with its long, but taut running time, perfect casting, and all under the control of Francis Ford Coppola, "The Godfather" easily scores as one of the best films ever made

Rating: 10/10 (11 May 2009)

When it comes to naming the greatest and most influential motion pictures of all time, Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 masterpiece "The Godfather" is a title that is practically guaranteed to be among the many listed. Famed director Stanley Kubrick called "The Godfather" a candidate for the best movie ever made and "without a doubt, the best cast." Although not very familiar with Kubrick's films and his tastes, I will say that on the second regard, he is absolutely correct.
Based on a very good, hard-to-put-down novel by Italian American novelist Mario Puzo, the film revolves around a fictional 1940s Sicilian crime family based in New York. The family is run by a wispy-voiced, puffy-cheeked man named Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) who has, for the most part, moved away from the days of violence in favor of peace and prosperity without blood and above all things, lectures on the topics of friendship and loyalty. When an attempt is made on Vito's life, his two sons (James Caan, Al Pacino) and his adoptive son (Robert Duvall) take control of his dynasty and fight to keep him alive and what unfolds is a repeat of days gone by and the world of the Mafia is exposed to a spellbound, absorbed audience.
"The Godfather" is nearly three hours in length and part of this is due to the fact that it follows Mario Puzo's novel almost exactly detail-by-detail, scene-by-scene: a very rare thing in Hollywood, which always seems more than happy to alter and reshape the mold of the authors' visions for the big screen. Coppola's film will without a doubt satisfy the purists, and even to those who have not had the privilege of reading Puzo's fantastic book, this is still a more than enjoyable way to spend three hours. Even at such a length, "The Godfather" never fails to keep our eyes focused on the screen.
Number one, we have great characters in what is possibly the greatest cast ever assembled for a single movie. Marlon Brando was great; that was a given. But what really impressed the audiences of 1972, and what still impresses people, are the performances of the supporting cast. Names such as Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, and James Caan, who are at icon status today, were nobodies at the time. Al Pacino, in particular, gives a noteworthy performance that garnered him an Academy Award nomination and made the producers who initially wanted to ban him from the role feel like the biggest idiots on the face of the planet. Pacino is undoubtedly the most ironic character in the film. When we first see him, he's not even so much as a sliver of a Mafia-type image. He's passive, he's quiet, shy, with a clean record, and a war hero. Then, when he has to assume a Family role to defend his father, he slowly turns into the image of his predecessor and by the time the film ends, Pacino is the exact opposite of how we first saw him. Of course I can't leave out Diane Keaton as Pacino's love interest, who watches him change before her eyes, James Caan as the fiery-tempered brother, Robert Duvall as the Family consiligere, and one of my favorites, Al Lettieri as the villainous, steely-eyed Virgil Sollozzo, who fits the exact image of how I pictured the character while reading the novel.
Second, there is the fantastic element that the whole realm of the story takes place in the world of the Mafia. There is none of the tired old elements of, shall we say, detectives trying to uncover the Mafia and take them down or civilians who become victims of the organized crime families. With this method, we successfully connect with and understand the motivations of the characters while the outside world, law and otherwise, simply lies in the background. The outside world meant little to the Mafia, and thus it means little to us as well.
But of course, "The Godfather" does not glorify the Mafia. Yes, we do identify and sometimes feel for the characters in this savage world, but never do we justify for them. And when director Francis Ford Coppola tries to give us horrifying violence, he delivers. As he noted in his commentary on the film, Coppola worked hard with his pyrotechnics crew to make all of the shootings and killings in "The Godfather" look real as opposed to making them obvious simulations. He uses blood, but not so much to the point where it becomes over the top, but just enough to make it convincing and disgusting.
"The Godfather" was an enormous hit when it was first released. It garnered there Academy Award wins included Best Picture of the Year and broke box office records that would not be topped until "Jaws" (1975) was released three years later. Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall were all secured nominations in the Best Supporting Actor category but surprisingly none of them won. It also spawned two successful sequels, one of which I feel is actually superior to the original. And now Francis Ford Coppola has worked with Robert A. Harris to restore his famous trilogy and give it the pristine print that he always wanted audiences to see it in. Among other films such as "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Vertigo" (1958), and "Spartacus" (1960), "The Godfather" is certainly a film that deserves a beautiful restoration so that it may linger in our collective minds for generations to come.