Coppola's Film The Godfather example essay topic

Francis Ford Coppola was born April 7th, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but he grew up in New York in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola was a composer and musician, and gave Francis a middle name that was after the "Ford Sunday Evening Hour" which was a performance his father played the flute for. His mother also in the entertainment business, was an actress. Growing up in Queens and on Long Island, he suffered through polio at age 9 and grew into a high school misfit, living in the shadow of his confident, intellectual brother August. But once Francis started directing College Theater and film he became a charismatic figure. Little did he know that he was going to become one of the most successful and controversial movie makers in the US.

Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking and earned his Master's. He, like so many other directors worked as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such positions as sound man, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Tonight For Sure (1961), Dementia 13 (1963), and You " re a Big Boy Now (1967), were Coppola's first feature films. During the next three years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of This Property is Condemned, by Tennessee Williams and screenplays for Is Paris Burning? , and Patton, the film for which Coppola won his first Oscar for screenplay. In 1969, Coppola and friend George Lucas established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company's first project was THX 1138 (1971), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas.

Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, American Graffiti, in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. In 1972, Coppola's film The Godfather became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and was popular among movie critics. It brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with friend Mario Puzo. The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. This film will forever be known for his use of lighting and the dreary feeling that comes with it.

Following his work on the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), Coppola's next film was The Conversation (1974), staring Gene Hackman, which brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, The Godfather: Part II out did the success of The Godfather, and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious and controversial film, Apocalypse Now, a Vietnam War epic. It was an over budget and long delayed movie that was filmed from 1976-78, including months of difficult filming in the jungles of the Philippines where "we all went crazy", said Coppola himself. Problems included Coppola's threats of suicide, Martin Sheen's life threatening heart attack, typhoons, and lots of drinking and drug use.

Coppola gave a frighteningly perfervid press conference in which he said, "My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam". There must have been something both lunatic and exhilarating about Coppola at that press conference, getting carried away with his own metaphor: "We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane". The production was designed at every stage as the sort of spectacle that overwhelms audiences rather than prods their understanding, a movie that blows minds, not a movie that expands them.

For this film he once again asked friend Marlon Brando to appear in a role. Released in 1979 the film proved to be worth it all, the acclaimed film received two Oscars and earned 150 million dollars worldwide. Apocalypse Now also established Coppola as the most daring, brilliant filmmaker of this generation. The films that followed his box office hits such as Hammett (1982), The Outsiders (1983) One from the Heart (1982), and The Cotton Club (1984) were not met with such good reception. After having all these flop Coppola found himself in a rut financially and became a work-for-hire filmmaker for the first time in over a decade because of this he agreed to work on the comedy, Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

This film proved to be a success and soon there after he accepted an offer to direct the Vietnam drama Gardens of Stone, which failed to be successful. This tragedy wasn't nearly as offal as the death of his son, Gio, in a boating accident that same year. In 1988 the making of Tucker: The Man and His Dream proved to be a fatal blow and two years later his studio American Zoetrope was forced to declare bankruptcy. Due to his financial problems he was in desperate need of a hit so he returned to familiar ground in 1990 to start the third film in The Godfather saga. Despite getting a Best Picture nomination, the film was widely considered a box office failure. In 1992 Coppola finally stumbled on a hit when he took over Bram Stoker's Dracula and then agreed to co-produce Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

His next directorial effort was The Rain Maker, which gained some positive reviews and helped restore Coppola to good financial standings. Since then Coppola has spent time building a successful Napa Valley winery. He also operates two restaurants, both called Caf i Ni ebaum-Coppola, and they are located in Northern California. In Belize he has managed to purchase a few small hotels in this tropical hotspot. Just recently he has become a partner in an old-fashioned pasta factory located in Brooklyn New York. To this day Francis Ford Coppola is known as one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers of all time and will always be remembered for his extraordinary sense of style, use of key lighting, and talent for making dark films.

He's in the gambling tradition of American entrepreneurs; there isn't a single corporate-like censor in his consciousness.