When humanity takes a back seat to the business, you have The Godfather.

Rating: 9/10 (18 May 2012)

Once again delving into IMDb's Top 250, we come upon The Godfather. Long since clichéd in its use of "Offer you can't refuse", the horse incident and its view of the mafia, Godfather remains compelling 40 years after its release.
Vito Corleone is on his last legs. As he enjoys his daughter's wedding, the cesspool of mafiosi politicking makes hay behind his back as his sons vie for control of the family and a monopoly over their section of New York. We see the brutality and efficiency of said underworld at is pinnacle when Corleone convinces a movie producer to give a friend of his a part by beheading his prize horse and leaving the "note" in his bed. Any attempt at normalcy is doomed as families are torn apart by violence, secrecy, jealousy and anger as husbands gamble human freight to gain more influence in their inner circles.
Marlon Brando is excellent as the Corleone clan's "eminence grise", who wryly dies of natural causes while one of his sons is gunned down at a toll, ostensibly for his actions toward other clans as well as his wife. Betrayals are repaid with quick deaths and the juxtaposition of Michael in a church forsaking violence and hatred (Satan) while eliminating his rivals in the background is chilling.
The epic lasts a good 10 years as we see the evolution of mafia reach from simple prostitution and bribery and gambling to include illicit drugs, somewhat half-heartedly. At the end, Michael Corleone stands alone as Godfather and alone as husband, betraying his wife's trust to keep silent his actions with the Corleone clan. The Godfather is still an epic, sprawling masterpiece that doesn't seem out of date in 2012, scary a thought as that is...