Coppola's masterpiece about Italian gangsters in the 1940s with Brando, Pacino, Caan & Duvall

Rating: 9/10 (20 September 2017)

RELEASED IN 1972 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "The Godfather" stars Marlon Brando as the aging don of an Italian mafia dynasty in the 1940s who decides to transfer control of his clandestine empire to his hesitant but formidable son, Michael (Al Pacino); meanwhile a gangster war breaks out between the five Mob families in the New York City area.
MAIN CAST: James Caan plays the tough son, Sonny; Robert Duvall plays the adopted lawyer son, Tom; and John Cazale plays the weakest Corleone son, Fredo, who's basically exiled to Vegas. Diane Keaton & Simonetta Stefanelli play Michael's American and Sicilian babes respectively. Talia Shire appears as the "hysterical" sister of the Corleone family, Connie, and Gianni Russo her duplicitous, abusive husband. Al Martino plays Johnny Fontane, the singer of dubious talents inspired by Frank Sinatra.
I'm not big on gangster flicks because it's hard to work up compassion for protagonists who are criminal scum. I usually can't wait for them to be wiped off the face of the earth (or sent to prison for life, sharing a cell with Bubba). But, if you can handle this element, "The Godfather" is a great Mobster movie and one of the greatest gangster flicks ever. This is basically a drama with flashes of brutal, shocking hoodlum-oriented violence.
Highlights abound, starting with Brando's great performance, well displayed in the opening scene, and the awesome mid-40s ambiance. The restaurant sequence is suspense at finest. Other great scenes include the Beverly Hills horse bit; a rugged henchman unexpectedly garroted; Michael's rescue of his father at a deserted hospital (which is reminiscent of a similar sequence in 1968's "Bullitt"); the assassination in the reeds; the brief-but-potent "love at first sight" moment in Sicily; Sonny's beating the snot out of a deserving POS; the sudden explosive death of a loved one; the unexpected tollbooth sequence; Vito playing with his grandson in the garden with an orange peel in his mouth; and the baptism sequence juxtaposed with Michael's men carrying out their wicked deeds.
What's the moral of the story? The ending tells all: Choosing a life in league with organized crime will turn you into a hypocritical, lying, murderous fool.
THE FILM RUNS 2 hours & 55 minutes and was shot in the New York City area; Sicily; Las Vegas; and Beverly Hills, California. WRITERS: Coppola & Mario Puzo from Puzo's book.
GRADE: A