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Bookmark this pageThe Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
An everyday story of Mafia folk, incorporating a severed horse's head in the bed and a number of heartwarming family occasions, as well as pointers on how not to behave in your local trattoria (i.e. blasting the brains of your co-diners out all over their fettuccini). Mario Puzo's novel was brought to the screen in bravura style by Coppola, who was here trying out for the first time that piano/fortissimo style of crosscutting between religious ritual and bloody machine-gun massacre that was later to resurface in a watered-down version in The Cotton Club. See Brando with a mouthful of orange peel. Watch Pacino's cheek muscles twitch in incipiently psychotic fashion. Trace his rise from white sheep of the family to budding don and fully-fledged bad guy. Singalong to Nino Rota's irritatingly catchy theme tune. Its soap operatics should never have been presented separately from Part II.Author: GA
User reviews of this film
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- Paul Slamin said...
- Posted on Oct 21 2009 18:38 Like Citizen Kane, for me the Godfather is essentially a B-movie. Enjoyable, entertaining and well-made but a piece of work which adds nothing to our understanding of the human condition. The characters are essentially cartoonish and the writing is too often cliched. Although some of the scenes and the score are iconic they cannot make up for the portentous tone that runs throughout. Lift to the Scaffold. Now there is a great crime film.
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- p downey said...
- Posted on Oct 11 2009 16:32 Read the book before watching the movie if at all possible. It will enhance your enjoyment of what is without question the greatest gangster movie of all time.
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- Magmabulle said...
- Posted on Jun 08 2008 21:40 The epic masterpiece that all other epic masterpieces are compared to.
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- Jesse said...
- Posted on Apr 18 2008 22:30 This is one of the most well written films I have seen. every actor was amazing. My favourite character was Tom Hagen
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- Kushal Patel said...
- Posted on Aug 29 2007 11:08 This is the standard of movie-making that all directors without exception strive to equal. An all-star cast of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton ensure that this film reaches all levels of society. It is so influencial that the real mafia in Little Italy will kiss the ring on the index finger of their boss as a sign of respect and refer to him as Godfather. 'The Godfather' came first in The American Film Institute Top 1000 films ever made and it is unquestionably worthy of nothing less
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Cast & crew
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Producer: Albert S Ruddy
Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Al Lettieri full cast
Genre(s): Gangsters
Rated: 18
Duration: 175 mins
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