"The Godfather", Francis Ford Coppola's classic film turns 40 years old this month and celebrates with special showings in theaters and on television.

"The Godfather" was a significant contribution to American cinema history and resuscitated the career of Marlon Brando as well as catapulting Al Pacino to stardom. It won six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Brando.

It placed Francis Ford Coppola into the group of important film directors of the 1970's, a decade that spawned the likes of Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, William Friedkin and George Lucas,

Originally released on March 24, 1972 a Coppola-produced restored version was distributed to theaters by Cinemark in partnership with Paramount Pictures, the studio that financed the film.

On March 1, Cinemark dedicated 55 of its XD auditoriums (similar to IMAX) to screenings around the nation. The chain announced that the film was meticulously restored using 5.1 digital surround sound, re-mastered using state-of-the-art technology, then transferred to files making it available to be seen on Cinemark's giant XD screens.

The movie chain said on its website that the restoration began in 2006 between Paramount Pictures and Coppola the director.

"Archivist Robert Harris joined the project, followed by the original cinematographer of the film Gordon Willis, to complete the team who worked arduously on the film for over a year going through the original prints, re-release prints, and negatives, shot by shot, foot by foot, frame by frame and even sprocket hole by sprocket hole."

For those that missed the March 1 event, the next best thing, although some fans and critics would say the even better film, The Godfather: Part II (1974) gets the same treatment from Cinemark on April 19. There are those that differ on which of Coppola's Italian family sagas is better than the other but each are listed high among the great movies of the twentieth century.

The cable network AMC, home to "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" is broadcasting both films throughout the month as well as the second sequel, The Godfather: Part III (1990). Broadcast times can be found at the AMC website.

In the course of the last four decades, Francis Ford Coppola has developed and produced separate compilations of the first two films and one comprised of all three parts entitled respectively "The Godfather Saga" and "The Godfather Trilogy" 1901-1980.

During the 1970's Francis Ford Coppola also directed "The Conversation" starring Gene Hackman and John Cazale, who portrayed Fredo Corleone in parts I and II of The Godfather. Coppola closed the decade with another epic, "Apocalypse Now" a version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness superimposed onto the Vietnam War.

A troubled shoot in the Philippines almost scuttled the film because of its huge budget overages. It sent Coppola to the brink of bankruptcy after he mortgaged all his properties to cover the budget overruns. The finished products was acclaimed at Cannes where it won the Palm d'Or and then two Academy Awards.

The troubled production was documented by Coppola's wife Eleanor is an extraordinary documentary entitled "Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse." Mrs. Coppola was quoted as saying about her husband and his experience filming the movie, "I guess he has had a sort of nervous breakdown."

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

& Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.&