Review: The Godfather (1972)
Coppola and Puzo's offer to us we couldn't refuse.
★★★★
Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in "The Godfather (1972)."
When someone asks me what my top ten favorite films of all time are, "The Godfather (1972)" is up there on that list. This film is what made Francis Ford Coppola the director he is today. "The Godfather" is an adaption of the book, with the same title by Mario Puzo, who worked alongside Coppola to write the script and the casting. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and John Cazale. All perfect casting.
The film starts out at the Corleone household. Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is throwing a wedding party for his daughter, Connie Corleone (Talia Shire). Attending the wedding is Vito's youngest son, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who served as a decorated WWII Marine. It appears that Michael has little interest in working for the family company. Vito is a strong man who treats people with kindness when they show him respect but is brutal when they don't. However, Vito declines to comply when a strong and cunning opponent seeks to sell drugs and needs Don's support to accomplish so. The conflict that ensues is between Vito's eroding traditional values and the modern ways, which could push Michael to take on a task for which he has always been reluctant: launch a mob war against all the other mafia families in an effort to destroy the Corleone family.
The narrative of "The Godfather" revolves around the mafia, but from an unconventional standpoint. The entire story takes place in a closed world. We can sympathize with characters who are evil because of this. Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola's narrative is a masterful enchantment that challenges us to view the Mafia only from its own perspective. Not a single real civilian victim of organized crime is shown in the film. Not a single female was forced into prostitution. No lives are destroyed through gambling. Not a victim of fraud, theft, or protection schemes. The one law enforcement official who has a noteworthy dialogue is dishonest.
This film is not only a beloved film, but is also a technical achievement in film. It has it all: a great story, characters, music, editing, pacing, and a great script, which was constantly being re-written during production. People like to call out Brando for being a "lazy" actor cause he chose to read his lines instead of memorizing them. Brando reading his lines worked for two reasons in the film. First, the script was being re-written as filming went on, and second, it was Brando's method of acting. He's the only one who could do it. He decided to use cue cards because he thought his performance would be more natural and organic if he read the lines, and cause he was dyslexic. Robert Duvall said that even though it was kind of lazy, it worked for Brando because he was so good.
Speaking of Brando, the casting is one of the biggest reasons for this movie's success. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shire make their roles work. They all have terrific chemistry, both during and after filming. Paramount didn't want Brando or Pacino in the film. They were still unhappy with Brando for his picture "One-Eyed Jacks," as well as his poor track record in the 1960s. Paramount was unimpressed with Pacino's screen tests, deeming him "too short," and even considered firing him. Fortunately, Coppola recorded the dinner scene in which Michael murders Sollozzo and McCluskey just as he learned that Paramount wanted him fired. After witnessing the scene, Paramount realized their mistake and allowed Pacino to remain.
I find it absolutely criminal that Al Pacino didn't win "Best Supporting Actor", despite his protest. And no, it wasn't against Marlon Brando. It was against the Academy. Regardless, I love the chemistry between Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, and John Cazale. They truly felt like a real family. This is easily one of Marlon Brando's best roles, as well as Al Pacino's. They were born for these roles. Don Vito Corleone may be my favorite character, but Michael will always be a close second. This film perfectly presents us with the start of his downfall. After losing Luca Brasi, Sonny Corleone, Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone, and Vito Corleone, things seem to take a dark turn for Michael. He is completely different than when he was at the beginning of the film. Nobody can pull this off except Al Pacino.
We are all aware that the film "The Godfather" is based on the same-titled Mario Puzo novel. This adaptation is superb and faithful to the original novel. In my opinion, Puzo's involvement is the main cause of that. In order to create an accurate adaptation of his book, Puzo was able to collaborate with Coppola. Puzo's Oscar wins for this movie make sense. Director Francis Ford Coppola is a man who values both the author and the material he works with. In many interviews, Puzo gives Coppola credit for turning his novel into one of the best movies ever made.
What's more to say about this film? Nothing much. There's too much to talk about it, other than it is pure poetry. Only a few select people can direct films like this. Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, and Martin Scorsese I feel like are the three musketeers of crime-gangster films.
Simply put, The Godfather film adaption by Francis Ford Coppola has become such an iconic movie that anyone can see it again and not get tired of it.