and #3 of all time by the American Film Institute. In the past it had 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. The soundtrack's main theme by Nino Rota was also critically acclaimed; the main theme 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. .

Awards

The Godfather won three Academy Awards:

• 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)
• Best Writing (adapted screenplay) (Francis Coppola, Mario Puzo)

The film was also 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.

The sequel The Godfather Part II also won an Academy Award for Best Picture, making the Godfather trilogy the only series of films to win multiple Oscars until The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Best Picture award in 2003. However, the first two films in the Lord of the Rings series won mainly technical awards[3][4], meaning that The Godfather and The Godfather Part II remain the only films in a series to have each won Best Picture. The Godfather Part III was nominated for seven Oscars but did not win.

Revenues

The film 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.

Sequels

The Godfather: Part II

Main article: 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, interestingly, 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 Saga

Main article: The Godfather Saga

Coppola reedited the two movies together, in chronological order (adding some previously unseen footage but also toning down the violence), into one long saga for TV broadcast, entitled The Godfather Saga. While easier to understand, many consider this version to be less interesting than the original from a structural or artistic standpoint. 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.

The Godfather: Part III

Main article: 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 film-maker 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.

Oranges

Template:Spoilers Film scholars and fans of the Godfather movies note what they believe is the symbolic significance of oranges in the films, suggesting that after the appearance of an orange in the film an important "death scene" follows. In the first film, Tom Hagen and Woltz negotiate Johnny's movie status at a dinner table with a plate of oranges on it, and Woltz soon discovers his dead horse's head; Don Vito Corleone is buying oranges from a fruit seller when he is attacked; Sonny drives past a billboard promoting Florida Oranges before he is attacked at the toll booth; oranges are placed on the table at the meeting of the Mafia bosses (and specifically in front of the ones who will be assassinated at the film's climax); and Don Vito Corleone dies while eating an orange, as he plays with his young grandson. Tessio is also seen peeling an orange at Connie's wedding. Carlo, who is responsible for Sonny's death, is wearing an orange suit when Sonny beats him up.

In The Godfather Part II, Michael Corleone receives an orange from Johnny Ola, the Sicilian henchman of Hyman Roth, who later plots an attempt on Michael's life; and later in the movie, is seen eating an orange as he orders the "hit" against his enemies, in preparation for the climax of the film. At the start of the film, at the funeral of Vito's father Antonio Andolini, oranges on trees are seen, shortly before Vito's brother Paolo is shot.

Additionally, in a scene from the early 1900s storyline, Don Fanucci takes an orange from a street vendor's cart and tosses it about just before his death at the hands of a young Vito, while walking on the same street and passing the same orange-cart as Vito himself would later when almost fatally wounded in The Godfather Part I. Also, in The Godfather Part III, a bowl of oranges is knocked over as the helicopter assault begins.

During the confession scene in The Godfather Part III, when about to speak to Cardinal Lamberto about the murder of his brother Fredo, Michael suffers a diabetic attack and is given a glass of orange juice. At the end of The Godfather Part III', Michael is seen sitting on a chair and later dies. The first thing that fell off the chair was an orange, then his cane, then himself.

The roots of the orange as a symbolic fruit which represents wealth, power and healing, can be traced back to Renaissance Art and, in Italy, to the powerful Medici family. [5] Oranges are also representative of the historical roots of La Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia), which began as a protection racket for citrus farmers in late 19th century Sicily. Citrus fruits today remain one of Sicily's main exports. Template:Endspoiler

Impact

The trilogy had a powerful impact upon 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, and it is often parodied.

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 Godfather.

The image of the Mafia as being a medieval-style organization with a "royal family" doing favors for underlings is very popular. For example, in John Grisham's novel The Firm, the Mafia is depicted as having an organization wherein the top mobsters marry into the "royal family". However, this image bears little resemblance to the more sordid reality of lower level Mafia "familial" entanglements, as depicted in various post-Godfather mafia fare (e.g, the Martin Scorcese films, Mean Streets, Goodfellas, & Casino, & David Chase's HBO-TV series The Sopranos).

The Sopranos pays homage to The Godfather in a humorous episode where they discuss the feasibility of bootlegging copies of the DVD. Paramount returned the favor by including this clip as an Easter Egg on the Godfather DVD Collection.[6] Moreover, characters in The Sopranos sometimes discuss The Godfather and The Godfather Part II as both favorite films and images to live up to in the less glamorous real world of organized crime. In the series premiere of The Sopranos, Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) says, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"—a line from The Godfather Part III. Often, the characters will refer to the movies as simply "One" and "Two".

Video game

Main article: The Godfather: The Game

In March 2006, a video game version of The Godfather was released by Electronic Arts. The player can make his/her own mobster using a program called mobface technology, and soon become the don, and even Don of New York. The game also lets the player kill rival families, make businesses/rackets pay protection, and control New York City. 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. Notable absences of support are of Coppola and Al Pacino, the latter whom did not participate reportedly because he himself already was attached to another game of one of his movies, Scarface. Also Coppola did not participate reportedly due to the fact he was openly against the game.

Trivia

Film

• In the film Natural Born Killers, the insane warden (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is named McCluskey.

• The assault on Corleone's life is imitated in a nightmare Hugh Grant has in the movie Mickey Blue Eyes.

• The last part of the film, where the family bosses are murdered while Michael is serving as his nephew's godfather, is mimicked in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, where Anakin Skywalker slays separatist leaders on Mustafar while Palpatine heralds the Galactic Empire. Lucas worked as a cinematographer on the Godfather and was responsible for the original scene. He mentions this comparison in the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith.

• The same scene (assault on Corleone's life) is imitated in a nightmare Billy Crystal has in the movie Analyze This. In this nightmare, Robert De Niro, who plays the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather II, is seen as playing the role of John Cazale from the original movie. Later when Crystal talks to De Niro about it, De Niro asks him "I was Fredo? I don't think so."

• A parody movie called The Godthumb was also made by director Steve Oedekerk of Kung Pow fame. It is one of six parody movies in the "Thumb Collection."

• At the beginning of Rugrats in Paris, Angelica is shown acting like the Godfather due to having watched the movie the previous night.

• Requiem for a Dream features a man peeling the orange as well as an orange truck in the scene where the characters go to receive a new shipment of drugs. The oranges not only indicates their next destination - Florida - but also serves as a nod to the Godfather films, where the presence of oranges indicated disaster.

• In the film You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan Hank's character ( Joe Fox) references The Godfather when talking with Meg Ryan , "leave the gun, take the cannolis" for example

• Indian film director Ram Gopal Varma made an adaptation of The Godfather in 2005 titled Sarkar. The film was more a tribute than a direct adaptation and various elements were changed. Amitabh Bachchan reprised the role of Don Vito Corleone, Kay Kay Menon took over Sonny's role and Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh's real life son, played Michael.

• In the Movie The Girl Next Door after Klitz has agreed to go along with their plan Eli grabs Klitz's head, kisses his check and says "I know it was you Klitz"

• In the movie Clerks 2 Dante tells Randal that their boss, Becky is pregnant by him and threatens harsh brutality should Randal say anything. When Becky comes outside and sees the two of them Randal blurts out "May your first child be a masculine child!" the same line said by Luca Brazi when he is talking to Don Corleone at the wedding.

• In an episode of Adult Swim's Harvey Birdman, the main character takes on the case of Fred Flintstone (The Dabba Don) who acts like Don Corleone. As a parody when Fred threatens Harvey he imagines himself waking up to find different heads of creatures in his bed. In the end it is known that Barny Rubble is the real leader.

Television

• In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Nagus", Quark briefly becomes the leader of the Ferengi. In one scene, he appears in his quarters with the window having blinds on it. He also strokes a pet while talking to someone who has asked him for his permission to undertake a business venture.

• In the animated series Kid Notorious, Robert Evans writes a "ghetto" musical version of the Godfather.

• In the soap opera One Life To Live Lieutenant John McBain uses the line "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

• The title of the season one final of Showtime's Weeds is called "The Godmother", an obvious reference to The Godfather. There is a scene in which Nancy goes outside where her 'partners' are waiting with a gift and the maid closes the door while the Italian music plays in the background is nearly identical to the closing scene of The Godfather in which Al Pacino's character becomes the Godfather.

• The film and its sequels have been repeatedly parodied and referenced on The Simpsons. For example, the "horse head" scene is spoofed in the episodes "Lisa's Pony", "The Telltale Head" and "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?". In the episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", Fat Tony's son Michael is named after Michael Corleone. The closing scene directly parodies the final scene of the film. In the episode "Moe Baby Blues", Moe entertains Maggie by telling her the plot of The Godfather. The orange wedge gag used by Moe and Fat Tony in the episode is a reference to how Don Corleone scares his grandson in the garden, moments before his fatal heart attack. In the 2003 episode "Strong Arms of the Ma", Marge gets mugged and develops agoraphobia, and begins to lift weights. She later confronts her attacker, and the fight scene that ensues closely mimicks that of Sonny beating Carlo in front of a Brooklyn Row Home with a trashcan lid while the fire hydrant sprays in the background.

• The sequence involving Sonny's brutal murder is also parodied in several episodes. As well as the scene in Mr. Plow where Bart is repeatedly pelted by snowballs in a revenge ambush for Homer clearing the snow on the way to the school, a more blatant parody is featured in an episode where James Caan, playing himself, drives up to a toll booth on the Springfield outskirts with Cletus's girlfriend, Brandine, in the car beside him (whom he has run off with much to Cletus's disliking). After Caan proclaims that he hates toll booths, a large group of yokels appear from either side with Tommy Guns and shoot Caan to death in an identical fashion to his infamous scene in The Godfather. After being shot and kicked in the face, Caan simply says: "That's it! Next time I fly!"

• Similarly, in an episode of Clerks: The Animated Series, Jay and Silent Bob beat up Charles Barkley in exactly the way as Sonny beats up Carlo Rizzi (including the punch that misses).

• In The Sopranos Uncle Junior tries to have Tony killed just after Tony buys a bottle of orange juice.

• "The Bris" episode of Seinfeld has a final shot that parodies the final shot of the movie. Other references to the movie are also made during the course of the episode, such as when Jerry is named a godfather of a newly born child, he does a Marlon Brando impersonation.

• In an episode of Phil of the Future, Pim Diffy explains a notorious plan to frame their cousin. Pim is dressed like Don Vito Corleone and talks in his voice.

• In Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Fiendish Five member Muggshot, during his childhood was inspired by a movie entitled "The Dogfather", an obvious parody of The Godfather.

• The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps 2006 show was comprised entirely of theme music from The Godfather. The show, entitled "The Godfather: Part Blue", took 3rd place at the Drum Corps International World Championships in Madison Wisconsin.

• In Dr. Doolittle 2, Eddie Murphy's character is brought to "The Beaver", head of the forest's mafia. Several lines of the movie are parodied.

• On the 2006 Thanksgiving episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, while talking about how turkeys are prepared in New York compared to the rest of the nation, a sequence is shown depicting mock turkeys being killed in the same manner as the mob bosses during the iconic christening sequence. Some of the comedy involves how dead-on the depictions were, as well as the absurdity and violence portrayed.

• In The Fairly OddParents, Wanda's father, Big Daddy, is a parody of The Godfather, even finding a horse head in his bed (although it's actually a pillow).

• In an episode of Hannah Montana, Miley asks her brother Jackson for a favor, and he is seen dressed up as Don Vito in the film's opening scene. He even quotes lines similar to those spoken by Don Vito to Bonasera in the film's opening scene. Jackson even asks to be called "Godbrother."

• In an episode of Arrested Development, Michael wakes up to find the handlebars of his bicycle in his bed, parodying the "horse head" scene

• In the episode of The Boondocks (TV series), "The Story of Gangstalicious," Riley goes to visit Gangstalicious in the hospital. Much to the wounded rappers surprise, no one is guarding his room. He was set up in identical fashion to Don Vito after his assassination attempt.

• There are several references to the Godfather in episodes of My Wife and Kids. 'Jury Duty' shows the main character, Michael, trying to avoid jury duty in order to watch a weekend marathon of the film on TV. Another character Frankiln quotes Michael Corleones lines 'Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in' whilst playing the piano.

• In one episode of Smallville, Clark, Lana and Lex quote several lines from The Godfather.

• A sketch on Saturday Night Live featured John Belushi as Vito Corleone in group therapy. Accused of 'blocking' when he refuses to elaborate on (or even acknowledge) his pain at his son being murdered by the Tattaglias, he expresses his feelings by making fake teeth from orange peel and mimicking a monster to the other group members, before clutching his chest and collapsing.

• In an episode of Family Guy, Peter Griffin's family is upset when he tells them that he did not care for the Godfather. He claims "It insists upon itself" as the reason for his disdain...whatever that means. In another episode, Peter is forced to befriend a mobster named Big Fat Paulie in order to call off a hit on Lois. Big Fat Paulie is later killed in a drive-by shooting parodizing the first assassination attempt against Don Vito in The Godfather. The wedding scene at the end of the episode is a parody of the beginning of The Godfather.

Music

• Mike Patton's avant garde group Fantômas did a cover of Nino Rota's main theme on their album The Director's Cut - an album of film soundtrack covers. Whilst a large portion of the cover remains faithful to the original in terms of tempo, mood and instrumentation, it also segues into the thrash metal that the band are more well known for.

• Satan's Pilgrams have also covered the main theme which is a surf music version.

• Guitarist Saul Hudson, better known as "Slash" of the rock group Guns N' Roses, is apparently a fan of the films; he played his own adaptation of the film's theme song at live shows during the Use Your Illusion World Tour.

• German Oi! Punk band Broilers[7] cover a song from the movie on their second full length release "Verlierer sehen anders aus"

• The Westlake High School Regiment (see Westlake Regiment) did their 2002 field show based on the Godfather, entitled "The Godfather Trilogy: 30th Anniversary Celebration."

Further reading

• Burr, T, The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, New York: Time-Life Books ISBN 1-883013-68-2. Lists The Godfather as "the greatest film of all time."
• Cowie, Peter, The Godfather Book, London: Faber and Faber, 1997

External links

• The Godfather at IMDb
• Template:Filmsite
• The Godfather family tree and crime structure
• Plot Summary on Ruined Endings
• Godfather Films
• The Godfather Trilogy
• The Godfather Game
• 1991 US Gold version of the Godfather PC Game
• IMDb Top 250
• The Guardian, April 22, 2006, "Mob mentality"
• The Godfather Trilogy Fanlisting
• Template:Fr The Godfather Trilogy Space
• Complete list of actors who were considered for roles
• The Godfather's Spaghetti Sauce - This page gives attention to the sauce recipe explained in the movie.
• Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: Hegemony and Counter Hegemony in The Godfather Trilogy