Unquestioned masterpiece of 70's cinema

Rating: 10/10 (17 September 2018)

I am not going to get into extensive detail on how great this film is, hundreds if not thousands before me have already done so and to good credit. As a Hollywood director has once previously stated on another non-Godfather film commentary track, watching the film is a cinema class in of its self... if you are going to watch only one film in your life, it is this one. I must agree, I watch this film repeatedly, not only to be entertained but also to study as a filmmaker myself.
Obviously the many directors who turned down the assignment to direct this adapted script had a strong moral objection to glorify the mafia, and I agree, there is absolutely "nothing" glamorous about real life gangsters in organized crime. But this is a fictional tale and Coppola used his own strong Italian American heritage to infuse the film with far greater themes and family bonding than any of the other directors originally approached would have done. He raised this film from the exploitative gangster flick that it was slotted to be by the studio, even wanting to change the novel's 1940's setting to modern day to save money on the budget, to that of Shakespearian levels and the best example of film art in Hollywood films. Coppola well deserved the Oscar, fame and the money that followed the film's release, in my opinion anyway.
Perhaps it is because I saw this film as a youngster and accepted the film as is, as many others I watched, good and cheesy, but watching it even now there doesn't seem to be a single bad shot or angle in the entire film, except one.... Diane Keaton's false "double-take" reaction to the exploded vehicle in the back ground when she is confronted by Tom as she returns to the Mall to see Michael. It always takes me out of the film.