The Godfather, box-office hit motion picture about the fortunes of a prominent Mafia family during the 1940s and 1950s, based on a best-selling novel by Mario Puzo. Released in 1972, the film won Academy Awards for best picture and for the screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. Marlon Brando earned an Academy Award for his performance as Don Vito Corleone, the head of the crime family. When narcotics smugglers ask Corleone for permission to sell drugs in his territory, he refuses, and gang war breaks out. Corleone’s youngest son, Michael (played by Al Pacino), ends up taking control of the family’s business. Unlike his father and brother, Michael is not hot tempered—he is educated and businesslike. Under his direction, the family disposes of most of their enemies and expands their business interests until they control all the crime syndicates in the United States.
