A few historic flaws, but one of the best glimpses into turn-of-century NYC

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2010)

What else can be said about The Godfather series? One small gripe: The storyline shows young Vito Corleone (Robert Deniro) murder the local boss, then basically take control of the neighborhood. Historically, there would have been a dozen other guys in line to take the boss's spot -- young Vito, with no real connections outside of his petty thief neighbor, would have been disposed of immediately. In real life, bosses were bred into the position or it was taken hostilely from the inside. By the era that this movie portrays, Sicilian black handers and Neapolitan Camorra (among others) were fairly organized -- But, hey, its a (great) movie :)