--- description: A collection of images celebrating the storied film director's life and work to date. title: Francis Ford Coppola Turns 75 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Francis Ford Coppola at 75: American Auteur by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 7, 2014 7:19 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 7, 2014 7:19 AM CUT  Francis Ford Coppola directs Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando, in what would become his first masterpiece, The Godfather. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1972. Everett  Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando in the opening scene of The Godfather, which Coppola directed under intense scrutiny from Paramount. For Brando, the role of Don Vito is perhaps his most iconic performance. Everett  Coppola takes a minute to relax in a chair used in a boathouse scene of the Godfather sequel. Perhaps the greatest sequel ever made, The Godfather II, like its predecessor, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Everett  Pacino sits in the very same chair. The film is really two movies interwoven. The first follows Michael Corleone as a mafia boss during the cold war; the second traces the early life of his father Vito from his childhood in Sicily through his mob beginnings in New York. Everett  Coppola directs Al Pacino on the set of The Godfather: Part II. Pacino's performance is considered one of the greatest of all time. The film became an instant American classic. Everett  Pacino, as Michael Corleone, plays opposite Robert Duvall, his adopted brother Tom Hagen. The film was the first major motion picture to use "Part II" in the title, thus paving the way for the sequel as we know it today. Everett  Coppola on location in the Philippines to film Apocalypse Now. The making of this film has become legend. Marlon Brando showed up unprepared, Martin Sheen had a heart attack and a typhoon destroyed a number of sets. The picture nearly personally bankrupted Coppola, but has become a standard by which all war films are judged. Everett  Colonel Kurtz's army greets Captain Willard as he arrives in camp. About the experience of filming the Apocalypse Now, Coppola said, "We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane." Everett  Coppola directs Gregory Hines on the set of The Cotton Club. The film is centered around the famous real-life Harlem Jazz Club the Cotton Club in the 1930s. While a critical success, the privately financed film did poorly at the box office. Everett  Hines and club goers during one of The Cotton Club's dance numbers. He was joined by an all-star cast including, Bob Hoskins, Diane Lane and Richard Gere. Everett  Coppola on the set of Youth WIthout Youth. The movie explores the themes of time, consciousness and the dream-like basis of reality. "For me it is indeed a return to the ambitions I had for my work in cinema as a student." said Coppola. Everett  Tim Roth plays Dominic Matei, a professor who becomes a fugitive hunted through Romania, Switzerland, Malta and India in Youth Without Youth. 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