Film review - The Godfather
I believe the Godfather is the best film that has ever been made, everything about this movie is spectacular, despite it being 46 years old it’s still used as an example of how to make a good movie, here’s just some of the things The Godfather does well:
Character development - Michael Corleone
Who is Michael Corleone?
Michael Corleone: Michael is the ‘white sheep’ in the family, the one person of the family who hasn’t been completely eaten up by the world of organised crime. His father, Vito is the Don (head) of the Corleone crime family, one of the 5 ‘families’ that dominate organised crime (Along with the Barzini, Tattaglia, Cuneo and the Stracci families) in New York, and his two brothers: Fredo and Sonny are both involved in the mafia. Sonny is next in line for the role of Don in the Corleone crime family, although to his father's dismay he is a hot head and unfaithful to his wife (family in the Godfather is one of the most important aspects of the film) which would make him not an ideal don, his brother Fredo has a big eye for business but also one for alcohol, this shows that there’s not really a good successor for the Corleone family. Michael himself wanted no part of this life, his father didn’t want him involved either, so he enrolled for college but after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour he dropped out and joined the Marine Corps which created a stir in his family, with only his brother Fredo supporting his decision.
How did he change?
We see Michael as the person who possesses his father's qualities: his intelligence, discipline and force, which is most likely due to his time in the army, the army requires both discipline and force if there’s any hope of being a good soldier. Ironically Michael possesses the perfect qualities for a mafia don, and would be the perfect successor to his father, however he wanted no part of the mafia, which is why he joined the army in the first place, to distance himself as much as possible from this dark world.
However, things take a drastic change when Virgil Sollozzo, an up and coming figure in the NY underworld wanted a meeting with Vito about wanting to sell drugs, VS wanted Corleone’s political and judicial protection, Vito says no, but Sonny however showed interest in this deal, noting the massive profit that could’ve been made for the Corleone family. Vito saying no and Sonny saying yes creates a little friction, friction which Sollozzo takes full advantage of this, he thinks if he takes out Vito, then he can make a deal with Sonny. While Vito is out in the market with his son Fredo driving (Normal driver Paulie Gatto called in sick 3 times in a month) and coincidentally on the day that Gatto is apparently ‘sick’ the Don is shot 5 times by assassins presumably sent by Virgil Sollozzo, and Fredo his son was so startled by the shooting he couldn’t return fire, thus showing his weakness which wouldn’t be a good trait for a mafia don. Gatto is a soldier in the family and would’ve had no qualms with returning fire, but he wasn’t there on the day, suspiciously. The shooting was not a surprise, Vito’s lawyer Tom Hagen warned that there’d be trouble if he said no to Sollozzo purely because of the money that can be made from drugs, but Vito’s pride made him weak.
The shooting of Vito Corleone was the start of Michael’s venture into the world of the Mafia, a world which he desired to have no part of. While visiting his father in the hospital he sees that the men who were supposed to be protecting him have been removed from the hospital, Michael then moves his father to another room. This is significant as the same people who removed the security detail would have come back to kill Vito. In front of the hospital Michael and Enzo the baker (An innocent man who wanted to pay his respect to Vito after he heard news of the shooting) stand outside as a car full of men (the people who would’ve killed Vito) drive by, Michael tells Enzo to keep his hands in his pocket to signal that they have a gun, they don’t but it’s enough for the car to speed up, thus preventing Vito’s probable murder. In what seems to be a minor detail but in fact it’s important, while Michael and Enzo are outside they lit a cigarette, Michael’s hands are steady whereas Enzo’s are shaking, this shows that Michael has the nerve for the mafia business and will stand up to his father's enemies and the lighter that lit the cigarette was the ‘flame’ which fully cemented him as a mafioso. Michael is now fully entrenched in the world we all hoped he would avoid.
After Michael and Enzo prevented the Sollozzo thugs from killing Vito, a dirty cop on Sollozzo’s payroll, Captain McCluskey pulls up to the hospital and is so enraged that Michael is at the hospital he has two fellow officers hold him whilst he punches Michael, breaking his jaw. After hearing of this Sonny Corleone (Who becomes ‘acting’ Don while his father is out) plans to murder both Sollozzo and McCluskey, Michael says he will do the deed in killing them both, the relationship between Sollozzo and McCluskey is key to Michael’s decision in wanting to stay in the world of crime, he sees that America can be bought with drug money, but it’s also a parallel to his relationship with his father, who’s also involved in crime. Michael ponders whether he wants to remain as a normal citizen, a citizen who has no respect or power in society or if he wants to be somebody in a world where only the toughest make it very far. The scene in which he volunteers for the murders of Sollozzo and McCluskey are the nail in the coffin, he leaves his normal life: his wife, his neutral status and follows the path of the mafia. Michael Corleone goes to a meeting with Sollozzo and McCluskey (Sollozo is under the impression it’s a ‘peace treaty’ but in fact it’s a ploy for his eventual murder) and during this meeting he asks to go to the bathroom to get the gun that was hidden for him to kill the two, and then he shoots and kills Sollozzo and McCluskey, thus making it impossible to return to a normal life, he’s a full pledged gangster.
After the murder of Sollozzo Michael had to flee to Sicily for a while until the heat calmed down. In the time Michael is away his brother and heir apparent to Vito, Sonny is gunned down, this leads the way for Michael to become the Don of the Corleone family. As Don, Michael is mentored by his father, and Michael learns to protect himself and the Corleone family he must eliminate the other heads of the 5 families. In the final ‘Baptism’ scene Michael is at his son's baptism and he orders the killings of the other dons of the New York families, these murders place Michael as the most powerful mafia boss in the whole of America. His transformation is now complete, from war hero and seemingly innocent to vicious mafioso.
Acting
Behind any good movie is good acting, but the Godfather has acting on another level.
Marlon Brando – Brando played one of the most iconic film characters in Vito Corleone, the brash mafia don who commanded respect, so much so that even his close friends would call him ‘Godfather.’ Ironically the studio behind the Godfather (Paramount) didn’t want Brando anywhere near the role of Don Corleone, he was considered toxic and supposedly very difficult to work with, but that didn’t stop Coppola begging Paramount to give Brando the part, it took a little persuading but after the studio executives saw his audition, they caved in, and one of the best acting performances in the entirety of cinema, was born.
“As president of Paramount Pictures, I must tell you now that under no circumstances will Marlon Brando appear in The Godfather. And, as president, I no longer wish to waste the company’s time even discussing it” - Stanley Jeffe, ex-President of Paramount Pictures
One of the traits that made Brando a great choice for the role is that he had perfected the New York accent in his previous role in On the Waterfront. This is ideal as Corleone is a New York gangster and it adds the realism to the film (and accuracy...), because you wouldn’t want someone with a thick British accent playing a New York gangster for example, it wouldn’t work, but Brando made it work. Another thing which makes the character of Vito Corleone great is Brando’s use of method acting (which is a method of acting where an actor/actress wants to have complete emotional identification with a role), to make himself look menacing (As a mob boss should) he stuffed cotton into his cheek and wore a specially made mouthpiece, this allowed Brando to truly assume the personality of Don Corleone. His performance made the Don look a honourable man, and while Corleone is honourable (compared to his counterparts) he’s still a mafia boss who’s probably had people killed and Brando is so good we often forget he’s playing a criminal!
It's ironic as during filming, Al Pacino said that the Godfather was the worst film ever made (While he was drunk of course) he also thought Coppola was mad for offering him the part! But just as Brando gives an iconic performance as Vito Corleone, Pacino gives a just-as-good if not better performance as the white sheep turned black sheep of the family, Michael Corleone. Pacino portrayed Michael superbly, Michael Corleone has one of the best character arcs in history and he has the performance too, the portrayal of a good man turned bad is amazing. He murdered Sollozzo and the police captain with absolutely no remorse, the look in his eyes made him look like a madman. After this he had no qualms with getting his hands dirty to keep his throne at the top of the Corleone chain. In his performance you could really see the Sicilian in him, his attitude from innocent civilian into ruthless mobster. The intensity in certain scenes was unbelievable, despite not saying a word the scene in which the door is shut on his wife Kay Adams was still breath-taking, it wasn’t verbal but that confirmed that the old Michael Corleone was gone, the new Michael Corleone or as we know him ‘Don Corleone.’ The scene has an important meaning, not only did he close the door on his wife but he closed the door on a normal life, his sole purpose in life now is to cement himself as this powerful mafia don, just as his father was. Another thing to mention is the performance overall, there’s a mini debate as to what Michael Corleone is, is he a villain? Or a tragic hero? I personally believe tragic hero, but that just shows how good Pacino was, he’s made us almost ponder whether a killer is actually a good person at heart, because don’t forget: Michael Corleone never asked to be involved in this life, it’s only after his family was almost torn apart that he felt like he had to step in, for his family and their survival, and with Pacino himself saying he never saw Michael Corleone as a gangster.
The other actors in the Godfather were great too, in our praise of Brando and Pacino we almost forget that this movie had actors such as James Caan whose career really kicked off after the Godfather. who got into his role somewhat as he had been known to hang out with Carmine Persico, a real-life mobster and boss of the Colombo crime family, so playing a mobster shouldn’t have been too difficult for the brash hothead, funnily enough Caan was so unknown before the Godfather that government agents assumed he was a mobster because of his interaction with Persico! His performance was superb and it earned him a nomination for best supporting actor. Lastly in an ironic turn of events Caan was once denied entry into a country club, but another patron said ‘he’s a made guy’ (made guy = ‘official’ member of the mafia) so his performance was that convincing many believed he actually was the real deal.
Subtle details
The Godfather has great acting and a great story, but it also has subtle details that actually mean a lot to the movie the most famous of this, is the orange theory.
The orange theory is a simple one but it’s one of the most famous details in movie history. The theory is that each time oranges appear death/something bad will occur, here are the many examples:
• At Connie Corleone’s wedding Salvatore Tessio is holding an orange, at the end of the film it’s revealed that he betrayed the Corleone family and is then killed
• During Tom Hagen’s meeting with movie producer Jack Woltz there’s oranges at the table, later Woltz’ prized horses head at the foot of his bed
• Vito Corleone is buying oranges just before he is shot by the assassins working for Sollozzo
• During the meeting with the heads of the Five Families, there’s a bowl of oranges at the table. Michael Corleone has the heads of the Five Families killed at the end of the movie
• While Vito Corleone is playing with his grandson, he puts an orange rind in his mouth and then not so long later he dies
Ironically the directors first denied the claim that the placing of oranges was intentional, their original goal with the oranges was to implement a bit of colour, but as they saw they used oranges so frequently they implemented this into Godfather 2 and 3.
References in future media and its influence
• The Godfather coined the expression ‘The Moe Greene special.’ The MGS is a shot through the eye, Jewish gangster Moe Greene was killed this way during the Baptism in which Michael killed the heads of the Five Families also.
The Sopranos references this when Mikey Palmice kills Brendan Filone he shoots him through the eye, the Moe Greene special.
• The Sopranos references the Godfather again, in the first assassination attempt on Tony Soprano he is buying orange juice.
• Another Godfather reference in the Sopranos, Tony’s strip club is named the Bada Bing! This is a direct reference to a quote by Sonny Corleone
“You’ve gotta get up close like this and – BADA BING! You blow their brains out all over their Ivy League suits”
• The character of Vito Corleone is based on real life mobster Frank Costello. Marlon Brando based the voice of Corleone on Costello after he listened to tapes where Costello was testifying about organised crime.
• Referencing the Moe Greene special, the death of Moe Greene is based on the real-life death of Bugsy Siegel (Who Greene is based on) however Siegel was shot in the head, not the eye.
Conclusion
The Godfather is a pivotal film, it has been referenced, parodied and it is still discussed 46 years after release. I’ve never seen and have yet to see any other film that rivals the Godfather in terms of influence in media, and finally...
I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse
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