Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Godfather trilogy

Three films, which were released in 1972, '74, and '90, became one of the most loved and acclaimed films series of all time. These three films are The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, and The Godfather Part 3, from the Godfather Trilogy. The crime drama films were all directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who won Oscars for the screenplay with Mario Puzo for the first two films, Best Director for Coppola for the second, and Best Picture for the first two. All three films were written by Coppola and Mario Puzo, who wrote the novel of which the first two films are based on and the original The Godfather Part 3 with Coppola.
All three dealt with the saga of the Mafia Corleone family from 1901 to 1980, starting with Don Vito Corleone. Vito was played by Marlon Brando in Part 1, and he won his second Leading Actor Oscar for the role. Robert De Niro also played him in flashbacks in the second, and he won his first of two Oscars, this one for a Supporting Role Oscar. Most of Part 1 is Vito as the head of the family until he dies near the end which leaves his son Michael, played by Al Pacino, who was nominated in the first two, as the head of the Corleone crime family.
Actors included in the series are James Caan in his only Oscar nominated role in Part 1 as Sonny, one of Vito's sons, and in Part 2 in a flashback at the end, Talia Shire (Coppola's sister) as Connie who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Part 2, and Robert Duvall, as Tom Hagen, who was nominated for Part 1. Others include Andy Garcia in Part 3 as the son of Sonny from an affair, in his only Oscar nominated role, and Diane Keaton as Kay Adams, who was Michael's wife in the first two and ex-wife in the third. Brando and De Niro's win for playing Don Vito Corleone is one of the few times that two different actors won Oscars for the same role.
There are many memorable things about the Godfather films, one of them being that Part 2 was the first sequel to win Best Picture. As all three films were nominated for Best Picture, it is only one of two trilogies, with the other being the Lord of the Rings trilogy, where all three films were nominated for Best Picture. Each of the films had memorable lines like "It's nothing personal, just business" or "I'll give him an offer he can't refuse." Another is that when Brando won his Oscar he didn't show up since he instead boycotted it and had a Native American actress and activist appear and tell why he didn't appear, mostly because of the way Hollywood treated Native Americans. For these reasons above all is why the three Godfather films are one of the best films ever made in Hollywood.

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