An absolute masterpiece from beginning to end

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2015)

Today, I managed to fill one of the biggest gaps in my film knowledge by watching one of the most popularly and critically acclaimed films of all time. I had picked up some of it by osmosis through references and parodies in other works but most of it was completely new to me, I'm glad to say. The acting, writing and direction are all of an extraordinarily high standard. It is a wonderfully told epic tale of family, betrayal, vengeance and a twisted sense of honour.
As the title character Don Vito Corleone, Marlon Brando gives a fantastic performance which afforded him his second and final Best Actor Oscar, though he did not accept it. The Don is a fascinating character. He prides himself on being a man of honour who values loyalty above everything else and has a strict moral code, albeit an extremely warped one. The family business encompasses murder, gambling, bootlegging and widespread political and judicial corruption and yet he refuses to enter the narcotics trade as he thinks that it will be too messy and lose the family its support among the police and politicians. I generally prefer Brando when he enunciates more clearly as opposed to mumbling but he is very frightening as the soft spoken Don. Truly powerful people do not need to shout all of the time and the Don understands this. He seldom loses his temper, using violence as an instrument after a reasonable offer has been refused. He is an incredibly strong and compelling character and Brando's performance represents some of his best work. Francis Ford Coppola said that he wanted the best actor in the world to play Don Corleone, which meant either Brando or Laurence Olivier. Olivier is one of my absolute favourite actors but I can't imagine him as the Don.
In his first major film appearance, Al Pacino is excellent as the Don's youngest son Michael Corleone, another wonderfully compelling character. In his first scene, we are introduced to him as a US Army captain who has just returned from the recently ended World War II. He is the outsider as he is the only member of his family to have attended college and wants no part of the family business. He instead wants a normal life with his girlfriend Kay Adams and this is illustrated by the two of them going Christmas shopping and going to see "The Bells of St. Mary's" – in a funny coincidence, that was the first sequel nominated for Best Picture while "The Godfather Part II" was the second – in the cinema. However, everything changes after the assassination attempt on the Don and Michael's first involvement with the family business when he murders Sollozzo and McCluskey in the restaurant, one of the best scenes in the film. He spends several years in Sicily, marries a young woman named Apollonia and sees her killed in a car bomb which was meant for him as part of the ongoing war between the Five Families. This experience hardens him and he begins to lose touch with his humanity. He returns to New York City to find that his family is no longer feared as it once was, given that his father has grown weak. The Corleones relocate to Las Vegas and, under Michael's leadership, attempt to legitimise the business but this is mocked by the Nevada based gangster Moe Greene, a thinly veiled version of Bugsy Siegel. It could be argued that Michael does not truly become his own man until after his father's death when he not only establishes himself as the new Don but reestablishes the Corleones as the most feared and powerful crime family. Pacino was deservedly nominated for an Oscar but for Best Supporting Actor rather than Best Actor, which justifiably annoyed him as he had more screen time than Brando.
James Caan is likewise excellent as the Don's hotheaded eldest son Sonny whose frequent outbursts provide a great contrast to the measured, reasonable approaches of both his father and Michael and whose very bloody murder provides another of the best scenes in the film. Robert Duvall is extremely good as Tom Hagen, the Don's unofficially adopted German- Irish-American son and the family's consigliere who is often the voice of reason. A very young Diane Keaton is impressive in the supporting role of the initially naive Kay, who undergoes a steep learning curve in the brilliant final scene when she realises that Michael was lying when he said that he did not have his brother-in-law Carlo killed. The film has a very strong cast overall: John Cazale, Sterling Hayden, Abe Vigoda (along with Brando, one of the few non-Italian-Americans playing one in the film), Richard Conte (who was considered for Don Corleone), Richard S. Castellano, Al Lettieri, John Marley, Alex Rocco and Coppola's sister Talia Shire. Although Shire is a little over the top in the last scene, she is excellent in the extremely unpleasant scene in which Connie breaks down and Carlo beats her.
The film's cinematography is beautiful. I particularly loved the frequent use of shadow and darkness. The long takes, one of my favourite film techniques, are not of the same duration as in the films of Orson Welles or Kenneth Branagh but they are used very effectively. My absolute favourite scene in the film is the baptism of Connie's son Michael which is interspersed with a series of brutal murders. Not only is it shot in a fantastic way but it provides another great contrast as well as illustrating Michael's descent.
Overall, this is an absolutely brilliant film which lives up to the hype.