The Godfather (1972)

US 175m, Colour
Director: Francis Ford Coppola; Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Cazale, Diane Keaton

A rich and powerful story, The Godfather is regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time and has become the benchmark for modern gangster films. As the first of three films, its core strength lay in the screenplay based on Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel of the same name which follows the fortunes of the Corleone family during the 1950s.  Endlessly copied and often parodied, the Godfather, as portrayed by Brando, has become an iconic film character second to none in the crime syndicate genre. Likewise, the unforgettable musical theme by Nino Rota contributes an oddly effective and unexpected ethereal mood to this mesmerizing production (Klaus Ming September 2012).