1972 Best Picture:
The Godfather
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Competition:
Caberet, Deliverance, Sounder, The Emigrants Other Winners:
Best Actor: Marlon
Brando, The Godfather
Best Actress: Liza Minelli, Cabaret
Best Supporting Actor: Joel Grey, Cabaret
Best Supporting Actress: Eileen Heckert, Butterflies are Free
Best Director: Bob Fosse, Cabaret
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Cast:
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Richard S.
Castellano, James Caan, Talia Shire, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard
Conte Storyline:
Based on Mario Puzo's best selling book, The Godfather is a
story about the rise and fall of a Mafia family. Did it
deserve to win: I'd
stake my mother's life on it! YES! The Godfather, and its
sequels, are among the best films ever, and perhaps the best work of
director Francis Ford Coppola. The
last musical to ever win a Best Picture nomination, Cabaret, was the
biggest competition, supported largely by the strength of incredible
performances by Liza Minelli and Joel Grey. Deliverance
brought stardom, and an Oscar nomination, to Burt Reynolds, and the film
remains an eerie cult classic to this day. Sounder
was about a black sharecropping family in Louisiana, and The Emigrants is
a Swedish film about a poor Swedish family that moves to America to
fulfill their dreams. Critique:
If a marriage was to ever occur between violent gangster flicks, and epic
period dramas, The Godfather had to be it. The film fits into both
genres, and even rises above them, as a compelling story about family
values, corruption and the American way. The
film opens up with a wedding, and ends with a funeral, and in between,
deals with the perils of being a part of a mafia family. While many
of the incidents are based loosely on actual events, the heart of the
story is centered on the family unit. With Brando as Don Corleone,
Al Pacino and James Caan as the battling sons, and with Robert Duvall as
the dutiful right hand man, you can't go wrong. The
Godfather was rife with controversy when it was first released,
particularly because of its violence. Furthermore, this is not a
glorified look at Mafioso life, but it could be easily construed as
such. The
characters, particularly Brando's have become legendary. Lines like,
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" have become
part of everyday conversation.
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Behind
the Scenes:
The
Godfather, nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and winning only three,
became the most successful picture since Gone with the Wind. It took home the Best Picture Oscar, and Brando was awarded
the Best Actor Award, but it had to relent the lions share of big awards
to the other big film of the year, Cabaret.
Francis
Ford Coppola shared the writing Oscar with Mario Puzo Marlon
Brando made history by refusing to accept his award. Like George C.
Scott, two years earlier, he didn't show up, but Brando went a step
further, and sent Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. Before
she was booed off the stage, she announced that he would not be accepting
on grounds that Hollywood was discriminatory against Native American
people. Littlefeather
was a bit of a fraud herself. It later turned out that Littlefeather
was actually Maria Cruz, a two bit actress from California.
She posed for Playboy a couple of years later, in an effort to boost her
own sagging career. Al
Pacino became a star after playing Michael Corleone. He took the
role after it was turned down by Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Dustin
Hoffman. Paramount
campaigned for the Oscar nominations, making sure that Brando was the only
star to be listed in the Best Actor category. Pacino, Caan and
Duvall were listed, and eventually nominated for Best Supporting
Actor. Brando
was a sure thing for the Oscar, with competition that included Laurence
Olivier for Sleuth. Olivier was Francis Ford Coppola's other choice
to play the role of Don Corleone. Brando, who had been suffering a
career low point, was cast after testing with tissue paper stuffed in his
cheeks. Al
Martino played the role of Johnny, but only after Frank Sinatra was
considered for the role. Sinatra was later ruled out for the part as
there were simply too many similarities between him and the
character. It was rumored that Sinatra attacked Mario Puzo in
a Hollywood eatery when the book was published. While the book is a
work of fiction, the character of Johnny, the actor/singer who goes to Don
Corleone for help in getting a movie role, was based loosely on Sinatra,
who was always rumored to be involved with the mob. Liza
Minelli experienced, first hand, the so-called Oscar curse. She has
yet to come close to following up her success from Cabaret. Her most
notable appearances included a lead with Robert De Niro in the flop
musical, New York, New York, and played a supporting role in the comedy Arthur.
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Sacheen
Littlefeather refuses Marlon Brando's award for Best Actor, from
presenters Liv Ullman and Roger Moore. She goes on to
announce that Brando is refusing to accept due to the unethical
presentation and treatment of native American's in
Hollywood. |
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Murder,
betrayal, and power - all in the family, as the Best Picture of
1972.
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Marlon
Brando is Don Corleone, head of the family household. |
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Al
Maritno is Johnny Fontaine, Hollywood crooner, who comes to Don Corleone
for a favor.
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The
family assembles for a wedding photo.
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When
a producer refuses to put Johnny in one of his movies, the producer is
sent a strong message in the form of his own favorite horse's head.
(This head was real, by the way!) |
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Supporting
Actor nominee, Al Pacino is favored son, Michael Corleone. |
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Pacino
takes action when rival gangs are making attempts on his father.
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Robert
Duvall is Tom Hagen, adopted into the family, as the Corleone's right hand
man. |
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Michael
hides out in Sicily when the heat in on back home.
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Francis
Ford Coppola's real life sister, Talia Shire is Connie, the Corleone
sister who is being beaten by her husband.
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Michael marries
Apolonia, a young Sicilian girl.
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Back
home with Robert Duvall, girlfriend Kay, played by Diane Keaton, endures
the stormy courtship between her and Michael.
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Meanwhile,
Talia Shire and her husband have another battle.
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Off
to protect his sister, brother Sonny falls into a trap, and is riddled
with bullets.
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Brando
calls a meeting of the five families.
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Pacino
returns to take his place as next-in-line to the family.
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Keaton
and Pacino carry on their stormy relationship.
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Father
and son discuss the family business.
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The
Corleone enemies meet a bloody end.
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Michael
Corleone renounces his sins.
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