News

From Al Pacino to Marlon Brando, the cast of The Godfather is full of bona fide screen legends who went on to appear in some of the greatest movies ever made. The Godfather was a massive box office success, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time, and it had universal acclaim from critics to match. It didnt just make its director Francis Ford Coppola a household name; it made household names of everyone in its sprawling ensemble.

Some of the actors in The Godfather were already big names. Robert Duvall had already appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird and James Caan had already starred in Brians Song. But most of the films cast members, like Talia Shire and Diane Keaton, got their big break from The Godfather itself. Today, The Godfather is remembered for having one of the most star-studded casts in film history but at the time, a lot of them were unknowns.

“The Godfather” is an American film series consisting of three crime drama films directed by Francis Ford Coppola and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The source material of the first movie, “The Godfather,” is a novel of the same name released in 1969 by Italian American author Mario Puzo.

The series received massive success at the box office, earning over 429 million worldwide, and the Godfather Saga has evolved into a cultural and artistic milestone over time.

Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece trilogy follows the Corleone family’s journey to create an underground mafia kingdom in New York City, revolutionizing the gangster movie genre. His brilliance and creativity brought forth a powerful story that resonates with fans around the globe.

In this blog post, we have discussed the Godfather film series and provided a brief synopsis of each movie.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

All “The Godfather” Movies in Order...

A spin-off of High Maintenance, starring Yael Stone, and a comedic crime series from Jungle Entertainment are among the 21 projects that will share in more than $600,000 in story development funding from Screen Australia.

The slate includes 14 feature films, six television dramas and an online project, with 11 titles supported through the Generate Fund and 10 through the Premium Fund.

Screen Australia’s head of development Nerida Moore, who will depart the agency in December after nine years, said she felt privileged to support more many creative projects and people during the time she has left in the role.

“This is an exciting mix of projects and it’s great to support creatives expand on their careers and take on new challenges, including producer Alex White working on her first TV series, and writer Arka Das and writer/director Hannah Hilliard on their debut feature films,” he said.

“The shared vision we are...

Morgana King, who is best known for her role as Marlon Brando’s wife in The Godfather, has died.

News of King’s passing broke Tuesday but the actress died on March 22 in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 87 according to the Washington Post.

The star had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, the Riverside Country coroner’s office told the Washington Post.

In addition to her appearances in the famed film and a number of other movies, King was a jazz singer.

She performed in a variety of nightclubs for over 50 years and recorded a little over...

Morgana King, who is best known for playing Marlon Brando’s wife in Godfather I & II, died March 22 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was 87.

According to the Washington Post, her death was not previously reported. The Riverside County coroner’s office confirmed her death.

Born Maria Grazia Messina on June 4, 1930, in Pleasantville, NY, she grew up with five siblings in New York City. Her parents were from Italy. She was recognized for her singing talents at a young age and continued to hone her skills which led to a scholarship at the Metropolitan School of Music.

For more than 50 years, King was a jazz singer who performed in clubs and recorded nearly 20 albums. Her talent was admired by such greats as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington and opera star Eileen Farrell. In 1964, she received a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist.

She performed on The Andy Williams Show...

Morgana King, the acclaimed jazz stylist who released dozens of albums but is perhaps best known for portraying the wife of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone in the first two Godfather films, has died. She was 87.

King died March 22 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Palm Springs, a representative from the Riverside County coroner’s office told The Washington Post. Her death had gone unreported until a friend, John Hoglund, wrote about her this week on Facebook.

King had a music breakthrough in 1964 with her operatic version of "A Taste of Honey," originally composed by Bobby Scott and ...

Morgana King, the acclaimed jazz stylist who released dozens of albums but is perhaps best known for portraying the wife of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone in the first two Godfather films, has died. She was 87.

King died March 22 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Palm Springs, a representative from the Riverside County coroner’s office told The Washington Post. Her death had gone unreported until a friend, John Hoglund, wrote about her this week on Facebook.

King had a music breakthrough in 1964 with her operatic version of "A Taste of Honey," originally composed by Bobby Scott and ...

Working in movies isn’t just a dream for Mandela Van Peebles -- it’s practically his birthright, given that he's the son of Mario Van Peebles ("Ali," "New Jack City") and the grandson of Melvin Van Peebles, the "godfather of black cinema," whose revolutionary 1971 film "Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song" remains one of the highest-grossing indie films ever made.

Just as Melvin cast Mario in his films, Mario cast the 17-year-old Mandela to star in "We the Party," a multicultural teen comedy that attempts to fill the gaping hole "House Party" left in 1990. The movie, inspired by all-ages underground clubs, features rappers Snoop Dogg, Yg, The New Boyz, The Rej3ctz and The Pink Dollaz.

The multi-talented Mario also coproduced music videos for two soundtrack singles by Mvp Boyz, a rap duo he formed with his brother Makaylo; and he's hard at work on his directorial debut, the short film "Flipped,...

One reason for the longevity of "The Godfather" over the past 40 years is that, behind its gangster plot, is a classic story of an American family, tracing its journey from immigration and poverty toward assimilation and success. In fact, it's not just the story of the Corleone family, but of the Coppola family as well. The movie feels like a personal glimpse into a family album, but it's director/co-screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola's family album as much as it is the fictional Michael Corleone's. True, the characters came from Mario Puzo's novel. But, on screen, Coppola not only invested them with details from his own family history, he even cast several members of his own family in the three movies, often in roles corresponding to their real-life relationships to him. Playing Michael's sister Connie was Francis' sister, Talia Shire. The director's father and mother, Carmine and Italia Coppola,...

In The Sorcerer's Apprentice - released in the UK this weekend - Nicolas Cage plays Balthazar Blake, a former student of the wizard Merlin.

Balthazar is destined to search the earth for the Prime Merlinean - a descendent of the great wizard with the power to defeat evil sorcerers Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Morgana le Fay (played by Alice Krige, the Borg Queen in Star Trek).

It so happens this Prime Merlinean is Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a physics student in New York, and Balthazar must quickly teach him to harness his powers.

For Cage, though, such ideas aren't just way-out fantasy.

"I absolutely believe in magic. You can't really survive in the arts if you don't keep the magical child's mind alive," says Cage, deadly serious.

"Magic is really very simple. It's about imagination plus willpower, focused in such a way to create conscious effects in the material world.

Introduction this week of the new video game "The Beatles: Rock Band" reminds us of an odd fact about these music artists who were once widely considered to be the definition of avant garde: the Beatles have often been, really, one beat behind. Believe it or not, up until now music by the Beatles has not been available for sale on the Internet. With "The Beatles: Rock Band," players will be able to download up to 45 songs that they can perform with the Fab Four in such reproduced settings as "The Ed Sullivan Show," Shea Stadium and the Abbey Road recording studio. The first full album will be available for download on Oct. 20 ("Abbey Road"), then "Sgt. Pepper's Loney Hearts Club Band" and "Rubber Soul" in November and December. There were two reasons for the download delay: fight over money (Beatles want $2 per song, but iTunes only charges 99 cents) and...

The good folks at Park Circus, the British film distribution company, have sent us the following press release - which is good news for classic movie fans.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award-winning classic The Godfather will be back in cinemas from Friday 25 September 2009.

Re-released by Park Circus, this beautifully restored and remastered version of The Godfather stars Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire, Last Tango In Paris), Al Pacino (Scarface, Scent Of A Woman), James Caan (Misery, Funny Lady), Robert Duvall (Apocalypse Now, The Apostle) and Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, Manhattan).

An iconic film with outstanding performances, The Godfather is set in the 1940’s and opens at the lavish wedding of Connie, the daughter of the revered ‘Godfather’ - Don Vito Corleone (Brando). This is an event where business and pleasure naturally go hand in hand. The ‘Godfather’ receives a select list of guests into his den, to listen...