Coppola has created a masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2006)

Mario Puzo's novel about crime, corruption, family and loyalty comes to life with the help of Francis Ford Coppola in The Godfather. The Corleone family, headed by the aging Vito Corleone, is the most powerful family on the East coast, and possibly all of America. They "own" senators, judges and policemen. They are above the law. Vito's son, Michael, has just returned from the war a hero, and wants no part in the family business. But when an up and coming rival family wanting to get into the drug trade asks the Corleones for protection, Don Vito declines their offer, sticking to his traditional Sicilian values. The other families aren't as concerned about the old ways and want in, but know that they can't do business without the Corleones' influence. So, they have Don Corleone shot, expecting to gain leverage with the Don out of action. Luckily, the Don survives and Michael, furious with the attempt on his father's life, steps up to take out the opposition.
Soon, Michael, originally wanting nothing to do with the family business, proves himself to be quite a strategist, always playing mind games with everyone. Everyone except his father, of course. Michael slowly crawls up the ladder of power, destroying anyone who gets in his way, until he sits comfortably at the top. Ruthlessness is his tool and he wields it well. Only those inside the family and his small circle of long term friends are safe from his wrath.
Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone is magnificent. Brando portrays him perfectly as the tough and feared old patriarch that, although brutal to his enemies, loves and cares for his family. His raspy whisper and deliberate movements will forever echo in film history (already having been parodied and imitated countless times).
Al Pacino's Michael Corleone makes a very gradual transformation from the respectable war hero with a nice girlfriend to a full-fledged criminal mastermind. At the beginning of the film, Michael is a friendly young man who wants no part in his father's world. In the very last scene, he is a dangerous, cold-blooded sociopath who still cares for his family, but will do anything to further his influence. Pacino gives a career-making performance and fits perfectly into the role of brilliant anti-hero (as well as the roles of Tony Montana in Scarface and Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon that would come later in his career).
Francis Ford Coppola's directing is perfect. The dark, dramatic lighting used inside the Don's office is a trademark of foreboding danger and power. Everything from the gruesome and, sometimes, disturbing execution killings to the way Vito Corleone looks at his son, Michael, adds to the intoxicating blend of brutality and love that Coppola serves his audience.
Nino Rota's score only spices up the brew with his traditional Italian-sounding pieces that conjure up images of tough Sicilian men riding horse-back through rugged terrain in the old country. A beautiful soundtrack to an already beautiful film.
The Godfather is about how the human mind is affected by crisis, opportunity and corruption. Michael Corleone does not involve himself in the family business until they go after his father. This proves to be the catalyst. Michael takes the plunge into the underworld and, upon realizing that he is smarter than all of the other families put together, only goes deeper. He plays the game of crime like chess. He plans his moves and has all the angles covered. He strikes swiftly and without mercy. Michael Corleone is a criminal, but he is very different from the goon knocking over a 7-11 with a pen-knife. Coppola has created a masterpiece.