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In 1972, the composer Nino Rota<\/a><\/strong> received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score<\/strong><\/a> for his work on The Godfather<\/em>. No surprise to anyone, surely, as Rota’s music for The Godfather <\/em>score to that iconic film <\/em>is one of the most recognizable and celebrated film scores in history.<\/p> The score plays a pivotal role in creating that haunting, nostalgic, and emotionally rich atmosphere that pervades The Godfather<\/em> and makes it such an iconic landmark of world cinema. Rota’s compositions seamlessly blend themes of family, love, betrayal, and the brutal reality of organized crime.<\/p> Given all this, The Godfather<\/em> was surely a shoo-in for the Best Original Score medal thay year. But it didn’t win. What went wrong?<\/p> Nino Rota’s music for The Godfather <\/em>was deemed ineligible for the award for Best Original Score because it was revealed that part of the film’s famous ‘love theme’ had already been used in Rota’s score<\/strong><\/a> for the 1958 Italian comedy film, Fortunella. <\/em>For that reason, the score was not deemed ‘original’: it was previously existing material, despite being performed in a different style.<\/p> See what you think. Here’s the Fortunella<\/em> theme, coming in at around 0:55:<\/p> Why was the Godfather<\/em> score disqualified from the Oscars?<\/h2>