One of the Greatest American Films of All Time

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2007)

The Godfather is considered a landmark achievement in film and considered by many as one of the greatest film of all time. The plot of the movie is a little hard to explain because the movie misleads the viewer and goes somewhere else but little by little the pieces add up together. The story begins with a bunch of people coming to the mafia Don, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) for some requests because "The Don can't refuse an offer to a Sicilian on the day of his daughters wedding." At the wedding we are introduced the Corleone family which include Santino or Sonny Corleone (James Caan) the oldest of the family and the most hotheaded member, Fredo the second oldest who is a womanizer and isn't as smart as the other members of his family, then there is Michael played by Al Pacino who is a WWII veteran who comes to his sister's wedding with his girlfriend Kay and tells her how he doesn't want to become like the others in his family. Then is Tom Haygin (Robert Duvall) the non Italian character who was taken in by Vito Corleone as a son and become the consiliere (or head of legal affairs) and then there is of course Connie (The Don's Daughter) who is marrying a man named Carlo. The beginning of the story focuses on a famous singer Johnny Propane coming to Vito Corleone asking him for help to get cast in a film, soon Tom goes there and ends up "forcefully" making the Director accept Johnny Propane. From there things become a little difficult when Vito Corleone refuses to get in the business of narcotics with a heroin dealer named Virgil Sollozzo. After Vito's refusal he is shot and nearly killed when his shot down by Sollozzo's men. Without much hope Tom is taken hostage and tries to get hotheaded Sonny to take a deal with Sollozzo but when he refuses things become worse as a possibility of an all out war with the other 5 heads of family become visible. Then Michael takes his role in the story when he visits his father and realizes their isn't security before he is beaten by the corrupt Captain McCluskey. After the incident Michael offers to kill Sollozzo and McCluskey who they realize are working together and in a climatic scene Michael takes out a loaded gun and kills both McCluskey and Sollozzo. Without any hope Michael is forced to move to Sicily to be safe guarded for a while. There he meets a girl named Apollonia and she is soon killed in a car bomb in a near assassination on Michael's life because of the crime's he's committed. Things start to fall apart as the Don finally returns home and Sonny goes on to beat Carlo after he beats on his sister Connie. However when Carlo beats Connie again, Sonny is aggravated and goes to beat up Carlo again before getting murdered at a toll booth by an army of gunmen. After the death of Sonny, Vito Corleone decides to go with the five heads of the mafia to make a truce, soon Michael returns now that it's safe and returns to Kay his girlfriend and tells her he wants to marry her. With Sonny dead, the Don almost retired and Fredo in Vegas (being incompetent to take care of family affairs). Michael soon reduces Tom's power and makes Carlo his right hand man when they move their operations to Nevada. When visiting Vegas, Michael goes to a casino which is financed by The Corleone's and run by Moe Greene where Michael tells Moe that he plans on buying him out much to his dismay. Later Michael returns back home where he talks with the Don and the Don tells him that an associate close to him will betray him and kill him. Soon after the Don plays with his grandson (Michael's son) he dies of a heart attack. During the funeral Michael discovers that Tessio was the traitor and soon has him along with Moe Greene and the heads of the mafia all wiped out during the baptism of Connie's child. Afterwards Michael goes to Carlo's house where he questions him on Sonny's murder before wiping him out. The movie ends with Connie angry at Michael for Carlo's death but Michael seems not to care and when Kay asks him if this is what he does for a living, Michael tells her he doesn't. However it's obvious she realizes that Michael is becoming more what he was afraid of.