In January 2018, Netflix will allow fans of the “The God Father” trilogy to relive the controversy, the crimes, the drama and the thrill involved in the lives of the Corleone family. All of the three films will be available on the streaming service.
Paramount Pictures distributed the three “The Godfather” films, which were all directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The trilogy was based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo, who also co-wrote the screenplays of the three films with Coppola.
The first “The Godfather” film was released in 1972. It introduced Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) as the leaders of a crime family in New York.
For these roles, Brando and Pacino were nominated for the 45th Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting, respectively. Neither of them attended the awarding ceremony, which took place on March 27, 1973 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California.
Pacino boycotted the ceremony because he was insulted that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and not Best Actor although he had more screen time than Brando. The Best Supporting Actor award was given to Joel Grey for his role as M.C. in “Cabaret.”
Brando won Best Actor but refused to accept the award and sent American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather to explain why he boycotted the ceremony. At the awards podium, the latter announced that the actor was not in favor of how Hollywood and television depicted American Indians.
This made Brando the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award at the Academy Awards. The first one was George G. Scott who won the award in 1970 for his role as General George S. Patton, Jr. in “Patton.”
In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather II.” Vito Corleone died in the first installment and Brando initially agreed to reprise his role in a flashback scene to be filmed in one day but he did not show up because he felt mistreated by the board at Paramount Pictures.
In 1975, Pacino was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role as Michael Corleone. However, he lost to Art Carney for his role as Harry Coombes in “Harry and Tonto.”
In 1990, Pacino led the cast of “The Godfather III” and was no longer nominated for an Oscar. Joining him in the cast were Andy Garcia, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Sofia Coppola, Eli Wallach, George Hamilton, Joe Mantegna, Richard Bright, Bridget Fonda, Raf Vallone, Franc D’Ambrosio, Donal Donnelly, Helmut Berger, Don Novello, John Savage, Mario Donatone, Vittorio Duse, Enzo Robutti and Al Martino.
CONAN Daily 