The Godfather (1972)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Film Review

What else needs to be said about The Godfather?  The film that gave Marlon Brando one of his greatest roles and made Al Pacino an overnight star. The film whose score is one of the most memorable in cinema history.  The film that shocked and delighted audiences in just about equal measure with its graphic depiction of gangland violence and a certain scene involving a horse's head.  Is there anyone who can seriously deny that The Godfather is the greatest, the most elegant and most intelligent gangster film of them all?  This is surely a film that has earned its place alongside Citizen Kane, Vertigo and the other great cinema masterpieces.  Yet it is also a film that came perilously close to not being made at all...

Let us go back to 1970, when Paramount Pictures was running into serious financial difficulties and needed a big hit to reverse its decline.  Mario Puzo's recently published novel The Godfather had all the makings of a popular gangster movie and so Paramount producer Albert S. Ruddy and his associate Gray Frederickson were tasked with putting together a team for a possible film adaptation.  Various directors were approached but no one appeared interested in the project, except for 31-year-old Francis Ford Coppola.  With eight films under his belt, Coppola was himself going through a rough patch - he was deeply in debt and was having difficulty finding a subject that appealed to him.  Although Coppola initially had reservations about making The Godfather, he soon became enthusiastic about the project when he saw the story as an allegory of American capitalism gone wrong.

Right from the outset, Coppola and his Paramount bosses were at loggerheads.  Paramount was nervous that Coppola was intending to make a European-style art house film, whereas what the studio wanted was simply a popular movie that would earn lots of money and not cost a fortune to make. Repeatedly, Coppola's decisions were challenged and there were several occasions when the director and the studio almost parted company.  Throughout the making of the film, the relationship was a stormy one and compromises had to be made on both sides.  Much of the violence that ended up in the final film is there partly so that Paramount executives could have a few less sleepless nights.

The area of biggest contention was the casting of the lead roles.  For Don Vito, Coppola was determined to hire Marlon Brando, whom he considered perfect for the part.   This was not a popular choice, mainly because the actor had acquired a reputation as a trouble causer, renowned for causing production delays and making unreasonable salary demands.  The studio wanted Laurence Olivier, but he was too ill to accept the part.  In the end, Coppola got his way, but only after having arranged a screen-test and obtained a written assurance from Brando that he would not disrupt the production schedule.  For the part of Michael Corleone, Paramount wanted an established popular actor such as Robert Redford or Ryan O'Neal.   Coppola was vehemently opposed to this and insisted the role should go to the virtually unknown Italian-American actor Al Pacino.  The director only got his way by threatening to walk away from the film.  As it turned out, both casting choices were a masterstroke, since Brando and Pacino would deliver exceptional performances, both earning Oscar nominations.

Coppola confounded the sceptics at Paramount by giving them a film that was not only a major commercial success, but also one that the critics adored.  The Godfather is one of a very small number of films which continues to be as well thought of today as it was when it was first released.  It was nominated for eleven Oscars in 1973 and won three awards, for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), and Best Screenplay.  (Brando caused a storm of controversy when he refused to accept his award as a protest against US discrimination against Native Americans.  Instead, he sent an actress, Maria Cruz, posing as an Indian woman, to read out a statement on his behalf.)  The film's commercial success meant that a sequel was an easy sell.  The Godfather: Part II was released in 1974, produced and directed by Coppola with Al Pacino reprising his role as Don Corleone.  Then, in 1990, a second sequel was released, The Godfather: Part III, although this is generally less well regarded than the first two Godfather films.

With its intricate plot and complex characterisation, The Godfather is undoubtedly one of the most sophisticated films in the gangster genre.  Yet this is clearly far more than just a gangster film. It is also a cogent metaphor for America in the later half of the 20th Century.  One theme that is central to the film is the dehumanising influence of power.  We see this through the slow transformation of Michael Corleone, from a likeable, morally superior character into an amoral hoodlum who is manifestly ill-equipped to handle the power he has inherited from his father.  Don Vito may be a gangster but he is a gangster with a set of well-defined and honorable moral values, which he uses skilfully to protect himself and his family.  By contrast, his youngest son Michael is a man who seems to have no moral restraint, someone for whom violence is an option of first resort, and who appears destined to pay a very heavy price.

Film Synopsis

Summer, 1945.  Don Vito Corleone is the head of one of five gangster families operating in New York, known to his associates as The Godfather.  His youngest son Michael has recently returned home a war hero, after serving in the marines during WWII.  Michael's arrival coincides with the marriage of Corleone's daughter Connie to bookmaker Carlo Rizzi.  Don Vito is offered an alliance with a rival family, the Tattaglias, who need his political contacts to protect their drugs trafficking operation.  When Don Vito refuses, he is shot down in the street.  Although his father survives this assassination attempt, Michael Corleone takes revenge by murdering Sollozzo, one of the Tattaglias' front men, and a corrupt police chief.  As Michael goes into hiding in Sicily, tensions between the five gangster families grow and an all-out war appears imminent.  When his eldest son, Sonny, is shot dead in an ambush, Don Vito hastily calls for a truce and agrees to the demands of the Tattaglias family.  On his return to New York, Michael Corleone sees that his family's influence has declined drastically.  Taking over from his father, he sets about reversing this trend - with a vengeance...