This movie set the standard for mafia movies...

Rating: 10/10 (28 January 2000)

Simply put, this movie is the oracle, answer key, the blue print, for all mafia films. There has never been a better mob movie, and there never will. Goodfellas comes pretty close, but The Godfather and Godfather II are the mold that Goodfellas was made from.
I first saw this film in 1983, 11 years after it was released. I'd heard about it, but VCRs weren't quite common household items back then. I had a cinema class in high school, and to view this film, the teachers got us out of all our classes for a day and showed The Godfather on the big screen in the school auditorium. So I was fortunate to see it for the first time in a crowded theatre on a big screen.
Afterwards, the entire class asked for the movie to be shown again in place of one of the other films we were due to see. They offered to play it after school in the evening for us instead. The whole class turned out the second time plus another 100 to 150 tag-alongs.
This movie is full of fantastic performances from top to bottom. To try to convey how great this film is in words is almost silly. It has to be seen.