The Godfatherfrom IMDB
Cast:
* Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone – the boss (the "Don") of the Corleone family, Formerly known as Vito Andolini. He is the father of Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie and surrogate father to Tom Hagen. Husband of Carmella Corleone. A native Sicilian.
* Al Pacino as Michael Corleone – the Don's and Carmella's youngest son, recently returned from military service following the end of World War II. The only college-educated member of the family, he initially wants nothing to do with the Corleone family business. His evolution from doe-eyed outsider to ruthless boss is the key plot-line of the film.
* James Caan as Santino "Sonny" Corleone – Vito and Carmella's hot-headed eldest 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 and Carmella Corleone, he is also the family lawyer and the new consigliere (counselor).
* Diane Keaton as Kay Adams – Michael's girlfriend and, ultimately, his wife and mother to his children.
* John Cazale as Fredo Corleone – the middle son of Vito and Carmella Corleone. Fredo is not very bright and appears to be the weakest of the Corleone brothers.
* Talia Shire as Constanzia "Connie" Corleone – Vito and Carmella's only daughter. She marries Carlo Rizzi.
* Richard S. Castellano as Peter "Pete" Clemenza – a caporegime for the Corleone family.
* Abe Vigoda as Salvatore "Sal" Tessio – a caporegime for the Corleone Family.
* Al Lettieri as Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo – a heroin dealer associated with the Tattaglia family.
* Gianni Russo as Carlo Rizzi – Connie's husband. Becomes an associate of the Corleone family, and ultimately betrays Sonny to the Barzini family.
* Sterling Hayden as Captain McCluskey – a corrupt police captain on Sollozzo's payroll.
* Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi – an enforcer utilized by Vito Corleone.
* Richard Conte as Emilio Barzini– Don of the Barzini family.
* 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 – longtime associate of the Corleone family who owns a Las Vegas hotel.
* Morgana King as Carmella Corleone – Vito's wife and mother of Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie, and surrogate mother to Tom Hagen.
* John Martino as Paulie Gatto – A "button man" (soldier/hit man) under Capo Pete Clemenza and Vito's driver.
* Victor Rendina as Philip Tattaglia– Don of the Tattaglia family.
* Simonetta Stefanelli as Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone – A stunningly beautiful young girl Michael meets and marries while in Sicily.
* Louis Guss as Don Zaluchi – Don of the Zaluchi family of Detroit.
* Tom Rosqui as Rocco Lampone – a soldier under Clemenza who eventually becomes a caporegime in the Corleone family.
* Joe Spinell as Willi Cicci – a soldier in the Corleone family.
* Richard Bright as Al Neri – Michael Corleone's bodyguard. He eventually becomes a caporegime.
* Julie Gregg as Sandra Corleone – wife of Sonny.
Plot summary:
The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia "family", oversees his daughter's wedding. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. Through Michael's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways and look out for community and "family". An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don's influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Michael, all for the sake of the family. Written by Charlie Ness
Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael's sister) to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael's family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia Families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but, much against the advice of the Don's lawyer Tom Hagen, the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer. This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hit men. The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart. Written by TheElfstone
Locations:
A side entrance to Bellevue Hospital was used for Michael's confrontation with police Captain McCluskey. As of 2007, the steps and gate to the hospital were still there but victim to neglect.
The hospital interiors, when Michael visits his father there, were filmed at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on 14th Street, in Manhattan, New York City.
The scene in which Don Barzini was assassinated was filmed on the steps of the New York State Supreme Court building on Foley Square in Manhattan, New York City.
Two churches were used to film the baptism scene. The interior shots were filmed at Old St. Patrick's in New York. For the baptism, Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 was used, as were other Bach works for the pipe organ. The exterior scenes following the baptism were filmed at Mount Loretto Church in Pleasant Plains on Staten Island, New York. In 1973 much of Mount Loretto Church was destroyed in a fire. Only the facade and steeple of the original church remained, and were later incorporated into a new structure that was built to replace the structure destroyed in the fire.
Reception:
The film is greatly respected among international critics and the public and is routinely listed as one of the greatest films ever made, with a "100%" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also holds a 100% rating on metacritc, based on 14 reviews. It was voted greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly, and is now ranked as the second greatest film in American cinematic history – behind Citizen Kane. In the 2002 Sight & Sound poll of international critics, The Godfather was ranked as the fourth 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. (See Score Controversy)
The Godfather was an enormous box office hit, smashing previous records to become the highest grossing film of all time. It made US$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.
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #5 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
- Format: NTSC
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
- Dubbed in: French, Spanish
- Number of discs: 4
- Running time: 840 minutes
Amazon.com
THE GODFATHER: Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather (1972) is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible. After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels.
THE GODFATHER PART II: This brilliant companion piece to the original The Godfather continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. Reassembling many of the talents who helped make The Godfather, Coppola has produced a movie of staggering magnitude and vision, and undeniably the best sequel ever made. Robert De Niro won an Oscar®; the film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1974.
THE GODFATHER PART III: One of the greatest sagas in movie history continues! In this third film in the epic Corleone trilogy, Al Pacino reprises the role of powerful family leader Michael Corleone. Now in his 60's, Michael is dominated by two passions: freeing his family from crime and finding a suitable successor. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence. Francis Ford Coppola directs Pacino, Garcia, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Eli Wallach, Sofia Coppola, Joe Montegna and others in this exciting, long-awaited film that masterfully explores the themes of power, tradition, revenge and love. Seven Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture.
Customer Reviews
Good Quality - too expensive
The quality of the bluray version is NOT that much better than the DVD version I had. It's not terrible - clearly better - but not worth the price tag. At the same time the film was filmed a while ago so obviously the quality is not going to be like the newer bluray movie releases. The format is full widescreen and the menus/interface are decent.
I think this is worth buying when the price tag is something like $40 or below.
An offer you can't refuse--"The Godfather" restored for Blu-ray (and DVD) looks and sounds terrific-Doesn't include TV version
A marvelous restoration job, "The Godfather-The Coppola Restoration Gif Set" includes all three original films as they were presented theatrical. It doesn't have the version that Coppola cut for TV and presented in chronological order. THe first two films are masterpieces and while the third is severely flawed, it does have its moments.
First keep in mind that "The Godfather" was meant to look grainy so those of you who hate grain will probably wonder why they didn't eliminate it. That's because to do so would have required altering the look of the film not restoring it and the usual result of eliminating film grain is that you lose detail. The result also makes it look like the actors are walking wax dummies.
According to Harris in an article at American Cinematographer, the original film was in extremely bad shape and, in some instances, frames from outtakes had to be subsituted because damage had crept into the frame area of the film.
"The Godfather Part II" was in better shape for a variety of reasons and didn't require quite as much work on it as the first film.
"The Godfather Part III" since it used different development techniques from the first three (and for other reasons you can read at the American Cinematographer website)and only required Harris to match the black levels and make sure the color scheme was done correctly.
Robert Harris has done a marvelous job on the restoration of the film. Colors are bolder than before with nice crisp images as cinematographer Gordon Willis originally shot the film. While the DVD looks terrific, the Blu-ray looks positively stunning. Does it look like a film released last year? No, of course not that would be impossible but Harris working with Coppola and Willis has brought the film into the 21st century without overprocessing the image (like the recent Blu-ray "Patton")and staying true to the original look of the original film elements if they were in pristine condition.
All of the previous extras from the boxed set have been ported over in HD along with some new extras including "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't" documenting the difficult birth of the film from Paramount asking Puzo to initially change the period setting to 1970's Los Angeles to the constant threat of Coppola being fired during the shooting of the film. "When the Shooting Stops" covers the post-production efforts of editing and scoring the film.
THe humorous "Godfather World" has Homer Simpson explain why the film saga is so important."Emulsion Rescue documents Robert Harris' restoration efforts of the aging original negative. "Four Short FIlms of "The Godfather" is amusing as well.
The 12 page booklet included with the Blu-ray was clearly designed for the DVD because it's much too large to fit in the Blu-ray holder (it's glued to the outside book). It's odd to design the booklet like this as you'll have to either trim it down to fit inside or store it separately to prevent wear and tear. It has a bit of info on the Oscars for the films and the credits. It's an odd extra to include because it doesn't have anything truly essential NOT included on the Blu-ray or DVD boxed set.
I'd highly recommend this compelling saga on Blu-ray and DVD. It's a huge improvement on the previous set, has new and previously released extras (including Coppola's often blunt commentary tracks)and looks terrific. For those looking for the TV version that ran in chronological order just be aware it's not here as part of this set although many of the deleted scenes used to assemble that one are included.
LEGENDARY FILM MAKING! Can I say more?
THE GODFATHER trilogy is just one those works that survives all trends, fads, crisis, fashions, critics, scholars, lists... and gets better and better every time you watch it. Just like Citizen Kane, Rear Window, Sunset Boulevard, Raging Bull, The Sound of Music and Casablanca, THE GODFATHER trilogy (especially the first and the second films) helped the shaping of American Cinema. These films are landmarks: unsurpassed masterpieces.
To say that the saga of the Corleone family and more particularly Michael Corleone (who says to his girlfriend Kay "It's my family. Not me"... but cannot and will not escape the "family" in his genes) nearly reinvented American Cinema in the 70's is an understatement.
This Blu-ray edition features all the three films in a glorious High Definition restoration with STUNNING picture and sound. You cannot find a better product anywhere that will do justice to the great cinematic work presented.
The Blu-ray Collection includes:
DISC 1:
The Godfather feature film
Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
DISC 2:
The Godfather, Part II feature film
Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
DISC 3:
The Godfather, Part III feature film
Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
DISC 4:
Godfather World (HD)
The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't (HD)
...when the shooting stopped (HD)
Emulsional Rescue--Revealing The Godfather (HD)
The Godfather on the Red Carpet (HD)
Four Short Films on The Godfather
The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II (HD)
Cannoli (HD)
Riffing on the Riffing (HD)
Clemenza (HD)
The Family Tree
Crime Organization Chart
Connie and Carlo's Wedding Album
2001 DVD Archive:
Behind the Scenes
The Godfather Family: A Look Inside
The Godfather Family: A Look Inside
On Location
Francis Coppola's Notebook
The Music of the Godfather
Coppola & Puzo on Screenwriting
Gordon Willis on Cinematography
Storyboards from The Godfather, Part II
Storyboards from The Godfather, Part III
The Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971
The Filmmakers
Francis Ford Coppola
Mario Puzo
Gordon Willis
Dean Tavoularis
Nino Rota
Carmine Coppola
Additional Scenes
Acclaim & Response
Trailers (HD)
Photo Gallery
Rogues' Gallery
...And brand new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround (48kHz/24-bit) tracks for all three films. Also included are English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps), English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (192kbps) and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps). Subtitles in English, Spanish and French.
Now, if we think of the HUGE importance of these films, we have to admit this Blu-ray edition is IMPRESSIVE by any measure and should be regarded as the best way to enjoy those films.
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]
