The greatest film of all time.

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2002)

Francis Ford Coppola made his breakthrough directorial effort with 1972's Best Picture (according to AMPAS and numerous circles) is unquestionably the greatest american film. This isn't to say that Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane aren't as good as it. In fact, Apocalypse Now (also directed by Coppola) is probably better in terms of visual style and cause, but Mario Puzo (who also wrote the novel THE GODFATHER) and Francis Ford Coppola's screenplay is surpisingly cohesive, and Gordon Willis' stunning photography accentuates the period feel of the film. It is like no other work of cinema to come out of the 70s and will never be topped. Not even by Coppola. The story is so reminiscent of Shakespeare and Greek tragedies that Corleone seems almost mythological. All in all this is a film about finding the American dream. It's a film about honor, respect and tradition. The word mafia is never used because unlike GoodFellas and Casino, this is not an expose or biography of the mafia, but is an epic story of an American family. The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.