The Godfather

For a movie fan this may seem like near blasphemy but until this week I had never seen any of the Godfather movies.

I have to say that opening scene is FANTASTIC, totally unexpected, I don't know if that was Robert Evans (I think in EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS, it is mentioned that Evans did have a lot of control over the first 2 movies as well) or Coppola, but that VO over black, then pulling back on the man in the shadows until you get to the back of Brando's head, was mesmerizing. I talked to my brother today about that scene (he's 19) and he said it was one of the longest dullest scenes he's ever seen, but what does he know. I really don't know if this is a movie that kids grown up on on Bay and Tony Scott and Roland Emmerich can appreciate, but I loved it. Interestingly I found out that the long zoom out was one of the first uses of a computer controlled camera.

My absolute favorite scene though is outside the hospital, the baker Enzo (which is another thing I loved, we didn't just meet people in the wedding scene for shits and giggles they had a genuine purpose and when they are introduced in Act 1 we see them again in Act 3 [Enzo] or Act 4 ["Sinatra"]), anyways Enzo and Micheal are standing outside the hospital and neither of these men are "made" they are civil ans, Micheal has been protected his whole life from this and now he has to step up, they have no weapons, they are NOTHING and they have to use Micheal's intelligence to keep The Don alive. It was a chilling taunt but very quiet scene.

I also really enjoyed Brando's scene with the little boy (Anthony) toward the end of the movie with the water pump and the orange. The only other scene in the movie between Brando and children is when he gets home from the hospital and everyone is moving him in and the baby is crying and whatnot. This scene really brought up the fact that this man, this killer, criminal, etc; was a father and a grandfather who really did care about his family.

I won't say this is a perfect movie, couple things I didn't care for:

a)Talia Shire's overacting especially in the scene where she finds out her husband is cheating on here and she just starts throwing crap around. She was loud obnoxious and I know we are supposed to sympathize with her because her husbands a dick who cheats on her and hits her but I didn't, I found her shrill.

b)Micheal's descent into becoming the new Don, it just felt like it happened too fast. Up to that point, he was the civilian, he was nervous when he shot the drug dealer and the cop, he never really took hiding in Sicily important. But now all of a sudden he's as cold hearted as Brando. It just didn't work for me,I think I would have liked to seen his fall from grace to happen a little more quickly. I also, honestly, didn't see what he saw in Diane Keaton. She was pretty and perfect for his life before Brando's attack and Caan's death, but I couldn't tell what he saw in her after that. Maybe that's the point of it though, he was trying to hold unto a life that was gone now. I also didn't buy his throwing Duvall under the bus if you will, Sonny I could see doing that but not Micheal. Up to that point Micheal had always talked well of Tom.

c) This is a little nitpicky but I hated when we see Vegas for the first time, we see a sign for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, up to that point, I don't recall them mentioning J Edgar Hoover, any presidents (Truman, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, etc). There is a throw away line about Hitler but most of the time they don't talk about anything in the actual "culture" of America. It's a fictional studio, a fictional singer, etc, but then you see something that reminds me of our actual reality and took me away just a split second on the movie reality that had been established so well up to that point.

d) Maybe it's a lack of knowing my history of America at that period in history, but I also really questioned weather the heroin (or narcotics) business was really worth starting a 6 family war over in the late 40s.

The actors were fantastic, I didn't recognize honestly Duvall until about halfway through, same with Cann and Keaton.

I also really liked how this felt like it was made in the period it was set in. The look, the feel, the music, the atmosphere. Even Coppola's limited use of the camera, using limited movements and static shots felt like something made in the 40s not the 70s.

I can see WHY this is an American classic and one of the greats. I'm anxious to see part 2 which I hear is better then 1.