The following is part of a Box Office Boredom series of articles called Must See Movies. Through our musings we hope to share with you why we consider a film to be relevant in the world of film.



If I were asked what my favorite film of all time would be, it would have to be 1972’s The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola.  Of course, this sound to be a typical answer by a film critic, cinephile or simply put a film snob but before you write me off as another cinematic wannabe, give me some time to try and explain myself.

For years and years I have heard cinema elitist speak of the Coppola masterpiece as a film that ends all films, only to be rivaled by The Godfather Part II.  Oddly enough, it was a film that I had never seen.  It wasn’t until somewhere in the year 2000 that I actually embarked upon my first experience with the Corleone family and it was one of the films that has changed my out look on the world of cinema.  Today, I boldly attempt to share with you a few of the many reasons I believe this film is one of the celluloid treasures that you must see.

Constantly imitated but never duplicated The Godfather is first and foremost a film about family.  Few films have come close to showing this side of organized crime, aside from a possibility of something like Martin Scorcese’s Goodfellas and the long running HBO series, The Sopranos.  However, despite their best efforts to replicate The Godfather, they really don’t hold a candle to the film.  In the Godfather, you are presented with 2 very different families that are intertwined.  First and foremost you have the Corleone Family, a “family” derived from a life of criminal acts.  Under the leadership of their “Godfather” Don Vito Corleone, members of the Corleone family may not always be next of kin, but their loyalty can be traced through a blood line that goes all the way back to Sicily.  The second family again is also known as The Corleone Family, this focusing on the father figure Vito, and his children, Sonny, Fredo, Tom and Connie. Despite being a family plagued by hot headed tempers, social ineptitude, marital violence and more the Corleone family is drawn together closer because of their familial ties to each other, thus proving that in their world, blood is thicker than water.

It’s because of this, we get an in depth look at how a family that is surrounded by crime stays together.  Their father, Vito is feared by many, yet is a genuine, gentle family man in his home life.  Vito is a father that loves his sons unconditionally and will stop at nothing to provide the very best for his children.  Vito, despite his criminal ties is much like many of you, with aspirations that someday his children will be better off than he was.  He speaks of how he dreamt of Michael becoming a politician or a lawyer- someone who pulls the strings, rather than a man forced to work like a puppet for a puppeteer.

With all of this focus on the family, one could find it very entertaining to know that the phrase “Corleone Family” was thrown out by Coppola as a way to please the Italian-American groups at the time.  In an attempt to appease their wishes, Coppola was told not to use the word “mafia,” “mob” or “la cosa nostra” while portraying Italian immigrants on screen.  From this derived the concept of “the five families” and Coppola’s vision of making The Godfather not just another crime or gangster flick but instead interweaving the importance of family ties into the criminal underbelly.

Coppola’s classic la cosa nostra tale revolutionized the way organized crime was viewed by cinematic audiences.  Prior to this crime films all followed an all so familiar pattern.  Leading back to crime’s cinema beginnings in 1903’s The Great Train Robbery, crime films, especially gangster films all followed a similar  plot line.  The film’s main character would be pulled off the beaten path of good as a way to obtain power, wealth or other worldly goods they could not obtain by following the straight and narrow.  As they continued to gain their power, control and wealth, it ultimately became their down fall.  Usually finding themselves in a shower of gun fire, the good guys won out in the end.  However, Coppola flips that model on its head.  The Godfather doesn’t end in a hail of gunfire.  The “good” guys don’t win, and Michael becomes the next Don of the Corleone family.  Unlike it predecessors, The Godfather almost glorifies the criminal underbelly rather than criticizing it.  The Corleone Family is shown in many ways as an every day business, with Michael as their business leader.  However, where the film does follow the tried and true pattern echoes in the ending of The Godfather Part I and Part II, in scenes where it is evident that Michael is forced to continue to seclude himself from the world around him and leave behind the normal familial joys that most of us take for granted.

The Godfather also is a tale of modern capitalism.   Surrounded by illegitimate activities, Michael and Vito are both portrayed as businessmen.  Their family business is discussed just like you would expect it to be discussed in any board room across the country.  In their line of work, much like any other business in America, the goal is to become rich and successful by selling their product.  Whether it be gambling, booze, women or personal protection, The Corleone Family looks out for number 1, even if that means making someone an offer they can’t refuse.  This differed from previous gangster flicks, as Coppola again strove to make the Corleones look like legitimate businessmen rather than cut throat criminals.   Coppola even furthers this by including a conversation between Michael and Kay where Michael justifies working for his father by saying “My father is like any other powerful men, be it a president or senator.”  When Kay replies with “presidents and senators don’t have people killed.” Michael recants with “Now who is being naïve?”

Aside from the way The Godfather revolutionized the traditional crime saga, the film also had an over all amazing effect on the studios as well.  With out going into great detail, Paramount studios was one of the lowest grossing studios in Hollywood.  By taking a chance on a young auteuristic director, the studio found themselves in a commercial success and a film that received an academy award for best picture.    While Coppola can not fully be credited for this, it was a film that began a 70’s revival of cinema, or a second “golden age” of cinema.  It was through the gambles that studios took on finding young directors like Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas that set the footing for modern cinema that you see on screen today. However, Coppola and company still followed many of the old school rules despite forging new ideas of their own.  The Godfather is riddled with instances of scenes that are throwbacks to French New Wave film noir and lighting that replicates German expressionism.

Of course what makes the Godfather work so well is the acting involved.  Marlon Brando gives the performance of his life as Don Vito Corleone, with his raspy voice and subtle gestures.  (While yes it is true that he stuffed his cheeks with cotton balls to appear “older”, it is common myth that he did this on set.  Instead, this method was only used during Brando’s screen test).  Beside him, James Caan, Robert Duvall and of course none other than Al Pacino.  At the time Pacino was a up and comer, someone whom the studios had little faith in.  Martin Sheen, Dean Stockwell, Rod Steiger all auditioned for the role and Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman were all offered the part of Michael Corleone, (but all refused).  Alain Delon, Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford were all suggested to Coppola but instead  Coppola saw through Pacino’s inexperience and struggled to cast him anyway.  In the end, Pacino created what may be known as one of the most infamous, most loved characters in cinema history.

When its all said and done, I could probably write an entire novel on what makes this film relevant, and why it is one of my favorite films.  However, I don’t think the readers want to hear more of my drivel as I drool over this celluloid classic.  If you haven’t had a chance to watch The Godfather, I encourage you to check it out.  Its one of the films that defines cinema as we know it.