The Godfather, A Review
The Godfather has been called a perfect film. I wondered why a few months ago, and questioned the merits of the film in a post on BrainFuel. Jordan Lyall, a reader, even said he wouldn’t return to BrainFuel until I had written a review. Poor Jordan, he’s been missing out. It only took me two months!
The movie is listed on the IMDb as 9.1 stars (out of 10) and one person wrote: “The best way to describe The Godfather is flawless in every way that a movie can be flawed. It exceeds expectations of what should be put into a movie from everyone involved.”
I have now watched The Godfather, and The Godfather II. I didn’t get to the 3rd installment but will try to watch that before too long. Overall, I’d say that the claim that these movies are perfect is correct. A perfectly told story about a mafia family. The family.
I think the reason people don’t really talk about this movie is because it’s so richly complex. There are so many characters in these movies, and they fit into multiple threaded stories. Sometimes I couldn’t tell who was important and who wasn’t. In the end, I realized that each of the individual stories pieced together tell the story of The Godfather, or Don Vito Corleone. It also tells the story of his son, Michael, who becomes the Don when Vito dies.
Why is this movie considered perfect? It’s perfect in that it gives you a very real glimpse into the world of a mob family. The strife that goes on, and the senseless killings. The cinematography is amazing. It’s quite amazing how detailed it all is. The characters are really deep, and the sets are very realistic.
My rating: 4.5
My only complaint about The Godfather is that it required intense concentration because of the wide number of characters introduced. At times, it became difficult to follow. It all comes together towards the end though, when all of the stories begin to tell the story. Michael’s character in particular was quite well developed overall. At the beginning, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the family. Towards the end of the story, after his father dies, he has become quite the mafia man!
Something I discovered in the Wikipedia is this factoid… According to tradition, no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter’s wedding day. As a result, the Godfather, Tom Hagen, the family attorney and consigliere, and Santino, “Sonny”, the Don’s oldest son, are preoccupied with hearing requests from friends and employees. That answers the question of why they were in meetings all during the wedding ceremony. That appeared so strange to me at first.
Overall, it’s recommended but it is a rather dark film, not my usual taste.
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I’m confused… You say it was perfect, but you only rated it 4.5 stars? Is that 4.5 out of 5, or 10?
4.5 out of 5, and the “perfect” rating I implied means it is perfect among films of this type and style.
Interestingly, on IMDb it is 9.1 stars, but I hear that Shawshank Redemption is 9.2 stars. I wonder why that hasn’t stolen the #1 spot.
@Chris – probably due to the number of votes for the movie.
The Godfather was upon released (1972), a very controversial film. It was one of the first – if not the first – to portrait the Mafia as something more than senseless murders, but as humans. Helpful, loving and a family.
I too was sceptical first time i saw it, wordering why it had made it to the top at IMDB, but after watching it a couple of times, I can see why it is the best of its time. It’s a great intriguing story.
Way to come through. The Don is pleased. Great Review. Now I’ve got my work cut out for me: I’ve got to catch up on 2 months worth of Brainfuel posts.
Haha, thanks Jordan.
Chris, did you ever get around to watching #3?
No, I totally forgot. Maybe I’ll watch it this month.
I have seen Part I at least 6 times. And every time I see the movie it gets better and better. Same with Part II. Part III is good too. But I don’t see why you have to give it a 4.5. I would and will give it the highest score there is. It’s one of the best movie and books I have ever seen or read. I have all three movies and books. But you did complement the movie good.:)
hey chris…if you payed attention to the dialogue in the movie you would’ve noticed that the whole “no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter’s wedding day” is actually said and explained…which makes me wonder if you were putting true attention to it. The movie isn’t that hard to follow. Overall its a great movie that continues to inspire….but I really think you should put a little more effort into a movie before you decide to review it. Mainly because “intense concentration is not needed to know whats going on…