The Godfather

Rating:
Summary: GREAT ACTING,GREAT STORY,GREAT MOVIE...THE BEST OF THE BEST.
Review: If you haven't seen this fantastic movie, let me tell you that you are missing what it's perhaps the best movie of all time. It's just perfect. You just can't miss when you put together the direction of Francis Ford Coppola at the top of his game, superb performances from great actors like Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duvall and John Cazale, beautiful music from the composer Nino Rota, and a memorable cinematography courtesy of Gordon Willis.

There are a lot of timeless scenes in this mob film ("I believe in America"), plenty of quoting lines ("I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse"), fabulous supporting characters (Luca Brasi), and the list can go on and on and on. In my opinion, this is the movie that beats all the rest of the films. I think that all movie fan collection must include "The Godfather". If you haven't seen it yet and you are looking for a fantastic film, go see a classic film, go see "The Godfather".

Absolutely recommendable.

Rating:
Summary: The best there ever was
Review: So what can be written about the movie that hasn't been said a million times already? Probably nothing. But it is my favorite movie of all time. I can't say it was catching lightening in a bottle, as several of the actors were famous before, and several more continue to be popular today. Although it is one of those rare achievements where the cinema version outshines it's literary equivalent.

Movies have the power to create worlds entirely different to us, and in a sense, "The Godfather" is one of those movies. Yes, there is organized crime, and yes, they still seem to have "families" to distinguish one group from another. But this movie still created a different world by having no character that was not part of this world in the cast. They are either involved in something illegal, or related to someone who is.

With this isolation, it makes us look at the film differently than if there were so-called "honest" people as part of the movie. If that were the case, it would be easier to be reminded that these people are criminals. And not just petty ones. We see murderers, big time drug dealers, and those that spend large dollars corrupting the so-called "legitimate" government.

Since everyone is more or less playing by these rules, it then makes it easier to root for what would be the bad guys otherwise. Vito Corleone has murdered, and ordered the murders of others. But since we have not been told of the innocent people that were probably killed as part of his ascension, and the fact that he was not eager to get into big-time drug operations, and he was just, well, a grandfatherly old man, he's the "good guy" over that dastardly Barzini.

So we care that he truly loves his daughter and wants to give her a good wedding. We think he's a good guy because he didn't want "all of this" for Michael. And we agree that when he says "a man who does not spend time with his family is not a real man", that this is wisdom from what must be a very wise man. Showing that this type of family can indeed love and care for each other while still taking care of business is what makes the film great in my eyes.

Rating:
Summary: Simply the greatest Mob/Crime movie ever made
Review: This was a book at first, then it hit the big screen with Marlon Brando winning the academy award, and this is where Al Pachino's carrer really started to shine. It's all about business every single day in this movie for the family, and their rivals. And since when does someone get shot 5 times in the back and live? Cuz da don is a old dude. Anyway, almost every fan of gangster, mob, and shootout style movies should have this in their collection. And also, why did Marlon Brando refuse the academy award? I woulda took dat and be happy.

Rating:
Summary: The Godfather, What, When, Why and How?
Review: A groundbreaking masterpiece on the topic of mafia culture in the USA during the 70's and 80's. There are two main characters but let's start with the head. Marlon Brando plays Vito Corleone head of the Corleone crime syndacite, one of the many families that dominates New York at this current time. He has a daughter and three sons, Fredo, Sonny and most importantly Micheal played wonderfully by Al Pacino. Young Micheal though is no gangster but a young boy next door who is full of potential. Micheal has only one dream, not to be like his family, not to become a ruthless gangster.
Through the course of the film Vito is offered money to share his powerful connections with a rival gang which is not going to happen and this can mean only one thing, war! War that will lead to Sonny being double crossed and murdered and leading to Vito having many attempts on his life which he miraculously survives. When Vito dies and with Sonny dead it is Micheals turn to head the family which he accepts and does all to well...
This film introduced the whole 'horses head on your pillow' thing which is a scene in the beggining. It also features the moment when Micheal turns gangster, murdering two other figure heads in a New York restraunt at point blank range.
How anyone can say they haven't seen the Godfather is beyond me and I'm sure you'll agree with me. In my opinion this is even better than Part II and by a long way the best mafia flick to this day. This movie has just been voted the 2nd best movie in a British pole losing out to Star Wars, out doing every other movie ever made. Epic!

Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Mob Movie
Review: This has been, and still is, one of my all time favorite movies. I don't think any mob movie can compare. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the story of the Corleone family's struggle for complete power. All of the characters are so well done, especially Michael, played by Al Pacino. This movie is very well done, setting the scene from the 1950 up until the 1970's. This is a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent filmmaking...
Review: Francis Ford Coppola had a vision. The vision was made. It was "The Godfather." From its incredibly well-scripted opening scene to its final closing image, "The Godfather" is one of the greatest stories ever told on the screen. Heck, one could call it a big-screen painting of an era. This was Marlon Brando's finest performance and Al Pacino's kickstart into legendary fame. This is also the greatest gangster movie ever made. Coppola delivers all the goods with this one. We have action, drama, romance, and even the occasional laugh. It is a wonderful image of the 1940s mob scene and was the top of its genre until "Goodfellas" joined it about 15 or so years later. "The Godfather" is a timeless classic and a must-see for all film enthusiasts.

Rating:
Summary: Ohhhhh Father
Review: This video and the sequel Godfather II were sensational when they were first made. I loved them and I hated them. I hated them because they were the first presentations that referenced putting illegal drugs in the Black neighborhoods. The sad thing is cinematographic preceded real life.

Rating:
Summary: The all-time greatest movie
Review: The Godfather is probably the greatest movie of all time. Built closely around Mario Puzo's novel of the same name, the movie captures quite brilliantly the transistion of power from Don Vito Corleone to his son Michael. Perhaps this is one movie that follows the book almost page to page. Some of the dialogues are exactly the same.

This film also saw the best of Marlon Brando, and the first of some sterling perfomances by Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall.

Just like the book, the movie will keep you tied to it, it'll give you a hangover that's too good to beat.

Two last words - 'SEE IT'.

Rating:
Summary: One More Orange For The Pile: My Take On "The Godfather"
Review: Generally regarded as one of the finest movies ever made, "The Godfather" would seem to be review-proof. By this point, some 30 years after its initial release, what else could be said of it? Critically it's adored. And those who loathe it are bound to loathe it no matter what I, or anyone else really, has to say.

So instead of doing a standard review, I thought I'd pick out key elements from the movie, elements that struck me as important after my fourth and most recent viewing, but that I haven't seen analyzed to death over the years. This effort will, I hope, shed some new light on the film, going beyond the usual iconic moments (the horse in the bed; the cat on the lap; Sonny at the tollbooth) and memorable dialogue ("I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse"; "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes"; "Leave the gun... take the cannoli") to give you something personally relevant. And if doesn't, then at least it gave me the opportunity to write about "The Godfather" for awhile.

"I believe in America." These are the film's opening lines. Spoken not by Marlon Brandon, Al Pacino, James Caan or even, say, Abe Vigoda, but by Salvatore Corsitto as Bonasera the Undertaker. It begins a long speech about how his daughter was beaten to near death, and as Corsitto tells the tale, the camera slowly zooms out to reveal the darkened office, and then the silhouetted visage of Brando. It begins a curious game of cat and mouse, for it takes a long time for the film to truly reveal whom this story is about. Now, unless you've been living under a rock for the last thirty years, or, more appropriately, been locked in the trunk of a Cadillac, you know whose story is about to be told. But let's wipe away hindsight, and assume you are an audience member in a darkened theatre in 1972, one who hasn't read Mario Puzo's soon-to-be-blockbuster book, who'd forgotten the power of Marlon Brando (it had been almost 20 years since "On the Waterfront"), and had never heard of Al Pacino.

The first scene makes it clear that Vito Corleone is a powerful presence. Is this his story? It would seem so, as his family is gathered together for the luxurious wedding of his daughter Connie (Talia Shire). But then Vito's consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) is introduced, a lawyer who was once taken in by Vito while just an orphan child. Maybe it is the story of these two men, the Sicilian-born Don and his German-Irish adopted son. This idea is nearly cemented when Tom goes to Hollywood, ostensibly to get Johnny Fontaine (Al Martino) out of a binding contract with Jack Woltz (John Marley), but more likely just as an excuse to put a horse's head in a bed. Back in New York, we are introduced to Sonny (Caan), Vito's eldest boy, a hotheaded gorilla more proficient at quenching his animal lusts than at running a crime family. Is it Sonny's story? Could be, could be. See what I mean? It's like a great game of chess: director Francis Ford Coppola deploys his pawns, his rooks, his knights, and his bishops, before ever moving his Queen. But when she finally emerges from her sanctuary, the board is wiped clean with a few bold moves.

Michael (Pacino), in these early expository scenes, only acts as a Greek chorus. A war hero and a college boy, he explains to his girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) who his father is, and why he should be feared. And he tries to tell her that that is not him. But then comes the scene at the hospital. Vito has been shot, but not killed, and Michael goes to visit him. Surprised to find no security by his father's room, and aware that this means men are on their way to finish the job, Michael, along with a nurse, decides to move his father to another room. After a near-farcical scene of hide-and-seek in the hospital halls, Michael, in an attempt to reassure his frightened father, whispers the following lines into the old man's ear: "I'm with you now. I'm with you." The double meaning of these words is made quite apparent by Vito's smile and Michael's angst-filled expression. Just when he thought he was out of the family business, circumstances pull him back in. Michael's inevitable coronation, and the film's operatic aftermath, is now inevitable.

About 110 minutes into the movie, Sonny finds out that Connie's husband Carlo (Gianni Russo) has been slapping her around. Ever the vigilant brother, Sonny storms out to teach Carlo a lesson. He finds him on the steps of a brownstone selling drugs, and before Carlo knows what's happening, Sonny is wailing on him mercilessly with punch after punch of staggering power. Er, all except the fourth one, that is. Maybe the filmmakers only had time for one take, or maybe a sloppy editor missed it, but the fourth punch misses Carlo by a good 2 feet. Now, I'm a big believer in the adage, "The exception proves the rule." And this moment is the film's one blemish, standing out like the Glad garbage man at a Goth convention. But sandwiched between the film's first and second half, it manages to prove the perfection achieved by each.

I first saw "The Godfather" after reading the book as a teenager. Not the best way to view any film, and nearly fatal here. I expected to find a lot of the book's rich backstory but didn't. My first viewing was a disappointment. Every subsequent viewing, however, has made me fall more in love with this film than I ever thought possible. And now you know why I chose this alternate method of reviewing: I knew that the hyperbole would flow fast and furious once I begin typing. Despite my best intentions, I couldn't avoid it. That is, ultimately, the power of "The Godfather".

Rating:
Summary: A flawless, perfect movie by a master
Review: At just under four hours, this is a long film, but one that holds the viewer riveted. Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, comes back from World War II as a hero. His family are leading mobsters and it is a life he wants to reject, but his hand is forced when his father, Don Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, is shot down in the street. Slowly and reluctantly, he gets sucked into the vortex of the Mob, proving himself every bit as ruthless as his rivals.

This film reveals perfectly the analogy between 20th Century gangsters and the aristocracy. Not the effete aristocracy of the modern age but that of antiquity: when brutality and nobility went together; when power came from brute strength. This is what Thomas Paine had to say about the aristocracy:

"It could have been no difficult thing....for a banditti of ruffians to overrun a country [and] their power being thus established, the chief of the band contrived to lose the name of Robber in that of monarch and hence the origin of Monarchy and Kings." 'The Rights of Man.'

If Don Corleone had been born in the pre-democratic age, his descendants would now have lands and respectable titles. Don Corleone insists people call him Godfather: In a previous age it would have been King, Duke, Baron, or Prince. It all means the same. Splendour sits side by side with violence. There are no ethics, only power. Everything else is a façade.

This was made in the 70s, when Coppola made genuinely great films. It's a compelling story beautifully told. The pacing is steady but never slow. The performances are flawless: the cinematography beautiful. Come the 80s, his genius would desert him. However, his classic films are still around and show just how powerful a medium film can be. The Godfather is ample evidence of this. This is one of the great movies of the 20th Century.