The Godfather (1972) * * * *

Directed by:  Francis Ford Coppola

Starring:  Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Sterling Hayden, Richard Castellano, Abe Vigoda

What can be said about The Godfather that hasn't already been said?   The film has been copied, parodied, dissected, you name it.    Is there anything I can add to show my appreciation?   I can try and I will do my damndest to avoid quoting the film's most famous lines, for which there are many.

In a broad stroke, Coppola opens the film with the Godfather Don Vito Corleone listening to requests for his help on his daughter's wedding day.    It is said that he can't refuse requests on his daughter's wedding day, per some Italian tradition.     I hope he gets a break on Christmas Day.    The opening scenes establish the characters in one fell swoop.     We see the Don as a powerful man who is reasonable and not unsympathetic to the plights of the people who beg for his help.    Michael, the Don's youngest son, (Pacino) arrives with his fiancee Kay (Keaton).   He is a decorated World War II hero who ensures Kay he wants no part of the family business.    We see Sonny (Caan), one of the Don's sons who is a hothead (which turns out to be tragic flaw).    Tom Hagen (Duvall) is on hand as the Corleone family lawyer, who attempts to advise the Don on new business enterprises.    Hagen is logical, calculating, and professional.      We also meet Fredo (John Cazale), who is the Don's oldest son and is a weakling.     Over the course of this film and two sequels, we would get to know these characters inside and out.    

Even though the Corleone is a mob family, we care about them and we identify with them despite that they are criminals.    Perhaps this is because Coppola develops these people so well.  Or maybe because the Don is at heart a good man.    We see this in scenes with his sons and his grandchildren.    He is a family man and doesn't want his enterprise engaging in narcotics dealing.    In a crucial development, he rejects a fellow mobster's offer to begin dealing narcotics.    Corleone believes "it's a dirty business."    However, he's not above sending messages to those who take sides against him.    Ask Jack Woltz, the movie mogul who refuses to cast Corleone's godson in his next movie.

Michael, of course, is drawn into the family business after his father is shot by rival gangsters.    Despite his lack of experience in criminal affairs, Michael is smart, cool, and collected.    He is the polar opposite of Sonny, who wants to whack everyone who looks at him crooked.    After Sonny meets his untimely death, Michael takes over the family business.    Michael's way of dealing with things involves violence and death.    This upsets his father, who goes into semi-retirement after surviving the shooting.    "I always wanted more for you Michael," he candidly tells his son and perhaps Michael wanted more for himself.     Or perhaps Michael wanted to be part of the business all along. 

The Godfather is a gangster film with an epic scope and many powerful aspects.     The famous lines from the film really tell little of the story.    The Corleone family becomes tragic beginning in this film and explored further in its two sequels.       The mob of The Godfather isn't like the mob of Goodfellas, in which simple disputes escalate into murder.    This mob assesses risk and looks at its business coldly and analytically.     Murder is committed in the name of business.    Tom Hagen says to Sonny, "This is business Sonny, not personal."    This is the way corporations think as well and in a sense, mobs are corporations looking to protect the bottom line.     The only difference is how they choose to bend the rules to suit them.

Going into all of the plotlines of The Godfather would take far more patience than I have.   Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, develops a strong sense of post-World War II America.    Everything is anchored by Brando, who won his second Oscar for this performance (and famously refused it).    Brando is a towering physical and emotional presence who affects scenes he's not even in.   Brando's Don Corleone remains a mythical movie figure today.    I'd have to think it's because beneath the power and wealth, Don Corleone remains someone who believed in loyalty, respect, family, and even to some degree morality.     The Godfather will remain a classic because it allows others to see its characters with intimacy you don't see in many films.