The Godfather

Synopsis

Widely regarded as one of the best American films ever made, this gangster drama has become such an imitated, quoted part of popular culture that even if you haven’t seen it you’re bound to recognise Nino Rota’s powerful soundtrack, or lines such as: "I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse." Set in late ‘40s New York, it chronicles the Italian-American Corleone crime family, as ageing patriarch Vito Corleone passes the mantle to reluctant youngest son Michael (a career-making role for then-unknown Al Pacino), who’s pushed toward moral downfall as a rival threatens his father's life, and gang warfare erupts.