Still at the top of my list

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2005)

The Godfather was an epic novel, an excellent story, and the movie could have easily been botched on numerous levels; instead, Francis Ford Coppola managed to create an enduring masterpiece of modern cinema. This excellence he achieved in spite of the constant harassment and general incompetence of Paramount Pictures. Coppola was almost fired by the studio several times during the filming of this classic, yet he managed to persevere and realize his vision through to the end. The casting, direction, acting, cinematography, and story are all top notch. Add to it a beautiful score by Nino Rota and you have the #1 IMDb movie of all time. This is a movie I have watched many times and found few weaknesses.
If Paramount had its way, The Godfather would have been much different. In this alternate reality, Coppola would have been fired and replaced with some studio sycophant director. There would be no Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, since Paramount felt Brando was a troublemaker. Michael would have been played by Ryan O'Neal or Robert Redford since Paramount wanted a "prettier" leading man. Al Pacino, despite superior acting ability, would have probably remained undiscovered. The story would not have taken place in the 40's and 50's, but instead would have been contemporary in order to minimize production costs. To be sure, the ultimate result of Paramount's expediency would have been unmitigated disaster. Thankfully, Coppola fought Paramount throughout the entire production, and much like the Godfather himself, refused to dance on the strings of those Paramount pezzonovante.