Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather 1972 marked a transition in American filmmaking and its success as a work of art as a creative property exploited by its studio Paramount Pictures and as a model for aspiring auteurist filmmakers changed Hollywood forever. Jon Lewiss study of The Godfather begins with a close look at the films audacious visual style the long theatrical set pieces the chiaroscuro lighting the climactic montage paralleling a family baptism with a series of brutal murders.