Generally acknowledged as a bona fide classic, this Francis Ford Coppola film is one of those rare experiences that feels perfectly right from beginning to end--almost as if everyone involved had been born to participate in it. Based on Mario Puzo's bestselling novel about a Mafia dynasty, Coppola's Godfather extracted and enhanced the most universal themes of immigrant experience in America: the plotting-out of hopes and dreams for one's successors, the raising of children to carry on the good work, etc. In the midst of generational strife during the Vietnam years,... the film somehow struck a chord with a nation fascinated by the metamorphosis of a rebellious son (Al Pacino) into the keeper of his father's dream. Marlon Brando played against Puzo's own conception of patriarch Vito Corleone, and time has certainly proven the actor correct. The rest of the cast, particularly James Caan, John Cazale, and Robert Duvall as the rest of Vito's male brood--all coping with how to take the mantle of responsibility from their father--is seamless and wonderful. --Tom Keogh [show more]
The languorous pace of this film might seem off-putting to modern audiences but it is truly worth giving a go as it is worthy of the "classic" label. It starts with someone asking a favour of the Don and in that first scene all of the ideas of the gangster lifestyle are brought up *the respect, the violence, the strange sense of honour) as Vito Corleone twists and turns his language to defeat his appellant. The film follows the Corleone family through a troubled period in their "business" as reluctance to work with drugs starts off a deadly chain-reaction feud that last for years. Son of the Don, Michael Corleone, returns a war hero and is gradually drawn into the family business that no-one wanted him to be involved in. This is a film full of violence and double-crossing but is also notable for its great acting particularly from Al Pacino and Marlon Brando and for the character development of Michael. If you have not seen it before you will doubtless recognise many lines but that just goes towards the quality of the script. The second film may be the jewel of the trilogy but with this as a set-up it would have been hard pressed to go wrong.
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