Coppola's perfection

Rating: 10/10 (16 October 2003)

The Godfather is the ultimate example of how to adapt a book into a film. Mario Puzo's novel was extremely readable, but didn't seem to lend itself to cinema. It consisted of a whole slew of sub-books, each about a different character, each totally different in feel, each containing pages and pages of backstory and history. Add to this a high quotient of sex and violence, and only the fact that it was selling copiously convinced studio executives to touch it with a ten-foot pole.
It's a good thing they did, because I don't know of any other case where so much has come from so little. Everybody is perfectly cast, from Brando down the the most minute walk-on. No punches are pulled with bringing the book's content to the screen, the production design creates a perfect-looking world for it to take place in, the cinematography captures that world beautifully, and the score emotionally underscores it all magnificently.
This truly is one of the medium's pillars.