After this the gangster film would never be the same again

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2011)

The gangster is the unacceptable face of the American myth. He is the antithesis of the western hero; he is not society's saviour but its public enemy. The 1930's gangster film was rooted in headlines of the day; it was a resolutely contemporary genre. The first gangster cycle responded to the restrictions of Prohibition and the effects of the Depression. These gangsters defied harsh economic realities and in doing so became anti-heroes of the people. Their defiance of authority made them relevant and popular; they were the dark side of the American dream.
In the first cycle of gangster films, the criminals were positioned as alien to the WASP norm. These Italian and Irish gangsters were separated by their ethnicity. The Hays Code soon came in to try and combat these films. It forbade the vilification of ethnic groups and banned films focusing on criminal behaviour. This shifted emphasis to law enforcers. It was hard therefore to truly make gangster films. The genre was pushed to the margins and remained out with the mainstream for a long time. In the late 60's Bonnie and Clyde changed all this. Its mix of violence, New Hollywood style, anti-authoritarian stance and counter-culture relevance brought the gangster film right up to date. The scene was set for The Godfather.
Francis Ford Coppola's film was the first epic gangster film. It made it a durable genre. But it was significantly different to the 30's gangster movies like The Public Enemy. It was not a rise and fall narrative. Don Vito Corleone begins the film at the height of his powers and dies peacefully while playing with his grandson; he does not die in the gutter. Neither does he exhibit the brash over-reaching arrogance that typified the 30's gangsters. He treats his position within the community as a responsibility and he has moral limits. The film does not end with the fall of the crime family; it climaxes with Michael Corleone at the absolute peak of his powers. The changes to censorship now allowed for a narrative to focus on criminals, in the case of The Godfather it went as far as virtually eliminating every other point-of-view; in this film people out with the crime family are the aliens. Where the 30's gangsters were at odds with society, the gangster here is the power structure. The Corleones are the good bad guys. When this film was made Vietnam had destroyed the certainties Americans had about their country. The Godfather seemed to say if American society is rotten, organised crime is only part of the problem, sometimes the solution.
The film stressed the universal theme of loyalty to the family. This helped cloak its critique of American society in a conservative framework. It not only put the gangster back in the centre of film narrative but it also stressed ethnicity in a positive way. They were no longer apart but important members of the establishment. The law enforcers depicted here are more corrupt. They act in a criminal way but without any moral code. In many ways it is a transgressive film.
Acting is great across the board. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall stand out particularly in a true heavyweight cast. The story unfolds beautifully with a fantastic script to propel it. Coppola holds the whole thing together with some brilliance. He doesn't really do anything fancy but just lets all the superlative components at his disposal do their thing and ensures they all connect together into a film of huge class. The Godfather is a masterwork and remains a primary reason why the era of the New Hollywood will always be cherished.