The Godfather

1972

Francis Ford Coppola adapted Mario Puzo's novel into a decade-spanning portrait of the Corleone family, tracing how an aging crime patriarch hands his empire to the one son who wanted no part of it. Marlon Brando plays Don Vito Corleone and Al Pacino plays Michael, with James Caan as the hot-headed Sonny, Robert Duvall as the family consigliere Tom Hagen, and Diane Keaton as the outsider who watches Michael harden. Less a gangster picture than a study of loyalty, succession, and what belonging costs.