The Godfather
Directed by:
Francis Ford CoppolaCinematography:
Gordon WillisComposer:
Nino RotaCast:
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda (more)VOD (5)
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Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather (1972) is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible. After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (14)
The Godfather is a classic that engages viewers not emotionally, but through revealing the fascinatingly depicted world of a New York mafia family and studies of its characters. And through elegant filmmaking that doesn’t rush anywhere, because it wants to devotedly savor every morsel of the story. Marlon Brando gives a standout performance with creative details in his speech that make his character magnetically interesting. The film is a loftily conceived and inwardly sad portrait of people with corrupt ideals whose only non-false value is family. And of the disintegration of the family, because the rule “like father, like son” does not always apply. My favorite passage (other than all of the scenes with Brando) is surprisingly the romantic one and the only explicitly nice one in the whole long film – the wooing of the Italian peasant girl by Al Pacino and his show of respect to her father.
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The Godfather is the ultimate gangster movie; there’s hardly anything more to add. Marlon Brando is spectacular and not even Al Pacino can surpass him. This is mainly because Marlon Brando’s performance is perhaps one of the greatest acting performances I have ever experienced in a film. Excellent from start to finish. Although the film has 175 minutes, what is it compared to one decade of in the lives of a mobster family, which is everything but boring.
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I can kind of see why this movie became a legend. To be honest, I didn't enjoy it much, but I have to admit that the sound, the execution of some of the scenes are brilliant. That's why the four stars... otherwise simply: the mafia doesn't do much for me, its hierarchy not at all, I caught myself bored many times. I don't need to see it again, nor do I want to. Yes, Brando was great, Pacino's transformation was great, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have enjoyed it much more as a book. But I liked the ending, I really did :-)
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Puzo's book was once recommended to me by my grandmother and, it completely captivated me. I felt the atmosphere of the family and from the first page it was as though I already knew them all - it felt like they were my own family. Still, I was a little worried about what the movie would end up being like, but Coppola handled the adaptation perfectly. He preserved the atmosphere, honed all the details, and, with amazing precision, made sure to keep the fans of the original happy. Marlon Brando, as Don Vito, made an indelible mark on cinema history, and Al Pacino gave one of the best performances of his career. The Godfather is a legend, and I'm glad I finally got to see it.
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In terms of filmmaking, it’s flawless and brilliant, but the story didn’t captivate me that much and I didn’t care how it would all end. The best thing in the film is Marlon Brando’s performance, even when he’s laying down silent, he’s the most charismatic character on screen. Even though this film didn’t thrill me as much as I expected, I’m still quite curious about the second part.
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