Favorite Friday #3: The Godfather

The Godfather (1972)

"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

"Maunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday"

"Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."

"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone

The Godfather entered my life as I was emerging as a child into a young woman. Thus where others of my age or older were introduced to films like Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Can't Hardly Wait, or She's All That or if they're luckier films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles---I watched films like Braveheart, Die Hard, Blood Sport and of course The Godfather. It brought with it a certain understanding of two things: Italians are scary and mob films are fantastic. You name it and I can find you a mob film that you would no doubt enjoy. And they certainly aren't a solely old fashion film style--The Departed (2006) is a more recent addition to the genre. And like myself the director of that film, Martin Scorsese, is also a great fan of The Godfather.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone

But why is the film so great? Where is the proof of its perpetual immortality?

Here's my theory: anybody who is not a complete idiot or hermit knows of The Godfather. If you say it to someone, most likely even if they don't know who is in it (even though most people know at least that Brando or Pacino is), they know that the movie is about gangsters or Sicilians. It takes a lot for a movie which a great deal of people who have never seen in its entirety (my mother for instance) can quote lines from it. Many people may not have seen this film, but they still know what the negative connotation of a "Godfather" is or that there are mob families in New York that are Sicilian or Italian. If they're lucky or at least a little more close to movie freaks (such as myself) they'll be able to quote any of the lines mentioned above.

"I believe in America. America has made me my fortune." Sorry. Those are the opening lines. I love them. I digress.

Pacino, Brando, Caan and Cazale (left to right)

The Godfather was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino (then unknown at the time), Robert Duvall, James Caan and Diane Keaton. The film was based on a 1969 novel written by Mario Puzo. It was awarded Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Puzo and Coppola---further proof that the author of a book needs to at least be involved for the movie adaptation to worth anything).

The story takes place over the years 1945-55 and chronicles the Corleone family, a fictional Sicilian mob family.  The story begins at the wedding of Don Corleone's daughter, Connie. Through this massive family event (so large that FBI agents lie waiting outside checking license plates for who showed up) we are introduced to the ritual and respect that the Corleone family and especially Don Vito Corleone (Brando) or The Godfather. We are also introduced to the interesting family dynamic of Don Corleone's children, Michael (Al Pacino), Santino or "Sonny" (James Caan), Fredo (John Cazale), and Connie (Talia Shire).  As the film progresses we are allowed into more and more intimate settings--one begins to feel as a fly on the wall as there is domestic violence, adultery, marriage and the death of a parent. If this movie were about any other family it could be a comedy of errors, almost like It's a Wonderful Life. If you subtract everything but the basic events, it would be funny. Michael was never supposed to be in the family business, but when Vito Corleone is "removed from office" for saying no to a business transaction, Michael is forced to become involved. Furthermore Michael's elder brothers are both inept at being the head of the business, so as time goes by Michael eventually becomes the de facto and then finally the official head of the family. The family could own a landscaping business for all the intimacy of this kind of drama--thus its charm.

"Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes"

Now take the family drama and add in murder, explosions, more murder, drama, lying, backstabbing, hairy arms, guns, Garrot wire, screaming, punching and a lot of Italians and voila you've got the best movie ever made (according to pretty much every AFI and Film Institute list in existence).

What makes this film so great for me as I'm sure it is with everyone else is the humanity of the characters. It would have been so easy for anyone to have made these people monsters, since in all honesty they are that exactly. Instead we find ourselves immersed in their lives, rooting for them even though it means murder is condoned. These gangsters are just people; their language is Italian and murder. And we love them for it!

Furthermore the film is grossly different than those before it (and you can see this film's influence on pretty much all since--especially Goodfellas (1990) and Mobsters (1991)--both of which are excellent by the way) because it is a gangster's tale told from inside. Not from an outsider's perspective, detailing how a high-rolling mobster goes from a time of flippant murder, robbery and mayhem to a life of jail and punishment. Michael is not punished at the end of the film--in fact no one gets caught by any authority whatsoever--except by mob-family justice. As for realism in the genre? I mean come on. The Gambino family liked this movie! O.M.G.

The Godfather is a classic of modern film making, a piece of whether or not you like mob movies or crime dramas or what have you.

Now go out, get some cannoli, make some spaghetti and sit down to watch this film. Capisce?