The Godfather

1972
R
2h 55m

IMDb RATING

9.2/10

2.1M

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Play trailer1:16

9 Videos

99+ Photos

Epic Gangster Tragedy Crime Drama

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

9.2/10

2.1M

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

See production info at IMDbPro

Top rated movie #2

Won 3 Oscars
- 31 wins & 31 nominations total

Videos9

Trailer 2:03

The Godfather

Clip 1:16

'The Godfather' | Anniversary Mashup

Clip 0:43

'The Godfather' | Filming Locations

Photos570

+ 564

Best Picture Winners by Year

See the complete list of Best Picture winners. For fun, use the "sort order" function to rank by IMDb rating and other criteria.

See the complete list

List

More like this

9.0

The Godfather Part II

9.3

The Shawshank Redemption

9.0

8.8

8.9

9.0

8.7

8.8

7.6

The Godfather Part III

8.8

Inception

9.0

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

9.0

12 Angry Men

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) was so nervous about working with Marlon Brando that in the first take of their scene together, he flubbed some lines. Director Francis Ford Coppola liked the genuine nervousness and used it in the final cut. The scenes of Luca practicing his speech were added later.

Goofs
The punch to Michael's face broke his cheek bone which gave him a permanent black eye (and caused his sinuses to continually run - hence the use of a handkerchief all the time) until he got back to America and had surgery to fix it (Freddie says, "that doctor did a good job.")

Quotes
Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

Crazy credits
In the end credits, Marlon Brando's name is the only one that is not accompanied by the character name that he plays (e.g. "as Vito Corleone").

Alternate versions
In 1972, Paramount was owned by Gulf & Western, so that company's name appears on the opening Paramount logo. When the film was re-released in 1997, Paramount was owned by Viacom, which placed its named on the re-release Paramount logo, and all subsequent video releases.

Connections
Edited into The Godfather Saga (1977)

Soundtracks
Mall Wedding Sequence
(1972)
Music by Carmine Coppola

User reviews5.7K

Review

Featured review

10/10

#2 on IMDb's Top 100, a multi-Oscar-winner and over 1500 reviews...what more can I say about the movie?!

Up until today, I haven't bothered to review "The Godfather". After all, everyone pretty much knows it's one of the greatest films ever made. It's #2 on IMDb's Top 100. It won the Best Picture Oscar. And, there are nearly 1600 reviews on IMDb. So what's one more review?! Well, after completing 14,000 reviews (because I am nuts), I guess it's time I got around to reviewing a film I should have reviewed a long time ago. So, here goes....the film is perfect and only a dope wouldn't watch it. Unfortunately, IMDb requires me to say more to meet it's 10 line minimum for reviews. So, I'll point out that you do NOT need to like gangster films to enjoy this film. Yes, it's violent and nasty in spots--but it's also brilliantly written and produced from start to finish and deserves the accolades it's received.

My advice is that instead of just watching "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II", see the combined version they created for television--with additional scenes that made it a very rich experience.