Cagney at his peak would have been proud to be in this one.

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2000)

The gangster film was pretty much the property of Warner Bros during the 1930's. And rightfully so. With their star line-up of Bogart, Edward G., Muni, Raft, O'Brien and the magisterial Cagney , how could they fail?. Public Enemy, the original Scarface, the Roaring 20's, Little Caesar. Even today these films still have a great raw power no matter how certain elements may be dated. And with White Heat Warner proved they could still come up with a truly great gangster film in the late 40's .
But when The Godfather came along in 1972 it blew away all the opposition.
The hype had really gone into overdrive by the time it reached Ireland in the Summer of 1973. Although it was the film you had to see at the time, for boys of my generation, Marlon Brando was yesterday's man.
Clint Eastwood was our idol, with the spaghetti Westerns and Dirty Harry.
And, to be honest, the wedding scene, the scene with Brando's pottering around in the garden with his grandson, and the scenes of family banter did seem to me, then, to get in the way of the undoubtedly brilliant set-pieces of violence and pad out the film unnecessarily. Seeing the sequel two years later largely helped me to confirm my original view that the original was more a star vehicle to revive Brando's career and I went along with the perceived opinion that the later film was the masterpiece of the series.
Almost 30 years later, having greatly expanded my vocabulary of World Cinema, The Godfather still ranks in my Top 10 of all time,(and I can't see that ranking will ever change) whereas the sequel, while I admire it as a great film, would be some way short.
What marks the film out as particularly special include many of the features that I found boring as a teenager: the family relationships; the jostling for positions in the family and mafia hierarchy, but especially the carefully plotted change in Michael's character. Has Pacino ever been better? Like Jack Nicholson, he was at his best in his early films, before the fame thing went to his head. And Coppola undoubtedly kept his performance and character on a tight rein in contrast to Part 2, where there may just have been a touch of caricature.
The great scenes were masterfully directed: the toll-booth assassination; the various violent deaths, Michael's cafe killings; the shocking church murders, but, overall, its the pacing and development of the film, and Coppola's masterly handling of the actors which will make this one run and run. And I haven't even mentioned Nino Rota's spellbinding music.
Of course Coppola has mostly disappointed since then, (although I will always maintain that Rumble Fish is a minor gem, )one acknowledged masterpiece is more than most directors could even dream about.
Cagney at his peak would have been proud to be in this one. What higher praise can I give it.