Re-configured Genre

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2004)

During the 1970s, American directors decided, like their French counterparts did in the previous decade, to elevate and transcend the genres that appealed to them as children growing up in the 1940s and50s. Lucas took Buck Rodgers and Science Fiction to new levels, as didSpielberg with the Action/Adventure movie.
Some re-made war movies in their own image; others re-configured the Western. Coppola took a stab at elevating the gangster film from B-movie to artistic masterpiece.
On some level, he succeeded, transforming the gangster film from movies about crooks to movies about crooks and their families.
Though it may not seem like such a difference, adding that familial component made movies about organized crime much more interesting than they had previously been. When critics discuss the great gangster films, few films made before the Godfather are mentioned. The Godfather, in one sense, made gangster movies as we know them. That is no small feat and Coppola ought to be commended for that. He made a solidly acted and directed film in a genre not usually known for those attributes.
However, the Godfather is not the greatest movie of all time. It is not even the greatest gangster movie (that would have to go to Goodfellas) or the greatest movie of 1972 (compare it to the dynamic performances of Sleuth, the absolutely absurd and insane Ruling Class, and Bunuel's masterpiece, the Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and you will find the Godfather lacking).
Do not mis-understand: the Godfather is an eminently watchable movie, filled with great performances and guided by the sure hand of a very gifted director. It is simply, though, a very good movie - no more, no less. Perhaps I'm able to take a step back from The Godfather because I wasn't there at the time
I understand its appeal and I understand why people call it one of the greatest motion pictures of all time, but I cannot agree with them. It lacks an intangible quality that all great movies have; it lacks an aura. Movies like Close Encounters and Chinatown have an aura that, though difficult to describe, simply exudes greatness.
The Godfather lacks that intangible quality while maintaining all of the tangible qualities of a great film. That one, almost invisible piece, though separates the very good from the great. That intangibleis vital and is something this film simply does not have.