Francis Ford Coppola is one of the first and most successful graduates of the California film schools. Like many of his peers, he has been fascinated with movies since childhood and has drawn on the whole of American film culture as inspiration for his work. His technical roots are in the conventions of the American genre film, whose formulae he has managed to transform stunningly, from his earliest exploitation and horror films--like Tonight for Sure (1962) and Dementia 13 (1963)--to his recent musical, One from the Heart (1982). Master of the gangster film (The Godfather, 1972, and its sequel The Godfather, Part II in 1974), the detective film (The Conversation, 1974), the war epic (Patton, 1970, and Apocalypse Now, 1979). Coppola has also tried his hand at the youth picture (You're a Big Boy Now, 1966 and Rumble Fish, 1983), and the road picture (The Rain People, 1969). He has also been fascinated by two deeply troubling themes: the...