Trivia

Release date: March 15, 1972

The film was shot in: New York city, Long Island, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nevada, Sicily

Oscars:
Best leading actor-> Marlon Brando
Best Writing -> Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
Best Picture

The Italian-American Civil Rights League, a group headed by Joseph Colombo, the reputed don of one of New York City’s five Mafia families, held a rally (Frank Sinatra sang) in Madison Square Garden, raising a $600,000 war chest to stop the production as a slur on Italian-Americans. Producer Albert Ruddy: “I had letters from senators, one of them a presidential candidate, would you believe?- imploring me not to go ahead. [] We didn’t draw up a contract, we just made an agreement that the words Mafia and Cosa Nostra be dropped from the script. [] I had the Senate Rackets committee, the FBI and the New York Police Department on my back”.
--Source: Film Makers Speak: Voices of Film Experience, Page 411

Oscar nominations:
Best supporting actor -> James Caan, Al Pacino and Robert Duvall
Best Director -> Francis Ford Coppola
Best Film Editing
Best Music, Original Dramatic Score ->Nino Rota
Best Sound
Best Costume Design

Producer Bob Evans said at a press conference: “We would rather go with unknowns than big-name actors and actresses”. As result Paramount received inquiries from thousands of unknown actors.
--Source: The Godfather Legacy, Page 26

Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) was working as a bodyguard for one of the visitors. Producer Albert Ruddy: “Francis’s eyeballs popped out; he fell in love with him”.
--Source: The Godfather Legacy, Page 60

To get into character, James Caan spent a good deal of time cavorting with a Mafia capo, Carmine The Snake Persico, a feared killer.
--Source: Five Families, Page 189

Coppola was asked to direct The Godfather because the producer realized all mob movies were written and directed by Jews. He needed an Italian director because he “wanted to smell the spaghetti”.
--Source: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Page 142

Diane Keaton never thought she was right for the part of Kay: “I had no interest in that woman. Pacino was great, Robert de Niro was great. I was background music”.
--Source: Diane Keaton: Artist and Icon, Page 21

The immortal line “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” came second in a poll by the American Film Institute to find the most memorable movie quote ever. AFI asked about 1,500 creative industry professionals for their favorite quote
Source / More (Web)

The Godfather ranks number 21 in the American box-office rankings.
Grossing adjusted for inflation -> $505 m
Source / More (Web)

Steven Spielberg: “I’ve never made a movie as good as The Godfather, and I don’t have the ambition to try”
--Source: Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola, Page 87

During the seventies thirty million copies of The Godfather were sold, making it the best selling American novel of the decade.
--Source: The Godfather and American Culture: How the Corleones Became “Our Gang”, Page 4

Both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

The film was based on the best-selling novel by Mario Puzo, who also co-wrote the screenplay with the director, Francis Coppola.
--Source: The Godfather, Page 0

The term Godfather was invented by the films makers but was adopted by real-life Mafia to refer to their own clan leaders.

The Godfather recovered the languishing career of Brando, who did not attend the Academy Awards ceremony. He instead sent a minor actress who posed as an Indian named Sacheen Littlefeather, who refused the Oscar on the grounds that Hollywood discriminated against Indians.
Clint Eastwood: “I don’t know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in John Ford westerns over the years.”
--Source: The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History, Page 191

Coppola in 1971 when asked to direct The Godfather he dismissed it as pretty cheap stuff.
--Source: Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola, Page 89

Director Sergio Leone was offered the job of direction, but refused, wanting to make his own gangster film, which eventually became Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Leone later regretted the decision.

Taormina, Sicily, was used instead of Corleone because even in the early 70s Corleone was too developed to be used.

During rehearsals, a false horses head was used for the bedroom scene. For the actual shot, a freshly severed head was obtained from a slaughterhouse in New Jersey. Prop blood, however, was used.

The Coppola family:
Father Carmine composed a part of the musical score
Sister Talia Shire played the daughter of the Don
Daughter Sofia Coppola played the newborn nephew of Michael Corleone