The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-revolution 1958 Cuba.
In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in New York and Italy in 1979, aging Mafia don Michael Corleone seeks to avow for his sins while taking a young protégé under his wing.
An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more...
A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.
Director:
Jonathan Demme
Stars:
Jodie Foster,
Anthony Hopkins,
Lawrence A. Bonney
When the aging head of a famous crime family decides to transfer his position to one of his subalterns, a series of unfortunate events start happening to the family, and a war begins between all the well-known families leading to insolence, deportation, murder and revenge, and ends with the favorable successor being finally chosen. Written by
J. S. Golden
Vic Damone was originally cast as Johnny Fontaine, but dropped out, ostensibly because he couldn't in good conscience play a character so anti-Italian American. He later revealed it was because of the poor pay. See more »
Goofs
Michael reads a New York Mirror newspaper account of his father's brush with death. The page is fabricated but inserted into an actual newspaper, which appears to be the NY Daily News. The Daily News page on the opposite side shows a story about a Catholic mass celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral, written by a reporter with a Hispanic surname. A minority's byline would never have appeared in the News at that time; minorities did not attain the status of reporters at that newspaper until the late 1960s or early 1970s. Also, the barely readable text in the story says the mass was said by Terence Cardinal Cooke, who was then a parish priest and did not become a cardinal until 1969. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Bonasera:
I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a "boy friend," not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boy friend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her. Like an animal...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
In the Blu-Ray version, the Paramount logo is in sepia. See more »
First I have to say that it is very difficult to watch this movie for the first time (which I just did) and approach it with an open mind. The glowing reviews it gets everywhere (many of course calling it the best movie ever made) gives one extremely high expectations and the possibility of being easily disappointed. The many parodies of the movie also give it a cult status that makes one think one knows the story even if one has never seen it.
I thought "The Godfather" was a good movie, but nothing more than that really. I personally wouldn't call it the greatest movie ever made; not even one of the greatest. It was good, worth watching once and I'm glad I've finally seen it, but nothing more.
The portrayal of mob life in the post-war era seemed realistic enough, and the appropriate atmosphere was set. The opening scenes (revolving around Don Corleone's daughter's wedding) gave me mixed feelings. I thought the whole thing went on too long, but it did demonstrate that Corleone's "business" never ended - he was constantly meeting with various people looking for favours rather than being front and centre at the wedding. Brando, of course, won (and refused to accept) the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Corleone, but I wasn't actually taken with his performance. First, I really didn't think of him as the Lead Actor. Al Pacino (as Corleone's son Mike) was, I thought, far more important to the story and far more interesting to watch. Brando had - to me - an almost cartoonish aura around him. Over-rated in my view. But Pacino was excellent, and the character of Mike the most interesting in the movie, as he evolves from the returned war hero who wants nothing to do with the family "business" to the eventual "Don."
It's not that I thought this was a bad movie. It was quite watchable and for the most part very interesting. I just think I've seen better.
6/10
62 of 117 people found this review helpful.
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First I have to say that it is very difficult to watch this movie for the first time (which I just did) and approach it with an open mind. The glowing reviews it gets everywhere (many of course calling it the best movie ever made) gives one extremely high expectations and the possibility of being easily disappointed. The many parodies of the movie also give it a cult status that makes one think one knows the story even if one has never seen it.
I thought "The Godfather" was a good movie, but nothing more than that really. I personally wouldn't call it the greatest movie ever made; not even one of the greatest. It was good, worth watching once and I'm glad I've finally seen it, but nothing more.
The portrayal of mob life in the post-war era seemed realistic enough, and the appropriate atmosphere was set. The opening scenes (revolving around Don Corleone's daughter's wedding) gave me mixed feelings. I thought the whole thing went on too long, but it did demonstrate that Corleone's "business" never ended - he was constantly meeting with various people looking for favours rather than being front and centre at the wedding. Brando, of course, won (and refused to accept) the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Corleone, but I wasn't actually taken with his performance. First, I really didn't think of him as the Lead Actor. Al Pacino (as Corleone's son Mike) was, I thought, far more important to the story and far more interesting to watch. Brando had - to me - an almost cartoonish aura around him. Over-rated in my view. But Pacino was excellent, and the character of Mike the most interesting in the movie, as he evolves from the returned war hero who wants nothing to do with the family "business" to the eventual "Don."
It's not that I thought this was a bad movie. It was quite watchable and for the most part very interesting. I just think I've seen better.
6/10