Not "the best film ever made" but certainly one of the great ones

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2008)

The movie opens at Don Vito Corleone's (Marlon Brando) home in the 1950s. His daughter is being wed and the entire "family" has come to celebrate. Vito's son Michael (Al Pacino), the most "Americanized" of his immediate family, has rejected the traditions of his ancestors and joined the army. He has no plans of becoming an errand boy for his father.
Michael's older brother Sonny (James Caan) is hot-headed and overzealous. He is next in line to inherit "the throne" from Don Vito, although Vito suspects perhaps that Sonny is too heated for his own good and will never make it on his own. An important scene in the film is when he belabors his son about correcting him in front of strangers.
A plot emerges involving a corrupt policeman and a competing Mafia family, who try to assassinate Don Vito and successfully murder his eldest, Sonny. Michael steps in to avenge his father's death, but must then be sent off into exile in Sicily for a short period of time to avoid the authorities, leaving behind his girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton), who wants to get married.
In terms of acting, its strength lies in Brando, Caan and Pacino. Brando is perfect - his trademark "soft mouth" being inimitable - whereas Caan is very good at turning Sonny into a multi-dimensional character. Pacino is great and displays intelligence and a certain suave aura, which is vital to the character. This was a glimpse of Al Pacino the actor before he turned on the screaming switch.
Francis Ford Coppola does a wonderful job behind the camera, which is more than can be said for his efforts within the last decade. Likewise the script by Coppola and Puzo is very well-written with impressive dialogue and conflicts of the characters.
"The Godfather" isn't exactly the *best* film ever made but it's certainly a great movie; a masterpiece that redefined epic cinema much in the same way "Lawrence of Arabia" did.