Completely un-redeeming in any way. Garbage.

Rating: 1/10 (18 January 2002)

I remember distinctly the first time I saw "The Godfather". I was a child and it was being shown on broadcast television. Granted, neither of theses are optimal conditions for rendering an informed opinion but I remember being struck with how unremarkable- in fact how boring I found the film. I was particularly surprised by this, as there had been a great fanfare over the broadcast. I chalked this up to my own immaturity and thought no more of it.
The second time I saw the film was in college. My friend had a brother who was quite a film enthusiast and he, like many others, counted "The Godfather" as the finest film. One evening my friend and I watched the film. The viewing once again left me unimpressed. I feigned an enthusiasm for the film that I did not feel, as it seemed the popular, and even the intellectual expectation. Once again I associated my dislike for the movie with a failing in myself. I apparently did not appreciate a "good movie" when I saw one.
Since that time I have seen many films, from many directors, from many countries, in many languages, and with varying budgets from independent offerings to mainstream Hollywood fare. I certainly do not consider myself to be an expert but feel myself to be an informed member of an audience. Armed with my experience I recently viewed "The Godfather" again to expunge my previous failures and to gleefully join the ranks of Godfather sycophants. Well, I think you know the outcome. As they say in baseball, three strikes and you're out.
I find the film to be completely un-redeeming in every way. I do not have space to address the film systematically or technically so I will speak to my central grievance- the story is hollow. There is no moral center.
I do not demand that a movie have morality. I do not demand that a film even have a point. I can take a film at its face value for what it is. A slapstick comedy is foolish and an action flick is mindless, I do not ask that they be a different movie- only that they meet the narrow definition to which they aspire. The problem is that "The Godfather" aspires to be a great drama and that aspiration comes with high expectations.
Gratuitous violence is expected in big-budget action flicks, amorality can be understood in the quiet desperation of an independent film's philosophy, and self-indulgence is to be expected in the over-the-top musical extravaganza. However, violence, amorality, and self-indulgence in a film that portrays itself as mainstream drama or even tragedy are reprehensible. This is not art- it is base voyeurism at its worst. We are standing in the bailey at New Castle or at the Coliseum watching with leering stares at the baseness and depravity of man. This film is not a criticism of man's foul nature, as in the above referenced independent film; it is a celebration of it. Anyone who claims otherwise deludes himself.
Thus conceived I can appreciate `The Godfather' as a film oddity, a curious victory of the popularity of evil men. But to say that it is a great film is scandalous, and to say that it is the greatest film is blasphemous. To say that the highest achievement of man in film is a celebration of cruelty, deception, and greed is a statement that many should reconsider.
I find it interesting that many of those who claim "The Godfather" as their favorite film, or the best film of all time can count their viewings of the film on one hand. In fact, I myself (who thinks unfavorably of the film) have given the film more attention then many of the "fans" I know. A friend of mine who professes to like the film recently returned the box-set DVD "Godfather" collection that he received for Christmas. As he put it, he loved the film but when was he ever going to watch it? That is faint praise indeed for the "greatest film of all time".
I am sure there are those who genuinely enjoy the film, but you could say that about any movie. I would advise those who fawn over this film so to ask themselves if their enthusiasm comes from within or from a modern mythology. "The Godfather" is a paper tiger.