What's going down?
In The Godfather, Michael Corleone returns from the war and reluctantly becomes embroiled in the dealings of his father, mafia Godfather Don Vito. As relations between New York's Five Families become tense and war begins, Don Vito's life is threatened and Michael becomes more and more disillusioned, eventually taking his father's place as head of the family. In Part II, Michael leads the family into hard times, with a betrayal by one of his men, a strained relationship with his wife, and a Senate hearing on organized crime all troubling his mind. At the same time, we get to see Vito's origins in Italy and his rise to power on New York's mafia ladder.
Who's in it?
Marlon Brando plays the iconic role of Don Vito, and while he definitely commands the screen and lends some mystique to the venerable mafioso, his performance might be better if he was actually intelligible half the time. As it is, he mumbles a good part of his lines in a gravelly Italian accent, so while his meaning comes across, the actual words are hard to decipher. Al Pacino plays Michael, the films' most dynamic character, with his usual skill, transforming him from an unwilling participant who wants to escape his family's plots to a cold and ruthless Don, willing to whack his friends and family members who get in the way of the family's advancement. Diane Keaton is his foil in the form of his wife Kay, who is disturbed by the violent ways of the family, and who feels guilty about bringing her children into such a life. Robert DeNiro is the young Vito Corleone in Part II, and while the part may have gotten him an Oscar, I really don't see the accomplishment in the role. John Cazale is Fredo Corleone, brother of Michael, who emerges as a sympathetic character, passed over by his father and brothers, only wanting the recognition that has been denied him.
How's the production?
If nothing else, The Godfather films are very pretty to look at; the color palette and composition make every frame look like a painting. My main complaint with the films, however, is in their length, especially Part II; I found it hard to keep the characters and storylines straight when some character or plot point last seen an hour before suddenly appeared on screen. The result is that I have trouble making an emotional connection to the characters and the story, the most important thing that a great movie does for me.
The Greatest Scenes:
For The Godfather, it's the scene in which Michael Corleone kills Captain McCluskey and Virgil Solazzo. After leaving lulling them into a sense of security, following the script he and his brothers have planned, Michael leaves to the bathroom to retrieve a gun that has been left there for him. He walks back to the table and slays the pair, cementing his transformation into a member of the mafia family he tried to escape. For The Godfather, Part II, it's the scene in which Kay confronts Michael about the evilness of his life and reveals that she aborted their baby because of the guilt she felt about bringing children into such a life. The passion she demonstrates makes this one of the film's few moments that actually resonates emotionally with me, and the look on Michael's face when she finishes is enough to make the viewer fear for Kay's life.
Personal Impressions
Biggest. Disappointment. Ever. For all the hype, all the sources that have named it the Greatest Film of All Time, there was so little about these films that I found appealing. For one thing, there's the problem of length: they drag on for over three hours each, and while that in itself may not be a problem (it certainly wasn't for The Lord of the Rings), the truly meaningful moments are spaced out so distantly that I found it hard to stay interested. The best example of this comes at the beginning of Part II: 30 minutes into the film, there have only been two scenes, and virtually nothing of plot importance has occurred. For some reason, this film never really clicked with me, and I never really found myself caring too much about what happened to the characters (though Brando and Pacino's acting is admittedly quite skillful). Far from the greatest films of all time, I wouldn't really consider these films great at all. If anyone has a different perspective on these films, I would be greatly interested to read about it, because I really do not see their appeal at all.
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