The 47th Academy Awards were held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday, April 8, 1975, to celebrate the finest films of 1974. Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra presided over the festivities. This was the final year that NBC broadcasted the festivities before ABC obtained broadcasting rights, which they still have today.

“The Godfather, Part II,” the sequel to the Oscar-winning Mafia film “The Godfather,” continued the family tradition by sweeping seven top awards at the 47th annual Academy Awards.

The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, while The Godfather Part II is often regarded as the best sequel. Surprisingly, Part II received more accolades than the original, which is an extremely unusual occurrence. Whereas the first only received three honors, Part II received six.

The film won Best Art Direction, Original Dramatic Score, Screenplay Adapted from Other Material, Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro’s first Oscar nomination and victory), Director (Francis Ford Coppola), and Best Picture at the 47th Academy Awards. It also ranks third on IMDb’s Top Rated Movies list, behind only the original Godfather (9.1) and The Shawshank Redemption (9.1). (9.2).

The Godfather Part II’s success was significant; it got twice as many Oscar nominations (six) as its predecessor and repeated its achievement of three Best Supporting Actor nods (as of the 93rd Academy Awards, the last film to receive three nominations in a single acting category). Carmine and Francis Ford Coppola, father and son, won four Oscars between them, with Carmine receiving Best Original Dramatic Score (with Nino Rota) and Francis winning Picture, Director, and Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material (with Mario Puzo).

The film, which continued the Vito Corleone family’s underground saga, was awarded best picture and Francis Ford Coppola, the bearded wunderkind of Hollywood who has become one of the few dominant personalities in the business in a few short years, received the directing prize. It was the first time in the awards’ history that a sequel to a blockbuster film received the prize for best picture.