The Godfather (tbc)
- Run time: 2 hours 55 mins
- Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
- Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
- Distributor: Park Circus
Plot Synopsis
Set in the 1940s, THE GODFATHER opens at the lavish wedding of Don Corleone's daughter, Connie (Talia Shire), where business and pleasure naturally go hand-in-hand. This is not just a celebration amongst family and friends, but a business occasion. Don Corleone - the Godfather (Marlon Brando) - receives a select list of guests into his den, to listen to their problems and to prescribe solutions, implicitly violent solutions, which he privately instructs his lawyer Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) to organise. Meanwhile, the wedding party continues, welcoming celebrity guests and politicians. It is also an occasion to bring together members of the family, and in particular Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who has returned from serving in the Marines during the Second World War. He brings his non-Italian girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) to the wedding and openly confides in her about the activities of the Family, but assures her “that's my family, Kay, not me”.
But events prove him wrong. Loyalty runs deeply through the veins of the Corleone Family and the violent attempt on Don Corleone's life causs Michael to commit a revenge murder of a corrupt police officer and businessman. Michael is forced into hiding and is sent to Sicily, the birthplace of Don Corleone, where he falls in love and marries a beautiful young Sicilian. His romantic exile is abruptly ended by the news of the bloody murder of his brother Sonny Corleone (James Caan), and also his witnessing the murder of his young bride, by a car bomb meant for him.
Back in the States, Michael reunites with Kay, marries her, and finds himself promoted to the Head of the Corleone Family, over the head of his eldest brother Fredo Corleone (John Cazale), while Don Corleone, enfeebled by the attack on his life, retires to enjoy his grandchildren and offer occasional counsel to Michael, until he dies a natural death. Determined to emulate his father, Michael is a sober and hard-headed man, who dotes on his children and demands total loyalty from his family. He is determined that the Corleone family will one day be legitimate, but the lures of the Brotherhood ultimately corrupt him and turn him, like his father before him, into a cold-blooded murderer, intent on revenge and domination.
