It’s an embarrassing admission but I had never seen the
Godfather before tonight. I don’t know why but that’s been put right now. It’s
regarded as one of the greatest films ever. The film famously has Marlon Brando
in and it’s the second film in recent times that I have had to watch with
subtitles because I couldn’t understand what Brando was saying. The story is
175 minutes long and it uses every one of those minutes to help construct a
massive mafia family led by Marlon Brando and its nice to see the evolution of
Michael from being the nice member of the family having been in action in World
War 2 to become the head man. The thing that the film shows is there is very
little in the way of happiness. There are members of the family that are killed
and no one comes out of this film unscathed.
Marlon Brando is very good in this film but its Al Pacino
who steals the film. As his gradual rise to power becomes more evident, Pacino
continues to come across as the most normal member of the family. James Caan is
also very good and is always a reliable and safe pair of hands. The
performances of even the supporting cast were all very good and it was very
much an ensemble piece and it’s needed because a just under 3 hours it would be
a stretch to keep a small band of people in a story which keeps the audience’s attention.
Francis Ford Coppola has done a great job in keeping the pace going and not
losing his nerve by having a massive action sequence but just keeping it calm
and letting the acting shine.
I wouldn’t say that I think this is the greatest movie ever
made but I did very much like it. I have high expectations about what to expect
from the next two movies but the Godfather is certainly in my top 10.
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