On this day in 1972, the first Godfather hit American movie screens

March 24, 1972. When the first "Godfather" was released on American screens, this is not just another memorable date. This is a watershed not only in the genre of "gangster films", but in all of world cinema. One example - when the film was already finished, the management of the Paramount film studio was perplexed whether the viewer would watch a film in which half the frames were darkened. And this is not to mention that "The Godfather" was running for several minutes to three hours, which at that time seemed like a test of the audience's patience.

And the filming itself was far from cloudless. If we talk about the selection of actors, then there was a serious battle between Francis Ford Coppola, then a young director with almost no experience, and the management of the studio, which spoke out not only against Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, but also against Marlon Brando as his father Vito Corleone. Moreover, if the argument against Al Pacino was his short stature (at the same time, Coppola turned down Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen and Robert Redford), then no one wanted to mess with Brando because of his scandalous "star" behavior.

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In general, there are many legends about the filming of the first "Godfather", ranging from contradictory statements by various participants in the process that the bosses of the real mafia were against the film, to, on the contrary, evidence that they liked the film.

One way or another, but now all this is in the past, and the first "Godfather" is a recognized classic. By the way, a year after its release, another significant event in the history of Hollywood took place, which was never repeated - the best gangster film of all time and peoples clashed in the battle for awards with the best musical of all time and peoples in the person of "Cabaret" by Bob Fosse.

It even had one more nomination than "Cabaret" (11 vs. 10), but in the end "Cabaret" received 8 Oscars, while "The Godfather" only received 3 for best picture, best screenplay, and best male role. Moreover, the acting Oscar was awarded to Marlon Brando, and not to Al Pacino, who was nominated for best supporting actor. There, again, an unprecedented case occurred when out of five nominees, three were from the same film - Al Pacino, James Caan (Sonny), and Robert Duvall (Tom Hagan). But here too, "Cabaret" won, in the person of Joel Grey as the master of ceremonies.

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