The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy from a screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola. Starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a fictional New York City crime family, the story spans the years 1945-55, centering on the transformation of Michael Corleone from reluctant family outsider to ruthless Mafia boss while chronicling the Corleones under the patriarch Vito.
