The Godfather DVD
Paramount Home Video
Rated: R
Genre: Drama
Length: 175 minutes
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Year: (1972)
Britt Gillette's The Godfather DVD Review
Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Godfather was nominated for an additional eight. The brainchild of celebrated author Mario Puzo, the film is considered the crowning achievement of Francis Ford Coppola's directing career. Providing audiences with a glimpse into the notorious underworld of warring New York crime families, The Godfather catapulted a number of actors into fame's limelight, among them - James Caan, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall (all three nominated for Best Supporting Actor). In addition, Marlon Brando turns in, arguably, the most memorable performance of his career. Certainly among the top five films of all time, the case could be made that The Godfather is the most perfect movie ever produced…
The film opens as "Don" Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) hosts his daughter's wedding, entertaining friends and business associates. Vito's favorite son Michael (Al Pacino) has come home from the war, and he's determined to do something different with his life other than joining the family business. Idealistic at heart, the young Michael inspires his girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) with tales of the fine and outstanding things he will do with his life. Through the eyes of Michael, the audience learns of the family's various business methods and the hierarchy of its system. Vito's eldest son Sonny (James Caan) is the heir apparent to his father's empire. Middle son Fredo (John Cazale) performs his part in the business, but few consider him a possible successor. Providing legal council to the family is Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), a long-time friend of the family who Michael treats as a brother.
Things are well for the Corleone family until Vito is approached by opportunistic newcomer Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) wishing to sell drugs on the street. He asks for the Don's blessing so he can expand his operations. But Vito sees a big difference between gambling and prostitution and drug running on school playgrounds and family neighborhoods. The Don's preference for placing family above all else conflicts with the changing times.
When competing crime families are more accommodating to Sollozzo's business proposal, the enterprise sparks a bloody war between the crime families which quickly leads to the murder of Sonny Corleone. Vito attempts to end the conflict in its early stages, but an attempt is made on his life as well.
Avenging his brother's death, Michael carries out a hit on two men in an Italian restaurant. Afterward, he hides out for several months in Sicily where he marries a beautiful village girl. But she dies from a car bomb shortly thereafter - a car bomb intended for Michael.
With the battle for crime syndicate supremacy in full swing, Michael is forced to fill the vacuum created by his brother Sonny's death. As his father reaches the end of his life, Michael is groomed as his replacement. When Vito finally dies of a heart attack, Michael lets his presence be known in direct fashion. All enemies of the Corleone family are eliminated in a single bloody hour. And with Kay as his new wife, Michael follows in his father's footsteps as the latest incarnation of Don Corleone…
A dramatic story of family and change, of the idealism of youth and the pragmatism of adulthood, The Godfather stands alone as the greatest mafia film ever produced - and perhaps as the best drama in history. Al Pacino's masterful performance would soon be replicated in The Godfather II and countless other films in the decades since, cementing his place among Hollywood legends. Widely heralded as one of the best written and best directed films in history, The Godfather is a must-see film for any serious cinema aficionado…
Britt Gillette
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Posted on 20 December 2004