Francis Ford Coppola (April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, film composer and vintner. He was a central figure in the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. After directing The Rain People in 1969, Coppola co-wrote Patton (1970), earning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with Edmund H. North. Coppola’s reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of The Godfather (1972). While a number of Coppola’s ventures in the 1980s and 1990s were critically lauded, he has never quite achieved the same commercial success with films as in the 1970s. His best-known films released since the start of the 1980s are the dramas The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (both 1983), the crime dramas The Cotton Club (1984) and The Godfather Part III (1990), and the horror film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
The Godfather trilogy (1972-1990) revolutionized movie-making in the gangster genre, and was adored by the public and critics alike. The first movie stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the father and son of a fictional New York crime family. The story, spanning 1945 to 1955, chronicles the family under the patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando), focusing on the transformation of the son Michael Corleone (Pacino), raised to have a life outside of crime, from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss. The film received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise going toward the performances of its cast, particularly by Brando and Pacino, the directing, screenplay, cinematography, editing, score, and portrayal of the mafia. The film revitalized Brando’s career, which was in decline during the 1960s. In addition to starring in future hits such as Last Tango in Paris, Superman, and Apocalypse Now, Brando was a catalyst in this film for the successful careers of Coppola, Pacino, and other relative newcomers in the cast. At the 45th Academy Awards, the film won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Puzo and Coppola). Its seven other Oscar nominations included Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall (Best Supporting Actor), and Coppola for Best Director. Since its release, The Godfather has been widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, especially in the gangster genre. The second movie is partially based on Puzo’s 1969 novel The Godfather, the film is both sequel and prequel to The Godfather, presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone (Pacino), the new Don of the Corleone crime family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life; the prequel covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone (De Niro), from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards at the 47th Academy Awards and became the first sequel to win for Best Picture. Its six Oscar wins also included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Both The Godfather Part II and its predecessor remain highly influential films, especially in the gangster genre, and the former has been reevaluated. Some have deemed it superior to The Godfather. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. The final film in the trilogy, The Godfather Part III, was released in 1990. The third movie completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who attempts to legitimize his criminal empire. The film also includes fictionalized accounts of two real-life events: the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–82, both linked to Michael Corleone’s business affairs. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Andy García. Coppola and Puzo preferred the title The Death of Michael Corleone, but Paramount Pictures found that unacceptable. Coppola considers the series as two films, with Part III as an epilogue. The Godfather Part III received generally positive reviews, albeit less than the critical acclaim that the first two films received. It grossed $136,766,062 and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
Apocalypse Now (1979) is an American epic war film about the Vietnam War. It stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, and Dennis Hopper. Harrison Ford also makes an appearance in a small role. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola and John Milius and narration written by Michael Herr, was loosely based on the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The setting was changed from late 19th-century Congo to the Vietnam War. The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Benjamin L. Willard (a character based on Conrad’s Marlow and played by Sheen), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Brando, with the character being based on Conrad’s Mr. Kurtz), a renegade Army Special Forces officer accused of murder and who is presumed insane. Initial reviews were mixed; while Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography was widely acclaimed, several critics found Coppola’s handling of the story’s major themes to be anticlimactic and intellectually disappointing. Apocalypse Now is today considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards at the 52nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Supporting Actor for Duvall, and went on to win for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) is an American gothic horror film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It stars Gary Oldman as Count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina Harker, Anthony Hopkins as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker. Dracula grossed $215 million on a $40 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus cited “some terrific performances”, although Reeves’s performance has been widely criticized. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won three for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Makeup. Its score was composed by Wojciech Kilar; closing credits theme “Love Song for a Vampire”, written and performed by Annie Lennox, became an international success.
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