The iconic film is on BBC now (Image: The Godfather)
One of the greatest films of all time, and what many believe is the best gangster film ever made is being shown on BBC tonight.
More than five decades after its debut, The Godfather continues to garner a cult following, and today you can watch it on TV for free.
The film features Marlon Brando in one of his most iconic performances whilst also propelling Al Pacino to the heights of Hollywood stardom, the film remains the unbeatable benchmark for crime and gangster cinema to this day.
The story follows the Corleone crime family acting as the opening chapter of a remarkable trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The mafia masterpiece, adapted from Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name focuses on the Italian-American gang led by Don Vito Corleone, and his youngest son Michael, played by Pacino.Diane Keaton plays Michael’s devoted yet troubled wife.
Salvatore Corsitto plays Bonasera (Image: Getty Images)
The film broke records and swept up in the 1972 awards season, claiming three Oscars, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay. Brando also won Best Actor.
One Reddit user described it as the “best film of all time.” Whilst another Rotten Tomatoes writer said: Steven wrote: “Now half a century old, Francis Ford Coppola’s revered New Hollywood masterpiece has one of the best-known final shots in film history – but it almost had a much more Catholic ending.”
The film also received seven Golden Globe nominations, going on to triumph in the categories of Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor (Brando), Best Original Score, and Best Picture.
One fan said: “Coppola was able to take a trashy pulp novel and turn it into something close to Shakespeare; a sweeping, epic tale of family, crime, corruption and the Immigrant experience in America.”
Francis Ford Coppola’s film is seen as one of the greatest of all time (Image: FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
A second reviewer added: “The Godfather works like a masterfully conducted orchestra, whose immaculate symphony is a meticulously crafted and extraordinarily integral thread in the fabric of cinema history.”
A third said: “The Godfather is the most memorable, most influential, most quoted, most beloved, most discussed, most imitated, most revered and most entertaining American movie ever made.”
A fourth added: “It is a gangster film without any of the pity and hatred we might feel towards such aliens in our midst, because it recognises that in all of us there is the ignition towards power and criminality.
“For all its graphic violence, the movie was—unlike the novel it was based on—no mere exercise in popcorn sensationalism; it was emotionally complex, tragic, melancholy, definitely for grownups.”
The Godfather will be on BBC2 at 10pm, while Parts II and III follow on Monday and Tuesday evening on the same channel.
