Review #686: 'The Godfather' (1972)

Having only been born 12 years after the release of The Godfather, I don't know if audiences at the time realised just how influential the film would become in later years. It has been homaged, parodied and copied so much - Don Corleone's husky voice and prominent chin especially - that it's a miracle it's managed to hold onto its status as one of the finest pictures Hollywood has ever produced. It's also rather astonishing that the film was ever made at all, given the troubled production amidst a meddling Paramount (who pretty much held a gun to director Francis Ford Coppola's head throughout). But watching it again, 41 years after it was made, it's just as beautiful and thrilling as it was when I first saw it.

Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the Sicilian head of the Corleone crime family. His eldest son Sonny (James Caan) is his short-tempered and hot-headed heir, the polar opposite to the youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), who is college-educated and has just returned from serving in World War II. When the Don refuses an offer to invest in the booming drugs trade by drug baron Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) - who is backed by Corleone rivals the Tattaglia's - he is gunned down and almost killed. With his father in hospital and still in danger, Michael finds himself slowly being drawn into the family business he vowed to stay away from.

Head of Paramount at the time Bob Evans said he wanted to "smell the spaghetti" and hired the relatively inexperienced Coppola, who is of Sicilian heritage, to direct the film, in order to give the film authenticity. From the opening scene, it is evident that the gamble paid off. The wedding of the Don's daughter, Connie (Talia Shire), is a textbook guide on how to introduce characters to an audience. This long, gorgeous segment of the film establishes the Corleone's sense of family importance. They are all cold-blooded killers, perhaps, but they are loyal and have a code. It's also fascinating to see the hierarchy within organised crime, something that seems embedded into our conscience now after countless films involving 'made' men and capo's.

But it's a combination of many elements that makes The Godfather so great. The patient, controlled approach, Coppola and novel author Mario Puzo's celebrated, Oscar-winning screenplay, Nino Rota's powerful score, the subtle dark comedy ("leave the gun, take the cannoli") the magnificent set-pieces (Michael searching for the gun in the cafe restroom is still nerve-jangling) , and perhaps most of all, the acting talent on display. Brando, Pacino and Robert Duvall (as adopted son and consigliere Tom Hagen) can boast career-defining performances from the picture, and can celebrate film careers spanning decades and countless awards. There's little I can say about The Godfather that hasn't already been said, but this is one of the true undisputed classics of American cinema.


Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Sterling Hayden
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie