Coppola made us a movie we can't refuse

Rating: 10/10 (16 July 2005)

When people think of "The Godfather", they usually think of the Mafia. But, as Entertainment Weekly noted, calling "The Godfather" a Mafia movie is like calling "The Odyssey" a guide to the Aegean Sea. This story of how the Corleone family rules New York with their own version of justice entails everything that makes movies good.
First, the opening scene. The shot of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) sitting in his chair petting his cat sets the Don up as a fatherly - but shady - figure. Then, you see Connie's (Talia Shire) wedding: the Corleones are not just a bunch of evil slime-balls. During the wedding, Michael (Al Pacino) arrives. Wearing his military uniform, Michael looks like a handsome young man - possibly an allusion to how these people are adept at deceiving other people. At the wedding, Michael meets WASP-ish outsider Kay Adams (Diane Keaton), who's naturally a little weirded out by the whole Mafia lifestyle - at one point, Michael has to tell her: "That's my family, Kay. That's not me." The other two sons are Sonny (James Caan), the immature playboy, and Fredo (John Cazale), the loser. And there's also the adopted son Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), now a lawyer. After a trip to Hollywood where he unsuccessfully tries to get a producer to hire singer Johnny Fontane (who apparently was not really based on Frank Sinatra), we all know what Tom does with the horse.
A scene that did a really good job showing the break between 1st and 2nd generation Americans is the scene where Michael and Kay are Christmas shopping and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is playing. Vito, as an immigrant, kept many of the traditions from his native country. Michael, born and raised in the US, certainly seems less Italian that his father.
Then, of course, Vito gets shot. After Michael gets revenge, he has to hide out in Sicily. While he's there...well, we all know what happens to Sonny. This prompts Vito to negotiate with the other families. But then, Michael turns out to be even more ruthless than his father.
Probably the most incredible scene is when Michael presides over the baptism of Connie's child. As soon as Michael "renounces" Satan, things get ugly. It basically says that every time that they say something holy, someone gets slaughtered.
All in all, Francis Ford Coppola created an inimitable cinematic masterpiece. And the sequel actually managed to equal the original.