An Offer You Don't Want To Refuse

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2013)

"The Godfather's" greatness extends beyond my ability to sing its praises, so there's not much insight I can offer. Except this: If you haven't seen the movie, and think like I did that you'll be disappointed doing so, see it anyway.
I did. And I was disappointed, at least the first time I saw it. It was good, I thought, but not that good. Like this character gets killed off too quickly, or the movie spends too much time away from the main story following one character in Sicily, or that famous lilting melody I grew up with doesn't come up for over an hour. I thought it was good, but overrated.
But then I saw it again. Wow, what a difference. Three hours flew so quickly, and I found myself totally immersed in the many different stories going on simultaneously, as well as the way director Francis Ford Coppola weaves them so effectively. "The Godfather" has this ability to hit you a completely different way when you see it again, because there's so much depth to what you see on screen at any given moment. But at the same time, unlike a lot of "deep-thought" pictures, it's wonderfully accessible, at least to a multiple-time viewer like me.
The story at the heart of things is simple. A mafia family, the Corleones, are going through a rough patch. Don Vito (Marlon Brando) appears to be slipping as rival crime families vie to get into the narcotics market, which Don Vito has always eschewed. After one particularly rough gangster named Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) makes a move on the Don, its up to Vito's previously clean son Michael (Al Pacino) to involve himself in family affairs and help Pop out.
That the Corleones are the underdogs in this movie is part of its brilliant perversity. The movie gets you rooting for them, to the point where your journey becomes similar to Michael's. The corruption he embraces in pursuit of his father's salvation becomes something you root for, until at the end, when it culminates in an orgy of violence, you might like me get as pumped about it as you would be watching your favorite sports team pull out a come-from-behind win.
Great dialogue, too, fantastically delivered. Everyone is so excellent in this movie, yet at the same time so understated. From the direction to the cinematography to the music, there's a quietness to the movie that's almost eerie, and does a lot to pull you in. Pacino, Brando, and Lettieri could all be big actors, but they all keep it contained here, especially Brando whose opening scene as the Don sets the bar very high. James Caan is the closest this movie has to an outsized performance, as Michael's hot-tempered older brother Sonny, but even he only boils up once in a while. The phrase "It's not personal, it's business," comes up a few times in this movie, and the scary thing is it really is for them.
Do yourself a favor and watch this movie. And if you have already, and didn't think it was that great, see it again. You may wind up as amazed as me at what a difference a second viewing can make.