**** (Out of four)

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 1999)

"The Godfather" is one of the crossroads one must cross before proclaiming oneself a movie fan and a genuine movie buff. Francis Ford Coppola's film is probably his most flawless, although it is NOT my favorite Coppola film (that honor belongs to the unmistakably problematic but highly visionary "Apocalypse Now"). Still, in the midst of a 90s cinema which seems to re-evalutate itself every five years or so with new computer-generated images and thusly cannot enjoy the same degree of timelessness of several earlier, better movies, "The Godfather" will undoubtedly hold its own as one of the most artistic endeavors in the relatively new medium of cinema.
The story has been told many times before: based on Mario Puzo's bestseller, the film examines the aura of the Italian Mafiosi as exemplified through the Corleone family, led by patriarch Vito (Marlon Brando, an Oscar winner in a very professional bit of acting). WWII-hero Michael (Al Pacino--the real star of the film as well as the real Best Actor of that year) comes home and breaks family tradition at his sister Connie's wedding ceremony not only by wearing his military uniform, but introducing his family to his WASP-ish girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton), the epitome of modernistic feminine and Protestant intentions in the Corleone's traditional Catholic--and increasingly outdated--worldview. The wedding scene is one of the great expositions of cinema, and yet the film lives up to all expectations by dashing us headlong into the Corleone's violent world. Of course who can forget the severed horse head in the mansion of the luxurious Hollywood producer, the murder of Luca Brasi, "sleeping with the fishes", Santino's bloody murder at the toll booth, Brando's death scene, the intercutting between the baptism and the murders, and especially the final scene as the door closes and Kay realizes the deceit her entire life will become? To launch into a detailed discussion of Coppola's masterly filmmaking would take beyond 1000 words, so let me just echo the comments of many when saying "The Godfather" is that priceless canoli one should always cherish amidst the decaying corpses of escalating Hollywood trash.