The Godfather is the ALLTIME BEST MOVIE IN MY LIFETIME!!!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2017)

Spoilers!!!!The movies are just as rich in dialogue and plot as the books themselves. It is a compelling saga about the rise of the mobster Corleone family. You have to watch it several times before you understand the depth and magnitude of the storytelling. Marlon Brando was hailed for his acting in this film, I thought Al Pacino who plays the conflicted son of the patriarch had far more facets and nuances. I watched Godfather 2 and then 1 back to back so forgive me if the reviews overlap it really is one continuing story. It starts with an Italian marriage of the daughter where Vito grants favors to the Sicilian communities and extracts favors in return, You cannot help but side with his character.He has a sordid seedy side with mobsters, organized crime and racketeering. And yet the audience empathizes with his strong love for his Italian family as well as his ties and loyalty to his even closer knit mobster family. We see the magnitude of the power of the Godfather when Tom Hagen, the adopted son of the Godfather, an Irish Lawyer goes to Hollywood to send a message from the Godfather. He wanted his friend Johnny to have a plum role in an upcoming movie. The director shows off his beautiful mansion and $600,000 show horses. The director quickly becomes enraged at the request seeing that Johnny had stolen a starlet he was involved with and sends Tom on his way (Duvall). The next morning comes one of the most memorable scenes where he wakes up to the graphic bleeding horse head. The scene is powerful. Marlon Brando does some of his best acting in this piece it is best role of his lifetime which ultimately defines his acting for his generation as well as future generations to come. Every gesture is well thought and planned. From the script comes lines that even now are still unforgettable and are still often quoted--"I'll make you an offer you cannot refuse". The best acting is not when someone shows a full range of emotion it is at its best during quiet solitude, you can see Don Vito pondering and thinking his next step. he is pained when he hears Michael probably his most beloved son had killed the police and was sent away to Sicily, Michael's fate is sealed. He had always wanted him to be of legitimate power being the smartest of all the children. The quiet garden scene is magnificent as you see Marlon Brando conferring with Michael who is now getting entrenched in the family business and how the Godfather says he never wanted this for him. Deep down, Don Vito just wanted to make good for his family. Despite all the crime, he still loved his family and kept them close united in the family business. Vito was a bit of a Robin Hood, expelling bad people to help the good people which is why we emphasized with his character and rooted for him even with the evil entrapping. Even as he plotted revenge on the local Mafia boss in Sicily who gunned down his mother, father and brother we still cheer for him as he exacts his revenge. As his power declines, when Solozzo wanted to do narcotics and exact police coverage from the Godfather, even with promises of more wealth, Vito still had a code of ethics, that was to do no harm to children and not get involved with the sordidness of drugs. we can all relate to that. An attempt on his life is made and as we see the great Don fallen physically and literally from power and health, slowly the rise of the younger Corleones occur replacing the rapidly fading Don Vito Corleone. Another intense scene ensues when one of their hit men Luca Brazi is found dead, a package is delivered to their home with a bullet vest wrapping dead fish--an old Sicilian saying --he is sleeping with the fishes. A scene that has been multiplied and quoted a thousand times over in film and in media. The Godfather's usual body guard calls away sick that fateful day which does not go unnoticed. One day Clemenza, one of the Don's faithful accomplices since the start accompanies the body guard on a trip then tells him to stop while he takes a leak. The bodyguard is then shot. Clemenza nonchalantly tells the gunman "leave the gun but take the cannolis", another famous line. Alfredo, the middle son of Vito is incompetent and could not even pull the trigger on the gunmen who shot his father, he is outcast to managing casinos in Nevada being cared for by his younger brother Michael who he slowly resents. HIs is a portrayal of weakness in a family of dominant men. Sonny is the oldest brother who acts before he thinks steps in as the next Don. Micheal hears about his father's shooting as he and Kay (Diane Keaton) walk by a newsstand. He is hailed as a war hero and is the intelligent one who never got caught up in the family business. But with the shooting of his father he is inexorably pulled into the dark side. He visits his father and sees no staff or guards he moves his father to another room. Enzo, one who the Godfather has granted favors to comes to visit. Michael enlists his help to make like they have guns. He shows Enzo how to pretend his coat is loaded with a gun. When Solozzo's hitmen come by Michael makes a motion towards his coat as if he's about to pull out a gun and the mob car quickly scurries away. The cinematography is dramatic and magnificent. This scene was set at night. Michael hiding in the shadows and the shadowy figures of the hitmen are gripping telling the story of revenge, crime and evil. You see Enzo sjaking like aleaf knowing he could have nearly been gunned down. The police come by and the corrupt chief breaks Michael's jaw when he tells Michael to leave. Tom quickly comes by posing with private investigators, but the corrupt cop knows when to high tail it. This is the fateful night that Michael turns, you see a fine display of emotions on his face and he is compelled to do something to save his father which wins over his reticence in getting involved. You can practically see Michael's thoughts it is an all consuming role. Michael cannot deny his loyalty to his father despite his innocence. While Sonny and the main caporegimes are plotting, Michael pipes up he will take out the chief of the police and Solozzo. They are stunned It was unthinkable. They are astounded but impressed by Michael who is well known even among the 5 families of crime to be not involved. This marks his entry into depravity and darkness. They plan to use a respectable restaurant where the gun will be planted in advance in a bathroom, Clemenza reiterates 2 bullet to the head then drop the gun and walk. The plan goes without a hitch. Michael is banished to Sicily for a year where he falls in love with a beautiful but virtuous Italian girl. It is charming to see how women used to be courted before women's liberation and women are still virtuous. He courts her the old fashioned way slowly wins over the father and it is quite beautiful seeing the old world ways where she is chaperoned by 5 older women. You see the charming traditions of a Sicilian wedding set against a picturesque backdrop of old world villages and beautiful hills You feel like you are a part of the wedding party. He teaches her how to drive, but alas, one of his bodyguards plots to plant a bomb and his beautiful young wife gets caught in the crossfire. Michael goes home but does not seek Kay for another year. Kay is hurt but accepts him back and you wonder how a sweet innocent women can blend in with such a family ridden with crime. Connie, the only daughter of the Godfather, is wrapped up in her own drama. Her husband is a violent man.; She is often seen with bruises and black eyes. Sonny's temper is ultimately his downfall. He threatens Connie's husband if he should ever touch his sister again like that he would not see the living daylights. Connie's husband betrays the family and sets Sonny up by provoking a fight with Connie. Knowing Connie will be home he asks a mistress to call causing her to lose her temper followed by a glorious scene of dish smashing. It felt real as if you were in the room with them, what followed next was a very realistic scene of her husband taking his belt off and she runs to the bathroom with cries of terror, it was very uncomfortable to watch but you felt the raw emotion. Sonny hears about it and without an escort runs to Connie's defense and is assassinated in a brutal gun scene on the Long Island causeway, which is one of the most unforgettable scenes of the movie. Here you felt the backlash of crime and what befalls you when you get mixed up with it. Kay asks Michael if he would be the godfather to Connie's child. He consents but in the back of his mind is plotting the revenge of his father and his brother. The last scene is iconic and intense. You have the pure sacred baptism of Connie's sweet little baby with the congregation being asked to renounce sin, Satan contrasting with gory scenes of the 5 family heads gunned down graphically, one is having a massage being gunned down by a hitman through his glasses, another is trapped in a hotel of St. Regis and gunned down through he glass doors, another is gunned down in an elevator by Clemenza, another is gunned down in bed with his mistress all the while you see scene. The vendetta is final and complete. In the end, Michael exacts his cold revenge from Connie's husband who is led away in a car and garroted. In the last scene, he lies to Kay and she watches him being silently hailed while the caporegimes kiss his hand and the door slowly closes, it was an awesome scene. In sum, it's movie of deep family love, traditions and culture, betrayal, passion, greed, revenge, innocence turning into evil and that no matter how powerful you are there is always someone more powerful who will gun you down. Godfather is the best movie I have ever seen in my life, nothing compares.