The 1972 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on Mario Puzo's mafia-family novel is The Godfather.
The story follows the Corleone family, led by Don Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando. It also charts the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone, portrayed by Al Pacino, from reluctant outsider to the family's new leader. Coppola co-wrote the screenplay with Puzo, adapting the author's bestselling 1969 novel.
Paramount Pictures bought the novel's film rights for only $80,000 before the book became a major success. The film was released in March 1972 and became one of the year's biggest hits. It won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and later entered the National Film Registry.
A common mix-up is confusing The Godfather with Goodfellas or Scarface, which are also famous crime films. The Godfather is the first entry in Coppola's trilogy, followed by The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III.