One of the top 10 greatest American films of all time

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2005)

Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece tells the saga of the Corleone family. Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the head of one of the five mafia families. With his son Sonny (James Caan) and lawyer/adviser Tom (Robert Duvall) he runs the family. But the heads of the other families see the Don as too powerful and out of date with the times. They want to get into drug trafficking and the Don wants none of that. Enter Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) as the Don's other son who has returned from the military.
This film is great on every level. The acting, characterizations, dialog and visuals are all perfectly done. For one film to have such a great performance as Brando gives as the Don is one thing. But for the same film to have a second great performance (Pacino's Michael Corleone) is unheard of. Virtually everyone in this film gives an outstanding performance.
This film is #3 on the American Film Institute's 100 best films list, right after Citizen Kane and Casablanca.