Weak compared to the book

Rating: 6/10 (25 August 2001)

***Spoilers Ahead***
I read the book by Puzo before I saw the movie made out of it. I loved The Godfather in writing. I thought the characters were well thought out and portrayed. When I rented the movie, I knew that there is no way to give the whole story in four hours and make it interesting so I looked for characters and the way they were illustrated. I looked for the way relationships were passed on to the viewer compared how it was done in the book and after all this I was very disappointed.
I can forgive the movie for omitting histories about people like Luca Brasi and Al Neri. I can even forgive them for not working more with Johnny Fontane even though it was a great story that tied in well with the portrayal of Don's relationship with his Godson and how he expected to be repaid by people close to him. The movie skipped characters like Nino, Kay's parents and her background, the doctor and several others, but after all, the movie is not supposed to be a book word for word.
The Godfather had great cinematography. The scenes were beautifully picked and shot. My favorite is at the end when Michael stands as Godfather to his nephew and people are getting shot all around, that was amazing. The music was cheesy most of the time, but if that was my main complaint, I could still call this movie to be great.
What appalled me beyond belief is the horrible portrayal of Michael and his relationship with Kay (unfortunately it only gets worse in the 2nd movie) and complete lack of the mother's presence in the movie. Her and Kay develop a relationship. Kay becomes super Catholic and goes to church with her every morning. She ran away from Michael with his kids at some point because she was angry with him. And Michael was patient and never lost his temper with his wife. However, he was also very proud and when he returned from Cicily he did not go to her because did not expect to find her still waiting for him. And the movie failed to illustrate how much Tom Hagen was an outsider to the family. The Don lost some of his power because of Tom and that is why Michael removed him from the post.
I thought that Sonny was portrayed well as were Connie and Carlo. I thought that oranges as a foreshadowing device was a great idea. The ironies illustrated in the movie like the beginning of a movie with "I believe in America" are all good things that made this movie stronger. However, it lacks depth and complexity. I don't understand how one can understand what is going on in this movie without reading the book first.

This movie is considered to be America's best and that should be left on its conscience.