Great movies: The Godfather part I

The Godfather is without any doubt one of the greatest movies of all time, if not the greatest. Words can simply not express the accomplishment realized by Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in 1972. Indeed, I must confess being extremely anxious about writing this review because no matter how much I could praise this picture, I could never do it justice; never.

When Coppola took on the duty of translating Mario Puzo’s work into a motion picture, he did something that nobody back then thought was possible: turning a decent novel into an infinitively superior movie; thus destroying once and for all the preconceived (and silly) idea that literature is the superior medium. As in all great movies, he also crafted a living world filled with emotion that everybody can relate to but he did it with meticulous attention to every single detail in order to convey humanity and depth within each and every characters.  From joy to grief, from hope to despair, from trust to betrayal, everything can be found in the tragic a tale of the Corleone’s family. A tale that is perhaps as memorable as the breath-taking cast.

The honorable Marlon Brandon portrays Don Vito Corleone with an incomparable authenticity, Godfather of the New-York Mafia and most respected elder of the notorious five families. He has grown used and somewhat tired to mob businesses yet he has never forgotten the fundamental rules of ethics and self-respect that he shall apply to be a fair leader to his people. As the movie progresses, his life is put at stake by a felony concocted by the other chief of the Five Families who envy his situation and want to put and end to his reign in order to gain control over the emerging narcotics industry. He also has to go through the cruelest reality that a man can face, a reality that he always wanted to prevent from happening: the loss of his beloved family. Brando, through his subtle facial expressions and brilliantly delivered lines, embodies, like no one else could, the grief and strength of an old wise man whose life enterprise has turned against him.  Crime never pays, but what is crime, in the in end?   I won’t hide the fact that Brando is one of my all time favorite actor but this must be his most remarkable performance; to me Brando and Vito are simply one and the same and I couldn’t have it otherwise. You only have to hear him talk to be immerse into the story, and to forget that the man you see on the screen isn’t the Godfather, that he isn’t really affected by lung cancer or some sort of throat disease.   

Al Pacino, who was rather new to the movie  industry back then, plays the role of Michael, the youngest and most promising son of Vito. Young at heart and in love, he is as he swears to his fiancée Kay that he shall never be like his father. He is presented to us as the real protagonist of the story and you can’t help but to feel sorry for him. As things go from bad to worse, the nature of his character will slowly change, pushing him to make choices, he should never have had to make if things had gone according to his plans, or to his father’s plan for that matter. He went to college and then engaged into US army during World War II. Again, it is all a matter of good intention, and good intentions don’t make for a happy life and only time will reveals who you really are as a human been but the plot and narrative are so well crafted that, even if you disagree with some of the action taken by the son, they’ll have you root for him until the very end of the movie and perhaps even beyond. Pacino’s performance is (almost) as thrilling as Brando’s one which leads to debate, even to this day, who is the real protagonist of the story. The answer I can bring to the table is that there is no right answer. You can take Vito, or Micheal, or even both as the center character of the story depending on your mood or on which character you better relate to, probably more than any other movie, which alone, is proof of the complex tree-dimensionality of the characters.

One shall not forget the great supporting cast either, Diane Keatons is tremendous as Kays Addams and is proof of all the things you are willing to overlook, every sacrifice you are willing to make in order to believe that you can thrust the man you love and live happily ever after. So is Talia Shire as Connie Corleone, whose life as a wife is spoiled by physical abuses. The others sons of Vito also deliver in their own ways, though I shall avoid to mention anything specific about them if I don’t want to spoil too much (which some might argue I already did) All of that is surrounded by one of the most memorable musical scores of the history of Cinema  

The impeccable camera work which hasn’t aged in almost 40 years,  was magnificently remastered in 35 mm analog (thanks God for analog) tapes, retaining all of its Technicolor Glory, and available to the main public on (inferior) Bu-ray or DVD  digital transfers.

The Godfather is one of the most important movies of the Hollywood Renaissance of the 1970s (beginning with The Graduate in 1969) but is also much more than that, it is a movie that will remain in the heart and mind of every individual that had the blessed opportunity to watch it. It is Coppola’s ultimate masterpiece, putting even his own Apocalypse Now, Godfather Part II and Patton in the shadow. (Yes I’m well aware that I may get a lot of grudge for saying that Part II and Apocalypse Now are inferior but I’m taking the risk of giving an honest opinion)

Note: officially he did not direct Patton but he did write the screenplay (and all the dirty work behind the scene so, I might as well give him the well deserved credit for the film.

Mario Garon

Before you,  angry movie buffs, start sending me a million of hate mails to call me an idiot, let me remind you that I only said that part I was better, I never intended to say that Part II is bad; it is still a great movie (thought not as dear to me) that is also very important to the history of film as it is the first legitimately great sequels to a major picture. It is always good to protect your ass; after all, some notorious critics have pretty much destroyed their reputation just by implying such thing without reserve.