The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather is a searing and brilliant film about a Mafia patriarchal family based on the best-selling novel of Mario Puzo. Francis Ford Coppola paints a terrifyingly sinister portrait on the way a crime syndicate operates and manages organized crime. There are quite a few differences between the novel and the film, but if Coppola had tried to incorporate everything, then this movie simply wouldn’t have worked.

Set in 1946, the film opens with the wedding of Don Vito Corleone’s (Marlon Brando) daughter where several people come to seek his favour as ‘no Sicilian can refuse a favour on his daughter’s wedding day’. This is a film which forces us to feel a deep sympathy with characters that are essentially evil. Here is a man who asks for nothing in return for the favors he grants to other people on one hand, and on the other hand ruthlessly mows down anyone who comes in his way. It is essentially a film about men, who refuse to live by the rules framed by society and get what they want through cynical use of their power. As Don Corleone famously puts it while promising his godson Johnny Fontane that he’ll make the Hollywood mogul give him a part in his movie,
“I’m gonna make him an offer that he can’t refuse.”

But most importantly it is about the transformation of a good man into an evil one. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the youngest son of Don Corleone returns from the 2nd world war as a decorated war-veteran on the occasion of his sister’s wedding, wanting to have nothing to do with the family business. “That’s my family, Kay. That’s not me”, he tells his girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) as he gives her a general idea as to what his family was all about. All that changes when the drug-lord Virgil Solozzo (played menacingly by Al Lettieri) launches a murderous attack on his father that almost proves fatal.

The movie has it share of brilliant and unforgettable images that are now part of motion picture folklore. Take for example the spine chilling scene where the arrogant movie producer Jack Woltz (John Marley) wakes up to find the severed head of his favourite horse at his feet. Or the scene where the Jewish mobster Moe Green is shot cleanly through his eye (now known as “the Moe Green shot”!!). Then there’s the death-scene in the tomato-and-orange garden. The famous baptism scene towards the end is an example of virtuoso film-making.

The performances in this film are exceptional. Acting doesn’t get any better than this. Marlon Brando puts in one of the greatest performances of his dazzling career (did his own make-up and stuffed cotton-balls in his jowls to give himself the sinister bulldog-like appearance). He portrays Don Corleone as a man of respect, a man who’s called ‘godfather’ by his friends and close associates. Al Pacino in his ‘supporting’ act as Michael Corleone is devastating (another example of Coppola’s genius and boldness as he picked a relatively-unknown Pacino at that time over actors like Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro!!). James Caan as the eldest son Sonny and Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen are excellent as well. The rest of the characters are examples of insightful and inspired casting. Take for example the casting of Richard Castellano as the fat capo régime Pete Clemenza, Abe Vigoda as the tough-looking capo Sal Tessio or Sterling Hayden as the obstinate police captain Mcluskey. Coppola couldn’t have got it any better.

The background score of Nino Rota is touching and heart-warming. There’s something of an imminent tragedy about the score that makes it so deeply moving. The cinematography, shooting locales, everything is perfect. It is undoubtedly the finest film ever made on organized crime.

Somehow one tends to have a sneaking admiration for Michael’s transformation into a cold and ruthless mafia boss. One gets the feeling it was kind of inevitable after the attack on his father, the cold-blooded killing of his brother and the tragic blow-up of his young Italian bride Apollonia. But unlike his father, he lacked the simple touch of humanity which ironically distances him from something that he actually fought for: his family. By the end of the film he becomes someone his father never intended him to become. Neither did Kay nor he himself. He becomes The Godfather.

Rating: Classic.