The Godfather [R]

The youngest Corleone, Michael, returns from World War II to sit just outside the family business, organised crime. But when a business deal goes sour and an assassination attempt is made on his father, Michael and hot-headed older brother Sonny, are driven by personal vendettas rather than diplomatic ones. Soon the families of the underworld organised crime scene of New York are at war with one another and as the times continue to change with the new generations rising to power, it becomes clear that the old traditions and ties of family and respect are being lost. 

It’s one of the greatest movies ever made and you don’t have to be a gangster movie enthusiast to see that! Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather sits in cinematic history as groundbreaking, stylish, operatic, elegant, and all around impeccable film filled to the brim with memorable and much imitated scenes such as the infamous horse head scene, as well as inspiring people to imitate Brando the world over. The one negative critique that this movie received was that it glorified the mafia, with the protagonist, Michael, seeming the good guy at the start but then slowly and oftentimes unnoticeably coming out as being not such a nice guy. 

Nevertheless, The Godfather is an incredible and absolutely BEAUTIFUL movie that everyone has to see before they die! I cannot be more serious about this! 

The youngest Corleone, Michael, returns from World War II to sit just outside the family business, organised crime. But when a business deal goes sour and an assassination attempt is made on his father, Michael and hot-headed older brother Sonny, are driven by personal vendettas rather than diplomatic ones. Soon the families of the underworld organised crime scene of New York are at war with one another and as the times continue to change with the new generations rising to power, it becomes clear that the old traditions and ties of family and respect are being lost. 

It’s the perfect film, there is practically nothing to fault with it! It’s shot with such a level of elegance and beauty that even the confronting and shocking or tragic scenes are made mesmerising! It’s a poetic gangster opera, with the most intense and exciting of scenes being broken up by various celebrations: the two most memorable being the shady business scenes of Don Corleone being interspersed with scenes of his daughter’s wedding outside and the final climactic scene being interspersed with scenes from the baptism of Michael’s godson and his being named godfather, which carries a heavy and symmetrical dual meaning. Everything from the celebrations to the sorrows and the violence is done with such grace and elegance, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! 

I don’t want to rave on and on about how dazzling and wonderful this movie is so I’m now going to break up the review with a few trivia fun facts and anecdotes about the film. It’s fun having fascinating but useless knowledge isn’t it? Fact 1) the baby baptised at the end is Sofia Coppola. Fact 2) the film was a huge comeback for Marlon Brando who sent a fake Indian “Satcheen Littlefeather’ to the Academy Awards ceremony to reject his Oscar. Fact 3) This might only be rumour, but the singer/director story with the horse head was inspired by true events that involved Frank Sinatra. 

There is no question about Brando’s receiving the Academy Award for Best Actor. His performance is INCREDIBLE! Commanding and authoritative but with obvious respect and compassion, he’s a force to be reckoned with and every scene he’s in, he’s just captivating, inspiring many people to imitate and impersonate him all over the world: his counsel scenes have made appearances in many other movies and series including The Rugrats! 

The other actor whom I want to give an accolade to is young Al Pacino as Michael. He stands toe to toe with Brando and is the real deal when you hear the phrase “silent but deadly”. He hypnotises you with this incredible stare that he’s got and when he’s at his most fierce, he’s at his most reserved. He’s astounding! 

Featuring incredible performances from Diane Keaton, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Sterling Hayden, Talia Shire, John Marley, Richard Conte, All Lettieri, Abe Vigoda, Gianni Russo, John Cazale, and Rudy Bond, The Godfather is an incredible film that stands the test of time and is definitely one that everyone should see before they die, I can’t stress this enough! Filled with family, action, drama, violence, murder, betrayal, and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Carmine Coppola and Nino Rota, this movie is perfection, ABSOLUTE PERFECTION! 

"Make him an offer he can't refuse"