<P> The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy , based on Mario Puzo 's best - selling novel of the same name . It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders 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 Michael Corleone ( Pacino ) from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss . </P>
<P> The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy , based on Mario Puzo 's best - selling novel of the same name . It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders 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 Michael Corleone ( Pacino ) from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss . </P>
who was the actor that played the godfather
who was the actor that played the godfather
Marlon Brando and Al Pacino
Marlon Brando and Al Pacino