The Godfather is one of the few films in which I personally
did not find any significant weakness even after many viewings. From the
direction, to the acting, to the storyline, to the score, The Godfather has the
word classic written all over, and it really is not much of a surprise that it
is now considered by many one of the top five movies of all time. Perhaps when
it comes to cinematic techniques The Godfather has not been as revolutionary as
Citizen Kane, but its influence on motion pictures is comparable. Rarely a
movie has defined or re-defined a genre as much as this one did for
"gangster movies", but its influence goes well beyond that.
The Godfather's influence has been so big through the years that elements of it can be found in virtually every "organized crime film" nowadays; almost every comedy featuring a gangster in the last few years has spoofed something in The Godfather. The Italian-American old mobster a-la Don Vito Corleone has become one of the most established figures in the public's imagination.
As good as the direction and the story are, it would be
unfair not to consider the major role that the actors' performances had in the
cinematic triumph that was The Godfather. Praised by many as the best cast to
ever appear in an American movie, all the cast in The Godfather succeeds in
portraying complex, three-dimensional characters without ever making a slip.
The exceptional portrayals of Don Vito and Michael Corleone respectively by
Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, the performances by Robert Duvall, James Caan and
Diane Keaton as Tom Hagen, Santino Corleone and Kay Adams, the ruthless Virgil
Sollozzo played by Al Lettieri -- as well as more than a few other roles -- are
all perfect for the movie, and they all succeed in making us believe these are
real people, not just actors.
We are not watching a central character and a
bunch of incomplete figures that revolve around him: although Michael Corleone
is the character that gets the most screen time, everybody is the center of
this world his own way. The movie makes it possible for the viewers to identify
with different characters and to observe how their personality and story fits
in, and it does it much more effectively than many bloated multiple-storyline movies
that came out in the last few years.
