Over 50 Years Later, One of the Greatest Movies Ever Made Is a Free Streaming Hit

Published on 11 Oct at 6:47 am

Director Francis Ford Coppola‘s career has seen its share of troughs and valleys; by his own admission, he has either been extremely rich or dead broke. But things turned around for him irrevocably in 1972, when he unleashed upon the world his grand adaptation of Mario Puzo‘s The Godfather. The epic crime saga was an instant hit and remains revered over 50 years later. Such is the film’s popularity that it was the number one title on the free Pluto TV streaming service on October 8, according to FlixPatrol.

Starring Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire, and James Caan, The Godfather remains perhaps the most influential movie ever made, inspiring everything from a DreamWorks animated film to a children’s picture book. It grossed nearly $300 million globally against a reported budget of a little more than $5 million. The Godfather has often been ranked among the greatest films ever made by several publications, and finished 12th on Sight & Sound magazine’s 2022 edition of its decennial list. Coppola went on to direct equally acclaimed classics such as The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, and The Godfather Part II.

Coppola Pooled His Life’s Savings Into His Passion Project

Coppola recently released his passion project of over three decades, Megalopolis. He had a famously difficult time getting the film financed and released, and ended up selling a portion of his wine empire to eventually make it. The movie cost over $120 million, but grossed only around $15 million worldwide, receiving a divisive critical response. Megalopolis currently holds a 45% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “More of a creative manifesto than a cogent narrative feature, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is an overstuffed opus that’s equal parts stimulating and slapdash.” A documentary on the making of the movie, titled Megadoc, was recently released in theaters. You can watch The Godfather and Megalopolis at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.