Francis Ford Coppola, 1972
[11 votes]
“The Godfather is one of those rare
movies that pretty much everyone can agree on, and that’s no small thing. There are many masterful movies out there,
and plenty of beloved ones besides, but just like you don’t see The Shawshank Redemption figuring
prominently on the Sight and Sound
lists, neither do you hear about too many people inviting their buds over to
drink beer and watch Contempt. Whereas The
Godfather- sort of like The Wizard of
Oz, Casablanca, and Raiders of the Lost Ark- is one of those
movies wherein, if you bring it up in conversation, someone will probably say,
‘yeah, The Godfather, that’s a good one,’ followed by much silent nodding in agreement.
“It
helps that The Godfather is a
textbook case of Hollywood really getting it right, by taking a popular (if
slightly trashy) bestseller, finding the right director and trusting him to do
his thing, and casting actors, both famous and obscure, who were perfect for
their roles. Understandably, the critics
raved and audiences turned out in droves.
Then, by some happy turn of events, the Academy Awards- an institution
historically characterized by a need to insist that, ‘hey, we Hollywood types
make Serious Art Movies too!’- had the good taste to choose it as the Best
Picture of 1972.
“But
the appeal of Coppola’s masterpiece goes beyond mere craftsmanship to something
rooted more deeply in the American character.
If nothing else, The Godfather
is an illustration of outsiders making a name for themselves. If Bonasera claims to ‘believe in America’ in
his opening monologue, it’s because he knows that it provides a place for him
to succeed where he might not have otherwise, much in the same way Vito
Corleone (formerly Andolini) achieved prominence in a society that was still
largely hostile, or at best ambivalent, to Italian immigrants. Or look at Tom Hagen, an Irish-American
orphan who was adopted by Vito and eventually becomes his attorney and one of
his most trusted advisors. Even Michael
(Al Pacino) is an outsider to his family, a war hero who has almost no role in
the family business until his father gets shot, after which he gradually rises
to become head of the family.
“Similarly,
the making of the film was a testament to outsiders making good, from Coppola,
a young tyro whose highest-profile work to date was the bloated roadshow
adaptation of Finian’s Rainbow, to
the cast, who represented two generations of the Method. Once an experimental stage performance
technique, the Method had two decades before revolutionized screen acting, and The Godfather featured not only Method
golden boy Brando at the head of its cast, but also several of his spiritual
disciples playing his sons, as well as innumerable other Actors Studio alums in
other roles. The casting of Method guru
Lee Strasberg in The Godfather, Part II
(which may or may not exceed the original film) makes the connection even more explicit.
“But
there’s a flipside to the film’s story of outsiders making good, and that can
be found in the limitations they, like the rest of us, face on the path to
success. For all of Michael’s wealth and
power, he never manages to achieve the legitimate prominence (‘Senator
Corleone… Governor Corleone’) that his father wishes for him. And so too did Coppola hit a roadblock later
in his career, as too many flops and too little discipline made it harder and
harder for him to make big-budget movies the way he did back in the 1970s -his way.
“Yet
even with the compromises and the sacrifices of Coppola’s career, the man gave
American cinema some of its proudest moments.
And The Godfather made it all
possible.” ~ Paul Clark
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