Watching this timeless masterpiece is an offer no one can refuse

Rating: 10/10 (14 March 2006)

Most critics say it's Citizen Kane. Someone mentions Casablanca. Most people in the world, though, think Francis Ford Coppola's gangster story The Godfather is the finest film ever made. It is a tough one to call, and even if I have to say I prefer Casablanca, Coppola's crime opus is a very close runner-up, its greatness being untarnished after all these years.
This epic masterpiece takes place in New York, early '50s. It begins with an ever memorable scene: Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) listens to complaints from one of his associates and, while stroking his cat, accepts to do this man a favor. It's something which reoccurs during the day, since it's part of any Sicilian's code of honor not to refuse any favor on his daughter's wedding day. And whenever asked to do something about any problem, the Don makes "offers that can't be refused". It's that kind of attitude which has brought him where he is currently: at the top of the Mafia's power chain. He controls all illegal business in the whole state, and he's ably supported by his lawyer, and adopted son, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), and two of his biological off-springs, the passionate Santino aka Sonny (James Caan) and the more rational Michael (Al Pacino). The latter is actually a bit reluctant to be involved with the family business, but when other families start attempting on his father's life, he's forced to help his mother and brothers restore order in town.
What I've just summed up isn't but a small part of the film (it's almost three hours long, and I've described approximately the first 30 minutes), which is also partially set in Sicily. The Italian segment is the most poetic and romantic in the entire film, as we witness Michael's first dealings with true love. How come he's in Sicily at some point in the film, I can't reveal. But let me assure you, you'll definitely want to visit those places once you've seen the film. The landscape is a visual delight, and Nino Rota's score contributes a lot to making the movie in its entirety an unmissable gem.
Since The Godfather deals with organized crime, however, it can't be all pretty countryside and romantic moments. Once you have absolute power, you have to fight in order to preserve it, and that's gonna require quite some violence. Don Vito knows this like no one else, and Michael will learn the lesson when it comes to him to run the family.
That's an important theme: family. Behind all its brutality, The Godfather is a remarkable example of how important your own flesh and blood is. It's probably not a coincidence that the film opens with a wedding, when the entire Corleone dynasty is united, and that one of the Top 10 sequences is the one where, during a break from everything underworld-related, Clemenza (Richard Castellano) teaches Michael how to cook pasta sauce, only to be interrupted by Sonny. It's a funny and simple scene, and maybe that's why people still have fond memories of it.
Coppola has made a magnificent Italian-American tragedy, perfectly written, directed and most of all acted. Where would much of the movie's greatness be without Brando's immortal, Oscar-winning patriarch? And what about Pacino, Caan and Duvall, all nominated for their fundamental contributions? It's largely thanks to them that The Godfather remains the gangster opus to top them all.