1991: The Godfather is all about power says Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather, the Oscar-winning adaptation of Mario Puzo's bestseller, is widely regarded as one of the greatest gangster films of all time.

But its director Francis Ford Coppola told the BBC he saw the film, which was released this week 53 years ago, as more of a study of the nature and dynamics of power.

"I've always felt The Godfather was really less about gangsters, than about power and powerful families, and the succession of power, and the Machiavellian way that real power works in the world," Francis Ford Coppola told the BBC's Barry Norman in a Film 91 special.

"Obviously I was more interested in those themes but those themes could apply to a Shakespeare play, or any piece that deals, you know, Greek drama even really, that deals with those bigger themes, and that's more where I had my attention on."

Coppola told Norman the journey the character Michael Corleone makes from dutiful son to all powerful Godfather as a metaphor for the US' actions on the world stage and show the corrupting nature of power

"It seemed to me that Michael Corleone in the first Godfather, like America, started really with some ideals, freshness, and although he came from Europe, as America really was born out of Europe, there were these new ideals and new directions which was so inspiring," Coppola told Norman

"His actions were certainly like America, saying we want democracy, we want freedom, all these good things but much of the behind-the-scenes actions, necessitated by politics meant we were in a way staining ourselves."

Originally broadcast 5 March 1991.

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