Click here to copy URL

The Godfather

Oscar™ Best Picture - Winning Movies

The Godfather

1972

Francis Ford Coppola

Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall ...

9.0

175,510

Drama Epic tale of a 1940s New York Mafia family and their struggle to protect their empire from rival families as the leadership switches from the father (Marlon Brando) to his youngest son (Al Pacino). Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is The Godfather, the Don (head) of a successful, tightly-knit family whose business is organized crime. Heir apparent is impulsive, hot-tempered Sonny (James Caan), whose brothers are brooding Michael (Al ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"The wedding sequence... is a virtuoso stretch of filmmaking: Coppola brings his large cast onstage so artfully that we are drawn at once into the 'Godfather's' world (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune	"Brando made Don Vito something we rarely see in movies: a tragicomic villain-hero"	POS
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"One of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment"	POS
United States	Edward Guthmann SFGATE	"Coppola crafted an enduring, undisputed masterpiece"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"Sharp, entertaining, and convincing--discursive, but with a sense of structure and control that Coppola hasn't achieved since"	POS
United States	Desson Thomson The Washington Post	"A great American picture, full of incredible images and lasting moments"	POS
United States	A.D. Murphy Variety	"[It] has excellent production values, flashes of excitement, and a well-picked cast. But it is also overlong (...) and occasionally confusing. While never so placid as to be boring, it is never so gripping as to be superior screen drama."	NEU
United States	Arthur Knight The Hollywood Reporter	"Essentially, 'The Godfather' is the projection of a myth, not a fact. But it is myths — not facts — that make a fortune."	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A measured, deathly serious epic (...) A big-screen must (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Angie Errigo Empire	"An intricately constructed tapestry of narrative, emotion and the trials of a reluctant gangster (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Emily Bernard Collider	"The crime drama paints a compelling portrait of how greed, ego, and loyalty can corrupt even the most unassuming individual. 'The Godfather' is simply a movie you can't refuse"	POS
Spain	FilmAffinity	It was initially announced, on February 12, 1973, that The Godfather received 11 nominations, more than any other film that year. This was reduced to 10 (tied with Cabaret for the most) after a new vote by the Academy's music branch, following a controversy over whether Nino Rota's score for The Godfather was eligible for the nomination it received. So the nomination was withdrawn, and ineligible: reused Fortunella score; replaced by a nomination for "Sleuth".	DIS

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.