The Godfather

 The world premiere for "The Godfather" took place at Loews's State Theatre in New York City on Tuesday, March 14, 1972. It was the highest-grossing film of 1972, and was for a time the highest-grossing film ever made, a position it would retain until the release of "Jaws" in 1975.

The film is based on Mario Puzo's novel of the same name, which remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 67 weeks and sold over nine million copies in two years. Published in 1969, it became the best selling published work in history for several years. Paramount Pictures originally found out about Puzo's novel in 1967 when a literary scout for the company contacted then Paramount Vice President of Production Peter Bart about Puzo's unfinished sixty-page manuscript titled "Mafia." Bart believed the work was "much beyond a Mafia story" and offered Puzo a $12,500 option for the work, with an option for $80,000 if the finished work were to be made into a film. Despite Puzo's agent telling him to turn down the offer, Puzo was desperate for money and accepted the deal. Paramount's Robert Evans related that, when they met in early 1968, he offered Puzo the deal after the author confided in him that he urgently needed $10,000 to pay off gambling debts.

Evans wanted the picture to be directed by an Italian American to make the film "ethnic to the core." Paramount's latest mafia movie, "The Brotherhood" (1968), had done very poorly at the box office; Evans believed that the reason for its failure was its almost complete lack of cast members or creative personnel of Italian descent (the director Martin Ritt and star Kirk Douglas were not Italian). Evans' chief assistant Peter Bart suggested Francis Ford Coppola, as a director of Italian ancestry who would work for a low sum and budget after the poor reception of his latest film "The Rain People" (1969). Coppola initially turned down the job because he found Puzo's novel sleazy and sensationalist, describing it as "pretty cheap stuff." At the time Coppola's studio, American Zoetrope, owed over $400,000 to Warner Bros. for budget overruns with the film "THX 1138" (1971) and when coupled with his poor financial standing, along with advice from friends and family, Coppola reversed his initial decision and took the job.

Before "The Godfather" was in production, Paramount had been going through an unsuccessful period. In addition to the failure of "The Brotherhood," other recent films that were produced or co-produced by Paramount had greatly exceeded their budgets: "Darling Lili" (1970), "Paint Your Wagon" (1969), and "Waterloo" (1970). The budget for the film was originally $2.5 million, but, as the book grew in popularit,y Coppola argued for and ultimately received a larger budget. Paramount executives wanted the movie to be set in contemporary Kansas City and shot in the studio backlot in order to cut down on costs. Coppola objected and wanted to set the movie in the same time period as the novel, the 1940s and 1950s. Coppola's reasons included Michael Corleone's Marine Corps stint, the emergence of corporate America, and America in the years after World War II. The novel was becoming increasingly successful and so Coppola's wishes were eventually granted.

"The Godfather" has received overwhelming critical acclaim and is seen as one of the greatest and most influential films of all time, particularly of the gangster genre. Previous mafia films had looked at the gangs from the perspective of an outraged outsider. In contrast, "The Godfather" presents the gangster's perspective of the Mafia as a response to corrupt society. Although the Corleone family is presented as immensely rich and powerful, no scenes depict prostitution, gambling, loan sharking or other forms of racketeering. Film critic Pauline Kael wrote that "If ever there was a great example of how the best popular movies come out of a merger of commerce and art, 'The Godfather' is it."