1972 - THE GODFATHER - the classic modern day gangster epic

A few thoughts on Coppola's legendary film.  The Godfather is about a loving supportive Italian American family in the 1940's who also happen to be a group of organized crime killers.  Marlon Brando who was on the outs with Hollywood mostly because of his behavior on previous film sets had to audition for the part of Vito Corleone.  Interestingly enough Brando's comeback role plays like a supporting role in the film.  He's barely a presence in the middle part of the the story.

The other actors in the film were future stars to watch.  James Caan as Sonny Corleone, Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, and John Cazale as Fredo Corleone.  Diane Keaton played the wife of Michael Corleone but her part is  the usual "please dear don't go out and be a murderous gangster tonight dear."  Some film cliches are hard to change.  The Godfather succeeds because the film rests on the shoulders of Al Pacino who basically moves the story along with his very impressive performance.

Francis Ford Coppola co-wrote the screenplay with the original author Mario Puzo and the film cleverly jumps between the domestic lives of the Corleone family and some impressively staged scenes of violence. Coppola was aware he was playing to a 1970's audience so he includes some sex scene stuff when he as too.  Puzo's novel is in many ways kind of a trashy story classed up by Coppola.

The Godfather made the career of Francis Ford Coppola.  He was more than  happy taking the credit for being a film making genius.  However this film benefited greatly from the contribution of cinematographer Gordon Willis.  Willis's skill in lighting and composing images for this narrative was a major and extremely important contribution to the success of this film.

 

The Godfather has a lot and I do mean a lot in common with Paramount's previous attempt at a gangster epic, The Brotherhood which was released in 1968.  That film is forgotten today but I think people viewing The Brotherhood would be surprised to see how many of the plot points are similar between the two films.  The Godfather was a big success for everyone involved but Paramount's desire for a sequel (more money to be made after all) led them to surrender most of their control over to Coppola for The Godfather Part II, a more impressive film than this one.

The film was written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, the running time is 175 minutes