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| Godfather, The |
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  (9/10)
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Runtime: 175 |
| Public Rating: 9.50 (115 votes) |
Director: Francis Ford Coppola |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama |
Year: 1972 |
| Writer(s): Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola |
| Reviewed by: Vadim Rizov |
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The Godfather is a landmark film in a number of ways. For one thing, it was the first film to go forward with a mass release, which propelled it to unprecedented grosses. Artistically, The Godfather ensured that Coppola, previously a succesful screenwriter and a director with a lousy track record, would continue to have adirectorial career. It brought Marlon Brando back into the spotlight after years of obscurity, brought Al Pacino instant fame, and did the same for, oddly enough, Diane Keaton, who'd begun her collaborations with Woody Allen a year earlier in an obscure TV short. It was the first in a series of legendary films and, along with Casablanca, is one of the very few classic Hollywood films seen by almost everyone, regardless of whether or not they enjoy classic film. But let's face it: the real reason most people care about The Godfather is because it's become part of pop culture through allusions to famous moments and quotes. After all, everyone knows what happens to the competition if you put a horse's head in their bed, and, of course, that to win in business, you need to make the client an offer they can't refuse.
From the opening shot, The Godfather signaled a new direction in Hollywood filmmaking. The dark cinematography, by Allen and Coppola collaborator Gordon willis, is very muted, an unusual feel for the time. Unlike many huge hits, The Godfather is never ostentatious in its technique. It begins with a close-up, and the camera slowly reveals a larger picture. Never in the whole film is there a jerky hand-held shot or a quick tracking shot. The impression, perhaps, is that Coppola deliberately rejected the technical advances available to him and chose to regress to the shooting styles of 30 years before his time. Such a judgement, I think, is overly hasty; it's worth noting that his use of editing is not just of his time, but perhaps even ahead: such deliberate editing wasn't in fashion in Hollywood at the time.
Featuring a masterly ensemble cast, The Godfather is probably, more than anything, a happy accident. It wasn't an easy shoot; thank goodness the real Mafia helped out a bit, and let's all be glad that Marlon's ego hadn't swollen to the outrageous size of later years. Let's all be glad, too, that Nino Rota wrote one of his last American scores for this film; the legendary theme was eventually recorded by Ricardo Muti. It's an amazing confluence of talent; so often, when so many talents get together, the result is often a mess. Someone pulled this together, whether it was Coppola or Bob Evans (then leader of Paramount Pictures, who claimed that he personally edited the bloody baptism sequence near the end).
So, you say, what's up with the missing star in the rating? Well, The Godfather is very rich storytelling but, let's face it, not all that deep. Nothing wrong with that, except that The Godfather obviously wants to be the definitive Mafia film. It wants to be about people, relationships, and how power corrupts said people and relationships. If only what we knew about the characters wasn't as skin-deep as what everyone else in the movie knew about them, that goal would be achived. But that failure (or at least lack of dimension) leaves The Godfather hanging one notch away from being a true masterpiece on my Top 10 list. Nonetheless, great and compelling filmmaking.
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