The Godfather is an Academy Award-winning 1972 crime film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and an uncredited Robert Towne . It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton, and features Richard Castellano, Abe Vigoda and Sterling Hayden. The story spans ten years from 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the Corleone crime family.
The Godfather has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In addition, it is ranked as the second greatest film in American cinematic history, behind Citizen Kane on the revised version of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list by the American Film Institute. It is also the top movie on Internet Movie Database's Top 250 list, as well as #1 on Metacritic's top 100 list and in the top 10 on Rotten Tomatoes' all-time best list.
Two sequels followed The Godfather: The Godfather Part II in 1974, and The Godfather Part III in 1990.
