Movie-A-Day #321: The Godfather

[Chaplin]

Funny how this one hasn't been done yet...

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Quite simply, THE best gangster movie ever made, with only it's sequel and Goodfellas coming remotely close.

Amazon Review:

Generally acknowledged as a bona fide classic, this Francis Ford Coppola film is one of those rare experiences that feels perfectly right from beginning to end--almost as if everyone involved had been born to participate in it. Based on Mario Puzo's bestselling novel about a Mafia dynasty, Coppola's Godfather extracted and enhanced the most universal themes of immigrant experience in America: the plotting-out of hopes and dreams for one's successors, the raising of children to carry on the good work, etc. In the midst of generational strife during the Vietnam years, the film somehow struck a chord with a nation fascinated by the metamorphosis of a rebellious son (Al Pacino) into the keeper of his father's dream. Marlon Brando played against Puzo's own conception of patriarch Vito Corleone, and time has certainly proven the actor correct. The rest of the cast, particularly James Caan, John Cazale, and Robert Duvall as the rest of Vito's male brood--all coping with how to take the mantle of responsibility from their father--is seamless and wonderful.

This movie is not only an engrossing story with exemplary acting, but it is also impeccably made, full of memorable scenes that puts it in the upper-echelon of Hollywood films, joining the likes of Casablanca, Chinatown and Jaws.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Did it really take 321 movies before this one was selected?

Wow!

 

[Bada0Bing]

Did it really take 321 movies before this one was selected?

Wow!

No kidding. I make a point to watch this every few years, so it stays fresh in my mind.

 

[jenna2891]

i got the box set for christmas one year. i spent an entire day watching them, and that's all i did. awesome flicks.

 

[D-Dogg]

Second best movie of all time.

The Best? Why, Godfather II of course. That is my all time favorite film, hands down.

 

[arthurracoon]

just saw this movie today

 

[Shane]

just saw this movie today

 

[abomb]

So FFC, his director of cinematography Gordon Willis and the supervision of film historian and master preservationist Robert A. Harris have completed a painstaking frame-by-frame restoration of GF and GFII.

They are being released on DVD and BluRay Sep 23, but not before making it to select theaters around the country.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/11/godfather-restoration-now-that-much-harder-to-refuse/

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[D-Dogg]

Ok, I'm sold.

 

[Chaplin]

I have the original boxset, but seeing as part 1 is my 8th favorite movie of all time, I'm seriously considering picking the new versions up.

 

[Mulli]

Second best movie of all time.

The Best? Why, Godfather II of course. That is my all time favorite film, hands down.

Join!

Remember this line?

"Monday, Tuesday, Thursday...."

 

[abomb]

Fantasic article by Vanity Fair about the making of The Godfather.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/godfather200903?printable=true&currentPage=all

(very long)

 

[arthurracoon]

They were replaying this on AMC last night and I caught some of it (the beginning hour or so) - great stuff

I'm gonna have to watch the first 2 again some time

 

[Bada0Bing]

Fantasic article by Vanity Fair about the making of The Godfather.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/godfather200903?printable=true&currentPage=all

(very long)

The director's commentary is pretty cool too.

 

[AZZenny]

I will almost always watch I and II if I run across them changing channels, even in mid-stream. Two of the greatest ever. Did anybody get the cleaned up DVDs? Worth it?

 

[Chaplin]

Fantasic article by Vanity Fair about the making of The Godfather.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/godfather200903?printable=true&currentPage=all

(very long)

That's one of the best magazine articles about the making of a movie I've ever read.

 

[Chaplin]

I will almost always watch I and II if I run across them changing channels, even in mid-stream. Two of the greatest ever. Did anybody get the cleaned up DVDs? Worth it?

I have both DVD box sets of the movies, but I haven't even opened the new one yet. From what I understand, though, they have been meticulously cleaned up and look great.

 

[Gaddabout]

Do you think you need to be fascinated by the Italia mafia to like this movie? I could care less about the mafia -- mobster ethics bore me -- and this movie never grabbed my attention a lick. I've always wondered why, because I generally agree on other movies with the same people who think this is a classic. I'm not Catholic, Italian, or related to anyone in the northeast. That whole culture is alien to me.

 

[abomb]

Do you think you need to be fascinated by the Italia mafia to like this movie? I could care less about the mafia -- mobster ethics bore me -- and this movie never grabbed my attention a lick. I've always wondered why, because I generally agree on other movies with the same people who think this is a classic. I'm not Catholic, Italian, or related to anyone in the northeast. That whole culture is alien to me.

Are you being serious?

Of course you dont need a requisite love or interest in the mafia. This movie is about family, which is why it is one of the most universally-loved movies ever.

Did you enjoy LOTR even though you arent elfin or didnt grow up in a shire?

 

[Gaddabout]

Did you enjoy LOTR even though you arent elfin or didnt grow up in a shire?

I enjoyed LOTR because of the religious nature of the storyline. I couldn't even begin to relate to the Corleone family. I wanted to shoot all of them. Not a sympathetic character among them, IMO.

 

[AZZenny]

Did you enjoy LOTR even though you arent elfin or didnt grow up in a shire?

I'm not sympathetic to them, but they are portrayed with such depth and subtlety that their basic human-ness shines through the brutality at times -- so I can relate to them, or to parts of them, which is what makes the paradox of their ruthlessness so fascinating.

I'll have to read that article.

 

[Mulli]

Do you think you need to be fascinated by the Italia mafia to like this movie? I could care less about the mafia -- mobster ethics bore me -- and this movie never grabbed my attention a lick. I've always wondered why, because I generally agree on other movies with the same people who think this is a classic. I'm not Catholic, Italian, or related to anyone in the northeast. That whole culture is alien to me.

you relate to clockwork orange?

 

[Gaddabout]

you relate to clockwork orange?

Absolutely! Who doesn't want to be Malcom McDonald, going punk rock on the streets of London?

The difference, for me, is I know I'm not supposed to root for Alex. Who could? With The Godfather, I feel I'm supposed to be drawn in with some sort of catharsis, as if I secretly wished I had that kind of power or lived within that family structure. I get the impression that some people do, that it appeals to them, even though they know it's wrong. I guess I honestly don't. The whole mafioso fantasy misses me by a mile.

 

[Linderbee]

Maybe someday I'll get around to watching these.

 

[Linderbee]

Read the Vanity Fair article...very interesting.

from the article: The Godfather had its nationwide release the day before I was born...which, I believe, means it was released on a Wednesday (at least, my mom always said I was born on Thursday. I'll have to look that up).