Over rated is an understatement

Rating: 1/10 (28 December 2018)

I saw this film when it first came out. The book was a wildly popular best seller and everyone seemed to have read it. Trying to watch it the other day on TV I can't imagine anyone being able to follow it. Too many characters, too many subplots, and a very slow pace. I've been watching films my whole life, and frankly I can't tell a good screenplay from a good performance from a good director. I do know that if I like the plot and the story engages me I'll be sure to like the movie. In the Godfather, scenes and characters come and go with no discernable point. I believe it's a lack of continuity or flow. Brando calls in Luca Brasi to keep an eye on someone. Luca is then seen in a small apartment in sideview getting dressed and then packing his gun. Then we see him go into a bar or restaurant that we've never seen before. In a flash there's a knife in his hand and a wire around his throat. Apparently the character was introduced for the soul purpose of getting murdered. Pacino and Annie Hall are having a meal in what looks like a hotel. She has the most impossible hair style I've ever seen in any movie bar none. They seem to be saying good bye and next we see Pacino walking down a street and into a dark building that we've never seen before. He seems to get agitated and notices that in one room a half eaten sandwich on the table and the other rooms seem deserted. Running up and down corridors we now have no idea where he is or what he's doing. Suddenly he opens a door to what looks like a apartment and we see Brando lying on a hospital bed. Out of nowhere a nurse appears. The audience has no clue that this was a hospital. All it would take was a sign saying Emergency Room or Surgery. Then to involve the plot suddenly a dozen police cars appear in front of the building. The Captain says he was the one who told the guards and detectives to leave. And now he shows up with more. And all this is just a plot devise to have Pacino shoot him and the other mobster.
There are countless meetings in this film that could have easily taken place over the phone.
The cars, the costumes, and the scenes all seem very accurate. But this film is like an endless dramatic story without end. Doesn't it remind you too much of the ending in Apocolypse Now with the same director years later?