The Godfather 1972

Struggling to give this 9, for real. It's the hardest 9 of all time, it's hitting the ceiling of 9. "Oh, Phil, you don't have to justify ratings." Shut Up.

This is a great film. One of the best. Why is it not in my 10's? Short answer: filmcels. Long answer: I couldn't give less of a shit about the mafia, tbh it holds this work back in a massive way. What lights my fire about The Godfather (1972) is the editing, the score, the pacing, the blocking, the writing, the lighting, the set pieces, the acting, the everything EXCEPT the meat and potatoes (the content). You want a real examination of the mafia... just watch The Sopranos (I have, many times).

I avoided this film for so goddamn long because fuck... every time someone said "...... you HAVEN'T seen The Godfather????!!!!!" a small part of me died and sent me to another movie. Fuck a tier list, fuck a 1001 films-before-you-rot, fuck everything. This Coppola is great, don't let pieces of shit turn you off. If anyone ever says to you "omg you haven't seen "x"?!" please tell them to get a life... or to go outside lol.

Strongest 9 ever, not really looking forward to The Godfather II because it will probably be a begrudging 10 if not another hard 9.

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P.S. I will rewatch this very soon, at least this year, mark my words. I gotta see things I haven't seen.

TL;DR: Favored for its slow pace which immerses us into its Italian world, its commentary on crime and death, its emphasis on being a family man, and its execution of Michael's character arc. Because of that, 8/10 and 9/10 don't give its deliberate execution justice.

The Scene That Changed The Movie For Me: Michael Lies To Kay
In the end of the movie, Connie runs into the family mansion. As everything is getting boxed, she confronts Michael for waiting for the right time to kill her husband "you lousy, cold-hearted bastard!". Kay, is like us, the audience, baring witness to this depressing, cruel world. She asks Michael if what Connie says is true, to which he lies "no". What I love about this scene is how it takes its sweet time. How Michael paces and 2 seconds later says "Jesus stop" and "stop staring". When Kay says "no!" and Michael says "ENOUGH", they wait 5 seconds with the ticking clock in the background. Michael, naturally, as though he's real, says "alright. this one time, i'll let you ask about my affairs." This whole exchange, the experience Kay goes through as she's exposed to the death and deceit of her husband's world, the dread in her eyes as the door closes on her. It encapsulates how depressing the movie is.

Opening
The Godfather is a commentary on a cruel world. It explores power and the role men have in protecting their families. It places an emphasis on being a loyal family man with Vito setting a positive example of that. Many people mention that the movie is flawed for being slow. It being slow is actually deliberate. We immerse ourselves into this Italian-American tragedy. As we do, we explore the themes of masculinity, power, family, murder, and manipulation. We watch Michael as the world shapes him into a ruthless mafia boss.

The Sicilian Way And The American Way
From the moment we begin this story, we have Bonasera, an Italian immigrant discriminated by the American justice system - one he believes in. When Bonasera tells the story of his daughter's r***, we know we're in for a tragic, serious story. When Vito asks why Bonasera didn't come to him first, it introduces this idea of the American way and the Sicilian way. An American would go to the police. A Sicilian wouldn't trust the police and would go to the Don. This theme occurs throughout the movie, and it directly ties to Michael Corleone's character arc. What Bonasera and Michael have in common is they try to be American, but they're pulled back into the world of crime. Almost every character struggles to remove themselves from this Italian mafia realm. Bonasera couldn't - his daughter was wounded. Michael couldn't - his father was shot. Unlike Michael, Bonasera is a side character, an everyday Sicilian man stuck in the world of crime. This shows me that it wasn't just Michael who got stuck - it's the world that kept people in.

Michael's Drift Into The Sicilian Way
The Godfather uses signals to represent Michael's shift from the American way to the Sicilian way. When he murders Sollozzo and McCluskey, it's at an Italian-American restaurant. When he goes to Sicily, Michael holds up to the town's masculine ideals; approaching the woman's father, getting married, and having their first time on their wedding night. This is all tradition - and Michael begins to embrace that tradition. When Michael finds Kay at her elementary school - you see the Sicilian masculine ideals he adopted; he approaches Kay, proposes marriage to her on the spot, and immediately takes her with him. Due to the editing of the movie, it feels as though Michael and Kay immediately become man, wife, and children. There's also Apollonia's death. Michael is in Sicily surrounded by locals when his wife dies. Being betrayed by one of his guides happens out of left-field. It teaches Michael that he must keep his enemies near him and kill them at the right moment in order to protect his family. We see Michael use this lesson on Carlo Rizzi and Barzini.

What Men Ought To Do For Their Family
We follow an ensemble of male lead characters. Female characters like Connie, Kay Adams, and Apollonia are only present as family members or partners to the male characters. Their lives are affected by the men in this story. Vito, Johnny, Sonny, Fredo, and Michael are all examples of how men can behave. Vito is the only one who sets a positive example; he puts his family first, is careful with his actions and words, does what he thinks is right, and highly values friendship and respect. Sonny is committed to the family business, and would execute enemies without hesitation, but he acts on impulse and is disloyal to his wife. Fredo loves his family but he lacks the courage and bravery to protect Vito. Michael is calm, cold, calculating, and manipulative. He's a powerful man and becomes the lead protagonist, but his behavior is far from being a positive example of masculinity. To make that point, the movie ends with Michael lying to Kay about Carlo's death. By the time those doors close on Kay, I think to myself "what was the cost?". The cost is his family.

What Happens Behind Closed Doors
In 1972, American media wrote very stereotypical stuff about Italians; how they had a love of food, a strong sense of family honor, had conservative political stances, and that many of them were criminals. There was also the famously known Italian mafia; Italian immigrants who became American businessmen, who had powerful connections, and went through illegal, cruel means to get what they want - they had this "you don't mess with us" image. Newspapers, television, and movies continued these depictions of the Italian mafia. The Godfather dramatized it with this heavy aesthetic; closed blinds, dark rooms, shadows, and blood and gore; Waltz' horse getting beheaded, Sonny getting assassinated, Paulie's death in the car and the cannoli, Sollozzo strangling Luca, and of course, Michael murdering Sollozzo in an Italian-American restaurant, followed by the mafia headlines targeted to the wider world. On an entertainment level, this portrayal of the Italian mafia is amusing. It became the pinnacle of drama and the pinnacle of crime movies. This is what made the Godfather the highest-grossing film of 1972. On a more artistic level however, the blood and gore is tragic. No wonder why Vito looks distraught at the world. Why he corrects Bonasera on his definition of justice, abstains from vengeance upon hearing of Sonny's death, abstains from the narcotics industry, and strives to keep his political connections through keeping a clean image. In the eyes of the audience, behind these closed doors, Vito seems to be the only guy who doesn't do anything morally questionable. Vito being this positive character in a very stereotyped world gives the Godfather this interesting flare to it.

An Emphasis On Family And A Commentary On A Cruel World
The most sad scene in the Godfather is also a peaceful one. The dying Vito, distraught at the direction the Italian mafia are headed toward, turns to what he values most, his family. Not to mention the red wine. Throughout the movie, we see Vito pass down insight to Johnny, Sonny, and Michael. But the last moment Vito has is with Anthony. He jokingly scares him, runs around with him, plays hide and seek in his tomato garden, while dying. No music - just Vito and Anthony having their final moments in a garden. This scene feels peaceful, contrary to the cruelty of the movie. Vito's bonding with Anthony alone sets a positive example of masculinity. Now, let's talk about the movie's ending. Michael's masculine behavior (contrary to that of Vito's) is nothing but cold. The final shot of Kay's face as the door closes on her shows me that this is not a happy ending. With this in mind, the Godfather becomes an emphasis on family, and first and foremost, a commentary on a cruel world - and now it's all the more colder.

I feel a lot of pressure writing a review for a film as universally acclaimed as this one (currently the #2 rated movie of all time on IMDB). This is for two very different reasons. First, on the positive side, what can I say that hasn't been said a thousand times already? The acting is absolutely phenomenal, with naturalistic/subtle performances that deserve every award given. The story successfully captures an ambitious decade spanning epic. The music is iconic. The production design and attention to detail is unsurpassed. Suffice it to say that virtually every aspect of this film is worthy of praise.

This brings us to the second reason why I feel pressure writing this review, and that is the inclusion of the word "virtually" in that last sentence. Despite thinking the movie was great, I did have issues that prevented it from being the 10 out of 10 perfect film that many others have deemed it to be. I can't help but feel like I'm committing cinephile sacrilege when I only say the movie was an 8 out of 10 for me. So, what were the things that held the film back?

The main issue is actually connected to one of the film's strengths, that is the epic scope of the story. This film covers a lot of ground, and even with three hours to do it, certain segments aren't left with enough screen time to land effectively. Compare the opening sequence, Connie's wedding, to the the sequence of Michael in Italy. The former gives us 26 minutes of screen time for a single evening. It throws us into the deep end of the Corleone's world, with character introductions and world building galore, all while giving plenty of room for the story to breathe. On the other hand, the Italy sequence comprises less than 20 minutes, yet it attempts to tell the story of an entire romance playing out over multiple years. Compared to what we get elsewhere in the film, it just felt rushed and underdeveloped. If this story was being adapted in today's world, I am quite confident that it'd be done via a miniseries, with potentially 6 or 8 hours to work with, which would alleviate this issue.

The only other issue I'd point out is much more minor and many would argue unfair, but I have to say that the film does show its age in certain respects. In particular, the violence that should be the dramatic punctuation marks on the story fall a little flat due to the dated special effects.

The mafia epic to which all others are measured. Maybe even the greatest film of all time, but I don't think that's a fair judgment to cast. In either case, Francis Coppola's much-heralded masterwork, jumbo-sized but not without good reason, still delivers. The sheer ambition of The Godfather is a sight to behold, packed full of strong characters, complicated choices, bitter twists of fate and a grand, decades-spanning arc.

It's as close as cinema has ever come to matching the rich, chewy abundance of a great novel, even if it does skim a few years in the third act. We're treated to layers upon layers of comprehensively-defined individuals, even the ancillary roles, with a strikingly complex dynasty at the center of it all. The Corleones are a crucially diverse group, distinct but also alike, fundamentally familiar despite the off-putting nature of the family business. Sonny, the hot-headed heir apparent; Fredo, the kowtowed black sheep; Vito, the rational, well-composed patriarch; Michael, the intellectual firebrand with lofty ideals. In retrospect, their paths are obvious, but in the heat of the moment we're shocked by every twist of the knife. Moments of deep contemplation contrast with explosions of spontaneous violence, loud illustrations of the literal dog-eat-dog nature of this particular line of work.

Coppola wrangles everything like the illustrated puppetmaster married to the franchise logo. It's all precisely orchestrated, timed for peak efficiency, yet somehow never grows formulaic or loses touch with its essentially human, organic pulse. Not a wasted movement, nor a missed opportunity. What an achievement, just to complete a film of this magnitude. That it was accomplished in just a year's time, first day of filming to opening day at the cinema, is absolutely baffling.