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Rating: 5 out of 5
The Godfather will always have a special place in my film world. I want to specifically dedicate this review to my Uncle Allan. No one loved The Godfather more than him. Every time my family would go over to his house and watch a movie, he would quickly ask if any of us have seen The Godfather. He could watch it over and over again, along with reciting pretty much the whole movie. The book was also his favorite, as he would explain the subtle difference between the film and book.
Now, what is the greatest movie ever made? If you sat ten movie experts in a room and asked them to write down what they thought was the best movie ever made, most likely, you have a list of ten different movies. Or a list of the same film. In the current year, many films can be on that list. Some will argue that Citizen Kane is the best movie ever made. Some will say Die Hard. Others might say a Marvel movie. The list can go on and on. With that said, The Godfather has its place among the best.
The Godfather is that movie that will leave you in awe and might honestly be the greatest gangster story there is. It’s a movie that has been ranked as one of the greatest movies ever made in terms of story, dialogue, music, and characters. AFI, American Film Institute, ranked The Godfather in many of its categories from being #3 in 100 movies in 1998, #11 in 100 Thrills, #5 in 100 Film Scores, #2 when their 100 movies was ranked again in 2008 and the #1 Gangster films. Quite the accolades for a classic film. In the words of Don Vito Corleone, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, produced by Albert S. Ruddy, based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel of the same name. The story follows the Corleone mafia family in New York. The story begins as “Don” Vito “The Godfather” Corleone (Brando), the head of a New York Mafia “family,” oversees his daughter’s, Connie’s wedding, with his wife, Carmela. As the wedding is going on, Don Corleone conducts business by hearing the requests of several people. While family, police and rival drama is all around the wedding, Don Corleone patiently waits for the arrival of his beloved, youngest son, Michael (Pacino), who has been away and is a decorated WWII Marine. Michael arrives with his girlfriend Kay (Keaton). As they watch the wedding, Kay mentions several members in attendance. Michael gives her a brief explanation of the family business. He states that he is uninterested in being a part of the family business. Vito is seen as a very powerful man who is kind to all those around him who give him respect but also has a ruthless violence about him with anything that harms his family. Vito’s two other sons, Sonny (Caan), serves as his underboss while Tom (Duvall) serves as the family lawyer and consigliere help Vito with the day to day mafia activities. Life starts to take a turn for the Corleone family when drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia Families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. Sollozzo approaches Vito with a deal that Corleone turns down the deal as he is morally against drugs. Not impressed with the answer, Sollozzo’s men gun down Vito in the street in front of his other son, Fredo (Cazale). Vito barely survives the shooting, which leads his son Michael to begin his journey in the family business and protecting his family at all costs.
I honestly forgot how good this movie was. This movie is phenomenal on so many levels. Let’s start off with the story. One of the primary themes of this film is family. Don Corleone has an extreme love for his family and friends. A man who wants to do anything for them but also is quite ruthless when he needs to be.
A perfect example of this is with the actor, director, and horse. That scene is one of the most iconic scenes in film history. Who in the hell would chop off a horse’s head and put it in a director’s bed just to make sure he got the role? That is some EVIL s**t right there. Another example is Sonny and his sister, Connie. When Sonny finds out that his sister is getting hit by her husband, Sonny rushes over and puts his paws all over her husband. He even hit the man with a trash can. Family is a big theme in this whole movie.
Now the primary story in the whole movie is Michael and his rise into the family business. Michael wanted to stay out of the business after returning from war. Dude seemed happy with his new girl, Kay. When his father gets gun downed, this starts the inevitable cycle of Michael taking his place in the criminal world. After killing two people and moving to Italy where he gets married, you think that maybe he will not settle in the criminal world but yet he comes back and takes the head of the new mob boss after his father steps down. Think of Michael as a person who turns evil from the new role he has. Nothing exemplifies this more than the final scene. Michael knows that his enemies are about to descend upon him and wipe out the rest of his organization. While at the baptism of his sister’s, Connie, baby, in church nonetheless, Michael stands and watches when the priest asked, “Do you renounce Satan?” As Michael says, yes, you see each one of the Five Families top boss get murdered one by one. Right there, Michael has become a BOSS! That scene was so good and iconic that it sent a chill down my spine. At that moment, Michael gave ZERO F**KS about anyone who threatened his new kingdom. BOSS MOVE!!
With any gangster film comes the violence, and this one didn’t leave anything out. I don’t know how many people got chocked to death. Seemed like every fifteen minutes, someone was getting chocked to death. When the violence escalated to epic proportions, those bullets were flying. Spoiler Alert: Sonny got it the worse out of everyone. When dude came over him and sprayed him one final time with his Tommy Gun, all you could say was, DAMN!
The Godfather has one of the best music scores around. You seemed to be transported back to Italy when that music explodes on the screen. Yet with the music, you know it means BUSINESS! No matter what the scene is, the music brings a force to anyone who is watching.
Enough with the music and stories and all of that. The BEST PART of the whole movie are the iconic quotes. Some that will live on. I’m surprised AFI didn’t add more. Maybe I should make a list of quotes from this movie. Here are a few that just touches the soul.
- “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
- “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
- “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”
- “Fredo, you’re my brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides against someone from the family again. Ever.”
Three performances stood out in this fantastic film. The first one is Marlon Brando, who played the Godfather. Brando won the Academy Award for his role. Brando played the Godfather as a very perceptive, honest old man that had an extreme love for his family. Yet, Brando also showed that this man had a mean streak about him when he gave out orders and slapped the mess out of one of the people who asked him for a favor. Brando, a long way from his A Streetcar Named Desire years. The once-powerful young man is now replaced by a wheezy, old, slowly moving man. The once-powerful stature of Brando seemingly gone as he seemed to passed the torch on to the newcomer Pacino.
Al Pacino was exceptional in his performance as Michael. A young man who is devoted to his family but really doesn’t want to be in the business. Pacino shows Michael’s true loyalty to his family when they need him the most, and he takes over. Pacino shows the change of a soon to be villain. A person that was once noble on their way to being corrupted and living in a world of darkness.
Finally, there is James Caan as Sonny. Boy did Caan seemed to have fun playing Sonny. A person that had a HUGE temper and loved to fight. He was a wild card as everyone knew about his temper. Sonny was very quick to put his paws on anyone, especially anyone who hit his sister.
The Godfather is a film that will never get old. Is it the best movie ever made? That is a debate for people that are way more knowledgeable in film than me. BUT I will say this, it is in the top echelons of how a movie should be viewed. I love Gangster films, and this one is one of the best. It has it all from the story, violence, music, acting, and quotes. Now make me an offer that I can’t refuse.
