From Marlon Brando’s iconic performance as Don Corleone to Gordon Willis’ breathtaking work behind the camera, there’s a lot about just ask Gone with the Wind.
It’s been over half a century since The Godfather arrived as an instant classic, and there are some harsh realities of rewatching The Godfather today. But that doesn’t mean the movie hasn’t stood the test of time; it just means it was created in a bygone era. Francis Ford Coppola’s crime epic is often ranked alongside Casablanca and Citizen Kane as one of the greatest American films ever made. But does The Godfather still hold up today?
10 Marlon Brando's Iconic Performance As Vito Corleone Remains The Definitive Portrait Of A Mob Boss
A great performance by a great actor will never get old. Marlon Brando’s turn as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather is as mesmerizing today as it was in 1972. In over half a century, no actor has been able to top Brando’s bravado. Whether he’s stroking a cat or crying over his son’s mutilated corpse, Brando’s performance makes it impossible to look away from Vito whenever he’s on-screen. This performance is still the definitive portrait of a mob boss in pop culture.
The Godfather Part II would go back and fill in the backstory of how Vito became such a powerful and fearsome figure in the criminal underworld. But the first movie didn’t need to explain any of that to establish Vito’s power; Brando’s on-screen presence said it all. It remains one of the most iconic performances in film history.
9 Gordon Willis' Cinematography Is Still Just As Breathtaking
Gordon Willis’ cinematography in The Godfather is still just as breathtaking today. Willis filmed some of the most memorable shots in cinema history for this groundbreaking gangster epic. Every single scene is shot as beautifully as it could possibly be shot. Even something as simple as an establishing shot of Tom Hagen wandering onto a Hollywood studio lot is framed and composed in a way that puts most other filmmakers to shame.
Willis reflects Coppola’s grim thematic deconstruction of the American Dream with striking images like a mob hit juxtaposed against the Statue of Liberty off in the distance. Willis’ work in The Godfather breaks a lot of the rules of cinematography — some of the shots aren’t even in focus — but it just works. He immerses viewers in this world better than most other crime films.
8 The Corleone Family Dynamic Is Universally Relatable
The Corleones are a mafia family with blood on their hands and a hitman on their payroll, but they’re also weirdly relatable, because at their core, they’re a family like any other. Coppola focuses less on the unrelatable aspects of the family, like the murders and the blood money, and focuses more on the universal aspects of their dynamic. Everyone can identify with a hotheaded older brother whose temper clouds his judgment. Everyone can identify with a dim-witted middle child who can’t be trusted with anything important.
Connie is the only daughter who gets put on a pedestal. Vito is the stoic patriarch who loves all his children but doesn’t always show it (and definitely has favorites). Michael is the good son who gets corrupted by the family dysfunction. All these years later, the Corleone family remains universally relatable.
7 The Star-Studded ing Cast Is Impressive
Of course, Marlon Brando is a compelling lead, and actors like Al Pacino and James Caan instantly made their mark with unforgettable performances in The Godfather. But the cast of The Godfather is also rounded out by an impressive number of iconic stars. Robert Duvall played Tom Hagen after he’d played Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird and Lucky Ned Pepper in True Grit. Sterling Hayden played Captain McCluskey after he’d already been in The Asphalt Jungle, Dr. Strangelove, and Johnny Guitar. John Marley was acclaimed for his roles in Faces and Love Story before playing Jack Woltz.
The Godfather also features some fresh-faced actors who were about to the most iconic screen legends in Hollywood history. The Godfather was just Diane Keaton’s second feature film. It was John Cazale’s first ever movie, and he would follow it up with four of the greatest movies ever made.
6 Nino Rota's Score Is Still Just As Enrapturing
A really great musical score is timeless, from John Williams’ Star Wars score to Maurice Jarre’s Lawrence of Arabia score. The Godfather score by Nino Rota (with some additional compositions by Carmine Coppola) is a prime example. Rota’s classy orchestrations capture the essence of the movie: his music has a melancholic quality touching on Vito’s nostalgia for the past and disillusionment with the changing world, but it also has a haunting undertone that hints at the darkness and violence of the story.
The Godfather has not one, but two iconic themes that fans are still whistling more than 50 years later: “The Godfather Waltz” and “Love Theme from The Godfather.” And that’s just two of the incredible pieces from Rota’s score. This music is a big part of why The Godfather is such a perfect movie.
5 The Godfather's Depiction Of Violence Is Still Shocking
On-screen violence keeps getting gnarlier and gnarlier as audiences get desensitized to higher levels of gore. The 2000s brought the advent of a horror subgenre dubbed “torture porn.” So, what was deemed shocking in the ‘60s and ‘70s doesn’t always play that way on a rewatch today. But there are plenty of exceptions where an older movie is just as horrifying as anything being made today, like A Clockwork Orange, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and, indeed, The Godfather.
The Godfather’s depiction of violence is still shocking today. The relentless intensity of Sonny getting gunned down at a toll booth. The disorienting editing of the McCluskey assassination. The gallons of crimson blood flooding Jack Woltz’s bed in the horse’s head sequence. The Godfather’s scenes of violence are guaranteed to still shock audiences to this day.
4 Kay Adams' Subversively Empowering Characterization
From Scarface to Goodfellas, a lot of classic gangster films don’t 100% hold up today because of their problematic portrayal of their female characters. If the female characters aren’t marginalized altogether, then they’re relegated to being a long-suffering spouse or an objectified mistress. That’s what makes The Godfather’s Kay such a brilliantly subversive character; she has a surprising amount of agency.
Kay is expected to tend to her domestic chores and turn a blind eye to her husband’s illicit behavior, just like the other mob wives, but Kay is much too liberated and free-thinking and modern to do that. She stands up for herself and questions Michael’s actions. The Godfather wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice to name a feminist movie, but Kay’s characterization is a lot more empowering and independent than most of the female characters in mob movies.
3 The Godfather's Three-Hour Runtime Flies By
The problem with revisiting old movies is that they tend to be a lot slower and more patiently paced than newer movies. Since modern audiences are getting a shorter and shorter attention span, movies are getting faster — the average time between cuts is constantly getting reduced — so viewers are acclimatized to faster movies. The Godfather is a lot slower than most modern movies, but it never loses the audience’s attention. It runs for a whopping 175 minutes (almost three hours), but that runtime flies by.
The Godfather has perfect pacing, thanks to the razor-sharp editing by William Reynolds and Peter Zinner. Every scene has plenty of room to breathe, but doesn’t stick around for too long. The movie’s episodic structure means it’s always changing the scenery, always moving the story forward, and always pushing the characters into the next stages of their journey.
2 Al Pacino's Portrayal Of Michael Corleone's Downfall Is Still Utterly Compelling
Al Pacino had only been in two other movies before taking the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, but even with such little on-screen experience, he managed to give one of the greatest performances in cinema history. Brando gives an iconic turn as Vito, but he doesn’t have to convey the growth and transformation that Pacino does. At the beginning of The Godfather, Michael is destined to be the first Corleone to lead a legitimate life; by the end of it, he’s destined to become just like his father.
Michael starts out as a bright-eyed war veteran and ends up as a ruthless killer. Not only does Pacino make that transformation fully believable; he makes it utterly compelling. Watching that moral downfall play out now is just as effective as watching it back then.
1 The Godfather's Final Scene Is Just As Haunting Today
All these years later, the ending of The Godfather is just as impactful. Kay questions Michael about his involvement in Carlo’s disappearance, but Michael denies having anything to do with it. Kay is initially relieved that the man she loves isn’t a cold-blooded murderer after all. But then, she sees him go into his office, where a bunch of loyal capos come in to pay their respects, and realizes he just lied to her face.
Kay watches on in despair as one of the capos comes over and shuts her out, leaving behind the empty void of a black screen. This final scene completes Michael’s journey from the good son to The Godfather. The wayward kid introduced at the beginning of the movie has become a heartless monster following in his father’s footsteps. That ending is just as haunting today.
The Godfather
- Release Date
- March 24, 1972
- Runtime
- 175 minutes
- Director
- Francis Ford Coppola
Cast
Don Vito Corleone
Michael Corleone
WHERE TO WATCH
The Godfather chronicles the Italian-American Corleone crime family from 1945 to 1955. Following an assassination attempt on family patriarch Vito Corleone, his youngest son Michael emerges to orchestrate a brutal campaign of retribution, cementing his role in the family’s illicit empire.
- Writers
- Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
- Franchise(s)
- The Godfather
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