The Godfather

Based on the best-selling novel by Mario Puzo (who co-wrote the screenplay), The Godfather tells an epic tale of Mafia life in America during the '40s and '50s. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando with an Oscar®-winning performance) is the family patriarch, balancing a love of his family with an ambitious criminal instinct. At the wedding of the Don's daughter Connie (Talia Shire), youngest son Michael (Al Pacino) is reunited with his family. A subsequent assassination attempt leaves the Don too ill to run the family business, forcing Michael and Sonny (James Caan), with the help of lawyer Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), to lead the Corleones into a vendetta-filled war with other mob families.

One of Hollywood’s greatest critical and commercial successes, The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, it established new benchmarks for American cinema.

When The Godfather went into production, the studio initially sought Caan for the role of Michael (you can find footage of his screen tests for the role of Michael alongside Diane Keaton), but Caan and Coppolla were insistent that the role of hot-headed Sonny Corleone was meant for him.