The book The Godfather, by Mario Puzo, was published in 1969. The two most popularly known movies The Godfather are both based on that novel. The first movie released in 1972 and the second followed in 1974. The story of The Godfather is about an Italian-American Mafia family, headed by Don Vito Corleone, based around the characters, their stories and family dynamics. The story is told through an intimate view of one day in the life of Vito Corleone. The Godfather novel was notable for its development of background details about members of the Italian-American Mafia, which is considered the basis for The Godfather movie series.
The movie The Godfather tells us that “the business” is never discussed outside The Family circle, because it’s just understood that you don’t talk about it. The book The Godfather does not mention this at all; there are only implications to imply how it works. The book The Godfather , by Mario Puzo, has sold over nine million copies worldwide (Proctor). This would be equivalent to at least twelve million sales, after adjusting for inflation. The United States National Film Registry has preserved The Godfather, by Francis Ford Coppola, film on the basis that it is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
The Godfather is included in The Association of Italian-American Educators’ 75 “Greatest American Movies” list (AIE 75). The number one movie of all time worldwide is The Godfather. Ernest Hemingway once said about The Godfather, book author Mario Puzo’s work: “…with The Godfather he has written a masterpiece. This is an epic of our times. ” As I mentioned before The second movie of this series was released in 1974 and was called The Godfather Part II. The movie The Godfather Part II was also written based on The Godfather novel. The book The Godfather Part II has sold seven million copies worldwide (Proctor).
The United States National Film Registry has preserved The Godfather Part II, by Francis Ford Coppola, film on the basis that it is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. The film The Godfather Part II went on to be part of numerous official top-ten lists of famous movies. The first novel of this series introduces us to Vito Corleone’s life in Sicily and New York. We get a sense of who he is as a character before he becomes the Don of the Mafia family. We learn about his struggles in life, his family, The Godfather novel does not give us much insight into The Mafia.
The book The Godfather lets the movie tells the story of The Mafia’s life. The second book The Godfather Part II takes place in 1955 and continues Vito Corleone’s story from his son Michael Corleone being initiated into The Family to the events that lead up to the first film. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo, is considered a classic piece of American literature and has been published in many editions since its initial release. The title of this book has become synonymous with organized crime despite objections from Mario Puzo.
These objections were based on popular misunderstandings about both the contents of his novel and its meaning as symbolized in The Godfather movie series. The novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo was the best-selling book in history and it is still popular to this day (Morgenstern). The second most popular book The Godfather Part II , also by Mario Puzo, has sold well over seven million copies worldwide (Proctor). As we’ve seen The United States National Film Registry has preserved The Godfather film on the basis that it is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. ” The number one movie of all time worldwide is The Godfather.
On his website, Mario Puzo writes: “I object to the term Mafia because it’s a word I never use myself. The proper name for the organization is Cosa Nostra. The Mafia is simply one of the five families in New York City, an organization that American historians have trivialized. ” The research for The Godfather novel is said to have been based on The Five Families of The American Mafia, who are Cosa Nostra. The name “Mafia” was adopted by these groups because it means “manly”. The languages of Italy and Sicily do not have a word with this meaning. The most accurate translation would be “our thing”, or something similar.
The novel The Godfather has sold nine million copies worldwide (Proctor). This would be equivalent to at least twelve million sales, after adjusting for inflation. Research for The Godfather novel was based on The Five Families of The American Mafia The novel The Godfather introduces an Italian-American fictional crime family and its interactions with other criminal organizations. The Corleones are based on The Morello crime family, The Genoveses and The Luccheses. Puzo grew up near The Five Points, which was the setting of the original novel as well as The Godfather movie.
The novel The Godfather is divided into five parts with a short prologue and epilogue. The first part, called The World of the Don, chapters 1-17, gives us background information on the Corleone family and how they became so powerful in their respective fields: Vito Corleone, The Don, The Godfather; Sonny Corleone, The War-hero turned Don who struggles with The Tattaglias and The Barzinis; Fredo Corleone, The Weak son.
The second part is titled The Family, chapters 18-45 and revolves around the day of Michael’s daughter’s christening: The conflict between The Tattaglias and The Corleone family, The fight between The Barzini family & The Tattaglia family. The third part, called The Don Dies, chapters 46-88 is about the christening party and The Godfather’s death; The fourth part of the novel (The New Don) begins with Michael Corleone’s initiation as the new don of the Corleone Family.
The fourth part is titled The Five Families, chapters 89 – 160 and includes: The Sicilian Vespers; Sonny’s attempted murder; Fredo’s betrayal; Kay divorcing Michael and dating Tom Hagen with a final resolution to stop drug trafficking with Hyman Roth that sets up for parts five and six: All fall down ( The Godfather’s revenge) chapters 161-212, The war between The Corleones and The Five Families with The Genocide, The baptism of Michael Corleonne, The hospital scene. The final part is titled The Future, chapters 213 to the end of the novel that sets up for parts six and seven: Barzini wins; Di Maggio wins.
The film The Godfather is also divided into five parts with a prologue and epilogue. Part one introduces us to Vito Corleone on his arrival to America from Sicily and how he works his way up the ranks in Little Italy to become what we know as today: Don Vito Corleone (Vito), The strength of The Family The Don, The Godfather; The fight between The Tattaglias and The Corleone family.
Part two is titled The Family and includes: The day of the christening; The attempted assassination of Vito; Michael’s initiation to becoming The Godfather; Barzini’s plan to kill Vito (The Sicilian Vespers); The death of Vito & Fredo’s betrayal. Part three begins with Tom Hagen being sent away from the organizational meeting, Sonny threatening Carlo for hitting his sister Connie, Kay divorcing Michael but not knowing that she will be forced back to him by Sonny because he knows she still loves Mike despite what happened with his brother-in-law Richie.
It continues onto Audrey coming into the family and The Don refusing to help The Police Chief because he didn’t help when Sonny was almost murdered. The fourth part, The New Don, is titled The Five Families and includes: The war between The Corleones & The Tattaglias; Tom’s betrayal to the Corleones; the scene in the restaurant when Michael has his men murder all of The Five Family heads who were there for the meeting.
Part five is called All fall down , it begins with Kay getting shot outside her house, The Don checking himself into a hospital, Fredo getting killed by Michael in front of his wife Deanna Dunn (who Fredo had been sleeping with), Barzini seeking revenge on Michael and shooting him at the end of a movie set. The film’s final part The Future is titled The Godfather’s Revenge and includes: The attempt on Michael’s life by The Hyman Roth led Havana family; The Sicilian Vespers (The Corleone Family murdering all The Five Families); The death of the Roth, the police chief, The Tattaglia brothers & Moe Greene.
